Comment: Price crunch

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What the details show that is that as people cut back on extras that they buy in better times - CDs and the like - the prices of the essentials matter more. And those are rising fast, a fact partially hidden by the slower price hikes on discretionary items that make up the official basket of goods used for measuring inflation. Meanwhile, last week's announcement of higher gas and electricity prices is adding to the pain of high fuel and food costs: one member of our panel will face monthly energy bills of almost £100 from next month - before even switching the central heating on.

The personal stories these Londoners tell bring home only too painfully why it is that,even though the economy is not officially in recession, the economic gloom is infecting voters - and hitting the high street especially. It is all very well for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to blame international economic conditions, commodity prices rises and the like. That may be true, but it does not ease the pain for ordinary consumers - nor their sense that the Government has no real answer to the crisis.