We are, it hardly needs to be said, living through the most turbulent times that most of us can remember.

If the covid-19 pandemic had not caused enough widespread fear, disruption and trauma, we are now in the grips of another foe – which, while not as immediately deadly,  nevertheless has the capacity to cause untold misery: rampant inflation.

First we saw supply chain shortages as the economy came racing out of the pandemic-indued slowdown and firms struggled to keep up with demand. Then, Vladmir Putin’s war in Ukraine disrupted energy supplies and sent prices rocketing ever further northwards