Vinyl records are back...but hand sanitiser is out

Changes to 'shopping basket' used to calculate inflation

- August Graham

AS the world turns, so too do vinyl records once again - and their revival is now reflected in the official "shopping basket" measure for inflation.

The Office for National Statistics has put traditional discs back on its list for the first time in 32 years.

And hand sanitiser is out in a welcome departure from the Covid years.

Every month, the ONS measures inflation that is to say, how past prices are increasing, or decreasing for British households. To do that, the statisticians must work out how budgets are normally spent.

The ONS has a "basket" of over 740 goods and services that they think people are most likely buy.

But, over time, what people buy changes, and the ONS swaps items in and out of that list.