It's not just the poorest who will be stuffed with the cost of living this Christmas

Columnist Keir Mudie says shocking cost of living hikes will affect millions of us as Christmas approaches, and government must come up with great ideas to avoid terrible suffering

Christmas shoppers - but many will struggle to afford even the essentials this year (

Image: Echo of Liverpool)

There are people doing their Christmas shopping. I am not joking. It's August. I had heard of this thing but had never seen it.

We were talking about it in the pub the other night and then someone told me that August – AUGUST – is late for this stuff now. Some people start in the spring. Incredible.

What are people buying? Gifts, decorations, turkeys? How does it work?

It always feels like a long way from Christmas. I have always been a previous week trader. A memorable year, the night before, after a failed delivery. Walking up and down a crowded Oxford Street, desperate for presents. It scarred me for life. Never again.

But people's plans are surely changing now. With, you know, what's to come. Hard times.

Simon Clarke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, made this point earlier in the year, saying people shouldn't find themselves in the mood to buy today because things will be more expensive later.

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As inflation soars, the cost of filling a shopping cart is higher than ever (

Picture:

Bloomberg via Getty Images)

I keep trying not to be a disaster in this column - I don't want to ruin anyone's Sunday or anything like that, take you away from your cornflakes or ruin football for you - and it is useless to talk about what we already know.

But, you know, energy prices. That makes Christmas a long way away.

Right now, we are seeing a country coming to terms with itself. Strikes are...