Britain’s cost of living crisis has another potent symbol: Elsie, a 77-year-old woman who found the cheapest way to keep warm was to switch the heating off, leave home and ride the buses all day using her pensioner’s freedom pass. Her story left Boris Johnson once again flailing in the face of everyday hardship.
According to the prime minister’s interviewer, the Good Morning Britain TV presenter Susanna Reid, Elsie’s gas and electricity bill had soared from £17 to £85 a month. She was losing weight, having already cut down to just one meal a day, and shopped only in the late afternoons when price-reduced “yellow sticker” items came on sale.
