I am working on our textbook today and writing a chapter about one of my favourite topics – the Phillips curve – which describes a relationship between some measure of inflation (wage, price) and some measure of excess supply of labour (usually the unemployment rate). I wrote my PhD about the Phillips curve developing models which demonstrated the inadequacy of the mainstream macroeconomics take on the subject. Today I read a strange tale in the UK Guardian – ONS inflation slip-up leaves millions out of pocket – which has some relevance to the chapter I am working on at present. The point is that if you believe the mainstream neo-liberal economic theories that are forced onto students in our universities around the world then you might expect a massive drop in the UK unemployment rate right now. Why? Read on.