How we treat a number before we let it into a sentence

Sources

Primary sources first: the Office for National Statistics, the Bank of England (Monetary Policy Reports, minutes, Bank Rate announcements), the Office for Budget Responsibility, HM Treasury, Revenue Scotland, the Scottish Fiscal Commission, and the House of Commons Library. Secondary sources — Resolution Foundation, Institute for Fiscal Studies, National Institute of Economic and Social Research — are named when we lean on their arithmetic.

We prefer administrative data to the Labour Force Survey when the two disagree on levels, and we say so. We do not average incompatible series to make a chart look calm.

What we will not do

• We will not publish a point forecast of Bank Rate or CPI and then pretend the interval was the point.
• We will not describe a relative-price shock as “inflation taking off” without saying which components moved.
• We will not treat house prices as a measure of national success.
• We will not launder a press release into an essay by adding adjectives.

Tone

UK English. No American “fiscal cliff” metaphors for a British Budget. No “the markets think”, as if a yield were a person. When we write “the gilt market”, we mean the price of a refinancing calendar.

Corrections

If we get a fact wrong, we correct the essay in place, mark the change, and note it at the top. Opinions are allowed to be revised; numbers are not allowed to be quietly edited. Write to [email protected] with “Correction” in the subject line.

Conflicts

Writers do not hold short-term positions in UK government debt for the purpose of this journal. We do not accept payment for coverage. Hospitality that would look odd in a footnote is declined.

Method note, edition of 4 September 2026.