There was talk a few months ago of the UK becoming a society of savers. No longer, said hopeful pundits, would the British be constantly spending on things they can't afford. Instead, they would 'deleverage' and start putting money away for the inevitable rainy days.
For a short while it looked like this might actually happen. The savings rate nipped up to around 8%. All the talk in the Sunday supplements was of the various different methods one might use to reduce their debt. But these days the omens don't look quite so good.
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