Organic fruit ousts jigsaws and ski-pants

British Conservative Party leader William Hague may have wished them banned forever but it appears the baseball cap is on the way back. The British Office of National Statistics has included the cap in its new basket of goods used to determine the consumer price index - along with herbal teas, organic fruit and veg and health club membership fees.

More noteworthy is that the British update the basket of goods used to compute inflation on an annual basis. So it is that this year also sees the arrival of DVDs and mini-disc players and the exclusion of jigsaws, women's ski pants and bread bins.

In Ireland, they will also update the basket of goods used to assess inflation at the end of this year - the first time in five years. That's an improvement on the former seven-year gap. No wonder there are times when there seems to be little connection between the basket based consumer price index and the real rise in living costs.