(Though perhaps this is not automation proper the supermarket has just shifted some of the work of shopping onto the customer.)

In recent years men have begun to perform an increasing number of tasks that used to be stereotypically female (like doing the shopping).

This underlying debility has been masked by high energy prices, which, over the 14 years of President Vladimir Putin s rule, have allowed Russia to combine the features of a kleptocracy with per capita income growth sufficient to quell dissent and create a shopping mad middle class.