I now know several people who have been made redundant, and have seen the boarding up of large sections of the local town centre. Unemployment is rising, Arthur Scargill was on the radio last week, the shoulder pad is back, and so are Spandau Ballet. Besides the return of the 1980s, the recession is also adversely affecting the sex lives of some men:
As men, fearful for their jobs and marriages, seek to cut back on their assets and expenditures, mistresses are facing a cull. A recent survey reports that nearly half of analysts, stockbrokers and hedge-fund managers are preparing to let the other woman go. There’s no doubt about it: these are bad times for the good time girls.
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“A few months ago I promised my mistress a breast enhancement and liposuction as a gift,” says one City worker. “Now I can only afford one or the other.”