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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Richard Partington Economics correspondent

VR headsets, yoga mats and pool sliders added to UK ‘inflation basket’

Child with VR headset
Annual sales of VR headsets are expected to grow from about £350m last year to £520m by 2029. Photograph: Boumen Japet/Alamy

Virtual reality headsets, yoga mats and men’s pool sliders have been added to the shopping basket used to calculate the cost of living in Britain, while local newspaper adverts and oven-ready gammon joints have been removed.

In a snapshot of an increasingly online, time-pressed nation, the Office for National Statistics said the annual review of its inflation basket had taken into account shifting fashion trends, as well as growing consumer appetite for faster food and future technologies.

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