General News

[Sampson]

1 hour ago, Dr The Singh said:

Growth forecast halved, less likely to get more interest rates cut.

 

But lets not worry in 25 years we will have a 3rd runway at Heathrow and Silicon Valley, happy days, if i'm still alive.

Said it before and said it again - but I just think that the UK doesn’t have the money and there’s not really anything any government could do about it. There’s no money to put back into circulation in the economy, public services are already on their knees and penny pinching them even more will do nothing at best and make things worse at worst and we’re such an insignificant country at the geopolitical stage nowadays no one is going to care about it prioritise doing trade deals with us.  Dunno if this leads to populist governments or what but I don’t see us improving economically at all right now regardless of what we try 

Edited 6 February by Sampson

[leicsmac]

19 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Said it before and said it again - but I just think that the UK doesn’t have the money and there’s not really anything any government could do about it. There’s no money to put back into circulation in the economy, public services are already on their knees and penny pinching them even more will do nothing at best and make things worse at worst and we’re such an insignificant country at the geopolitical stage nowadays no one is going to care about it prioritise doing trade deals with us.  Dunno if this leads to populist governments or what but I don’t see us improving economically at all right now regardless of what we try 

I think you're right and also the bolded isa distinct possibility right now due to that, and other factors.

 

As lots of people (including me) have remarked, we live in interesting times.

[Dr The Singh]

22 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Said it before and said it again - but I just think that the UK doesn’t have the money and there’s not really anything any government could do about it. There’s no money to put back into circulation in the economy, public services are already on their knees and penny pinching them even more will do nothing at best and make things worse at worst and we’re such an insignificant country at the geopolitical stage nowadays no one is going to care about it prioritise doing trade deals with us.  Dunno if this leads to populist governments or what but I don’t see us improving economically at all right now regardless of what we try 

Then the government shouldn't treat us like idiots and spout the most insulting bullshit.  If they are, then they rightfully should be taken to town and given the feedback and frustration they deserve.

 

[Zear0]

6 minutes ago, Dr The Singh said:

Then the government shouldn't treat us like idiots and spout the most insulting bullshit.  If they are, then they rightfully should be taken to town and given the feedback and frustration they deserve.

 

They were and got voted out 

[bovril]

I love the righteous anger from the UK public that have consistently voted for low growth policies 

[Foxdiamond]

For the good of the economy and social cohesion the government should build more council houses at reasonable rents. People are having to spend too much on privates rents and the housing benefit is costing too much.

[davieG]

Maybe we should become more like I perceive Switzerland to be and stop trying to police the world which we can't afford. Become neutral and concentrate on our positives science, tourism, finance, 'going green', democracy (?) etc.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of reasons why we can't but I just think other countries have overtaken us in their ability to impact physically on world events, we're fast becoming nobodies.

 

Fire away, I can take it but be kind.

[leicsmac]

28 minutes ago, davieG said:

Maybe we should become more like I perceive Switzerland to be and stop trying to police the world which we can't afford. Become neutral and concentrate on our positives science, tourism, finance, 'going green', democracy (?) etc.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of reasons why we can't but I just think other countries have overtaken us in their ability to impact physically on world events, we're fast becoming nobodies.

 

Fire away, I can take it but be kind.

It's a legacy of the empire and Cold War - the UK still has that veto seat on the UNSC because it has nuclear weapons, so it's expected to have that reputation for power that it can't really now live up to.

 

There's a lot of more moderate powers that the UK could choose to emulate and boost quality of life - a fair few of the northern European and Scandinavian nations are reasonable options.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Panama denies US claims over free canal passages

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9149j4nmzo

 

Not sure why the US is bothered with Panama anymore. It's not like they'll be importing or exporting anything.

[Dahnsouff]

Trump and his mate Benji are sanctioning the ICC because they said mean things.

[Izzy]

8 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Away from the USA for a min.

 

Interest rates cut but inflation expected to hit ~4% mid year and UK growth forecast slashed in half, narrowly avoiding recession. 

It feels like inflation is biting my ass at every opportunity.

 

Everything seems to be going up in price and our weekly food bill is getting out of control.

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

18 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Trump and his mate Benji are sanctioning the ICC because they said mean things.

"I'm going to get my big bro...

 

What? We ARE the big brother?"

[Trav Le Bleu]

Just now, Izzy said:

It feels like inflation is biting my ass at every opportunity.

 

Everything seems to be going up in price and our weekly food bill is getting out of control.

 

Eat less, fatty.

[Izzy]

4 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Eat less, fatty.

Mate, I'm 8 and a half stone wet through. It's my two teenage kids who eat like horses.

 

But even the basics seems to cost a fortune these days. It's mad.

[Daggers]

18 minutes ago, Izzy said:

But even the basics seems to cost a fortune these days. It's mad.

Agreed.

 

The price of foie gras and Beluga is insane these days.

[Parafox]

5 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Panama denies US claims over free canal passages

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9149j4nmzo

 

Not sure why the US is bothered with Panama anymore. It's not like they'll be importing or exporting anything.

 

2 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

"I'm going to get my big bro...

 

What? We ARE the big brother?"

 

2 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Eat less, fatty.

 

Are you on sick leave or something?

 

You seem to have plenty of time on your hands. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

7 hours ago, Parafox said:

 

 

 

Are you on sick leave or something?

 

You seem to have plenty of time on your hands. 

I'm allowed a day off!

[ozleicester]

Everywhere has enough money... its just not in the right (government) hands

Globally, billionaire wealth grew by AUD $3 trillion in 2024, with the wealth of the 10 richest people increasing by AUD $150 million per day. Billionaire wealth is growing three times faster than the year before

[SpacedX]

8 hours ago, Parafox said:

You seem to have plenty of time on your hands. 

[Lionator]

23 hours ago, Tommy G said:

You do realise he is talking about N. Korea here and not Gaza, and that quote is about 5 years old.

My bad, although he was basically saying the same thing. 

[Lionator]

As someone not well versed in economics, how can it be that the Bank of England can essentially control the whole system over the government? If they cut interest rates, that has a knock on effect on ‘growth’ (nonsense social construct) which then impacts government policy. It seems a bit daft that we let banks and markets dictate our whole political system like this??!

[foxile5]

No 10 defends decision to change name of HMS Agincourt submarine | Royal Navy | The Guardian

 

Oh thank GOODNESS we've renamed a nuclear death submarine to avoid upsetting the French over a centuries old, factual battle.

 

Why on earth have we become this weird apologetic blob of a country. Who, precisely, feels better about that? Are the French population rejoicing? 

 

It could literally wipe out a country; being named after a historical event is the least of the concern.

[leicsmac]

45 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

No 10 defends decision to change name of HMS Agincourt submarine | Royal Navy | The Guardian

 

Oh thank GOODNESS we've renamed a nuclear death submarine to avoid upsetting the French over a centuries old, factual battle.

 

Why on earth have we become this weird apologetic blob of a country. Who, precisely, feels better about that? Are the French population rejoicing? 

 

It could literally wipe out a country; being named after a historical event is the least of the concern.

...and it's giving the usual suspects an excuse to spread more ragebait too, which is deeply annoying.

[izzymuzzet]

45 minutes ago, Lionator said:

As someone not well versed in economics, how can it be that the Bank of England can essentially control the whole system over the government? If they cut interest rates, that has a knock on effect on ‘growth’ (nonsense social construct) which then impacts government policy. It seems a bit daft that we let banks and markets dictate our whole political system like this??!

My view is that an independent central bank is the lesser of two evils. The alternative is having the Bank of England under direct government control as we did before 1997.

 

The idea of an independent central bank is that they respond to economic conditions and government policy rather than influence them. The USA has had an independent central bank for over a century, the European Central Bank was established alongside the Euro. In China, on the other hand, the bank is directly controlled by government.

 

Before Gordon Brown made the Bank of England independent the government directly set interest rates. The downside of this was that governments would tend to cut interest rates before elections regardless of the economic situation. So in the couple of years before the 1987 election for example, Thatcher's government kept cutting interest rates despite the economy growing. This ultimately created a property bubble followed by a crash which contributed to the recession of the late 80s/early 90s. Governments can also manipulate currency through central banks. So if you want to increase exports you need a weak currency. You can achieve this by increasing interest rates. This is what China has done in recent years.

 

There are weaknesses in having an independent central bank. They can be slow to respond to changes in the economic situation. I think they were too slow to recognise post-Covid inflation for example, so didn't raise rates quickly enough. There's also a question about how effective changes to interest rates actually are in an era when most people with mortgages have them on fixed term rather than variable rates. So, am I going to reign my spending in very much and therefore help keep inflation down if my mortgage payments don't change at all? The inflation of recent years has has much more to do with rising energy and commodity prices, over which the UK has little control, than anything else.

 

 

[Greg2607]

8 minutes ago, izzymuzzet said:

My view is that an independent central bank is the lesser of two evils. The alternative is having the Bank of England under direct government control as we did before 1997.

 

The idea of an independent central bank is that they respond to economic conditions and government policy rather than influence them. The USA has had an independent central bank for over a century, the European Central Bank was established alongside the Euro. In China, on the other hand, the bank is directly controlled by government.

 

Before Gordon Brown made the Bank of England independent the government directly set interest rates. The downside of this was that governments would tend to cut interest rates before elections regardless of the economic situation. So in the couple of years before the 1987 election for example, Thatcher's government kept cutting interest rates despite the economy growing. This ultimately created a property bubble followed by a crash which contributed to the recession of the late 80s/early 90s. Governments can also manipulate currency through central banks. So if you want to increase exports you need a weak currency. You can achieve this by increasing interest rates. This is what China has done in recent years.

 

There are weaknesses in having an independent central bank. They can be slow to respond to changes in the economic situation. I think they were too slow to recognise post-Covid inflation for example, so didn't raise rates quickly enough. There's also a question about how effective changes to interest rates actually are in an era when most people with mortgages have them on fixed term rather than variable rates. So, am I going to reign my spending in very much and therefore help keep inflation down if my mortgage payments don't change at all? The inflation of recent years has has much more to do with rising energy and commodity prices, over which the UK has little control, than anything else.

 

 

But that's because we don't REALLY own our energy infrastructure isn't it.  We privatised everything. 

 

Lots of people in the UK will have EDF as their energy provider.  Literally providing profits to France for them to invest in their own country.  It's a situation of our own making and successive governments have failed to invest in providing more of our own energy solutions. 

 

I'm hoping that this changes, with the creation of GB Energy, albeit, clearly, that is just an investment vehicle for supporting UK producers in the future. 

 

We are also the only country in the world with a fully privatised water sector.  Which is mental.

 

as a country we missed the opportunity to invest hugely in our infrastructure when interest rates were so low and we are all paying the price for it now. 

 

I can see the current government are trying to do things to set us up for growth in the future, but the pain is going to be felt for years to come yet and living standards will continue to fall.