The BBC has latched on to a cup of tea as the ideal candidate to show the pain inflation can cause - and it really does capture the majority of the issues. Inflation in the UK is largely being driven by three factors - underlying energy costs, the cost of food and shortages of labour.

While all of these manifest in a cost-of-living crisis for consumers - particularly the rising energy and food prices - it is businesses that bear the brunt of the indirect inflation in the short term. Just about every cost businesses incur features energy usage at some stage, and all businesses are then faced with the choice between absorbing the costs or passing them on to customers.

The good news is that there are signs of these cost increases slowing down. Although oil and gas remain eye-wateringly high, it is unlikely that supplies will be constricted further, and so (once through winter) that element of inflation should stabilise. Similarly, early indications that labour supplies may be easing are promising.

So, the big question for businesses at the moment: do they hold steady on their prices and subsidise their customers, or do they seek to protect their profit margin? There is no one-size-fits-all answer - and for many businesses that operate close to breakeven anyway, there may be no choice.

A headache of a problem - probably the best advice is to have a nice hot cup of tea while you think about it!