“This has, for sure, been the worst decade for living standards certainly since the last war and probably since the 1920s,”
said Paul Johnson, director of the IFS. [BBC, 25 November 2016]

Whilst Fr Hunwicke was exercising his erudition on an Oxford shopping spree in search of spetsofai, melitzanosalata and other household essentials, I spent ‘Black Friday’ in Bluewater, Kent assessing the accuracy of the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

Needless to say, the shoeless children of indigent hop-pickers were queuing with their ration cards for handouts of boiled potatoes and spam fritters. The food hall of Marks and Spencer was predictably deserted. The ragged and dejected populace was milling angrily outside outlets like Gant, Burberry and Levi Strauss. And the vast car-parks were deserted of their Audis, Volkswagens and Toyotas.

Naturally, I blamed it on Brexit.