Helen Martin: How we're all cutting costs to make ends meet

NELL McANDREW just pipped me to the post. Okay, so you are struggling to see how I could possibly have been in the running against a gorgeous, 30-something model with a svelte figure and pneumatic boobs who has just become the new Ultimo girl. I can understand that.

However, I'm referring to the fact that she's just done "it". My appointment is booked but she's already made the leap from blonde to brown.

I don't know what motivated Nell but for me it's a simple matter of economics. Being a bottled blonde is expensive if you don't want to look as if you've dipped your head in a bucket of Domestos. You need salon expertise which costs a minimum of £70 or £80 every six or seven weeks. But go back to brown and once the underlying blonde has grown out, you can DIY with a £10 Davina McCall job to cover the grey.

Just another little economy to add to the growing list of ways Britons are finding to save money. And it's a hell of a long list, according to research by a consumer website.

Penny-wise brides have snapped up £15 wedding dresses from M&S who are trying to clear old stock. More than 75 per cent of Britons have cut down on eating out and the latest statistics show that 20 million have stopped regular visits to the pub.

Private gym membership has seen a 21 per cent fall and one in four people now take a packed lunch to work. Holiday cancellations are also up.

Asda is reporting an increase in sales of cheaper cuts of meat and a big casserole comeback, with sales of slow cookers and pressure cookers up by 86 per cent. M&S food sales are down by almost six per cent as shoppers head for the likes of Lidl, and overall there's a 25 per cent shift to own-brand products. It's reckoned Britons have saved almost £3 billion since the start of the year.

One could argue that this is a good thing and a welcome change from people wasting their money on profligate spending.

Unfortunately it's taken a financial disaster to bring us to our senses and we are probably entering a new age with a completely different script for businesses, retailers and service industries who can no longer rely on folk flinging money around like confetti.

There are exceptions. Take the BBC, which spent £81,000 entertaining 170 guests at Wimbledon. That was preceded by a £68,000 bill for corporate hospitality at Glastonbury. It spent £3 million on business and first class flights in the last year, which isn't really surprising when you bear in mind how often it duplicates efforts, sending several reporting and technical teams from London, regional and radio departments to one event.

Or take the Scottish Parliament, where politicians have just had their taxi allowance effectively increased. Despite MSPs conducting a witch-hunt a few years ago over David McLetchie and Brian Monteith allegedly claiming taxis to which they were not entitled, the cross-party Corporate Body has now said no justification is necessary for journeys up to £20 and has scrapped sanctions to deal with excessive bills. The top fare without justification used to be £12. Apparently it's been raised to take account of inflation between 2003 and today.

Hands up anyone else who has had an 80 per cent rise in travelling expenses from their employers, or who can spend £20 without explaining to their boss why it was necessary.

While we are busy economising, both these organisations are happy to go on spending because they are also dealing with our money.

In good times we might be prepared to turn a blind eye. But in times like these we should at least be able to expect the BBC and our government to be sufficiently in tune with public feeling to tighten their belts until their voices squeak.

Both have the nerve to expound on how greedy bankers' bonuses should be stopped. Too true. But throwing stones from a glass house is never advisable.

Changing lanes
The worst idea in the last week comes from Tory councillor Jason Rust, who wants fast and slow lanes for pedestrians in Edinburgh. He reckons it will allow busy workers to charge along Princes Street unimpeded by strollers, window-shoppers, tourists, the elderly and anyone else who slows them up.

A better way of fragmenting the community and encouraging intolerance and impatience I simply cannot imagine.

Dish the dirt

The best advice in the last week comes from scientists in California who have proved that children with pets have fewer days off school and suffer less from allergies and asthma.

Over-sanitising children is plain foolishness, the preserve of silly, Hyacinth Buckets who think animals are "dirty" and everything has to be disinfected. It's come to a pretty pass when I quote soap powder adverts but, as Persil says, "dirt is good".