The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Inflation hits 30-year high, Andrew settles out of court and Turkey changes its name

issue 19 February 2022

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Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, made ready for a Russian invasion of Ukraine by cutting short a planned visit to northern England for a Cobra meeting. ‘We are on the edge of a precipice,’ he said. He said Britain was prepared to target Russian banks and companies, and stop them raising money on London’s financial markets. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, condemned an online rally called No War in Ukraine: Stop Nato Expansion, organised by the Stop the War coalition, of which Jeremy Corbyn is the deputy president. Petrol prices reached a new high of 148.02p a litre. Inflation rose to 5.5 per cent, its highest for 30 years. Unemployment fell to 4.1 per cent and job vacancies reached a record of 1.3 million; wages fell by 0.8 per cent of their value a year earlier.

The United Kingdom awaited an announcement on 21 February, after the end of the parliamentary recess, on a hoped-for lifting of coronavirus restrictions, including an end to the legal obligation to self-isolate in the event of catching it.

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