The Cost Of Living Crisis

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

You can tell a Yorkshireman

 

But you can't tell him much

[Creative Midfielder 1,998]

On 14/01/2023 at 10:43, sonyc said:

Beat me to it H!

I've lived up in Yorkshire now for over four decades and there definitely remains a relevance about this sketch:

 

Me too, although I was born in Norwich and lived there for a few years as a child I'm now almost fully acclimatised to Yorkshire 😀

And you are spot on - that sketch is still very relevant even now, in fact looking around at what is going on this winter it would probably be more accurate to say especially now.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

On 14/01/2023 at 10:43, sonyc said:

Beat me to it H!

I've lived up in Yorkshire now for over four decades and there definitely remains a relevance about this sketch:

 

Been here basically all my life, funny people here from all levels of wealth etc. act like this in some aspects!

[Yellow Fever 3,799]

12 hours ago, Tetteys Jig said:

Been here basically all my life, funny people here from all levels of wealth etc. act like this in some aspects!

Yes - the rose tinted glasses - it was better in my day - I had it worse than you.

Never mind the facts.

[ricardo 7,395]

Makes you wonder,

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64234234

[Tetteys Jig 830]

39 minutes ago, ricardo said:

Makes you wonder,

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64234234

In the article it then says they are below pre pandemic levels. Also, if it’s 5% more spent on the average holiday now then that’s a real terms decrease.

[nevermind, neoliberalism has had it 159]

Hurray we are spewing out air pollution again. If that new bill gets past by Parliament deconstructing free speech and the right to protest, they can stop old ladies protesting about inflationary food prices, not just non violent direct activism.

This from 'The Stuermer', today, as much as I hate linking to fascist publications.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/15/police-to-get-new-powers-to-shut-down-protests-before-disruption-begins?ref=upstract.com

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

48 minutes ago, Tetteys Jig said:

In the article it then says they are below pre pandemic levels. Also, if it’s 5% more spent on the average holiday now then that’s a real terms decrease.

But I think Ricardo is alluding to the term cost of living crisis which to him and me also means having to make do with less. A holiday really would be the last thing I would take if I was having trouble paying my bills. It isn't easy to equate talking about nurses and teachers using food banks and others booking holidays.

[horsefly 4,303]

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/richest-1-of-people-in-uk-now-wealthier-than-70-of-population-combined-341998/

Richest 1% of people in UK now wealthier than 70% of population combined

[ricardo 7,395]

7 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

But I think Ricardo is alluding to the term cost of living crisis which to him and me also means having to make do with less. A holiday really would be the last thing I would take if I was having trouble paying my bills. It isn't easy to equate talking about nurses and teachers using food banks and others booking holidays.

Indeed. Comparing it to before Covid is irrelevant. That was a period of very low inflation or actual deflation.

If energy costs have doubled  ( as a quick check on my gas and electricity usage seems to show), then increased spending on holidays comes as a surprise to me. I have already cut back  on non essentials and I expect most people have done the same.

[sonyc 5,535]

19 hours ago, Tetteys Jig said:

Been here basically all my life, funny people here from all levels of wealth etc. act like this in some aspects!

There are funny folk yes. I suppose there is a kind of northern humour (like the brilliant Early Doors).

My favourite story I recall was from someone I knew from my office days (social housing) who met one of his tenants whilst doing his visits and told him he was having trouble stopping smoking. "Brian, I can help" he said. He suggested a music tape full of subliminal messages would do the trick. "What sort of music do you like?". Brian replied "Bob Dylan is my favourite". "Leave it with me and I will bring you it when I've ordered it - only a fiver". Brain paid and about a couple of weeks later a tape arrived at the office. Brian was intrigued and played it that evening. 

It was Bob Dylan's best known songs. One song in, he was listening to 'Blowing in the Wind' when a strong northern voice he recognised (the tenant's) shouted out "Stop Smoking. It's not good for you". The songs were interspersed every minute or so throughout the tape with similar such repeating messages!

No wonder Peter Kay gets his material from everyday life😅. Thankfully, Brian thought it was funny. 

[Aggy 755]

5 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

 It isn't easy to equate talking about nurses and teachers using food banks and others booking holidays.

Did the article say that nurses and teachers weren’t booking holidays then? 

[TheGunnShow 5,946]

5 hours ago, horsefly said:

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/richest-1-of-people-in-uk-now-wealthier-than-70-of-population-combined-341998/

Richest 1% of people in UK now wealthier than 70% of population combined

And this is also why GDP figures per capita don't tell the whole story. The Gini coefficient after housing costs may be a useful stat to throw in alongside it as it shows the level of (in)equality involved - and the UK generally has one of the highest in Europe (so therefore one of the most unequal).

[horsefly 4,303]

28 minutes ago, Aggy said:

Did the article say that nurses and teachers weren’t booking holidays then? 

Indeed! It found an example of a 60 year-old childless couple (one teacher, one nurse) who have booked a week in Benidorm. So proof if any was needed that all teachers and nurses are on massive pay deals, and should shut the fu*ck up and get back to work immediately.

[Aggy 755]

1 minute ago, horsefly said:

Indeed! It found an example of a 60 year-old childless couple (one teacher, one nurse) who have booked a week in Benidorm. So proof if any was needed that all teachers and nurses are on massive pay deals, and should shut the fu*ck up and get back to work immediately.

Ok :S

 

[TheGunnShow 5,946]

30 minutes ago, horsefly said:

Indeed! It found an example of a 60 year-old childless couple (one teacher, one nurse) who have booked a week in Benidorm. So proof if any was needed that all teachers and nurses are on massive pay deals, and should shut the fu*ck up and get back to work immediately.

Surprised it didn't call them "selfish" for not having kids just to chuck in the breeder bingo for good measure.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

1 hour ago, Aggy said:

Did the article say that nurses and teachers weren’t booking holidays then? 

I have no idea. I was merely pointing out that we are being told that people are finding it very difficult to make ends meet. And that nurses and teachers were using foodbanks. Yet holiday bookings were up. And it must be assumed nurses and teachers are among those booking holidays.

So obviously those going to foodbanks must be living their lives quite differently to those booking holidays if they are nurses or teachers, which were examples.

And the point was that Ricardo and I found it astonishing that holiday bookings would increase during a cost of living crisis.

[Aggy 755]

3 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

I have no idea. I was merely pointing out that we are being told that people are finding it very difficult to make ends meet. And that nurses and teachers were using foodbanks. Yet holiday bookings were up. And it must be assumed nurses and teachers are among those booking holidays.

So obviously those going to foodbanks must be living their lives quite differently to those booking holidays if they are nurses or teachers, which were examples.

And the point was that Ricardo and I found it astonishing that holiday bookings would increase during a cost of living crisis.

Yes agreed although I do think the holiday bookings is a bit of a red herring stat. An article in December said they were down from Dec 21 for instance.

 And I think the article you linked (or the one from December, I’ve just read both so may be getting them mixed up) said it’s still below pre-covid levels, which does suggest that the cost of living difference from 2019 to 2022/3 has made a difference to people’s holidaying habits given that covid concerns are largely now irrelevant in terms of restrictions for travelling  (although I expect some people put off holidays due to risk of getting covid on a cruise/plane etc.)

 

[Yellow Fever 3,799]

37 minutes ago, Aggy said:

Yes agreed although I do think the holiday bookings is a bit of a red herring stat. An article in December said they were down from Dec 21 for instance.

 And I think the article you linked (or the one from December, I’ve just read both so may be getting them mixed up) said it’s still below pre-covid levels, which does suggest that the cost of living difference from 2019 to 2022/3 has made a difference to people’s holidaying habits given that covid concerns are largely now irrelevant in terms of restrictions for travelling  (although I expect some people put off holidays due to risk of getting covid on a cruise/plane etc.)

 

Also many people, slightly better off or in safer jobs, may not have gone away for a several years. A kind of catch up. 

[ron obvious 1,513]

Looking at this i suspect the present cost of living crisis will look like a golden age (if we carry on our present course)

 

[Canary Wundaboy 1,359]

On 05/09/2022 at 14:56, Canary Wundaboy said:

Had a bloke over to quote us on some solar panels this morning. Based on current electricity costs and the increase from October, they’ll pay themselves off in 5 years and not cost me a penny in additional monthly costs as the cost each month of the finance on the panels (over 5 years) is actually less than the savings on my energy bill each month. No brainer.

Just in case anyone was curious, had the panels and battery fitted Monday 16th. Last week was relatively sunny so we've generated 71.3kWh of energy via the panels so far, and charging the battery up overnight while on the economy 7 night rate means we don't have to use the grid whatsoever on the more expensive rate until about 9pm, so just a few hours of the day. It's knocked our daily cost down by about 75% and this is the worst time of year for the panels in terms of power generation, so I'm absolutely chuffed. Obviously it was a fairly big outlay but we managed to get it all financed on 0% so we're paying about £50 more per month than we have done just for our electricity bills, except we'll own the panels outright in a few years and probably pay very little in electricity for 6-8 months of the year. Plus if the government get their act together and force the energy companies to increase the rate paid for electricity put back into the grid all the better.

[ron obvious 1,513]

 

24 minutes ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

Just in case anyone was curious, had the panels and battery fitted Monday 16th. Last week was relatively sunny so we've generated 71.3kWh of energy via the panels so far, and charging the battery up overnight while on the economy 7 night rate means we don't have to use the grid whatsoever on the more expensive rate until about 9pm, so just a few hours of the day. It's knocked our daily cost down by about 75% and this is the worst time of year for the panels in terms of power generation, so I'm absolutely chuffed. Obviously it was a fairly big outlay but we managed to get it all financed on 0% so we're paying about £50 more per month than we have done just for our electricity bills, except we'll own the panels outright in a few years and probably pay very little in electricity for 6-8 months of the year. Plus if the government get their act together and force the energy companies to increase the rate paid for electricity put back into the grid all the better.

That's great news. Few questions if I may: how long did it take to generate the 71.3kWh? Are you south facing? (Our roof is west). How big is your array? Battery size?

Interesting about the finance cost - I always think in cash terms! Was it difficult to get a 0% deal? Our house (daughter's actually) is all electric but near passivhaus standard with MVHR so pretty energy efficient, although we hadn't expected prices to triple 🤔which was a bit of a kick in the wotsits.

One thing to look out for is if the bloody telemetry goes down on the smart meter; we were getting way overcharged & it turned out to be the meter reverting to only day rate for a couple of months. It's taken months to sort out & it's still not really satisfactory because we've ended up paying on an estimate rather than the super accurate readings that the smart meter is supposed to provide. Apparently this is fairly common. 

I'm with Scottish Power, your supplier may be better, but I'm going to change to Octopus or similar as soon as I can. The whole supplier situation is a nightmare at the moment. I'm hoping it'll improve.

[TheGunnShow 5,946]

11 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

 

That's great news. Few questions if I may: how long did it take to generate the 71.3kWh? Are you south facing? (Our roof is west). How big is your array? Battery size?

Interesting about the finance cost - I always think in cash terms! Was it difficult to get a 0% deal? Our house (daughter's actually) is all electric but near passivhaus standard with MVHR so pretty energy efficient, although we hadn't expected prices to triple 🤔which was a bit of a kick in the wotsits.

One thing to look out for is if the bloody telemetry goes down on the smart meter; we were getting way overcharged & it turned out to be the meter reverting to only day rate for a couple of months. It's taken months to sort out & it's still not really satisfactory because we've ended up paying on an estimate rather than the super accurate readings that the smart meter is supposed to provide. Apparently this is fairly common. 

I'm with Scottish Power, your supplier may be better, but I'm going to change to Octopus or similar as soon as I can. The whole supplier situation is a nightmare at the moment. I'm hoping it'll improve.

If you're changing to Octopus, ask if any of your friends are with them as they should have a referral code which, if shared, gives both them and you £50 of free electric if used to refer a new customer.

[Canary Wundaboy 1,359]

13 hours ago, ron obvious said:

 

That's great news. Few questions if I may: how long did it take to generate the 71.3kWh? Are you south facing? (Our roof is west). How big is your array? Battery size?

Interesting about the finance cost - I always think in cash terms! Was it difficult to get a 0% deal? Our house (daughter's actually) is all electric but near passivhaus standard with MVHR so pretty energy efficient, although we hadn't expected prices to triple 🤔which was a bit of a kick in the wotsits.

One thing to look out for is if the bloody telemetry goes down on the smart meter; we were getting way overcharged & it turned out to be the meter reverting to only day rate for a couple of months. It's taken months to sort out & it's still not really satisfactory because we've ended up paying on an estimate rather than the super accurate readings that the smart meter is supposed to provide. Apparently this is fairly common. 

I'm with Scottish Power, your supplier may be better, but I'm going to change to Octopus or similar as soon as I can. The whole supplier situation is a nightmare at the moment. I'm hoping it'll improve.

We generated the following:

1.6kWh Monday (install day)

8.1kWh Tuesday

10.3 kWh Weds

10.8kWh Thurs

9.7kWh Friday

11.7 kWh Saturday (with 1.4kWh of that sent back to grid)

12.4kWh Sunday (1kWh to grid)

6.4kWh Monday (yesterday)

We had them installed on our West facing roof, they really start generating power around 11am as they he sun comes over until sunset. That’s enough to charge the battery up to around 95% ready to use during the evening.

We got a 6kWh battery and 14 x 445w panels.

In terms of financing we just used a 0% credit card for the bulk of it. 2 years at 0% and then I’ll balance transfer the remainder over to keep it that way. If we come into some cash somewhere down the line we can just pay it off instantly.

We’re with Shell Energy. Avoid.

Edited January 24, 2023 by Canary Wundaboy

[ron obvious 1,513]

2 hours ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

We generated the following:

1.6kWh Monday (install day)

8.1kWh Tuesday

10.3 kWh Weds

10.8kWh Thurs

9.7kWh Friday

11.7 kWh Saturday (with 1.4kWh of that sent back to grid)

12.4kWh Sunday (1kWh to grid)

6.4kWh Monday (yesterday)

We had them installed on our West facing roof, they really start generating power around 11am as they he sun comes over until sunset. That’s enough to charge the battery up to around 95% ready to use during the evening.

We got a 6kWh battery and 14 x 445w panels.

In terms of financing we just used a 0% credit card for the bulk of it. 2 years at 0% and then I’ll balance transfer the remainder over to keep it that way. If we come into some cash somewhere down the line we can just pay it off instantly.

We’re with Shell Energy. Avoid.

Many thanks for that, that's really useful info. I think that's about twice the panels we were thinking of, but they certainly seem to be generating useful power now - I'd pretty much written them off at this time of year - so the (fairly marginal) extra cost might well be worth paying. 

Hmm. even more chin scratching required 🤔

[Canary Wundaboy 1,359]

1 hour ago, ron obvious said:

Many thanks for that, that's really useful info. I think that's about twice the panels we were thinking of, but they certainly seem to be generating useful power now - I'd pretty much written them off at this time of year - so the (fairly marginal) extra cost might well be worth paying. 

Hmm. even more chin scratching required 🤔

Even today it's been cloudy all day and they've generated 4.4kWh so far. Obviously that has the knock-on effect of not charging the battery as far etc, but we offset that by not running the washing machine etc until past midnight and other normal energy-savings techniques.

[horsefly 4,303]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/supermarket-shoppers-furious-over-ridiculous-price-rises-as-dad-walks-out-in-disgust/ar-AA16JzDg?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b4350a49985e466ea5e1f54d9e644c15

Those struggling most with the cost of living crisis probably spend a very high proportion of their income on food. It is increasingly becoming a concern that inflation in this area is well above the basic rate, and that some food manufacturers/shops are exploiting the current crisis to increase prices well beyond what is justified. Many examples are noted in the link above, but while out shopping the other day I was particularly "intrigued" to see that Atora suet (either the beef or vegetable version) sells for £3 a packet, which works out at £12.50 a kilo. The beef version is basically 85% lard and 15% flour, so I would love to know what sort of profit they are making by charging more per kilo than ASDA charges for it thin cut steak.

[Pyro Pete 1,902]

Firefighters vote to go on strike

 

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,420]

I was going to have tenderstem broccoli with my pie tonight. A smallish pack of what would do two people adequately and used to cost £1.90 approx, was £3.00 in M&S today. I had sprouts instead.

I know, first world problems...

[Midlands Yellow 4,007]

Heinz beans only £1.75 a tin at my local Co-op if anyone wants a bargain.