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Hello, welcome to Coffee House Shots. I'm James Hill and I'm joined today by Michael Simmons

and Casey Bowles. Now, Michael, it's always a delight to see you, but today you're saying

it's terrible Tuesday. Tell us why. Yeah, well, it's not a great start to April if you're literally

anyone. And that's because overnight, the cost of living has jumped again. We've got energy

bills going up, water bills going up, broadband going up, transport fees going up, TV licenses

going up as well as a host of taxes. So there's some big council tax rises, capital gains

taxes going up, vehicle taxes going up. And if that's not enough, we'll start to feel some of the

effects of fiscal drag and the stamp duty deadline has been in past as well. So there's changes to

stamp duty making it harder and more expensive to buy and sell homes. So basically, if you're

anyone who spends any money or has to pay any bills, living your life just got a lot more expensive.

There is one exception. Yes. The one exception is if you are a pensioner, obviously,

you still pay these bills, but you're also going to see your state pension go up today.

There's also, it's worth mentioning minimum wages increasing today too. That's got benefits for

younger people because the changes are more focused at the people in the younger age. However, that's not

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