Re: Rising cost of living
 

Agreed they can be fitted in some flats but not ours. Think it's because it's a communal stopcock for the block.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Ah well, it's what we voted for


I pay £25 a month because they can't fit a meter, you should insist as if they can't fit one they have to put you on a cheaper tariff

That's not where the issue is...

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Thanks, I will ask them for the assessed charge.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Not great news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65026231

Re: Rising cost of living
 

l only need to look at food prices with our online shop each week and quite a few items are still going up significantly.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Aldi seems to be the worst at the moment, with prices for some products increasing almost weekly.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

But they started at a much lower level than the other shops. Simple percentage increases don't tell the whole story.

One yardstick I use is the cost of chicken thigh fillets.

Aldi £4.48 /kg
Lidl £4.58 /kg
Morrisons £5.99 /kg
Tesco £6.00 /kg
Asda £6.77 /kg
Waitrose £8.89 /kg
Sainsburys £9.06 /kg

Re: Rising cost of living
 

'Which' do a good monthly comparison of supermarket prices. No wonder Morrisons are in trouble, they come out very badly. Lidl for me these days usually topped up with a big Sainsburys shop when they got their 25% off wine offer on :) Can't stand Aldi, gives me a migraine....

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/supe...n-aPpYp9j1MFin

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Apr 22 figure was +2.1%. We'll have to wait until that drops out of the annual figure. So even if the Apr 23 is +1%, then the annual figure will drop by 1.1%.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Dates revealed for when millions will receive cost of living payments.

A total of £900 over the year . first payment of £301 between April 25th and 17th May'

£300 in autumn and £299 in spring.

https://news.sky.com/story/dates-rev...ments-12843397

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Nice if you qualify.
Bizarre how they have done 301, 300, 299.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Telegraph headline

Telegraph article

https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https:/...andrew-bailey/

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Makes it easier to identify if/when people report non receipt etc

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Sounds like a sales pitch for government policy.

Rising interest rates by its nature is designed to increase poverty and unemployment, as it has long been believed a poorer population reduces inflation via lower demand for goods. A banker even admitted this not that long ago in an interview in America when pushed hard on it. But even without doing so it is obvious, raising interest rates causes financial misery.

So why is he blaming early retirement? With more people unemployed there is less spending power, which based on the basic principles of inflation will lower inflation, the only reason I can think off is the government asked him to back up their policy.

Early retirement isnt even the main reason for increased job vacancies, the primary cause is the zero asylum and cancellation of freedom of movement policies. Blaming the sick, and people who have retired is a distraction.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Though I am a big fan of the freedom to move for workers, I am not sure lack of migration is the whole story here. The area of concern is the older age bracket. Over half of the post COVID newly economically inactive group are in the 50-64 year old group (source) This group is relatively high earning before leaving the workforce and highly skilled. Replacing these workers isn’t easy, even through attracting workers from abroad - upping sticks to move abroad is challenging enough but doing it in your 50s or 60s is a big deal.

If low workforce supply increases wage growth, then the effects are much higher in terms of costs at the top end, driving inflation more than lack of low skill, low pay workers. It paid off for me when I got a new job recently with a huge pay rise!

That said, if I could afford to retire now, I would be offski. Work to live, not live to work…