Current Affairs 2023

[Ray Scully]

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[Ray B]

I can not remember many news stories pitying us mortgage payers when the rate hit 17.5%. Mind you, in the day you had to prove to the bank manager/broker that you hadn't overstretched yourself, for any problems that may happen in the future. If I remember correctly it was mostly about the savers. Luckily we had capacity to carry on the increase as we adjusted to the new rates which didn't always go up by 0.5%,more likely a couple of %.
I do have pity for those who were duped into big mortgages when rates were ridiculously low, and may now find living in the real world a tad more difficult.

[david63]

Completely agree Ray - although the numbers were nowhere near as big as today they were still relative to income.

I think also that a lot of the problem is that many of today's mortgagees have not experienced significant rate rises over the last 10 - 15 years and now it has come as a shock.

[oldbluefox]

Over the past 10-15 years the ones who have lost out are the savers with interest rates dropping extremely low, meaning many pensioners who have in the past had to rely on interest to supplement their pensions have had to spend savings instead. It's a double whammy for them.
Unfortunately many house buyers have spent up to their limit so have little by way of slack when interest rates have gone up.

[Ray B]

Hit the nail well and truly on the head there Foxy. No return on savings, rates only go up once the bank and building society have made a tidy profit off our money.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I've lost something like £5k in income per year over the last 10-15 years because of the crash in interest rates. So I don't have a deal of sympathy now the pendulum is swinging the other way.

[Stephen]

I must admit I was pleasantly surprised recently when I got the interest on my savings account. It wasn’t a fortune but compared to last year it’ll buy an ice cream instead of just the cone

[Mervyn and Trish]

Flash bugger

[Ray B]

Stephen, don't buy an ice cream, now the rates are painfully starting to rise, re invest it. You may then have enough for a flake as well.

[Stephen]

I’m not that flush Ray. But I might treat the wife to a slap up meal. Well, at least walk up and down past it taking in the aromas.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Sometimes the media don't choose very good examples to illustrated their stories. Yesterday I heard one interviewed who, as a result of interest rate rises, was going to have to cut down from eating out three times a week to just once. Hardly food bank dependency is it!

[barney]

Sometimes the media don't choose very good examples to illustrated their stories. Yesterday I heard one interviewed who, as a result of interest rate rises, was going to have to cut down from eating out three times a week to just once. Hardly food bank dependency is it!

I think that’s the new normal Merv.
My son is on an excellent salary but boy, do they spend.
They live very differently to us.
We’re of the generation that considers dinner out as a treat.
They consider it normal.
They called on Fathers Day and said that they were just off out for breakfast.
Then again out for dinner.
They will take the girls to Bluewater for the day and probably do a couple of hundred, with lunch, cinema and then dinner plus a few treats.
I know we spend on holidays but also tend to live quite humbly even if we can afford it.
Different times.

[Mervyn and Trish]

It now seems definite the five people in the minisub on a tourist jaunt to Titanic have died. That is a personal tragedy for their families. But in the bigger picture hasn't Titanic claimed enough lives? Isn't it time to let her rest in peace?

[towny44]

Unfortunately Merv it's a bit like Everest, as long as its there people will want to conquer it.

[Stephen]

Hopefully it was quick, and being an implosion as is being suggested they wouldn’t have known nothing about it.

[Mervyn and Trish]

One of the relatives is now demanding an inquiry into what went wrong. Sadly we know that surely? People with more money than sense went on a tourist trip they were told was potentially lethal in an uncertified submersible whose safety had been questioned to a depth at which any accident was unsurviveable.

Cynically I guess what they really mean is who can I sue?

I suspect this will never happen again, with this company at least. It's hard to see how the business can survive the publicity, the law suits and hopefully the bill from the authorities for the search and recovery mission.

[Mervyn and Trish]

That nice President Putin has a bit of bother then.

[oldbluefox]

That nice President Putin has a bit of bother then.

The next few days could be very interesting both in terms of what is happening within Russia and how Ukraine deal with it. The intelligence channels will be red hot. Clearly there is more to it than we are being told. Sunak held a Cobra meeting today.

[towny44]

Since anything that destabilises Russia is of great concern to the west, then I would have been amazed if the govt had not had a COBRA meeting.

[Ray B]

Interesting day in Russia today. Moscow were obviously minded as to what could happen if Wagner reached the capital and started ripping up roads to Moscow to slow the Wagner advance,also setting up machine gun posts on the outskirts into Moscow.
In steps Alexander Lukashenko, a bit of a loose cannon himself, with talks held with Prigozhin and the advance has retreated to field camps.
The big strong Putin may have been a bit unnerved by the angry ranting of Prigozhin.

[Stephen]

Warner’s bottled it and left Russia.

[david63]

Warner’s bottled it and left Russia.

So what is Putin going to do now for troops fighters cannon fodder?

[Stephen]

That should have read as Wagner not Warner.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I did wonder. I've been to one of his hotels and there was no fighting. Well not much.

[Stephen]

I did wonder. I've been to one of his hotels and there was no fighting. Well not much.

Only for the evening entertainment.

We’ve been to a few in the past ourselves.