The other side of recession.An end to comfort shopping

I wonder whether Max Hasting's piece in the Mail will get as many adverse comments as those of Tory shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley.

Hastings is musing about the recession and considers that

Many of us have felt instinctively for years that Britain's crazy boom 'n' party existence could not continue indefinitely. The challenge is to make the best of bad times, rather than slump into despondency.

But maybe I do agree at least partly with this

The Government now wants to persuade us that it is patriotic to shop. Yet one of the worst mistakes of recent times has been to fool ourselves that the more things cost, the more fun they must be.
Our homes are crammed with meaningless rubbish which we bought simply because it was there, and we had flexible friends in our wallets.
It will hurt no one except shopkeepers if we take a holiday from comfort shopping.