We are used these days to hearing all kinds of details of the private lives of strangers who seem oblivious to the fact that their end of a conversation on a mobile phone is audible to many more than just the person they think they are talking to.
In the early days when the mobile brick was just a tool of the businessman on the move, most often on a train, one got used to hearing desperate attempts to avert disaster, to deal with a cash flow problem of a type with which the holder seemed all too familiar – the cheque is in the post, the bank says the money was transferred yesterday, cant you despatch the goods now, the cash is on its way …
Then we had what seems to have become slightly less common – an excruciatingly detailed account of how blisteringly plastered a young woman got at the weekend; either they are learning discretion or the behaviour is increasingly confined to high days & holidays – I spent way too much money on New Years Eve.
I have been noticing a new one recently. People who obviously do not have a big financial cushion negotiating short term gifts or loans, getting friends, family, partners to tide them over the weekend.
And it seems to be much more likely to be a woman helping out a man.
Well they do say that this recession has cut more male than female jobs.
But what about all the benefits that are available these days to help hard working families?
At least two people who rang Jeremy Vine about unclaimed benefits this week said they had to ask their accountants to fill in the complicated forms. So much easier just to phone a friend.
