Britain is even moodier in 2008. As we mentioned on the front page, the issues on which we could close the door with greater ease have been superseded by a far more insidious beast : the rising cost of living. We found a real sense of unease in our groups – the sense that the economic downturn was starting to bite. Austerity and frugality look set to be the watchwords over the months to come.
In Moody Britain, the prequel to this project, we coined the term ‘arking’. We devised this after noticing that whilst Britons found the bigger picture quite scary, the smaller things – the things in their personal ‘arks’, such as family, friends and treasured objects – were pretty good.
As the bigger picture looks more and more uncertain, so consumers begin to retreat further and further into their personal spheres, battening down the hatches, closing the blinds and looking after ‘me and mine’. Perturbed by an outside world of turmoil, they are withdrawing to the sanctuary of their own personal havens. There has, however, been one significant change to the ‘arking’ concept over the last year. If in 2007 our arks protected us, in 2008 we must protect our arks.
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