Item 12 - Barbermedes Principle

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An obese John Bull figure relaxes in a bath, wearing a Union Jack top hat and burning a pound note with his cigar. The bath is labelled "Employment" and his bulging belly says "Inflation". The bath is full of little people, who are being displaced (along the Archimedes Principle) by John Bull and his growing inflation, and being washed over the sides in all directions and eventually down the drain.

[Anthony Barber was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by Edward Heath in 1970, and oversaw a major liberalisation of the banking system, tax reforms, and also relaxed exchange controls. During his term the economy suffered due to stagflation and industrial unrest. In 1972 he delivered a budget which was designed to return the Conservatives to power in an election expected in 1974 or 1975, which led to a period known as "The Barber Boom". The measures in the budget led to high inflation and wage demands from public sector workers. He was forced to introduce anti-inflation measures, along with a Prices Commission and a Pay Board. After the Conservatives lost the first election in 1974, he did not stand in the second election of that year. - Source: Wikipedia]