UK statisticians add VR headsets to inflation basket, cut newspaper ads

By Andy Bruce

(Reuters) - Virtual reality headsets will enter Britain's inflation data next month while classified newspaper print adverts will disappear in an annual shake-up of the basket of goods and services used to calculate price rises.

The renewal of the inflation basket offers a snapshot of technological shifts and Britons' changing tastes.

"The addition of virtual reality headsets for the first time shows our appetite for emerging technology, while the loss of printed newspaper adverts demonstrates a continuing shift towards the online world," Stephen Burgess, Office for National Statistics' deputy director for prices, said.

"Consumers are choosing easier options in the kitchen, so oven-ready gammon joints make way for the quicker choice of pulled pork," Burgess added.

The ONS also added a new category for household energy bill prices: fixed-rate tariffs, which are popular among consumers who want to avoid fluctuating electricity and gas bills.

Britain's first modern inflation basket appeared in 1947 including unskinned wild rabbits, condensed milk and lamp oil.

In the 1970s - a decade many would prefer to forget in fashion terms - statisticians put home perm kits and hair dryers into the index.

This year the ONS added smoked salmon, mangos and men's pool sandals - "a rapidly growing and previously unrepresented area of the footwear market" - to the consumer price index basket.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by William Schomberg)