if he hasn't lied to parliament, then they will have to go, but he will be a lame—duck prime minister like teresa mae, john major and to a certain extent, and that means that none of his big policies, especially equality between regions can really be successful.— equality between regions can really be successful. mark, thank you very much. in december, inflation rose to 5.4% up from 5.1% the previous month. it's the highest figure since march 1992. food, clothing, and household goods all rose. the bank of england, the uk's central bank predicts inflation hitting 6% by april. that's also the month in which the energy cap will be revised to reflect the spike in wholesale gas prices. simon, how painful is this going to