In 1919 in  The Economic Consequences of the Peace, Keynes pointed out the danger of inflation: “There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency.” In a talk called 'Saving and Spending' on the BBC in 1931 he warned of the danger of deflation: “Cheapness which is due to increased efficiency and skill in the arts of production is indeed a benefit. But cheapness which means the  ruin of the producer is one of the greatest economic disasters which can possibly occur.” (Both passages contained in Essays in Persuasion.) Given yesterday's conflicting inflation signals in the UK, supporting both the current camps (on the one hand that the recession is so deep it spells deflation, and on the other that government fiscal boosts are so big inflation is inevitable). If only Keynes had experienced stagflation and could tell us how to tackle it.