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UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

bbc.co.uk

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Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#231

Post by recuter »

blibble wrote: post #191
recuter wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to what end? with no agreement from the UK government nothing will happen Obviously to exploit anti-union sentiments for political gain. > however its economic impact on leaving the UK would be more or less a non-event for the rest of the UK It would be followed by Ireland and the end of the union. England will find itself with a smaller population than Italy and similarly mired in political instability and infight…

> Obviously to exploit anti-union sentiments for political gain. and how effective has this been? if the UK government doesn't permit it: it doesn't happen, end of story. > It would be followed by Ireland and the end of the union. I have news for you, Ireland left in 1921 (if England does end up being independent again its citizens would be significantly better off as the subsidy to the other parts of the UK are quit…

> if England does end up being independent again its citizens would be significantly better off as the subsidy to the other parts of the UK are quite considerable

Great. I hope so, I have no idea. But it won't be the UK anymore. Very different place in the world and very different internal politics. Maybe it will become like a mini-US but without the natural resources and economical clout.. doesn't seem promising.

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#232

Post by messe »

guitarbill wrote: post #171
jmyeet wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I think Brexit was (and is) a disaster that was really just a reactionary vote against immigration (particularly POlish immigration), I think "Scexit" is a mistake and fail for the same reasons that there will be Ireland reunification. Land borders. In Northern Ireland this creates a problem because you eitehr have to have a customs border between NI and the Republic of Ireland or between NI and Great Brit…

I'm not really sure I follow - the NI and Ireland example seems like a poor one because of the political history. Why is a hard border unworkable in the Scottish case? I could definitely imagine this is true, e.g. if Scotland has to import much food or other goods. Or because Scotland depends on the pound. And maybe, in that way, it shares some parallels?

It's actually easier than in the NI-Ireland case. There are less border crossings to check between Scotland and England (due to geography), than there are between Ireland and NI (due to the fact that the border is entirely artificial).

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#233

Post by christkv »

actionablefiber wrote: post #108
christkv wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflation in the uk is a combination of inflation and weaker pound. Most food is imported from abroad.

By the logic of the person I was replying to: Britain has a weak currency and also Brexit. America has a strong currency and also no Brexit. So perhaps these things are related?

Every currency is weak against the usd right now due to flight into us treasury bonds for safety. Spain who is self sufficient on food will post between 7,5 and 10 inflation this year.

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#234

Post by klelatti »

ploppyploppy wrote: post #214
klelatti wrote: post #115

It might not seem like the biggest issue at the moment but the departure from fact based economics seems to me to underly lots of UK’s current issues. One example. They have to find Brexit benefits so we have pointless plans to depart from eu rules. Result is higher costs for businesses and uncertainty for anyone trying to plan. This allowed someone like Truss to get into power with a fantasy economic plan. You can w…

Brexit is bound to have economical impact. Why wouldn't it? If you asked a heart surgery patient mid surgery if they're doing OK their -- and any professional's -- answer would range from "no, my chest is open" to "inconclusive until the surgery is complete.

You wouldn’t perform surgery whilst ignoring the monitors that show the patients vital signs.

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#235

Post by phatfish »

chrisseaton wrote: post #58
bigbillheck wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding was that the EU has many universities.

They’re not anywhere near where the Swiss universities are if you look at the rankings.

In the UK at least the "world class" universities do nothing for the native population and very little for the country in general.

Their primary reason for existence now is for rich foreigners (mainly from China and the middle east) to give their kids a status symbol education, this includes not failing bad students because the fees are so high.

The only people to benefit from this is are the University leadership and the property developers that build luxury accommodation for all the rich students.

I'm not sure if it is that bad in Switzerland. If they properly fund higher education for native citizens maybe not.

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#236

Post by alkonaut »

jamiegreen wrote: post #124
cjbgkagh wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fear that this time it’s terminal. I’ve been advising my friends to leave the UK for over ten years. To paraphrase Peter Hitchens, “I’ve never seen a more doomed society and I lived in Russia during the fall of USSR”

and go where exactly....

Anywhere. The benefit of a decent education for all and fluently speaking a global language. The situation for any young Brit is much better than for most European peers who face the same question.

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#237

Post by crisdux »

alkonaut wrote: post #229

What was the expected cost of Brexit in terms of wage stagnation and inflation relative to EU? Sure, now the cost is added on top of the global average, but the UK economy would be suffering regardless, now it’s just suffering more. But this was a deliberate choice. The Brexit was about “are you willing to pay X to get Brexit?”. Even low estimates of X were pretty bad.

The fears of brexit causing inflation never panned out.

How do you justifying your suggestion that brexit has had a meaningful impact on recent inflation? The UK inflation rate has maxed out at around 2.5% for the last decade until mid/end of 2021. It's growth is line with the rest of the developed world.

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#238

Post by kilroy123 »

retrac98 wrote: post #107
kilroy123 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent the last year living in London. I'm from California originally so a regular old American. I do think it's a nation on the decline in many ways. However, I met so many ambitious immigrants who came to the UK to work hard and make a good life for themselves. I believe these people will continue to keep the UK humming along. It might not be a mighty outsized county economically but they'll be fine.

London might as well be a different country from the rest of the UK. It’s not at all representative.

True, but it won't hurt if London carries on.

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#239

Post by LightG »

mike_hearn wrote: post #162
klelatti wrote: post #115

It might not seem like the biggest issue at the moment but the departure from fact based economics seems to me to underly lots of UK’s current issues. One example. They have to find Brexit benefits so we have pointless plans to depart from eu rules. Result is higher costs for businesses and uncertainty for anyone trying to plan. This allowed someone like Truss to get into power with a fantasy economic plan. You can w…

This generic explanation for everything always gets posted to HN whenever the UK comes up in any capacity, but it isn't "fact based economics". Inflation is surging throughout Europe and the world. Trading Economics has a useful map that visualizes it: https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate Inflation is high because governments printed enormous sums of money to fund lockdowns and furloughs. Helicopt…

I'm quite sure the OP was responding to the assertion that the UK was declining, not that current inflation is just a UK specific problem (though I could easily point to some Brexit specific issues that have made it worse than that which other countries are experiencing)

I hope this clarification has made you feel less tired.

Re: UK food price inflation hit 16.2% in October – cost of food basics surging

#240

Post by andy_ppp »

HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #174

The UK is declining, and people are starting to notice it. People are blaming the government, and clamouring for more support and money, but unfortunately I suspect it’s not that simple. The elephant in the room, in my opinion, is that we simply don’t have the money to maintain the standard of living we once enjoyed. Almost all political conversations here are contingent on this fact, but this underlying problem is r…

I don’t agree with this, the UK has a huge potential but very right wing governments keep redistributing the wealth such that the rich after COVID ended up with the £600bn of printed money. If you ended up with £2000 more in COVID and the ultra wealthy ended up with £300,000 then you’re going to get huge inflation and record corporate profits which will wipe out your £2000. Apparently we’re running out of Moët in the shops. We should find a way to redistribute a bit of wealth to the poor again… like council houses or some kind of wealth tax but instead we are disproportionately taxing income not wealth again.
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