23% net optimism

↓-2pts on last week ↓-7pts on last year

5 Jun 2026

Net optimism sits at 23% this week – seven points down on last year. The brief lift from the May bank holiday has already gone. The weather turned, and the comedown shows in the wardrobe: shorts bought for a summer that hasn't arrived, a garden weeded for evenings nobody's sitting in. Familiar worries have moved back into view. Half-term showed what comes next. Families went out less than last year, while affordable ways to fill the days kept shrinking. The pressure to create memories remains. The budget and energy to deliver them have weakened. Six weeks of school summer holidays now look like a long stretch of repetition.

Work brings little protection. Fear of the job market continues to rise, and job security now matters more than career progression. People are focused on staying useful and employed. The sharpest anxiety sits in the squeezed middle – families earning £30,000 to £50,000 whose lives were built around stable salaries, mortgages, childcare, car finance and other fixed commitments. They carry more locked-in spend than lower-income families, and fewer safety nets when income drops.

That changes spending. Holidays move back. Major purchases wait. Restaurants and hobbies lose out.

Households are cutting deeply to preserve the life they already have.

The mood carries a wider risk. Trust in institutions keeps falling, leaving people quicker to assume failure, unfairness or neglect. Pressure needs an outlet, and when none appears, a mistake or scandal can turn private frustration into a public flashpoint.

The World Cup could provide one. Excitement has softened as late kick-offs push more games onto the sofa – the closer it gets, the more we picture ourselves at home, not in the crowd. Brands can still build the ritual: the group chat, the next-day conversation, the easy reason to gather.

What should brands do?

Protect the middle – with flexible pauses, cheaper tiers and graceful ways to scale back.

Stay above suspicion – through clear prices and decisions you'd happily explain.

Give people an outlet – moments that feel affordable, social and worth showing up for.

Source: Konfidant Mood of the Nation, 5 June 2026, base 1,954