Inflation is back, and politicians cannot get enough of it. After years of treating the economy like a neglected houseplant, rising living costs have suddenly become the trendiest talking point in Westminster. It is as if someone discovered a new diet fad and everyone from the Prime Minister down is now an influencer.
PM Andy Burnham is feeling the heat — quite literally, since inflation makes everything cost more — and he is not alone. Across the political spectrum, inflation has become the ultimate conversation starter. It does not matter that nobody actually wanted this trend. It arrived anyway, uninvited, like a relative at Christmas who eats all the good snacks and never leaves.
The thing about inflation as a political accessory is that it works best when you are not the one wearing it. When your opponent is in power and prices are climbing, you get to sound concerned and credible. When you are in power, you get to explain why it is not actually your fault — a narrative that requires the kind of creative storytelling usually reserved for fantasy novels.
What makes this particularly amusing is that politicians treat inflation like they discovered it. They point at rising costs with the urgency of someone who just noticed their phone battery is at 2%. The pressure is real, the stakes are genuine, but the performance is pure theatre. In a few months, the conversation might shift. Inflation might cool, or it might not. Either way, politicians will move on to the next shiny crisis, leaving this one behind like last season’s fashion.
For now, though, inflation is having its moment. Enjoy it while it lasts — trends never do.