Why is it worse in the U.K.

[Thatsaturdayfeeling]

I’m British but not in the U.K. at the moment. Where I am, we also have food price increases and petrol was v high for a while, but it’s all not to the extent as the U.K…why is the U.K. in such dire straits compared to other places?

The hype around the long term effects, which I agree isn’t good, isn’t really the same as the doom and gloom and rationale for moving elsewhere (also not good) that is being portrayed.

I prefer to wait and see what the longer term (I.e. more than one week) prospects are

Not sure what you mean by huh.. It’s not that hard to get but mnhq have deleted enough of their posts showing they agree.

Anyway it’s pointless, just an angry poster losing it. Best to not engage.

It's not just the hype, it's real money £65Billion from the BoE and real detrimental effects for the UK economy.

We are not in the same position we were 10 days ago. We are weaker, poorer, more unstable and less well off than we were 10 days ago because of the Tory government. Again.

Stop with the 😡

Just give it a bit of time - I refuse to talk this country down more than others keep doing so. I am waiting to see how good it is elsewhere by comparison, and I’m not convinced it is.

Give it some time?

The Tories have had 12 years. 12 years in which time they have isolated the UK, damaged the Union, eroded our rights, practically done away with womens rights, made us poorer, made the UK less powerful, lied to us, broken the law, lied to the Queen, wreaked political chaos (4 PMs + 3? GEs in 6 years) and destroyed the economy. I'm sure there's stuff I've forgotten.

The more time they get, the more damage they do. Damn straight I'm

Oh do wind your neck in. Unless you have a Crystal ball you have no idea how the new economic plan we will work out. It might June successful! I am sure that will make you bloody miserable - so many like you happy to drive the country into the ground just to prove a point.

I feel really sorry for the conservatives. They took over when Labour drove the economy over a cliff. They were forced to take huge austerity cuts - despite this being a Labour problem, idiots blame them for this - totally inaccurately. We finally get the economy in great shape and the pandemic arrives and erases all of the savings and sacrifices, we stagger out of the pandemic only to be hit by a huge war in Europe and an energy, cost of living and Inflation crisis - we are now in a new Cold War. Nukes regularly being threatened and still we have the bbc and a relentless campaign to undermine the uk government regardless of who is in charge. It’s absolutely bloody disgusting, unforgivable.

• it might just be successful

It might be successful in the same way as if you take out a Wonga loan to bet it all on green might be successful. It is possible, but not probable.

OM Truss knows that, which is why she didn't release the OBR report.

PM Spin Lizzy Truss. Not OM.🤦‍♀️

Supermarkets and eating out in the UK has always been incredibly cheap.

When I lived in the UK I could cook fresh salmon fillets for dinner multiple times a week, eat steak etc. Even Sainsburys and Waitrose were cheap! And the M&S ready meals!

Australia is much more expensive (although possibly not for fuel and energy), but we also have much higher wages.

That’s nonsense, it’s more like $12 CAD which is around £8.

The current average retail price of chicken in Canada is $8.04 per kg…about $0.50c (or 30p) higher than it was in 2015.

The recent report that showed the 'average' family in France was £8,800 better off per year was informative. It feels tough here because it is tough. The individual/family is picking up the pieces rather than the state trying to mitigate through policy levers. Austerity was a mistake, Brexit was a mistake and policy choices have been deliberate - thus UK growth is lower than it could have been. We know that average living standards in the UK are lower than other parts of Europe, Australia, NZ etc.

UK has the lowest growth in the G7 and is the only G7 economy where the economy is not yet bigger than pre-COVID. This is a result of government policy choices.

UK also has high inequality, which inhibits growth further. This again is a policy choice.

So, things feel tough, are tough, in the UK due to lower living standards, low growth and high inequality. All are political choices. Truss' approach will help with none of these issues, so we are in for a rocky ride. You can't fool people about their own living situation, we each know the reality of our own bills and can feel the changes.

Well I’m just an illiterate common person, but I’m fucking glad I no longer live in The Netherlands. Everything there is fucking expensive and wages comparatively low. For an oft-touted utopia (with a huge energy company - sound familiar), their inflation is eye-watering and the government are just about to borrow billions to hand out to citizens. But yeh Brexit dude eh? Anyone ever shopped at Delhaize in Belgium (major supermarket) without taking out a bank loan first?

it’s naive in extremis to believe grass is greener.

Brits just love to have something to froth about
If it's not "brexit" its "cost of living crisis" always buzz words from the press

It is nothing to do with thinking the grass is greener elsewhere in my case, it is just the UK grass is far more brown and frazzled than it needs to be, due to a deliberate decision not to water it.

We can all see what has happened to us, how our wages have been stagnant long term while prices rose inexorably on essentials - genuine essentials - like transport and childcare. This has been happening for a long time.

The lack of investment in healthcare is, for example, now impacting productivity and growth as 1 in 8 UK adults are currently on a waiting list. More sick leave, less work, less growth. It is grim. I'm sure Truss' further cuts to healthcare will help...

I feel really sorry for the conservatives. They took over when Labour drove the economy over a cliff. They were forced to take huge austerity cuts - despite this being a Labour problem, idiots blame them for this - totally inaccurately. We finally get the economy in great shape and the pandemic arrives and erases all of the savings and sacrifices, we stagger out of the pandemic only to be hit by a huge war in Europe and an energy, cost of living and Inflation crisis - we are now in a new Cold War. Nukes regularly being threatened and still we have the bbc and a relentless campaign to undermine the uk government regardless of who is in charge. It’s absolutely bloody disgusting, unforgivable.

Totally agree with this. Governing during the pandemic and then the energy crisis has been a poisoned chalice.

I'm a Conservative voter but I think mistakes were made during the pandemic in terms of spending. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I don't think there was enough scrutiny of the scientific forecasts in particular which were used to drive economic policy,

I think the feeling of pessimism is natural given covid and the war in Ukraine. You end up in a rut of negative thinking. But there are good things about living in the U.K. (another thread has been extolling these from Brits who've lived elsewhere). I also feel there's a tendency for some to want Brexit to fail, rather than working together to do the best we can.

Truss and Kwarteng have taken some big risks that look poorly judged. But I'll give them six to nine months to see how it pans out. It's also worth pointing out that the Bank of England has been criticised by parts of the City for being inaccurate with their inflation forecasts and interest rate policy.

It's really not true that the economy was in 'great shape' prior to covid. The data is very clearwww.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/the-living-standards-audit-2022/

It's also highly debatable that austerity was the right remedy post the banking crisis. The IMF certainly didn't think so.
In essence government has made poor choices in pursuit of a low tax small state ideology (the recent budget being the exemplar) and that hasn't been successful in driving growth and productivity in the real economy to benefit all.

BREXIT. GOVERNMENT( over many years.)
It's what you are prepared to put up with. And put up with it you do.
You're all being taking for fools.
In France for example they would never let the government wreck the country and the government know this very well. To go on strike is almost a rite of passage and part of the country's psyche...

I am in South Africa.

Look up loadshedding. We have a schedule and and power goes off for 2 - 4 hours depending on what stage we are on. And we go off up to 3 times a day.

It is supposed to ease up next week. Let's hope.

Kissingfrogs25

“The pound has totally stabilised, mortgages are back on the shelves.”

the pound has stabilised for the time being because of a £65 billion intervention by the BoE.

It's not just the hype, it's real money £65Billion from the BoE and real detrimental effects for the UK economy

I've finally found an explanation of what the pensions issue was. Although the budget was the trigger, apparently the real failure was by the Bank of England, which was warned several years ago that pension funds were engaging in risky strategies, and did nothing to stamp it out.

www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/how-the-bank-of-england-turned-a-blind-eye-to-pensions-time-bomb-narrowly-averted-disaster-put-nest-eggs-of-10m-people-in-peril/ar-AA12uiuG?ocid=chromentpnews

Brexit!

@Getoff but people don’t want to know or understand that there were existing structural problems which was due to BOE failure to regulate.

How you can possibly quote France as being the land of milk and honey it is utterly beyond me! Paris is full of rubbish and rats - and shockingly run down. We had actual army tanks rolling down the boulevard at 2am the time before last - due to rioters. There are no go areas - so many of them - around Marseille. Their public service bill is utterly eye watering for the hopeless service it offers.
F&B sector is on its knees! Literally with no staff. This is despite being part of an EU open jobs market across the continent - similar issues with lorry drivers, cleaning staff etc etc.
Food of convenience has taken over, and many restaurants do not open for lunch anymore as people can no longer afford it.
Whilst we were there they were busy planning on scheduled planned black outs for the winter.
The food in supermarkets was of very limited choice and was extremely expensive - except for the wine of course!

A recession is coming for the whole of the Eurozone and France is behind the U.K. economically in 6th place.

Please do stop with the disinformation.
I have spent all summer in France and believe me they have huge huge problems as well!!!!