I recently recorded a video diary for a TV news item. It involved a week in which my family and I would try and cut back on the use of plastic in our home. The TV producers wanted to underline to viewers just how much single-use plastic we throw away.

Politicians love families. Or, at least, they say they do. Listen to a budget speech, or Prime Minister's Questions, and you will hear one phrase repeated ad nauseum; "hard-working families". Three pithy words, with one objective