Strikes are not the only 1970s comeback. Take hire purchase (HP) payments. These are enshrined in the era’s culture as surely as the bulky TV that dominated British suburban living rooms. Financing, like electronics, has changed massively in the ensuing half century. But there’s a retro vibe to the current crop of offerings, like start-up Raylo’s “lease and reuse” subscription model.
Falling electronics prices did for the likes of Radio Rentals, a staple of high streets and HP purveyor of TVs and video recorders. In 1968 a typically tasteless console, half as wide as its modern iteration and multiple times deeper, cost £304 and 10 shillings — over £4,500 in today’s money. That would now buy at least four top of the range smart TVs or 40-odd smaller ones.