Hold on that might be an unfortuante analogy

The Telegraph reports re the timing of the planned increase in VAT from 15% to 17.5% at midnight on 31 December this year, that Michael Ward (the MD of Harrods) said that only a "congenital idiot" would raise VAT just as the January sales started.

A few points, some practical, some not. First the January sales start before January now indeed last year the sales started before Xmas itself. Second the problem for stores in applying the price changes resulting from this VAT rate changes across all of their SKUs on a Bank Holiday will be enormous, I used to work in retail IT and this would have been a nightmare to organise both in system terms and on the shop floor. Finally if Michael Ward thinks only a "congenital idiot" would make such a change, then he may have a problem with this Labour government.