Britain is hooked on Halloween and Traitors – and that’s a recession indicator

Halloween has become big business, and Celebrity Traitors proves it. But this cultural obsession reveals something very wrong with the British economy, writes Matt Kenyon Just after 8pm last Saturday, it struck me that every single person on the Northern line train to Tooting was not just in a Halloween costume, but in an elaborate Halloween costume. We’re not talking about low-effort zombie boys with muscle-revealing t-shirt rips, or girls dressed as scary bunnies. Instead, the carriage was full of high effort, expensive and self-consciously un-flattering garb. Costumes that wouldn’t have looked out of place at Maya Jama’s Halloween party. This weekend, the ascendant TV star underwent a full transformation, helped by an extensive team, to become the spitting image of Olympic gold medalist and national treasure Mo Farah. Jama proved that a step-change is complete: People are willing to put major effort, imagination and funds into dressing up for Halloween. And I mention Maya