The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published its annual Family Spending survey, a fascinating document that tracks household spending – but what does it tell us about modern life?
Essentially, the British public is letting go of itself. Spending on clothing and footwear has fallen by £1 a week, from £18.60 to £17.60, which might not sound like much, but in real terms means that most people are probably looking less attractive than they did before the recession. Unfortunately, affordable clothes don't tend to age well, so when they sag, bag, fade and shrink, it's hard not to give the impression of being a saggier, baggier, faded and shrunken version of your former self.
Hiding away at home is not a viable option either. The ONS does not specify whether spending on copies of World of Interiors is also down, but it probably is, as books and magazines are yet another treat to have taken a hit, and so is furniture, down by £3 a week. So there is a good chance that our homes are full of stains, spillages, chipped paint and broken stuff. The cleaner, where there was one, has long since been let go, along with the gardener. Though chin up: if the hedge is overgrown, at least passersby can't see the state of your lounge.
However, a close inspection of the statistics does help to give a clearer idea of what is really meant by the phenomenon of the squeezed middle. It is not, as previously thought, a description of the way in which middle-income families have been hardest hit by the failure of wages to keep up with inflation. (Surprise, surprise, that's the poorest families.) After a close reading of the ONS data, a previously unidentified kind of squeezed middle can be detected, a middle that alternately expands and contracts. For despite the pile-up of spending cuts on items that can be broadly categorised as Nice Things We Can No Longer Afford, spending is up in some areas. Specifically, spending on cakes, biscuits, chocolate and gym or leisure classes (up 50p a week).
That's right, the new squeezed middle is the one you tucked into your trousers this morning. Britons are basically splurging on sugary, fatty food (perhaps to cheer themselves up about looking so rough), then feeling really bad about it, probably when the idea of belt-tightening turns from metaphor into uncomfortable fact – and punishing themselves with exercise. Welcome to the recession, a vicious circle of gluttony and gym-going.
