loans, utility bills and insurance, and also enabling them to grab the nest deals available in the market. However, the most recent edition of the newsletter, which went out on Wednesday (6 April), was more of a survival guide for millions of Brits who are struggling with the ongoing cost of living crisis. Rising energy bills are one of their key concerns, with energy and food inflation at nearly 30 per and 5 per cent, compared with the same time last year, many people have been forced to choose between eating and heating.
This is why Lewis was uncharacteristically downbeat about this week’s newsletter ‘How to Heat the Human Not the Home’, which he described as “a guide I really wish we needn’t be publishing”. “I felt sad asking my team to put this together,” he tweeted. “But my email bag is full of folk so desperate they can’t put the heat on… I wanted to try some help.”
Accordingly, the guide consists of a list of options for many consumers who can’t afford to heat their homes. It discusses, in detail, the relative effectiveness and cost of several alternatives to switching on the central heating. They range from heated insoles to hot-water bottles. It offers advice on the right clothes to wear and where to buy them most cheaply. It points out that the floor is the coldest part of the house and therefore highlights the importance of socks and suggests putting your foot up on a stool when sitting down. However, the newsletter also acknowledged the limits of ingenuity, cautioning readers of potential dangers attached to cutting off the heating if you have certain health conditions, like asthma. It advises readers to eat regularly, but admits that for some, a hot meal once a day may not be affordable, in which case, they may have to try the local food bank.
