The poet TS Eliot famously proclaimed April to be the “cruellest month”. Writing after surviving a pandemic – the Spanish flu of 1918 – he was referring to the familiar (often misguided) sense of hope that traditionally accompanies the arrival of spring.
From an economic perspective, April 2022 looks like it will be especially cruel. For despite the seasonal flowers and fairer weather, the cost of living crisis casts a gloomy cloud over millions of UK households.
