HAMSTERS have burrowed their way into the nation’s shopping baskets, taking their place for the first time in an official list of widely bought products.

People trying to keep up with the times need to buy one of the furry creatures, along with laptops, leather sofas, wrapping paper and Botox, according to the list, which is used to measure inflation.

The line-up, published yesterday, covers a “shopping basket” of about 650 popular goods, whose prices are monitored every month by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for its Consumer Price Index, the measure of inflation used to set interest rates.

Once a year, statisticians rejig the contents of the basket to keep in step with the economy, giving an insight into our evolving spending habits. So it’s goodbye to plastic patio sets and hello to wooden patio sets, which are increasingly popular.

Similarly, leather settees have replaced upholstered settees in the nation’s affection. Out go baguettes, corned beef, powdered baby formula and diet-aid drinks; in come prepacked vegetables, fizzy bottled drinks and frozen chicken nuggets.

The price of a small pet — typically, a hamster — is also on the shopping list, the first time that any live animal has been included since the index began in 1947.

Hamster breeders were not surprised. There has been growing demand in the past year. While most hamsters are given to children and family friends, usually they cost about £7. Some varieties, such as Roborovski dwarf hamsters, can fetch up to £10.

Peter Logsdail, of the National Hamster Council, said: “A lot of young people are moving into flats or multioccupier accommodation, where it would be impractical to have a dog or a cat. We’re noticing a significant increase in inquiries from people between 20 and 30 and young married couples.”

The list shows the growing importance of services, rather than goods, in the nation’s spending habits. Chiropractors’ fees join this year’s list, as do fees for private surgery, such as facelift operations. Fees for home deliveries, solicitors, gardeners, carpenters and care assistants are also included.

The cost of a single night in a hotel room is also included in the calculations for the first time, reflecting the increase in spending disposable income on weekend breaks. Other new trends picked up by the survey include the growth in self-storage space and DVDs purchased on the internet.

Cycle helmets and smoke alarms have left the list this year, in a potentially worrying indication that those items might be losing popularity. Other items that are no longer sufficiently widely bought to merit inclusion include food processors, children’s shirts and single-serve cat food.

However, a spokesman for the ONS said, “changes to the basket will reflect evolving consumer tastes, but only over a long run of years”. Some of the changes on the list are also made for technical reasons.

The spokesman added: “It’s a market where expenditure is of a level that would merit its inclusion in the index, and it improves our coverage of that particular classification.”

So if you want to follow the crowd, please, don’t dress your children in dungarees: jeans are far more fashionable. The same goes for shorts. And your kids can throw out their slippers. Nobody buys them any more.

THEN AND NOW

What we bought in 1947

• Lamp oil
• Prunes
• Iron bedstead
• Gramophone record
• Rubber roller table mangle
• Whisky nip
• Rayon blouse
• Cod-liver oil
• Corned beef

  What we are buying in 2005

• Digital camcorder
• Champagne
• Mobile phone handsets
• Gemstone ring
• Staff restaurant sandwich
• Cinema popcorn
• Gas barbecue
• Concert ticket
• Hamster

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