Perhaps the coda to this should be that a majority of Brits do not fear a fall in their standard of living? Would that be the same optimistic majority who voted for Brexit? And would a similar, almost 50/50 result be the result whenever and wherever the question was asked? It does prove, I guess, that our sense of well-being in peace and possibly most other times, depends on the economy, stupid, and how wealthy or otherwise we feel or think we should feel. Top factors are inflation, interest rates and the possibility of recession. Talk to those of the wartime generation, which I’m fortunate enough to still be able to do, and they’d say that just getting and earning the usual crust was, day to day, more of a worry than bombs and invasion. The problem is, any medicine has side effects, including and especially upping interest rates to kill inflation. Just look at the empty shops on any high street. Alas.
“UK inflation falls to lowest level since 2022”
We have been or are, depending on your point of view or choice of statistics, in the midst of a recession. The faint glimmer at the end of a long tunnel is that the economy apparently grew in January, although 0.2% isn’t exactly storming ahead.
