With shops and restaurants closed in the UK, we can free 14 February from commercialisation and take it back to basics
Valentine’s Day can feel like the most heartless of festive days. Your favourite restaurant is regimented into tables for two like an examination hall for romance, with whispered conversations sternly invigilated by overattentive waiters. Performative social media posts passive-aggressively alert you to a world of breakfast trays laid with rose petals and emerald earrings.
The valentine industry has become a commercial juggernaut in which love is weighed and measured in pounds and pence. In 2020, the average Brit spent £35 on Valentine’s gifts. It is no surprise that we have fallen out of love with a day when we are supposed be celebrating love.
Related: The best Valentine gift? Not having to buy one at all | Zoe Williams
Jess Cartner-Morley is associate editor (Fashion) at the Guardian
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