\n<\/p>\n
Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Sometimes, good things come in small cages. Or in 70-page documents. Or when you\u2019re in an aeroplane over the sea.<\/p>\n<p>FT Alphaville was delighted to land at Washington Dulles airport to find a freedom of information response has landed in our inbox from one of our favourite UK government agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The Office for National Statistics (for it is they) have come through bigly with a response to our recent request for:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-blockquote\">\n<p>any current ONS guidance regarding the exact type of items the price observers employed by the ONS (be they ONS staff or third-party agents) are being asked to observe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>If this is all totally new to you: the ONS and its agents observe prices for a \u201cbasket\u201d of representative items in an attempt to monitor price changes (aka inflation). However, they\u2019re not always <em>super<\/em> transparent about what those items are, even when it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a5eb83c0-92f1-42a5-bea0-ac8d20d039a3\" data-trackable=\"link\">really, really ambiguous<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b3344d4b-65a2-4ab1-9f6c-46006400ffb8\" data-trackable=\"link\">the outcomes are weird<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can read the response and (unwieldy) document in full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ons.gov.uk\/aboutus\/transparencyandgovernance\/freedomofinformationfoi\/guidancethattheonsobserversusetotrackconsumerprices\" data-trackable=\"link\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Because civil servants are cruel, the document\u2019s formatting is horrible, half of its text isn\u2019t actual text, and there are redactions. ???? But there\u2019s some interesting stuff here!<\/p>\n<p>The ONS says\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-blockquote\">\n<p>We have redacted individual business names from the release, as businesses collaborate with us under the expectation that their information will not be shared.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> .\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and that\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-blockquote\">\n<p>Specific product names have also been redacted under Section 29(1)(a) of FOIA. This exemption applies when the disclosure of particular information would likely prejudice the economic interests of the UK. Disclosure of the specific product names that do and do not contribute to the CPI could enable major retailers to influence the CPI by changing the price of the in-basket product, and perhaps offset it with changes in price of other similar non-basket products.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009to which our response is: yeah, sure, OK.<\/p>\n<p>So what <em>can<\/em> we find out? Well, given our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a5eb83c0-92f1-42a5-bea0-ac8d20d039a3\" data-trackable=\"link\"><em>unusual<\/em> tastes<\/a>, our first response was to search for the word \u201cmammal\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>And we found success!<\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\" data-component=\"image-set\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3Ac53e21c3-9f44-41ad-bc16-3327fcaee70d?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1 1x\" width=\"740\" height=\"118\"\/><\/picture><\/figure>\n<p>We are told, furthermore, that when observing small caged mammal prices, one must:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-blockquote\">\n<p>Price only the animal, do not include cage or any accessories<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We do still have questions. Where have the ONS\u2019s agents been consistently finding \u00a360 rabbits? They must be posh rabbits, right?<\/p>\n<p>The document has plenty more oddities (including some interesting stuff about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/6bc584b4-a781-4cc1-b364-a3833fc8747e\" data-trackable=\"link\">gig price collection dates<\/a>, which we will DEFINITELY be returning to), including stipulations that:<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 cream crackers \u201cMust state \u2018Cream Crackers\u2019 on pack\u201d<br \/>\u2014 an individual meat pie must be cold<br \/>\u2014 inflation-suitable onions must be brown<br \/>\u2014 raisins are a banned dry fruit<br \/>\u2014 \u201cNo mini pizzas or pizza slices\u201d<br \/>\u2014 a value carpet must still contain natural fibres, we\u2019re not animals people ffs<br \/>\u2014 a man\u2019s casual sleeve top must NOT fully open at the front<br \/>\u2014 appropriate wall hanging mirrors choices are ordained only by size, which is why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b3344d4b-65a2-4ab1-9f6c-46006400ffb8\" data-trackable=\"link\">last March the ONS took in a capacious price range for this item of \u00a31.99 \u2014\u00a33,695<\/a><br \/>\u2014 hair type must be tracked when recording conditioner inflation<\/p>\n<p>Let us know in the comment section if you spot other delights. We\u2019ll try to make a tidier version of the ONS\u2019s table soon, and get to protesting about those redactions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Further reading:<\/strong><br \/>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a5eb83c0-92f1-42a5-bea0-ac8d20d039a3\" data-trackable=\"link\">small caged mammal<\/a><br \/>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/74bd84d7-63ad-47ed-a8f5-581feef109c2\" data-trackable=\"link\">small caged mammal infinity<\/a><br \/>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b3344d4b-65a2-4ab1-9f6c-46006400ffb8\" data-trackable=\"link\">The mystery of the \u00a339 orange<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/d36706e1-3388-4e06-9a08-0edde2f7f52c\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Sometimes, good things come in small cages. Or in 70-page documents. Or when you\u2019re in an aeroplane over the sea.<\/p>\n<p>FT Alphaville was delighted to land at Washington Dulles airport to find a freedom of information response has landed in our inbox from one of our favourite UK government agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The Office for National Statistics (for it is they) have come through bigly with a response to our recent request for:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-blockquote\">\n<p>any current ONS guidance regarding the exact type of items the price observers employed by the ONS (be they ONS staff or third-party agents) are being asked to observe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>If this is all totally new to you: the ONS and its agents observe prices for a \u201cbasket\u201d of representative items in an attempt to monitor price changes (aka inflation). However, they\u2019re not always <em>super<\/em> transparent about what those items are, even when it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a5eb83c0-92f1-42a5-bea0-ac8d20d039a3\" data-trackable=\"link\">really, really ambiguous<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b3344d4b-65a2-4ab1-9f6c-46006400ffb8\" data-trackable=\"link\">the outcomes are weird<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can read the response and (unwieldy) document in full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ons.gov.uk\/aboutus\/transparencyandgovernance\/freedomofinformationfoi\/guidancethattheonsobserversusetotrackconsumerprices\" data-trackable=\"link\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Because civil servants are cruel, the document\u2019s formatting is horrible, half of its text isn\u2019t actual text, and there are redactions. ???? But there\u2019s some interesting stuff here!<\/p>\n<p>The ONS says\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-blockquote\">\n<p>We have redacted individual business names from the release, as businesses collaborate with us under the expectation that their information will not be shared.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> .\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and that\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-blockquote\">\n<p>Specific product names have also been redacted under Section 29(1)(a) of FOIA. This exemption applies when the disclosure of particular information would likely prejudice the economic interests of the UK. Disclosure of the specific product names that do and do not contribute to the CPI could enable major retailers to influence the CPI by changing the price of the in-basket product, and perhaps offset it with changes in price of other similar non-basket products.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009to which our response is: yeah, sure, OK.<\/p>\n<p>So what <em>can<\/em> we find out? Well, given our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a5eb83c0-92f1-42a5-bea0-ac8d20d039a3\" data-trackable=\"link\"><em>unusual<\/em> tastes<\/a>, our first response was to search for the word \u201cmammal\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>And we found success!<\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\" data-component=\"image-set\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/ftcms%3Ac53e21c3-9f44-41ad-bc16-3327fcaee70d?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1 1x\" width=\"740\" height=\"118\"\/><\/picture><\/figure>\n<p>We are told, furthermore, that when observing small caged mammal prices, one must:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-blockquote\">\n<p>Price only the animal, do not include cage or any accessories<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We do still have questions. Where have the ONS\u2019s agents been consistently finding \u00a360 rabbits? They must be posh rabbits, right?<\/p>\n<p>The document has plenty more oddities (including some interesting stuff about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/6bc584b4-a781-4cc1-b364-a3833fc8747e\" data-trackable=\"link\">gig price collection dates<\/a>, which we will DEFINITELY be returning to), including stipulations that:<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 cream crackers \u201cMust state \u2018Cream Crackers\u2019 on pack\u201d<br \/>\u2014 an individual meat pie must be cold<br \/>\u2014 inflation-suitable onions must be brown<br \/>\u2014 raisins are a banned dry fruit<br \/>\u2014 \u201cNo mini pizzas or pizza slices\u201d<br \/>\u2014 a value carpet must still contain natural fibres, we\u2019re not animals people ffs<br \/>\u2014 a man\u2019s casual sleeve top must NOT fully open at the front<br \/>\u2014 appropriate wall hanging mirrors choices are ordained only by size, which is why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b3344d4b-65a2-4ab1-9f6c-46006400ffb8\" data-trackable=\"link\">last March the ONS took in a capacious price range for this item of \u00a31.99 \u2014\u00a33,695<\/a><br \/>\u2014 hair type must be tracked when recording conditioner inflation<\/p>\n<p>Let us know in the comment section if you spot other delights. We\u2019ll try to make a tidier version of the ONS\u2019s table soon, and get to protesting about those redactions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Further reading:<\/strong><br \/>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a5eb83c0-92f1-42a5-bea0-ac8d20d039a3\" data-trackable=\"link\">small caged mammal<\/a><br \/>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/74bd84d7-63ad-47ed-a8f5-581feef109c2\" data-trackable=\"link\">small caged mammal infinity<\/a><br \/>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b3344d4b-65a2-4ab1-9f6c-46006400ffb8\" data-trackable=\"link\">The mystery of the \u00a339 orange<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/d36706e1-3388-4e06-9a08-0edde2f7f52c\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}