To think it’s not going to be a case of heating or eating for many families

[LadyCatStark]

We can forget heating altogether! I know it’s a nice little rhyme but for many, many families it’s going to be a case of eating or putting just enough petrol in the car to get you to work to pay all these increased costs. Eating yourself, or feeding your kids (hopefully most people will choose their kids). Eating healthily or eating cheap rubbish.

I’ve just nipped to Aldi as I had a work appointment cancel in the area and spent £40 just on the few bits I needed, not even a proper shop. I could have cried that I’d driven even just the 15 minutes to my appointment and it was cancelled and every drop of fuel counts.

@LakieLady agreed to both points. At one level my post was pedantic and a windfall tax/instruction to a state entity/price cap are all state intervention though I suppose if an MP is unsympathetic, inaccuracy might give them an excuse to do nothing. The other dimension is that a more emotive case might resonate with some Conservative MPs based on your post - [MP], do you agree poor people in the UK should be more impoverished to subsidise the French government and French consumers?

Daily showers are simply not necessary. My late father had one bath a week, the rest of the time he just washed at the basin. He never smelled and was always neat and tidy.

Maybe ok for certain adults. Not so much for teens going through puberty with greasy hair and BO despite wearing strong deodorant. And my dc have hobbies that involve getting smelly and muddy. I'll starve before I make them give those up. It enriches their life so much

@BoredZelda

So that's why everywhere else is feeling the pinch too is it?

This was the argument when people were claiming brexit had nothing to do with the trucker shortage.

There are issues everywhere, but those in the U.K. are exacerbated by the cost of brexit. And much of the brexit issues have also been hidden by Covid. Very fortunate for those who want to continue to pretend it has been a roaring success.

This. Those that Voted for this sh*t show (still waiting for the benfits btw) are still burying their heads. Its done us so much harm, but those with money don't give a toss. Sickening.

@GrazingSheep

This is an entirely foreseeable consequence of Brexit.

I’m pretty sure it’s an entirely unforseeably consequence of war in Europe

You know the prices all went up before the war started.

What gets me about fuel prices is today's oil price has dropped £30 dollars a barrel since Sunday night on the forecourt price hasn't gone down but they are fast enough to increase prices ( PROFIT FIRST AS ALWAYS)

@GrazingSheep

This is an entirely foreseeable consequence of Brexit.

I’m pretty sure it’s an entirely unforseeably consequence of war in Europe

The cost of living crisis was here long before the Ukraine crisis, but of course the Tories will blame everything on the Ukraine war.

@GrazingSheep

This is an entirely foreseeable consequence of Brexit.

I’m pretty sure it’s an entirely unforseeably consequence of war in Europe

Things are increasing rapidly here in the Republic of Ireland too, food, oil, diesel... And now covid is also starting to increase tenfold as well...

Brexit is the main reason for this , yes familie and friends abroad are seeing a increase due to covid but not to this extend. We have family all over Portugal Cyprus , Spain , France , USA , Africa and none of the costs are as bad as here . Covid and teh eat would make it worse but they would also hide the true reason

@Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase

People died in the 70s because of cold. Older people are particularly susceptible and many of them won’t have the means to pay these massive bills.

Did they? I don't remember that and I was a complete news junkie.

Brexit ? Surely we are over that nonesense now . Why keep bringing it up as if it’s the only cause of all the worlds ill’s ?
Across the continent of Europe people are struggling with higher energy costs , higher fuel costs and also strangely enough our European friends have strived through a shortage of HGV drivers . I think covid has had a massive impact on costs , raw materials have been affected for over two years (particularly timber ) , now we have a war in a country that supplies huge amounts of food ingredients- that are now being restricted for export .

We are all so spoilt. Just put a bloody jumper on.

@Thebestwaytoscareatory

I’m pretty sure it’s an entirely unforseeably consequence of war in Europe

No, this is an entirely foreseeable consequence of allowing a tiny minority of elitist cunts to rule us. In 2022 there is absolutely zero reason for anyone to be struggle other than protecting a bunch of arseholes wealth. I can only hope that the masses will waken up to the fact that those at the top contribute fuck all anymore and overthrow them to create a more equal society. Unfortunately I fear the reality will be for us to bury our heads and pretend nothing is wrong, all in the vain hope that somehow "we" will become one of "them".

Absolutely this. I despair at how many people just cannot (don't want to) see it and will continue to vote based on what their newspapers tell them, disregarding the reality of their own situation. And as for the contempt they have for other people's struggles.... I fucking hate the thinking of so many people atm incl. friends and family I otherwise generally like.

Bideshi I believe it’s counted in the ‘excess winter deaths’ figures. Available online.

@MilkTwoSugarsThanks

This is an entirely foreseeable consequence of Brexit.

And I'm pretty sure Brexit has nothing to do with global wholesale energy prices.

I agree with this ^

@Ionlydomassiveones

And yet I heard an MP on radio 4 today saying he didn’t need his income as an mp but if say, a GP on £100k+ (“perhaps with a mortgage and children”) were to enter the House of Parliament they shouldn’t have to drop down to a measly £84k. As if the mere idea of existing in £84k was unthinkable. (I imagine because in his mind the basic standard would be a large mortgage somewhere expensive and his kids would need school fees etc etc)

I thought - if I found a fiver I’d think I’d won the bloody lottery. It made me so sad to think that there are MPs supposedly representing us who simply have no idea. The man sounded lovely but clearly a product of privilege and unintended snobbery. So depressing.

I actually did find a fiver and cry last week. I'm crying now writing this. I don't know how we're going to cope. We're in a small house, no cars. We've no belts to tighten.

Get to know when your local supermarket marks down their food, ask if necessary. I was the luckiest I’ve been in a long time in Sainsbury’s and got 3 x packs of chicken fillets for 99p (two in the pack) 2 x packs of chicken thighs (two in the pack) for 79p each. The lady was doing all the meat but I didn’t have time to wait for the red meat sadly 😭

I also got 2 x whole chickens for 50% off.

I’m
Lucky that I’ve not needed to do a proper shop for a while and I won’t for a while but I noticed yesterday that a week ago 12 tons of cat food was £5.40 and now it’s £5.88, just cat food, in a week. Fuel has gone to over £1.80 a litre. Car insurance down by £4 a month, contents insurance up by £3 a month. Gas and electricity up by £64 a month… wages up by nothing… I don’t know what we will do… 😞

Well it is going to be a very miserable state of affairs - not just in the UK but globally. I am a pensioner and I am just about breaking even presently at the end of the month. I literally have nothing left after bills and food, and I honestly don't know what I am going to do when the food prices increase and the energy costs increase. I may have to do myself in. Just can't see how I am going to manage this. the war in the Ukraine is making the Brexit debacle even worse, I think we are going to witness starvation, sickness and civil unrest. be Ok for the rich, they will absorb this easily but the poor will die. I am afraid that is the blunt truth.

@Mfsf

Brexit is the main reason for this , yes familie and friends abroad are seeing a increase due to covid but not to this extend. We have family all over Portugal Cyprus , Spain , France , USA , Africa and none of the costs are as bad as here . Covid and teh eat would make it worse but they would also hide the true reason

Reading this in NZ and I can assure you that our living costs have shot up since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Petrol up by $1 (from $2.25 to $3.30) within 2 weeks and was expected to hit $4 a litre until govt made emergency tax cut last night.

Also halved cost of public transport for 3 months.

People literally quitting jobs bc they cannot afford to travel to work.

Cost of butter up from $5 - $6.50 again, literally in the space of two weeks. Again we should see an adjustment once tax relief kicks in.

Across the continent of Europe people are struggling with higher energy costs , higher fuel costs and also strangely enough our European friends have strived through a shortage of HGV drivers

I know quite a bit about France - Electricity prices capped at 4%, EDF and others hit with windfall tax.
fuel prices cut by 15 cents per litre.
HGV driver shortage is approx half what ours is.

EU consumers in many countries are benefitting from far wider energy price controls... why aren't we?
We will be forced to pay back £20 per month whether we got it or not, as energy costs rocket :(

Now all of the above can be argued as nowt to do with Brexit but the EU is now looking to introduce price controls... Price controls we will not be able to benefit from, UK importers also face extra import costs & delays with non tariff duty, which are passed on to the UK consumer.

I remember years ago when my kids were small my friend had an electric meter that you put coins in , she used to ask her kids if they wanted lights , heat or telly. They always chose the tv. Bless ‘em

I think it will be different for two age groups -
I’m in my 50s and remember a bath twice a week, washing at a freezing sink etc and I had middle class professional parents. One room very warm, rest of house so cold and hot water bottles / then electric blankets at bedtime. We ate out maybe twice a year and I played tennis when I was 13 but not much other than books and hanging out with friends before that.

My kids on the other hand have everything. They won’t know what’s hit them when I turn the heating massively down/off.

I’m not sure how the country is going to cope - and we just don’t have proper safety nets in place for so many people.

For generations people in the UK have been enjoying a subsidised existence. Weve exploited the environment, weve exploited people in other countries, all to improve our standard of living without paying the real cost of what we consume. Well now the party's over and the bills are coming due. It's hard to argue that we dont deserve it.

Regarding energy bills on France people are prepared to protest and riot here we accept the shit that is given to us by Tory toffs