U.K.: 'I can't ... afford a holiday. I've never felt so badly off'

From The Times, London March 11, 2008 Fran Yeoman Soaring gas and petrol prices, higher council tax and bigger supermarket bills are the recurring themes among comments posted on Times Online by people responding to our interactive survey about the state of the economy. Nearly 2,500 people contributed to the survey and many took up the invitation to add their comments about what most worried them. One ageing man contributed this: "Income tax, council tax crippling me. Single income family, elderly wife at home, two children at university. No disposable income whatsoever after all expenditure. Minimal heating. One pint in a pub a year. Last holiday 1998. Car 13 years old. Last restaurant meal 2000." Not everyone was pessimistic. Alistair Leathwood, from Buckinghamshire, argued that pessimism could be the problem. “I think we are in danger of talking ourselves into a recession/downturn,” he wrote. “The media need stories to be exciting because we, the readers, demand it. Smile! It’s all going to be all right!” Read the TIMES feature © Copyright 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd.