“Crisis? What Crisis? Just open another bottle of champers, darling, and a very Happy New Year!” It may seem unlikely given the economic climate, but sales of premium champagne brands such as Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot and Dom Pérignon are soaring. Rocketing sales were reported in the City of London just a few months back as bankers celebrated the biggest bonus season since before the 2008 global financial crisis. And it seems that the boom keeps on booming, with Moët Hennessy’s chief executive, Philippe Schaus, reporting that stocks were actually running low in the company’s network of cellars that stretch seventeen miles under the town of Epernay in the Champagne region. He said the leap in demand since the peak of the Covid pandemic was so big that internally the company was referring to the current high as the “Roaring Twenties”, like the economic prosperity – for some – of a century ago. And it’s not just the champers market that’s enjoying a bottle-popping boom. Luxury goods companies across the world are reporting whopping sales in everything from designer-label clothing and handbags to top-of-the-range watches and supercars. The surge in luxury goods sales to the rich is said to be especially strong in Europe, the United States and Japan, and analysts reckon it will continue for the rest of the decade, despite the global economic turbulence.

But as the richest get richer and enjoy ever more luxurious lifestyles, 2023 promises only more of what’s gone before for the majority. After the lows and lowers of 2022, millions will be happy to wave goodbye to the old year, while very tentatively welcoming in the new. The Bank of England forecasts that the UK faces its longest recession since records began, and warns of a two-year slump, with unemployment set to nearly double by 2025. Not the best of starts, particularly as Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and his chancellor, Jeremy Hunt continue to bang on about policies that will “restore stability”. Those policies might arguably make a difference in the long term, and taking the cynical view, a small upturn in everyone’s fortunes is likely just before the scheduled General Election in 2024. But as the UK suffers the biggest slump in living standards since records began back in the 1950s, most Brits are desperate for some small signs that 2023 won’t just be a year to endure rather than enjoy. Otherwise, the coming twelve months threaten to be a very long time for those suffering the worst effects of the cost-of-living crisis. So, new year resolutions? “Grin and bear it”. “Keep your chin up”. Hardly inspiring, but then those passing through the revolving door of government have hardly been inspirational during 2022. Perhaps the best to hope for is that our politicians resolve to make a better job of 2023 than they did of 2022. It doesn’t seem too much to ask, and we can all drink to that.