Why I'll never buy a round of drinks for more than three people again!

'That will be £64.50, madam!’ said the young man serving me. I nearly fainted.

Nope, I wasn’t buying a smart Dualit toaster, a new duvet, or even the weekly groceries. This was the total for a round of drinks for seven people at a fancy bar in Liverpool last November, following a jam-packed professional conference.

True, a number of my companions were drinking Aperol Spritz, the bright amber concoction drunk in fashionable circles, but they’re mixed with prosecco and soda water, not solid gold leaf. Others were on double vodka and tonics, while Muggins here was having a humble glass of house red wine.

In my head, I’d been braced for closer to half the total, which would still have stung my pocket in these inflationary times. It proved a bit of a landmark moment for me.

I realised that as a single-wage household (my husband’s only income is the State Pension) with two teens, where my yearly earnings have never hit the threshold needed to register for VAT but can veer into the 40 per cent tax bracket, I am the living epitome of the squeezed middle. And right now we lemon-like middles hear our squeezed pips rattling every time we step out of the door.

So, no, I cannot and will not buy a round if the number of people exceeds three. If it’s more than that, not only will several of them inevitably slope off before their own round, but there’s no way I’m shelling out on martinis, ‘fizz’ and blood orange gin while I sip a small glass of house cabernet.

In fact, I stand with the Manchester University academic who recently offered a trigger warning to students when the topic of buying rounds cropped up in his sociology lecture.

While it initially sounds like the wokerati gone mad — young people can’t handle the stress of getting a