I know the government has all its official statistics, but for me there’s nothing like a bit of street level insight to help read the economic runes.
And if this piece of evidence lifted from the high street of Marlow on Thames yesterday is indicative, then the pressure on the consumer pocket has indeed taken another turn for the worse…
Still, on the positive side this will surely reassure those, such as the LibDems at conference this week, that the seemingly unstoppable north/south divide is starting to relent a little.
When the good people of Marlow have to be incentivised quite so heavily to spring for another magnum then it can no longer be denied that we are, as stated, all in it together.