Eddie made a great solo-run, but now the heavy tackles are going in

LIKE many who had been away for a couple of weeks in August I returned from my holidays bemused as to what all the fuss was about Eddie Hobbs and his Rip Off Republic TV series.

I have had the chance since to see a couple of the programmes and have come to a better appreciation of the reason for their impact.

Firstly they are good television. They're snappy, well produced and fronted by a straight-talking pundit with the timing of a good comedian. The series did the theoretically impossible in making economics interesting. Some of the success of the programmes is attributable to the fact that it resonates with a sense of public annoyance about prices and the cost of services.