UK Conservative Party Leadership Election

[pinnit2014]

All of these strikes are in the public sector that's one of the differences to the olden days Chopley alludes to, and when the people decided they wanted to be an NHS nurse they knew it was not going to be the land of milk and honey in terms of take home pay but there are other things they enjoy that the private sector won't give them.

That said as a top 10 economy you'd have to look at the pay and perks of nurses in comparative countries, then make your case from there.

I can't see the management striking over pay anytime soon:

"In 2010, as the coalition embarked on its controversial reforms aimed at opening the service up to more private competition, ministers told the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) that by the time the changes were completed in April this year, there would be fewer than 100 very senior managers working in the top salary bracket of between £70,000 and £240,000 a year. But the Department of Health last night confirmed recent SSRB data which shows the number is now 428, including 211 super-managers at NHS England, the new body which oversees the budget and delivery of day-to-day services. The average pay of these managers is around £123,000 a year.

The figures do not include the 259 chief executives of NHS trusts whose pay is set by their own organisations' remuneration committees and in some cases is more than £240,000 a year.

The revelations will pile more pressure on ministers after it emerged that some 2,200 NHS managers have been made redundant with large payoffs, only to be re-employed soon after."

--------

That was 12 years ago so I wonder what they're on now?

I bet we're employing more managers than other top countries and paying them more, and the reverse for the rest of the staff, and probably it stokes resentment when the nurses can see brand new range rovers and jags appearing each year in the staff car park. The NHS has to cut its cloth fairly across the board.

Used to see that often - they'd leave on a final salary pension (reasonably now changed to Career average - it was so opportune as to how there would be a job evaluation, a mere few months before the retirement date, that would bump a salary up X amount ) and come back in another capacity.

Certainly a point for debate re the management layers - some countries run a lot more agile with theirs - decisions/board members mainly doctors etc. The downside though can be you lose budgetary control as you don't have that layer of 'admin', upside is you get quick swifter decisions, less red tape and better care.

Said before, until we take the politics out of it, it will go nowhere.

 

[goatwack]

It's not all bad news - the BoE are limping along the final stretch, looking to increase the interest rate to 4% on 'Super Thursday', with just one more increase expected afterwards, TBA.

Then we can pop the champagne corks and do the Lambada as we put the end of rampant inflation and unsustainable living finally behind us!!!

Also, retailers not ones to waste an opportunity before it all goes wrong for them, have managed to hit a peak of 16.7% in grocery overcharging, an impressive slice of opportunism if ever I saw it, really milking the masses for all they're worth. Question is: can they rip us off for 20% before all's said and done?...

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[pinnit2014]

Opportunism when it comes to charging, surely not....

Reminds me of a company, doing work in April 2020 (ignore the fact if they should have been working and/or claiming furlough) and claiming the prices had gone up since CV-19 struck - a business with a big warehouse, presumably with large stock and bought at pre-CV-19 prices, claiming material prices had gone up (let alone ignoring the fact it takes time for increases to trickle through)

More seriously, a chicken fried rice, chips, curry sauce coming in at 15 quid here. That's the real crime/thievery.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Opportunism when it comes to charging, surely not....

Reminds me of a company, doing work in April 2020 (ignore the fact if they should have been working and/or claiming furlough) and claiming the prices had gone up since CV-19 struck - a business with a big warehouse, presumably with large stock and bought at pre-CV-19 prices, claiming material prices had gone up (let alone ignoring the fact it takes time for increases to trickle through)

More seriously, a chicken fried rice, chips, curry sauce coming in at 15 quid here. That's the real crime/thievery.

There's a Chinese takeaway in Laxey that's been one forever, like, when I first visited the IOM in the summer of 1994, it was a Chinese takeaway and it's been one ever since. It closed down last year.

One of my mates knows the guy who owned and ran it, and he said he just couldn't make a profit anymore versus the cost of the operation, raw ingredients, energy, and all the rest of it.

Ultimately people will only pay so much for a takeaway, he'd absorbed as many of the costs as he could whilst trying to limit his price rises, but it got to the point where to make even a modest profit, he'd have been charging about £15 for a Kung Po Chicken and Egg Fried Rice, and people just won't pay that.

In the end the only sane decision was to close the business down.

I'm quite partial to a Kung Po Chicken with Salt & Chilli Pepper chips, last time I got one in Ramsey it was £12 or thereabouts (might have been a bit more actually), prices have been going up, and up, and the owners have put a sign up apologising for the increases, again, citing massively increased costs.

I'm not saying there aren't gouging opportunists out there, but make no mistake, food price inflation has been brutal over the last year, and ultimately those costs are passed on. (And don't forget the extra 6% on food that Brexit has cost UK consumers too, on top of everything else.)

 

[dunover]

Just saw the pic on twitter, surprised the normally calm and law abiding folk from the gypsy community aren't now up in arms, but I think I know why they added the formerly part, not to help confused locals looking for a missing street, but to emphasise their politically correct [hate that phrase] reasons why it had to be changed. ... might as well called it stormzy avenue or rashford road, though I'd love to know the other names they did consider, even corbyn crescent has a nice ring

Seems somebody decided the lunacy was stopped - firstly the sign was pained over in black paint, then restored, then someone screwed another sign on the wall behind it:

 

[goatwack]

Seems somebody decided the lunacy was stopped - firstly the sign was pained over in black paint, then restored, then someone screwed another sign on the wall behind it:

View attachment 179230

We all knew it would happen, it was just a matter of 'how'. And true to form, it doesn't disappoint!

 

[pinnit2014]

Seems somebody decided the lunacy was stopped - firstly the sign was pained over in black paint, then restored, then someone screwed another sign on the wall behind it:

View attachment 179230

That Unisex Hair salon is really gonna send the SNP into a tizzy.

 

[pinnit2014]

There's a Chinese takeaway in Laxey that's been one forever, like, when I first visited the IOM in the summer of 1994, it was a Chinese takeaway and it's been one ever since. It closed down last year.

One of my mates knows the guy who owned and ran it, and he said he just couldn't make a profit anymore versus the cost of the operation, raw ingredients, energy, and all the rest of it.

Ultimately people will only pay so much for a takeaway, he'd absorbed as many of the costs as he could whilst trying to limit his price rises, but it got to the point where to make even a modest profit, he'd have been charging about £15 for a Kung Po Chicken and Egg Fried Rice, and people just won't pay that.

In the end the only sane decision was to close the business down.

I'm quite partial to a Kung Po Chicken with Salt & Chilli Pepper chips, last time I got one in Ramsey it was £12 or thereabouts (might have been a bit more actually), prices have been going up, and up, and the owners have put a sign up apologising for the increases, again, citing massively increased costs.

I'm not saying there aren't gouging opportunists out there, but make no mistake, food price inflation has been brutal over the last year, and ultimately those costs are passed on. (And don't forget the extra 6% on food that Brexit has cost UK consumers too, on top of everything else.)

Well yes, i agree that food prices have suffered a kick up the arse but you'd be naive to think that that Brexit is wholly/majorly to blame for it, there is a lot of profiteering.

Even with CV-19, a rather stern nurse citing it as a reason for restrictions, despite being maskless

But seeing as you're talking talking Kung Po chicken, now we can debate

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Well yes, i agree that food prices have suffered a kick up the arse but you'd be naive to think that that Brexit is wholly/majorly to blame for it, there is a lot of profiteering.

Even with CV-19, a rather stern nurse citing it as a reason for restrictions, despite being maskless

But seeing as you're talking talking Kung Po chicken, now we can debate

I'm not saying Brexit is wholly or majorly to blame for it, but the best estimates are that on top of everything else that's sent food price inflation nuts over the last year, Brexit has slapped another 6% on top of that. (To flip that on its head, does anyone seriously think Brexit has made food cheaper, like Rees-Mogg said it would?)

There's a couple of decent quick interviews with local restaurateurs here on the IOM at this link, the chap from the Just Pizza And Pasta place talks about how their costs are through the roof but there's only so much you can charge for a pizza before the customers stop coming.

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As for Kung Po Chicken, it's my go-to dish from the Chinese, sometimes I try to kid myself I'll get something different but I almost always end up just getting Kung Po Chicken. (Occasionally I deviate and get something else, and then realise nothing is as nice as Kung Po Chicken.)

 

[ChopleyIOM]

I mean sure, 20% is nice to have, and we'd all like to future-proof ourselves going forward, not to mention Health workers in particular having been overlooked for inflation- rivalling pay increases, but as we know, there's only one way inflation's headed, and it's not towards the 'barrel-load of bank notes to buy a loaf of bread', so it'd be nice if we could attain some perspective from all sides.

The other point here, and I meant to bring this up the other day but forgot, is that even if inflation drops to zero, it doesn't mean that prices drop, they just stop going up.

So if a basic food item cost £1 last year, and it costs £1.20 this year thanks to 20% food price inflation, and then inflation drops to zero, it still costs £1.20, it doesn't get any cheaper.

So when workers are fighting for a pay rise, they're fighting for a pay rise in the context of what's happening, and has happened, what happens next year, or the year after, doesn't really matter in that context.

In reality of course, inflation won't go to zero, it'll just be lower than it was, so prices will carry on rising, on top of the 20% they already have done.

 

[goatwack]

The other point here, and I meant to bring this up the other day but forgot, is that even if inflation drops to zero, it doesn't mean that prices drop, they just stop going up.

So if a basic food item cost £1 last year, and it costs £1.20 this year thanks to 20% food price inflation, and then inflation drops to zero, it still costs £1.20, it doesn't get any cheaper.

So when workers are fighting for a pay rise, they're fighting for a pay rise in the context of what's happening, and has happened, what happens next year, or the year after, doesn't really matter in that context.

In reality of course, inflation won't go to zero, it'll just be lower than it was, so prices will carry on rising, on top of the 20% they already have done.

Well of course! Can't say I've ever heard of Deflation on any meaningful scale, where the pound in one's pocket's 'spending power' increases, and things become cheaper by default!

Once increased, prices tend to stay that way - that's why it's so irksome seeing retailers and energy suppliers running rampant with their unsustainable, skewed price hikes (and that's discounting how companies 'artificially' raise prices, only to lower them later and showcase that 'saving' to the customer)....

So what better way to insulate oneself from ever-increasing living costs? Well, ask for a completely disproportionate amount that not only covers you one year, but two, before they next negotiate a pay rise, sometime in 2024/25!

And at the time the strikes began, what, eight months ago? - inflation was still nowhere near the 20% requested, yet with all these delays, we're at roughly 17% just for groceries! And energy price inflation- busters that are akin to a pint costing around £30, such is the madness. I'm starting to wonder if workers asking for 20% is a lowball figure now

Either way, as much as I'm 'not a fan' of protracted strike action, something needs to give soon, as we all watch on as 100,000+ workers make a huge stand today, albeit costing the economy £200million+ in lost revenue. Maybe another year of this and never mind being the least- growing G7 economy, we can join Venezuela hand-in-hand and reminisce about the good old days. And it won't even be Brexit's fault!

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Well of course! Can't say I've ever heard of Deflation on any meaningful scale, where the pound in one's pocket's 'spending power' increases, and things become cheaper by default!

Once increased, prices tend to stay that way - that's why it's so irksome seeing retailers and energy suppliers running rampant with their unsustainable, skewed price hikes (and that's discounting how companies 'artificially' raise prices, only to lower them later and showcase that 'saving' to the customer)....

So what better way to insulate oneself from ever-increasing living costs? Well, ask for a completely disproportionate amount that not only covers you one year, but two, before they next negotiate a pay rise, sometime in 2024/25!

And at the time the strikes began, what, eight months ago? - inflation was still nowhere near the 20% requested, yet will all these delays, we're at roughly 17% just for groceries! And energy price inflation- busters that are akin to a pint costing around £30, such is the madness. I'm starting to wonder if workers asking for 20% is a lowball figure now

Either way, as much as I'm 'not a fan' of protracted strike action, something needs to give soon, as we all watch on as 100,000+ workers make a huge stand today, albeit costing the economy £200million+ in lost revenue. Maybe another year of this and never mind being the least- growing G7 economy, we can join Venezuela hand-in-hand and reminisce about the good old days. And it won't even be Brexit's fault!

For me, is this is what the end point of thirteen years of failed government looks like, thirteen years of grinding austerity and massive underinvestment in critical public services, thirteen years of misrule and rampant corruption, a government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.

The strikes are part of the endpoint of that process, people who aren't militant by default, but who have been pushed beyond breaking point, feeling there is nowhere else to go. And the majority of the public have had enough now too, they can see what's going on, it's why the strikes have broad public support and more people now think trade unions are a force for good than not (the polling on this is absolutely clear).

It's also why Labour are now polling at around 50% - (I mean, just let that sink in) - and the Tories are down in the low 20s, and let's be honest, it's not because Labour are looking particularly great or Starmer is an amazing leader, it's because people are utterly and completely fucked off with the rotting fetid carcass that is the Tories and the stench of their slimy, corrupt cabal of miserable malcontents posing as a government. The UK deserves better.

But make no mistake, the rich have done incredibly well since 2010, as the UK government has essentially existed for their convenience and enrichment, ain't no CEOs worrying about their pay rises, that's for sure.

And take the rail strikes, the government is spending more money subsidising the privatised rail companies during the strikes so they can still turn a 'profit' (essentially funded by the UK taxpayer), than it would cost to actually meet the pay demands of the workers, that's how messed up this situation is.

 

[goatwack]

Best part being, and further to the Tory apathy point, is seeing Gillian Keegan appear on Sky News with £10K Rolex in full view, looking almost......'inconvenienced' at the little people

 

[ChopleyIOM]

So what joys does today have in store for us?

Firstly, interest rates are expected to hit their highest levels for 14 years, with the BoE forecast to hike them by another 0.5% to 4%. Yes it is true that historically speaking this isn't actually that high, but in a world where many people have had to take out eye-watering mortgages to get even a modest foot on the property ladder, these rises can be financially crippling. The stupidest thing of all is that these rises are billed as 'fighting inflation', which is bollocks, because inflation is going to fall anyway.

The real beneficiary of these rises are the banks, because they get to charge the government more interest on its debts (remember the government is borrowing more and more money every month), so the banks make billions for doing fuck all, and the population of the UK suffers.

Secondly, and the hits just keep on coming, water bills are going up 7.5% to make sure that those privatised water companies (largely foreign owned now) can keep raking in bumper profits. 7.5% is an amount we're told is completely unaffordable for normal working people to get as a pay rise, but for those same working people to have to pay 7.5% extra on their water bills, just get it paid, bitches.

Finally, and there is some good news at least. If you're Shell. Because they've made £32.2bn in annual profits, of those profits £26bn has been distributed to shareholders, and they've spent about £4bn on share buybacks, which is where they basically buy their own shares to increase their value and boost shareholder dividends - isn't unchecked neoliberal capitalism great!

Remember though everyone, the villains of this piece are striking nurses and teachers, so direct your anger at them.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

So as predicted interest rates are up another 0.5% to 4%, or to put it another way, it's now FORTY TIMES HIGHER than it was in November 2021 when the BoE starting raising rates.

We also have a flatlining economy, the highest personal tax burden for seventy years, and indeed are the only advanced country whose economy is still smaller than it was before the pandemic, the BoE projects this situation isn't going to change for another three years at least.

Oh yes and no one can get a decent pay rise either. (Except CEOs and suchlike.)

Thanks Tories! Thirteen great years. Well done.

 

[TheAddict]

Chops explaining how forcing usury upon a Nation is disgusting, and how it works. jeez louise!

 

[dunover]

So as predicted interest rates are up another 0.5% to 4%, or to put it another way, it's now FORTY TIMES HIGHER than it was in November 2021 when the BoE starting raising rates.

We also have a flatlining economy, the highest personal tax burden for seventy years, and indeed are the only advanced country whose economy is still smaller than it was before the pandemic, the BoE projects this situation isn't going to change for another three years at least.

Oh yes and no one can get a decent pay rise either. (Except CEOs and suchlike.)

Thanks Tories! Thirteen great years. Well done.

Or that's 30% LOWER than the 5.75% after Brown's 2008 recession when Liebore were last in.....

Statistics eh @ChopleyIOM - who'd use 'em.

P.S. Waiting a few days now to see what fixed 12-month bonds are available. Got a good sum into a NW one last October at 4% when the rates rose to 3.5 or 3.25% or whichever it was. Will give me a nice wedge end of Oct. this year just before Christmas lol although all over 1k in annual interest is taxable. Should be some 4.75 or even 5% ones online soon. These will yield in 12 months and will pay the winter fuel bills etc.

So it's a double-edged sword really. Savers and those of financial prudence will get a reward at last, spending the interest received will help the economy.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

So it's a double-edged sword really. Savers and those of financial prudence will get a reward at last, spending the interest received will help the economy.

'Savers and those of financial prudence' = Old people who were lucky enough to be able to buy a house for a modest multiple of their income, and who now see fit to lecture everyone else about what financial geniuses they are.

 

[goatwack]

It is indeed a glorious time to be alive a saver!

Lots of 2.5- 3.0% 'easy access' savings accounts knocking about, and that's before we get to the aforementioned 12-24 month bonds at a slightly higher, yet of course fixed rate.

Had briefly put aside my hatred of Nationwide adverts to open one of these, but failed to find the motivation to actually arrange the transferral of funds and linked accounts, and other associated drudgery. Then I missed the 30- day cut-off to activate the account, and so I'm lumbered with my 0.5% Natwest account, still! Rot in hell, Flo & Joan!

Also, heartening to hear even more civil service strikes a-loomin', which include

• ACAS
• British Museum
• Cabinet Office
• Charity Commission
• Maritime & Coastguard Agency
• Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
• Natural Resources Wales
• Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service
• Independent Office for Police Conduct
• DWP
• DVLA
• Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
• DHSC
• Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
• Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency
• Audit Wales
• Department for Education
• Natural England
• Competition Service
• Gambling Commission
• Historic England
• Health & Safety Executive
• Historic Environment Scotland
• Home Office
• Insolvency Service
• HM Land Registry
• Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Creative Scotland
• National Galleries of Scotland
• National Museums of Scotland
• National Audit Office
• National Lottery Heritage Fund
• Department for Transport
• National Library of Wales
• National Museums Liverpool
• Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority
• Information Commissioner’s Office
• Ofgem
• Competition & Markets Authority
• Office for National Statistics & UKSA
• OFWAT
• Ofsted
• UK Intellectual Property Office
• Vehicle Certification Agency
• Planning Inspectorate
• National Archives
• Registers of Scotland
• Transport Focus
• Sports Grounds Safety Authority
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• Equality & Human Rights Commission
• Scottish Enterprise
• NatureScot
• Scottish Government
• Serious Fraud Office
• Skills Development Scotland
• The Council of the RFCAs
• Sport England
• Scotland’s Commission for Children & Young People
• RFCA West Midlands
• Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service
• Legal Aid Agency
• UK Research & Innovation
• Visit Scotland
• Government Legal Department
• Parole Board for England & Wales
• Animal & Plant Health Agency
• Wallace Collection
• Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament)
• Scottish Human Rights Commission
• Scottish Prison Service
• Scottish Parliament
• Student Loans Company
• Architecture & Design Scotland
• Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
• National Highways
• Westminster Foundation for Democracy
• Independent Living Fund Scotland
• Rural Payments Agency
• Defence, Science & Technology Laboratory
• Electoral Commission
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
• Security Industry Authority
• UK Space Agency
• Marine Management Organisation
• Youth Justice Board
• Local Government Boundary Commission for England
• Northern Ireland Office
• Prisons & Probation Ombudsman
• Wales Office
• Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
• Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
• Children’s Commissioner for England
• Food Standards Scotland
• Crown Estate Scotland
• Risk Management Authority
• Local Democracy & Boundary Commission for Wales
• UK Debt Management Office
• Student Awards Agency for Scotland
• Social Security Scotland
• Scottish Housing Regulator
• Revenue Scotland
• Department of International Trade
• Bord na Gaidhlig
• Forestry Commission England
• Scottish Forestry
• Leasehold Advisory Service
• Forestry and Land Scotland
• UKSV (Cabinet Office)
• Disclosure and Barring Service
• Veterinary Medicines Directorate
• Institute for Apprenticeships
• Office for Students
• Transport Scotland
• Accountant in Bankruptcy
• Disclosure Scotland
• Education Scotland
• Office for the Scottish Charity Regulator
• Scottish Public Pensions Agency
• National Records of Scotland
• South of Scotland Enterprise
• Trade Remedies Authority
• UK Health Security Agency
• Office for Health Improvement & Disparities

.....over half term. Because why stop there if everyone else is doing it right? Albeit their pay demands fall more into a modest 3-10% range, so hope springs eternal

 

[ChopleyIOM]

The thing with saving is it makes no sense if you have literally any interest bearing debts at all, particularly a mortgage. There might be some edge cases where perhaps you got a cheap mortgage fix for several years before interest rates starting going up, and have some liquid cash available now that you can use in a 12 month saver account with a guaranteed yield or something like that, but even then, long term you'll almost certainly be better reducing the mortgage debt down.

I just don't buy into this notion that those with 'financial prudence' should get a big slap on the back for essentially being older and coming from an era of far more favourable conditions to buy a house. If you're in your 30s and working your arse off to pay a massive mortgage then you're just not going to have savings, nothing to do with being 'financially prudent' or not.

Or if you're paying a private landlord half your wage just to get a roof over your head, where are your savings supposed to come from? The UK has some of the most expensive rents in the western world.

 

[goatwack]

Well yes, agreed. Rents are disproportionate and overbearing compared to many other developed nations. Which in itself is one thing, but coupled with ever-increasing and already high living costs, I do wonder how people get by at the best of times, especially in 'Landlord's Paradise' London.

And as for saving, that has become a bit of a luxury in itself. It's also painfully apparent that the ones bearing the brunt of these inflation increases are mortgage payers, and with a whole generation cut adrift, attaining one's own property is a near- impossibility for most.

But on its own merit, from a savings standpoint, it's the best 'time' to fill up that piggy bank since, well, the Tories took effect. So for those that can afford to, it's not going to be this good for a while, at least not until the next economic mishanter....

 

[dunover]

'Savers and those of financial prudence' = Old people who were lucky enough to be able to buy a house for a modest multiple of their income, and who now see fit to lecture everyone else about what financial geniuses they are.

More bollocks. So the average 65+ male in the UK has about £310k of fucking savings? Where the hell did that crap come from? I'm hardly 'old' (I think from what you said a couple of years older than you mate) but according to this our pensioners must be the richest fuckers in the Western World. Or there's lots with millions to make that average. Add the triple lock and they must be pissing themselves laughing.

As for buying a house, at the time we had a mortgage of 5x joint incomes nearly. Instead of spunking cash on Starbucks, takeaways and flash cars I OVERPAID the mortgage and took 7 years off the end by doing so, used redundancy cash to pay a lump sum off instead of buying a new motor or spending it on luxury holidays.

So yes, started with a fucking big debt, lived sensibly and now reap the benefits, not apologizing to any twat or feeling guilty for that.

You also intimated once you had a decent 5-figure sum put by. So you could easily earn over a K from that in one year with a fixed bond, then benefit from the low tax in the Isle of Moan IF your system taxes any of that interest, unlike us poor c*nts who have to pay 20 or even 40% on it if it's over 1k (some low earners can receive up to 5k interest tax-free).

Since Brown's catastrophe where he never curtailed reckless lending, the chickens have come to roost for borrowers. And you are grizzling now, but what about the previous 7 or so years to 2020 Covid when responsible prudent savers would literally get the price of a single full tank of fuel for every HUNDRED FUCKING GRAND they had invested, each year in interest? Time they got paid some dues.

P.S. for a large chunk of my mortgage days, I was paying 5.5%.

P.P.S. Isn't that how life works for everyone and always has? You struggle at the start, slowly gets easier then middle age onwards when you're relieved of the main expense of all, housing, you then start to save and have financial security?

The entitlement brigade have for time immemorial always said the previous generation had it easier. My fucking house was a few grand in the 1960's. A far lower multiple of average pay then than it was when we bought it. Get real mate.

 

[Mr_Slot5]

'Savers and those of financial prudence' = Old people who were lucky enough to be able to buy a house for a modest multiple of their income, and who now see fit to lecture everyone else about what financial geniuses they are.

The average salary in the UK is around 30k I think. I’d be surprised if the average 40 year old has almost 50k in savings, considering there will likely be very little disposable income on that wage.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

More bollocks. So the average 65+ male in the UK has about £310k of fucking savings? Where the hell did that crap come from? I'm hardly 'old' (I think from what you said a couple of years older than you mate) but according to this our pensioners must be the richest fuckers in the Western World. Or there's lots with millions to make that average. Add the triple lock and they must be pissing themselves laughing.

As for buying a house, at the time we had a mortgage of 5x joint incomes nearly. Instead of spunking cash on Starbucks, takeaways and flash cars I OVERPAID the mortgage and took 7 years off the end by doing so, used redundancy cash to pay a lump sum off instead of buying a new motor or spending it on luxury holidays.

So yes, started with a fucking big debt, lived sensibly and now reap the benefits, not apologizing to any twat or feeling guilty for that.

You also intimated once you had a decent 5-figure sum put by. So you could easily earn over a K from that in one year with a fixed bond, then benefit from the low tax in the Isle of Moan IF your system taxes any of that interest, unlike us poor c*nts who have to pay 20 or even 40% on it if it's over 1k (some low earners can receive up to 5k interest tax-free).

Since Brown's catastrophe where he never curtailed reckless lending, the chickens have come to roost for borrowers. And you are grizzling now, but what about the previous 7 or so years to 2020 Covid when responsible prudent savers would literally get the price of a single full tank of fuel for every HUNDRED FUCKING GRAND they had invested, each year in interest? Time they got paid some dues.

P.S. for a large chunk of my mortgage days, I was paying 5.5%.

P.P.S. Isn't that how life works for everyone and always has? You struggle at the start, slowly gets easier then middle age onwards when you're relieved of the main expense of all, housing, you then start to save and have financial security?

The entitlement brigade have for time immemorial always said the previous generation had it easier. My fucking house was a few grand in the 1960's. A far lower multiple of average pay then than it was when we bought it. Get real mate.

Forgive me if I don't cry a river for savers with £100K sat in the bank not getting much interest off it, because they've still got, y'know, £100K in the bank. What 'dues' are they owed? To get piles of money magically appearing in their bank accounts every year simply by virtue of the fact they already have money?

But yes, fine, you took on a pretty chunky mortgage and did your best to get it paid off in a timely fashion (and I entirely agree, overpaying on a mortgage is absolutely the smartest thing you can do if you can afford to do so), no one's saying you shouldn't enjoy some financial security and/or have some money free to invest, but let's not demonise or punish those not fortunate enough to be in that position. (Which is exactly what the BoE are doing with this bone-headed insistence on cranking up interest rates against a form of inflation they will be entirely ineffective against, and which is going to fall dramatically soon anyway even if they did absolutely nothing.)

As for the five figure sum we had put by, in the end we just hacked it off the mortgage, as there was nothing we could even remotely invest it in that would come close to what it'd save us on the mortgage in terms of interest. I reckon with another 3 years of consistent overpaying we'll have it cleared (maybe sooner with a following wind, which would be seven years ahead of schedule, just like you!), which is also why I'm still driving around in a 17 year old Lexus - (it really isn't posh, it cost me £4K just over two years ago) - instead of a shiny new sports car. (The good thing about a Lexus of course, is that it's basically a Toyota with a skirt on, and Toyota make the most reliable cars in the world.)

If we're comparing interest rates, we locked at 6% for five years in 2007, paid significantly extra for the privilege of doing so, and then watched the arse drop out of the global economy and interest rates fall to 0.5% in 2008, and we were stuck paying £10K per year in interest for five years! So yeah, that stung a bit.

The position we're in now is very fortunate, in that we owe so little versus the original mortgage amount that these interest rate rises don't really make much of a difference, interest rates could be 15-20% and we'd be fine, but I don't put that down to any sort of particular 'financial prudence' on my part, we've just had a lucky run, even with the interest rate annoyance already described. I'm also acutely aware that for many people, interest rates increasing from 0.1% to 4% in a short period of time will be financially crippling.

And that I think is the crux of it for me, because I don't even remotely think that the struggles younger people are having now is down to them buying too many Starbucks or takeaways or anything else, house price inflation has been fucking mental, I couldn't afford to buy our house now, its alleged value since we bought it in 2007 has gone through the roof, and who cares? It's still just worth 'a house' because we still need to live in it, it's theoretical money that means nothing except that younger people are being completely priced out of the housing market, and no amount of hard work or thrift on their part is going to fix that.

I'm not a big fan of people pulling up the ladder behind them, and that's what's happening here.

 

[mack341]

So what joys does today have in store for us?

Firstly, interest rates are expected to hit their highest levels for 14 years, with the BoE forecast to hike them by another 0.5% to 4%. Yes it is true that historically speaking this isn't actually that high, but in a world where many people have had to take out eye-watering mortgages to get even a modest foot on the property ladder, these rises can be financially crippling. The stupidest thing of all is that these rises are billed as 'fighting inflation', which is bollocks, because inflation is going to fall anyway.

The real beneficiary of these rises are the banks, because they get to charge the government more interest on its debts (remember the government is borrowing more and more money every month), so the banks make billions for doing fuck all, and the population of the UK suffers.

Secondly, and the hits just keep on coming, water bills are going up 7.5% to make sure that those privatised water companies (largely foreign owned now) can keep raking in bumper profits. 7.5% is an amount we're told is completely unaffordable for normal working people to get as a pay rise, but for those same working people to have to pay 7.5% extra on their water bills, just get it paid, bitches.

Finally, and there is some good news at least. If you're Shell. Because they've made £32.2bn in annual profits, of those profits £26bn has been distributed to shareholders, and they've spent about £4bn on share buybacks, which is where they basically buy their own shares to increase their value and boost shareholder dividends - isn't unchecked neoliberal capitalism great!

Remember though everyone, the villains of this piece are striking nurses and teachers, so direct your anger at them.

I agree this is not about fighting inflation, but I think it is partly about protecting the banks, the money they lent out for mortgages had more buying power than the money being repaid, it is hard on the folk with big mortgages but will also 'correct' to some degree the inflated cost of housing moving forward. Swings and roundabouts long term.

Agree re the water firms, they're taking the piss [literally] and with them being foreign owned [french in the main?] I don't see why we need to be so obliging, afaik firms in france have more restrictions on what they can do in terms of pushing up prices and sacking employees etc..they're getting an easy ride here in old blighty.

On your other post regarding the highest cost housing in the western world, I think you need to [finally] accept reality in terms of one of the negative effects of large amounts of immigration.