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?

Yes there is a deep dive analysis of this in FT this week if you are interested in reading more. It amazes and infuriates me that the likes of the bbc refuse to cover the real reasons why we are in this position.

I can’t find any info re countries limited to four hours electricity a day?

Yesterday's Guardian -

‘This is hell’: two years and no power in Europe’s largest shantytown.
In the Cañada Real, close to Madrid, residents adapt to survive, but there is fear as they look ahead to winter.

the 1,800 children who live in the area adapted, learning to do their homework by torchlight or candlelight or in the family car.

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/01/europe-shantytown-canada-real-madrid-spain

The UK has more than 2500 foodbanks. Do we win?

Apparently not -

2021
Latest figures show that while the 24,242 tons redistributed to charities from supermarkets in the UK marks an improvement on four years ago, it pales when compared to France, Spain and Italy, where food surplus donations are four to five times higher.

Data obtained from Carrefour, the second largest supermarket group in France with a 20 per cent market share, shows that in 2020 they donated 30,371 tons of food from their French supermarkets, the equivalent of 72 million meals – meaning a single French supermarket exceeded the donations of all 10 UK supermarkets by more than 6,000 tons.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/french-supermarket-uk-food-waste-b1807926.html

There have been a lot of Britain is crap/I'm leaving the country posts recently.

It does feel there is a clear political agenda behind some of them, to talk us down/de-stabilise further/set people against each other.

Times are certainly tough at the moment, I will celebrate as much as anyone when the Tories are booted out, and thankfully the end is now in sight.

However, I would still not want to live anywhere else in the world, good luck to those who want to leave, hope it works out.

@Kissingfrogs25

As a long term French resident Brit I'm calling BS or at the very least some serious exaggeration when it comes to your summer in Paris.

I was there for some time in the last few months and Paris certainly generally didn't appear run down in the areas I was in or overrun by rats and rubbish.

As for actual army and tanks etc on the street - you do realise that the Genadarmerie/CRS etc are part of the armed forces, but even given that no, I don't believe for one minute there were actually Main Battle Tanks (tracks, big guns tec) used in crowd control.....that's putting it politely utter fiction...there were OTOH a few tracked vehicles around for the Bastille Day celebrations - maybe you were confused by that.

There is inflation here, fuel for road vehicles isn't cheap but is capped by government action, similarly for energy prices are more capped than the UK...

lannistunut
UK has the lowest growth in the G7

30 September 2022

Britain's economy grew by 0.2% in the three months to June, reversing the initial estimate of a 0.1% contraction, official figures show.

The upward revision of the second quarter GDP by the Office for National Statistics implies the UK is not in recession, as predicted by the Bank of England earlier this month.

news.sky.com/story/uk-economy-grows-by-0-2-reversing-initial-contraction-estimate-12708043

27 September 2022

Germany’s economy is on course to suffer the worst contraction in the G20, apart from Russia, and lead the eurozone into a downturn caused by inflation driven by surging energy prices, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned.

In its latest interim forecast, the OECD slashed its global growth forecasts and projected that the German economy would shrink by 0.7 per cent of GDP next year, a 2.4 percentage-point downgrade from its last forecast in June and second only to the downturn in Russia’s sanctions-hit economy.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/german-economy-set-to-shrink-by-0-7-as-gas-prices-surge-warns-oecd-l03kg6fnf

Low productivity.

Caused by low wage economy created by Labour, sustained by the Tories. Low wages topped up with welfare, subsidizing employers, disincentivizing them from automating and increasing productivity.

Are you actually saying I am lying?

None of this is breaking news to anyone that is actually staying or living in Paris. It was in almost ever paper most weeks about the anger from residents regarding the rats and rubbish collections!!! I personally didn't see a rat, but there was a great deal of rubbish, graffiti and non desirables hanging out even in the most affluent of areas.

As for the tank - yes there was real tank - and it was bloody shocking to see. So I don't know how you can say it wasn't there, both my mother and I were kept awake with the racket.

You are clearly burying your head in the sand about the social issues in France, not to mention the lack of staff, the lack of service and general malaise and anger. We have a great deal of French friends, and they are very open about it. It is only here people become all precious about it. Every western country is facing similar issues including France!

Oh hello @Clavinova - wondered when you would turn up!

Everyone who can count knows the UK has had shit growth for a very long time. Your PM is on TV talking about how shit UK growth has been for a long time.

The issue is Truss is about to make it worse with her mad policies not better.

I'd certainly say you are exaggerating when you try to paint a picture of Paris and France being on it's knees, in the same way as you have accused others of doing with regard to the UK.

It's pretty standard for rubbish to go out on the streets to be collected, not pretty at times I agree at times, but it doesn't mean Paris is on it's knees. I've seen rats in parts of London..doesn't mean London is on it's knees either.

And as for the "tank"..well I'll be polite enough to not accuse you of lying but I'm really struggling to believe for one minute you saw a "tank" helping out with riot control on the streets of Paris. TBF you I would say most journalists don't know what a tank is why should most of the general public have a scooby? Also the French authorities do very very occasionally use some fairly beefy water cannon etc, maybe that's what you saw, but I'm still not sure where - TBH it's been a pretty quiet few months, it being summer and all that...not even been many strikes, so I'm not even sure what these riots are that you are referring too...do you have any more info you could share?

You are clearly burying your head in the sand about the social issues in France, not to mention the lack of staff, the lack of service and general malaise and anger.

No, usual low level grumbles here, restaurants OK, even in our local big city.

lannistunut
Everyone who can count knows the UK has had shit growth for a very long time

To be fair, we did have the fastest growth in the G7 last year (admittedly from a lower base).

Reading is usually better than counting to keep up to speed with financial news - hence your inaccurate post up thread.

Your PM

Who is your PM?

Quincythequince

”And yet it’s worse in so many countries.

So what shitshow is it exactly that’s been created, and what are the impacts of it.

You referenced the IMF who in unusual move made the comments that they did.

It wasn’t a holistic summary of why the UK is ‘worse’ than everywhere else.

Your question re the IMF was answered factually.

Thanks for yours and your husbands CV.

I don’t care.

Although presumably you were good at your job, so you should be able to formulate sensible responses.

But don’t throw in a strawman for the sake of it then, and not expect to be challenged.”

I don’t care for to-ing and fro-ing but would strongly suggest that if you haven’t already listened, you download yesterday’s Any Answers and listen to Mark, a pension fund manager with 43 years’ market experience. Certainly no “straw man.”

He put forward pretty much my thoughts far more eloquently than I ever could.

They're protesting and rioting over it in several countries across the globe. It seems worse here because that's how its being reported

Who do you think is behind it? Johnson or Sunak? Or Gove?😱

The mainstream media just love the opportunity to do the UK down every chance they get.
I agree that things are not good in the UK but it seems the same or worse in other countries.

Brexit. 13 years of the Tories. Totally selfish and arrogant government. PM an evil cow. Chancellor an evil swine.

BREXIT, BREXIT, BREXIT....followed by an appalling government.

That’s largely because the pound has fallen against other currencies. Also, pay in countries like Canada has risen, while real wages have remained stagnant here

Because our housing costs are astronomical and our wages have not kept up with inflation since 2008.

Australian wages are considerably higher than the UK so not really

Food (Groceries rather than restaurants) has been much cheaper in the UK than many other western countries for a long time. Much cheaper than Canada, US, AUs,NZ, France in my experience. There is a degree of catch up going on.

I think there can be a misconception - take Spain where I live, yes food costs are a little lower than the U.K., electricity was much higher, but since the massive hikes in the U.K. your bills
are probably worse, water is around the same, renting is cheaper, but rapidly rising, petrol is around the same, perhaps slightly lower. However, salaries here are much lower than in the U.K. and then benefits system is practically non-existent and what people can claim is very little (nothing towards housing or childcare for example) and can only be claimed for a limited period depending on what they've paid in. So a country that on the surface looks cheaper than the U.K., is actually proportionately much more expensive for the working poor than the U.K. is. For higher-middle and top earners it's a cheaper country to live in than the U.K.

But it IS Brexit! It's obvious!

Why is Brexit causing Dutch inflation to run at 17%?

It's not Brexit. HTH.