20% net optimism

↓-1pts on last week ↓-8pts on last year

24 Apr 2026

This has stopped being a bad patch and started being the temperature.

Back down to 20% again. And I know, looking at a number that barely moves doesn’t feel like a story, but the steadiness is the story.

People have moved from “when will this improve?” to “how do I manage?”

Our behavioural data reveals where Britain's minds are at: readiness for new challenges: falling. Recipe searching: dropping. Meeting friends at home: sliding. Giving to charity: declining. On their own, perhaps none of these would feel a hit – but taken together they describe nation whose energy is running dry.

The Starmer/Mandelson saga landed this week on a country that had already stopped watching. News consumption continues to fall. The response to yet another Westminster row was a collective shrug. The tank is too low for anger.

If you’re a brand planning for summer: simpler, smaller, easier. Anything that asks more of people than they’ve got will be ignored.

Based on Konfidant's weekly survey and qualitative interviews. Base: 2,000 UK adults per week.