Cost of living crisis.

[FoxyPV]

[Sly]

4 hours ago, NasPb said:

Always the individuals fault and not part of a much bigger problem which is the clear decaying of the economic system because of neoliberalism and lack of regulation. Got it

 

Can't just give up like that. This has been going on since the dismantling of the welfare state and the rise of neoliberalism in the 70s. 

People can always do more to help themselves though. Some refuse to as they want to live a “material” life. 
 

Not everything can be laid at the door of the government (albeit this lot are a car crash). Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you’ve just got to deal with it. 

[FoxesDeb]

2 hours ago, Sly said:

People can always do more to help themselves though. Some refuse to as they want to live a “material” life. 
 

Not everything can be laid at the door of the government (albeit this lot are a car crash). Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you’ve just got to deal with it. 

Since I've moved it's become more obvious how insular the UK really is. Any problem seems to be the fault of the UK government, no matter from where it actually stems. Rising fuel costs? Blame the UK government. Rising energy prices? Blame Boris. Covid restrictions? Again, must be down to Boris. 

 

The rise in energy and fuel prices are affecting Europe as a whole. 

 

It's also possibly note worthy that many Europeans are happy to house Ukrainian refugees at their own cost, whereas many Brits are just moaning about the £350 a month they will receive from the UK government! 

 

Maybe the UK was right to vote leave after all, I'm fast realising that they won't be missed, at least many of the views and values won't. 

[whoareyaaa]

This is how they want us to live on the edge, well the majority anyway... go work, pay the bills, get yourself in loads of debt and have to pay it off for the rest of your life by working and paying there taxes.. right now its just getting tighter and tighter for everyone that isn't well off... so people should have every right to lay the blame at the governments door.

[FoxesDeb]

30 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

This is how they want us to live on the edge, well the majority anyway... go work, pay the bills, get yourself in loads of debt and have to pay it off for the rest of your life by working and paying there taxes.. right now its just getting tighter and tighter for everyone that isn't well off... so people should have every right to lay the blame at the governments door.

If it were a country specific problem I would wholeheartedly agree. But while it's a Europe wide problem I'm not sure that one individual government can be solely held accountable. I'm not saying they should be without scrutiny, and questioning, but can the blame for a continental problem be laid only at their door? I don't think that's fair. 

[whoareyaaa]

54 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

If it were a country specific problem I would wholeheartedly agree. But while it's a Europe wide problem I'm not sure that one individual government can be solely held accountable. I'm not saying they should be without scrutiny, and questioning, but can the blame for a continental problem be laid only at their door? I don't think that's fair. 

No you are right it's a problem for every country tbh not just us.

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

France are making the energy companies take the hit, for example, our government could for sure be doing a lot more but they're in bed with all of them. 

[chapero82]

3 hours ago, FoxesDeb said:

Since I've moved it's become more obvious how insular the UK really is. Any problem seems to be the fault of the UK government, no matter from where it actually stems. Rising fuel costs? Blame the UK government. Rising energy prices? Blame Boris. Covid restrictions? Again, must be down to Boris. 

 

The rise in energy and fuel prices are affecting Europe as a whole. 

 

It's also possibly note worthy that many Europeans are happy to house Ukrainian refugees at their own cost, whereas many Brits are just moaning about the £350 a month they will receive from the UK government! 

 

Maybe the UK was right to vote leave after all, I'm fast realising that they won't be missed, at least many of the views and values won't. 

Tbf the tories constantly blame labour for the recession, when it was a global recession started in America.. not only that it was over 10 years ago and they still blame all of it on them  

[Daggers]

4 hours ago, FoxesDeb said:

Since I've moved it's become more obvious how insular the UK really is. Any problem seems to be the fault of the UK government, no matter from where it actually stems. Rising fuel costs? Blame the UK government. Rising energy prices? Blame Boris. Covid restrictions? Again, must be down to Boris. 

 

The rise in energy and fuel prices are affecting Europe as a whole. 

I think you're conflating the cause of the problem with complaints about the response to it. The Covid contracts corruption, the hardship from the NI levy, the profiteering from fuel VAT - they are all on Johnson. Johnson is symptomatic of the issues modern democracies face from the resulting inquietude caused by a severe imbalance of endeavour and reward, of privilege and suffrage.

 

It's easy to tune out the noise that isn't in your mother tongue. You now live in a country where everything - every single thing - is the fault of the government and a cause for a motorway to be blockaded and sheep set on fire. France has a rabid right wing driven by hate and insularity - the UK is no better nor worse than other nations. France is no Utopia. All nations are all struggling to move forward while the will of the stupid or corrupt attempt to pull us back to the Dark Ages.

[Mike Oxlong]

6 minutes ago, Daggers said:

I think you're conflating the cause of the problem with complaints about the response to it. The Covid contracts corruption, the hardship from the NI levy, the profiteering from fuel VAT - they are all on Johnson. Johnson is symptomatic of the issues modern democracies face from the resulting inquietude caused by a severe imbalance of endeavour and reward, of privilege and suffrage.

 

It's easy to tune out the noise that isn't in your mother tongue. You now live in a country where everything - every single thing - is the fault of the government and a cause for a motorway to be blockaded and sheep set on fire. France has a rabid right wing driven by hate and insularity - the UK is no better nor worse than other nations. France is no Utopia. All nations are all struggling to move forward while the will of the stupid or corrupt attempt to pull us back to the Dark Ages.

Any swinger worth their salt knows that Debs has an available room at her villa in Spain 

[Daggers]

3 hours ago, Mike Oxlong said:

Any swinger worth their salt knows that Debs has an available room at her villa in Spain 

El mismo cosa cierto.

[Mike Oxlong]

4 hours ago, Daggers said:

El mismo cosa cierto.

se rasca las pelotas a dos manos

[ozleicester]

time to nationalise the energy/oil companies

[Jon the Hat]

On 19/03/2022 at 18:35, blabyboy said:

Thanks for the links. I can only see part of the times one due to subscription needed. But why do you think this is..

In January, the big four made an 8.6 per cent margin on sales of unleaded petrol — almost triple the 3.2 per cent margins they made in 2019.

Have a think...

 

The bbc article makes the same points as i have done, if you read it all the way through. It does highlight the good PR work that the RAC and AA do in this area, but they're not subject to all the facts that go into the pricing model each business operates.

 

In short, they had to operate at a reduced margin during Covid and are probably trying to recoup some of that at present and in the near future.

One month is not a very reliable measure of profit margin tbh,

[Jon the Hat]

17 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

time to nationalise the energy/oil companies

It really isn't.  It might be time to start producing shale gas though.

[Dahnsouff]

19 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

time to nationalise the energy/oil companies

Why? What would this achieve?

[Dahnsouff]

1 minute ago, Jon the Hat said:

It really isn't.  It might be time to start producing shale gas though.

An awful yet sensible answer  

[Jon the Hat]

Just now, Dahnsouff said:

An awful yet sensible answer  

Indeed.  It is fair to say it has enabled the US to switch off Russian oil and gas,  If Europe could do that, Russia would be a lot more circumspect.

[leicsmac]

20 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

It really isn't.  It might be time to start producing shale gas though.

 

18 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

An awful yet sensible answer  

Nope. Awful and not sensible if mitigating carbon emissions and thus guaranteeing long term civilisation survival is the goal.

 

The sensible thing would be pushing for phasing into a combination of Gen III/IV fission and fast breeder reactors and renewable sources while we still have the time to do so.

[Dahnsouff]

15 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

 

Nope. Awful and not sensible if mitigating carbon emissions and thus guaranteeing long term civilisation survival is the goal.

 

The sensible thing would be pushing for phasing into a combination of Gen III/IV fission and fast breeder reactors and renewable sources while we still have the time to do so.

Whilst I reject fracking in the climate thread, I see it's value in the cost of living thread....  

 

 

 

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Whilst I reject fracking in the climate thread, I see it's value in the cost of living thread....  

 

 

 

Its value, such as it is, is purely short term and sacrificial long term.

 

I really don't see that as a sensible position to take.

[Dahnsouff]

4 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Its value, such as it is, is purely short term and sacrificial long term.

 

I really don't see that as a sensible position to take.

That was my point, its a very short term benefit for cost of living, but other than that, its a poor option for environmental reasons

[leicsmac]

6 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

That was my point, its a very short term benefit for cost of living, but other than that, its a poor option for environmental reasons

Fair enough.

 

I think the latter pretty much renders the former moot for reasonably obvious reasons, but YMMV.

[ealingfox]

36 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

That was my point, its a very short term benefit for cost of living, but other than that, its a poor option for environmental reasons

 

It wouldn't even be beneficial for the cost of living. It would take years to extract, even if it started today, which it won't, there isn't enough here to provide enough supply relative to demand to reduce the cost, and the gas would be sold at market prices anyway. It would be negligible benefit for enormous overall cost.

 

Please understand that the people who are pushing this like Farage and the KGB News mob are not doing so because its in the interests of the general public.

Edited 21 March 2022 by ealingfox

[Dahnsouff]

3 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

 

It wouldn't even be beneficial for the cost of living. It would take years to extract, even if it started today, which it won't, there isn't enough here to provide enough supply relative to demand to reduce the cost, and the gas would be sold at market prices anyway. It would be negligible benefit for enormous overall cost.

 

Please understand that the people who are pushing this like Farage and the KGB News mob are not doing so because its in the interests of the general public.

Sure you are right, but imagine it would be more rapid than the construction of new fission reactor(s) (If Sizewell C is any indication anyway) and I do not like this approach at all, our future would be better served by a mindset shift away from our over reliance on energy