20th November:

First it was home decoration, then it was property development and now it is debt. Debt is the new reality TV rock and roll. Watch in awe as a whole barrel-load of unfortunates up to their ears in hock are wheeled out in front of our stern-faced host. Grimace as their flagrant spending habits are put under the microscope and dissected. Gawp as they are chastised for their lack of book-balancing skills and cheer as they emerge from their cathartic mauling humbled and reformed characters. It’s easy to be flippant about this, but it is astonishing how much debt people can rack up on their credit cards due to some misplaced sense of entitlement. Mind you, I’m slightly old-school and was brought up believing that you shouldn’t buy things you can’t afford.

The entitlement issue is an interesting one, however. I once knew a young lady (we’ll call her Jane for the sake of it) who was in debt to the tune of almost £10,000. Jane was 26 and totally unashamed of her spending habits. In fact, her rationale was breathtaking and audacious. When queried about her excessive acquisition of comestibles, Jane simply replied thus: “I’m in the prime of my life and want to have fun. I will earn more in the future and will pay off the debit when I settle down and don’t want to go out so much. For the moment, however, I want nice clothes and jewellery and meals out, and don’t see why I shouldn’t have them”. As I said, breath-taking and audacious. Not uncommon either, I suspect.