Dear Life

Someone whom I have known for 40 years will be receiving Royal Maundy tomorrow. She is beyond delighted. For all the monarchy's faults, what republican event could give such pleasure? Collectors would pay for it, but you cannot buy anything with Maundy money.

So, just like normal money, then. Falling inflation does not mean that things are growing cheaper. It does not even mean that things are staying the same price. It means only that prices are increasing at a lower rate than the last time that the Government bothered to check. In this case, that difference is a whopping 0.2 per cent. But life is still becoming more expensive by 2.6 per cent. Is your pay going up by 2.6 per cent? Is the teachers'? Is the Birmingham refuse collectors'?

Never accept anything less than a pay rise at the rate of inflation from the currency-issuing State. And never accept a pay rise below the rate at which your private employer was profitabile, nor a pay cut greater than any fall in that, or your employer does not have a business model.