Good morning. It is the year 6000. Humanity has abandoned its bodily form and lives on a USB stick. Sentient bipedal rats roam the earth on hoverboards. Great lava pools have replaced the oceans, and nobody knows what a tree is. Somewhere in what remains of the UK, something looks at a menu, ponders for a moment, and orders a McDonald’s cheeseburger for 99p.
Or so you might have expected until yesterday, when the fast food giant announced a change to one of those prices that seemed written in stone: after 14 years, the era of the sub-£1 cheeseburger is over. The company said it had protected consumers from increased costs for as long as it could, and the price had to go up to £1.19. There will be increases to a range of other items like McFlurrys, fries, and large meals – but it’s the totemic burger that sticks in your head.
