Money Box Live: Beating the squeeze?

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Inflation may not be in double digits anymore, but it is still almost double the Bank of England's target. That means prices are rising twice as fast as they should be.

So we might have come through the cost of living crisis - but many people are still feeling its impact.

Today we're asking: how are you beating the squeeze? And, in this week of trick or treating, how are you making sure you can still afford the treats?

Presenter FELICITY HANNAH is joined by expert guests NEIL BELLAMY, consumer insights director at the market research firm NIQ, LISA WEBB, senior lawyer at the consumer champion Which? and the consumer journalist, HARRY WALLOP.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Catherine Lund, James Graham Editors: Jess Quayle, Craig Henderson Senior News Editor; Sara Wadeson (This episode was first broadcast at 3pm on Radio 4 on Wednesday 29th October).

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:07.0	Hello, I'm Emma Barnett. For most of my career, I've been on live radio, and I love it.
0:13.3	But I've always wondered, what if we'd had more time? How much deeper does the story go?
0:19.2	I remember having this very sharp thought that what you do right now, this is it.
0:24.3	This defines your life.
0:26.0	I'm ready to talk and ready to listen.
0:28.3	I'm insulted by how little the medical community is ever bothered with this.
0:33.9	Ready to talk with me, Emma Barnard, is my new podcast.
0:37.0	Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello, how are you
0:39.6	beating the squeeze? Prices are rising twice as fast as the Bank of England's target, with
0:44.4	inflation running at almost 4%. So in today's Moneybox Live podcast, we're asking how people are
0:51.3	coping. In this week of trick or treating, how can you make sure that you can
0:55.6	still afford the treats? And I thought a good way to start would be to ask people who are out
1:00.4	spending money. So I headed out to Warrington in Cheshire on a very windy Saturday night to
1:05.4	ask the people there heading to restaurants and bars whether they're feeling the squeeze
1:09.2	and how they're fighting back.
1:16.4	Less cash available these days, but we still like to enjoy ourselves and have a meal every now and again.
1:17.5	Is that what you're up to tonight?
1:19.7	Yeah, we're going out for a meal. Yeah, exactly that.
1:24.6	Do you find when you're out, are you spending less than you used to when you went out for a meal or about the same?
1:27.6	Certainly being more careful and not spending too much on food.
1:47.0	Do I think it's expensive? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's very expensive. Cost of living. Yeah. Very expensive. Yeah. Them gas prices are going right up. Bills are going up. Food's going up. Four pounds for town ponds. You think I've got that type of money. A really great tip was to get solar panels two years ago because our bills have gone from £240 a month down to £8 a month.
	...

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