As the BBC was reporting over many media at the weekend,
"Chancellor Alistair Darling says pay rises for people "from the boardroom to the shopfloor" need to be "consistent" with the 2% inflation target". (The radio reports were somewhat stronger - with Mr Darling "telling" people that wage demands "must" be below inflation).
The thing is, he can't do anything about it. He can't tell me how much money to ask for, nor how much to earn.
Similarly,
Gordon Brown might want a lower oil price, but he, too, can't do anything about it. (If it were petrol prices, of course, he could influence that -
since two thirds of the price of petrol in the UK is duty or tax.)
So why are they bothering - and thereby risking looking as powerless and ineffective as they really are?
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