Word of the Day

Now be honest, have you ever heard of the word “agflation”?

In the same week that I realised I haven’t the foggiest what “happenstance” actually means and had to reconcile how the Spanish verb quedarse can mean ‘to stay’ and also ‘to leave oneself’, I was not so surprised upon realising that my fairly expansive vocabulary does not include the above word.

And yet, this agflation business, which apparently relates to the spiralling cost of food and drink in response to a similarly spiralling world population, is going to cost us dear.

It’s not so much the increased cost of putting food on the table that concerns me. I did my 4 years of living off Pot Noodles and Corned Beef and I could go back to those days in a flash if it meant getting to watch Countdown all day.

No, it seems the sharp hike in the cost of hops and barley will result in beer moving above the £4 a pint level in 2008. Maybe I’m not frequenting the coolest of bars but has it officially reared its foamy head above the £3 ceiling yet?

Either way, this is difficult news to take. Beer is not a luxury item these days. It is the golden nectar that binds us together, much like dust in the Phillip Pullman trilogies, although with alcohol you get more interesting ‘daemons’.

The bottom line is, we cannot allow this to pass. Alcohol must remain cheap to grease the wheels of society and therefore I urge, nay I beg you to join my campaign….


Keep Beer Cheap – Shoot your Neighbour