We are perilously close to another inflationary age, but no one cares All over the shop, from shipping rates, to computer chips, steel, varnishes, paint and polymers, prices have been surging 1 May 2021 • 4:00pm Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays, thinks the UK economy is going to boom for the remainder of this year, with the strongest rate of growth since 1948. Hurrah! But with the economy still around 8pc smaller than its pre-pandemic state, it is actually only what would be required to meet Andrew Bailey’s suggestion that all the ground lost to the pandemic might be clawed back by the end of the year.