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The Great Squeeze: Cost of Living Crisis 2022
- Thread starter AstroDan
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BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
The thought of my energy bill doubling is terrifying. I remember a time not so long ago when my energy bill used to be less than my council tax bill, now it’s looking to be almost as much as my rent, our usage hasn’t increased but the price certainly has. Ridiculous, and this spineless, self serving government does nothing but watch from their ivory towers whilst people from all walks of life are stressed and struggling.
Matt N
TS Member
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- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
My concern is; what can the government really do to stop this? We clearly can’t afford to do anything about it, or else the government would surely have done whatever needed to be done by now?
Confusingly, however, this seems to be a very British problem… things don’t seem nearly as bad elsewhere. France’s energy bills are only rising by 4%, apparently… I wonder why Britain is faring so badly compared to Europe and the rest of the world?
Confusingly, however, this seems to be a very British problem… things don’t seem nearly as bad elsewhere. France’s energy bills are only rising by 4%, apparently… I wonder why Britain is faring so badly compared to Europe and the rest of the world?
BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on what the government can actually do, all I know is my bills are increasing to an unsustainable level. But I see governments in other countries stepping in and helping their people and I wonder why ours can’t at least try to do the same.
Edit; Their efforts so far (cost of living payment, that £400 energy grant/loan-not-loan, council tax discount etc) are not good enough as far as I’m concerned. These are all sticking plasters to try and placate the public in my opinion and it’s not going to help anyone long term as the price
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BarryZola
TS Member
On a serious note, we need to start fracking on a large scale. We've got reserves of gas underneath us that could help us out until we've sorted other more long term more environmentally friendly solutions. We don't have the breathing room to bow to the green lobby at the moment do we? Just tell them to frack off. We should do it in a not for profit way though, or a very low limit on any profits made if we need the skills and resources from a large company to carry out the work. It should be done strictly on behalf of the nation, not for the pockets of chairmen and shareholders. Unfortunately I don't think the government have the balls to do it after all the rubbish they've been spouting about 'net-zero' and their ridiculous deadlines to achieve it.
Thameslink Rail
TS Member
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- The Smiler
Have you never been on Derren Brown's Ghost Train? You should know that fracking releases gases that turn people into zombies that like to attack underground trains.
Been shielded to some degree from the worst excesses of energy cost rises so far, but with costs going up 80% in time for autumn and winter when people will be using more energy then it’s going to be a shock.
Maybe the great British public will show the government what ‘taking back control’ means. If this doesn’t lead to wide spread unrest by winter I don’t know what will. There is only so far you can push people before they break en-mass.
Maybe the great British public will show the government what ‘taking back control’ means. If this doesn’t lead to wide spread unrest by winter I don’t know what will. There is only so far you can push people before they break en-mass.
If only there was a fully costed alternative policy, a version which had already been enacted by several of our European neighbours for several months, which had mass popular support.
That'd be like a dream come true, right?
Matt.GC
TS Member
Why do you have so much trust in them? For over half your lifetime this government have proven to do loads of things to tuck us all up. Why would this be any different?
Remember when they killed loads of elderly people by sending untested people back to care homes? Or when they held a referendum of gargantuan importance for purely party political reasons and then completely FAILED to plan for one of the outcomes? How about the manufactured recession in the early 2010's that they were told would happen if they implimented purely ideological cuts? Or when they sold their bank shares at a loss just when their outlook was improving? Or when people couldn't buy homes because they were too expensive so they devised schemes to "help" them that inflated prices even more, whilst continuing the mass sell off of an already depleted social housing stock?
So why would they have done something by now? They have options, they just don't want to enact them because it's non-Tory to do so.
As you said yourself, it's a particular British problem and this is because of the choices they are making. Countries with high dependence on Russian fuel are faring better.
Nationalise the whole sodding lot! If energy prices are out of control and water companies can't sort out their leaks and are pumping sewage into the sea then the utilities market is broken. Social care is broken so our hospitals have become warehouses for the frail who can't afford care. We nationalised banks when that market was broken. Private health care doesn't work so we have a nationalised system for that. People need warmth, water, food, health care, social care and a place to live. If the private sector can't provide it then I expect my government to act.
I hope you use your first vote wisely Matt in 2024. They work for you, they're doing a crap job so sack the lot of them off!
Matt N
TS Member
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- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
I trust them because Tory or not, I’d hope that the government would at least do something to help with a crisis like this one.
I’m hopeful that the only reason we haven’t seen more yet is because the leadership election has put us in a slight state of limbo leadership-wise. When Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak takes over, I’m hopeful that we may receive a greater package of measures.
The government does have form for giving substantial financial support in crises. Say what you want about certain elements of the government’s COVID response, but I think there was very little to criticise about the Treasury’s financial response to the pandemic. Sunak unveiled a huge package of measures to help us ride out the pandemic, and I think they did work to limit the economic damage. I’m hopeful that when the new leader takes over, we might see similar action to combat the cost of living crisis; the MPs have teased “further help” when the new leader comes in, and there has been talk in the media of both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss having discussions about more substantial measures that will come in once they take over.
I am admittedly a little confused as to why we haven’t done what other European countries have done (and what Keir Starmer is seemingly suggesting) and frozen the energy bills by giving loans to the energy companies, but one problem with that is; how do we pay for it? This could be me having been swayed by years of Tory government, but; won’t this just result in colossal financial hardship later on?
To tell you the truth, I could just be a bit uninformed about what differences a Labour government would entail. I’ve only ever known the Conservatives being in power (the Con-LibDem coalition was formed just before I was 7, so I don’t really remember the previous Labour government at all), so I never really had much experience of the better place that the country allegedly was under Blair’s Labour Party (as I said, I was too young to remember). If I had the choice at the next election, I would vote for Labour (from what I’ve determined about my own political ideology, I don’t think I’d ever vote Tory).
However, part of me feels bad about supporting Labour because I was always told by my older relatives who remember Labour governments that Labour would “bankrupt the country” and “spend money that the country doesn’t have”, and someone (can’t remember who) once told me when I expressed a preference for Labour “Don’t you dare vote for that horrible lot. The young are supposed to respect their elders, so respect your elders and vote Conservative like a good boy.”…
Dave
TS Founding Member
If Ukraine was the only inflationary stimulus in the UK then all countries would have similar levels of inflation, they don’t. The UK has far higher inflation than France and Germany yet is less dependant in Russian gas. Ukraine is certainly the primary driving force at the moment but it only accounts for some of the increase we have seen according to plenty of experts.
The elephant in the room is brexit creating a supply problem in the UK market and government policy resisting any attempt to reduce that inflation.
Fracking doesn’t come close to providing the gas we would need and has quite considerable environmental impacts. Even if you put aside the issue of pumping pollutants into the ground, the structural ground issues are harder to get around in the UK as we don’t have vast unpopulated areas like America who do use fracking.
Irony is we have the tech and the ability to massively increase renewables in this country, the issue isn’t the ability to increase renewables, the issue is NYMBYism prevents us using the cheap options like onshore wind and forces all of the production off-shore which is incredibly expensive.
Matt N
TS Member
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- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
I’m not sure how much of a popular view this is, but I actually think that increasing the prevalence of nuclear power in the UK would be a very good idea.
It doesn’t rely on gas, which means that it leaves the country less vulnerable to energy crises like the current one and also has less impact on the environment than using gas.
However, I feel that it could cope with large scale demand better than some other renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels, so it might well be a more sustainable source of renewable energy.
I am conscious that some concerns exist surrounding nuclear power. However, some of these could be offset by using thorium rather than uranium. Thorium is many times more abundant than uranium, it’s safer due to the nuclear reactions being able to be terminated more easily in the event of an emergency, it produces less radioactive waste than uranium, so has less environmental impact… it has many advantages over traditional uranium!
EDIT - Here’s a useful article about the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy, if any of you would like to read a little more into it: https://earth.org/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-nuclear-energy/
It doesn’t rely on gas, which means that it leaves the country less vulnerable to energy crises like the current one and also has less impact on the environment than using gas.
However, I feel that it could cope with large scale demand better than some other renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels, so it might well be a more sustainable source of renewable energy.
I am conscious that some concerns exist surrounding nuclear power. However, some of these could be offset by using thorium rather than uranium. Thorium is many times more abundant than uranium, it’s safer due to the nuclear reactions being able to be terminated more easily in the event of an emergency, it produces less radioactive waste than uranium, so has less environmental impact… it has many advantages over traditional uranium!
EDIT - Here’s a useful article about the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy, if any of you would like to read a little more into it: https://earth.org/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-nuclear-energy/
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Benzin
TS Member
Sounds a dreadful family to be perfectly honest with you Matt. Can't choose your family but if any of my family members said that to me I'd go no contact because if they're not going to respect my decision as an adult then they don't deserve my respect.
They haven't done things other countries have because it would mean actually doing something to help the people suffering over those who tend to donate to the government losing profits.
MPs can put their energy bills on expenses. Others will have to make the choice between food or heating. They're doing nothing about it because it won't affect them so they flat out don't care.
Much like they don't care about those living in poverty or the disabled.
There's a few nuclear sites in progress atm but it takes time. Sizewell is the next one but we're playing catchup because of a minimal investment in our nation's infrastructure across the board. Rail, roads, water, energy, pretty much everything is behind because they'd rather make a profit than improve the country.
Disaster capitalists.
Matt N
TS Member
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- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
In fairness, I don’t think it was a family member who said the latter thing (“respect your elders”) to me; I can’t remember who it was, actually. My family are generally very accepting of my viewpoints on things.
Dave
TS Founding Member
The “Labour bankrupt the country” trope is a common one espoused by the right wing media (which is the majority of UK media).
I’m making no comment on policy and you should always decide your vote on the policies that appeal to you independently, but the irony is the countries debt burden always increases far more with a Tory government than a Labour one, this has been pretty consistently fact for the last 60 years.
That fact angers Tory voters but unfortunately it’s there is black and white.