The rumour mongers

By Jason Moore THIS week I went to my local supermarket to get my meat order. Like hairdressers and taxi drivers (hope I am not giving away professional secrets!) they are good sources of information. As we were chatting away the conversation turned to the economic situation. She said “you would never guess, I have a client who would order a kilo of chicken a week, now it is down to half a kilo and she has a family of five. No-one buys beef anymore it is all pork. No, times are hard.” I was just about to change my order to a kilo of whale meat, when I thought to myself but the Prime Minister says that everything is OK and that savings will be safeguarded and there is no reason to be alarmed. So I kept my usual order and headed towards the cold meat section. “I don´t suppose you want ham this week, because afterall no-one is buying it anymore. I have got some very nice spam if you want it.” So I finally left the supermarket feeling rather depressed and vowing to cancel Sunday lunch at a restaurant and just stay at home and bury my savings (yes, the money is mine!) in the garden. The moral of this story is that the government can say what it likes but until supermarket staff are on their side they are going to have a difficult time convincing everyone that everything is well. And the women with the chicken, well it turns out that her husband and two children were away!