What does a walk across Liverpool reveal about the cost of living crisis?

theguardian.com:

“We’ve been here for six generations and this is the first time we’re facing a threat to our existence,” says Kevin Hewlett of Hewlett Butchers in Crosby, Liverpool, pointing to a photo of the original shop opposite the site of the Liver Building in 1859.

“Chicken prices have doubled in eight months, and we’re not alone in feeling the pinch. In the last six months the village has lost its post office and pharmacy.”

Hewlett, whose father died in the pandemic and was only able to have 10 people at the funeral, says he has lost all faith in the government to provide sufficient support amid the escalating economic crisis.

Walking the 10 miles from Bootle, an area of relative deprivation in the south of Liverpool, through Crosby and up to well-to-do Formby, north of the city, no one is immune to soaring living costs.

Since the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced on Thursday that he would be imposing a windfall tax on energy companies – a move initially suggested by Labour to ease soaring electricity and gas costs – it seems the overall mood in Liverpool is not one of relief, but of frustration that the measures were not introduced sooner.

Many residents of Bootle and surrounding areas are already having to take on second jobs, use food banks, and come out of retirement to make ends meet.

Shopping in the Strand centre, Jeanette Redmond says her disposable income has shrunk to nothing. “All the nice things are being squeezed from life,” she says, adding that as costs have increased, wages have remained stagnant. Redmond is accompanied by a friend, Ann Mills, who says that as a widow in her 70s, she is still having to work just to survive.

Further along the high street, Terrence and Julie Murphy are shopping together, and say that while