General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

But the 8.5% is to compensate for inflation ALREADY having eroded income in the past year. So it is untrue to say it represents a real increase by comparison with some future imagined inflation figure. In the year to follow, should inflation be 4%, then whether or not the next increment is above or below 4% will be determinant of real increase occurring or not.

On the second point, agree. Not only younger workers, but people earning less than £1 Million PA, tend to have not kept up with inflation for a few decades.