Labour's tax raids mean even the uber-rich like me are cutting back - we're having to sack the private chef and do our own laser facials!
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While dithering over chocolates in Harrods Food Halls, a sales assistant told me slimmed-down versions of the usual 200g boxes were available for the first time. Three chocolates, approximately 20g, tucked into little gold boxes with bows at £5 each. 'Is this because everyone, except me, is eating healthily?' I groan. 'It's just the economy,' he shrugs.
![[Charlotte recently attended a charity lunch at Claridge's in London, where she paid £350 for three courses and a little virtue signalling]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/29/15/93558999-14233729-image-a-54_1735485694644.jpg)
Global luxury sales fell by 3.3 per cent in November compared with an increase of 2.6 per cent at the same time in 2023. With the exception of the pandemic, sales have never been worse for personal luxury goods such as designer clothes, handbags and watches – the stock-in-trade of the uber wealthy.
![[Charlotte skipped her laser facials this year. These use radio frequency and electromagnetic pulses and promise better-than-Botox results. Though at £2,500 for four – the minimum recommended for lasting results – they aren't entirely painless, she says (picture posed by models)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/29/15/93559003-14233729-image-a-55_1735485762020.jpg)
I'm not surprised. In my corner of Kensington the usually armour-plated upper classes are scrambling for cover after Labour hiked taxes by a record £40billion. The Government's raids on fees at elite private schools, inherited wealth and private-jet travel means multi-millionaire misery is resulting in much more than a few Etonians complaining about higher fees for their children's education.
![[Nigella Lawson's buttermilk roast chicken is a popular main for a kitchen supper in The Boltons - the super-rich South Kensington enclave]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/29/15/79047405-14233729-Nigella_Lawson_s_buttermilk_roast_chicken_is_a_popular_main_for_-m-64_1735487114733.jpg)
The effects have been especially felt at a time of year so associated with excess. In London, chauffeur-driven cars continue to snake around Berkeley Square and white truffle is on offer at restaurants in Knightsbridge at £25 per gram. Labour's Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves hiked taxes by a record £40billion, with raids on fees at elite private schools, inherited wealth and private-jet travel.
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