What happened on 21st June 2023 - with your comments in the Web
On Wednesday, the Sky News reported that stubbornly high inflation increases pressure for interest rate hike. The cost of second-hand cars, flights, live music events and computer games kept the inflation rate higher than expected, despite the drop in petrol prices.
The rate of price rises has remained at 8.7% despite expectations of a fall, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced the consumer price index measure of inflation stood at 8.7% in the year up to May, the same as the rate in April.
A slight decrease, to 8.4%, had been expected by economists. It puts the government's pledge to halve inflation this year in doubt. The rate has been kept high due to the rising cost of second-hand cars, live music events and computer games, the ONS chief economist said, though they were partially offset by the fall in petrol prices. More expensive flights were also partially to blame, the ONS said.
Yet, Redditors weren't fooled by an optimistic headline.
"Things are worse than the headline... Core CPI actually went UP again."
"We are well an truly fooked, I've got 16 months left on my current mortgage deal and I have a horrible feeling interest rates are going to be like 10% when that ends."
"The economy would collapse at 10%. My fixed rate ends next year and i'm shitting myself."
"Inflation is being caused by globally high energy prices, globally high food prices, global supply chain issues, and a shortage of labour, each of these further exacerbated by brexit for various reasons. Interest rate changes aren’t going to make any of those problems go away."
Meanwhile, a study has found that British children who grew up during the years of austerity are shorter than their peers in Bulgaria, Montenegro and Lithuania.
In 1985, British boys and girls ranked 69 out of 200 countries for average height aged five. At the time they were on average 111.4cm and 111cm tall respectively.
Now, British boys are 102nd and girls 96th, with the average five-year-old boy measuring 112.5cm and the average girl, 111.7cm. In Bulgaria, the average height for a five-year-old boy is 121cm and a girl, 118cm.
Experts have said a poor national diet and cuts to the NHS are to blame. But they have also pointed out that height is a strong indicator of general living conditions, including illness and infection, stress, poverty and sleep quality.
This news is a great shame for our government. The reaction of Brits was predictable.
"Malnutrition is going to be a big issue in the next few years. Kids raised in poverty are either not getting enough to eat, or are being raised on cheap junk food because that is all their parents can afford (leading to them being overfed but under-nourished). This will seriously impact attainment at school and leave us with a generation of sicker workers, further stifling our productivity and increasing pressure on the NHS. Yet spending a few extra quid to give every kid free school meals is apparently asking too much."
"The prices are low, and so is the quality. A lot of the fresh, non-processed food have shorter shelf lives than they did say ten years ago. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve bought fresh fruit/veg, got home or had it delivered and then had to bin some of it as it’s practically rotten. I can see why people buy frozen and processed, it’s guaranteed to last longer, and is cheaper in the long run considering the state of fresh food at the moment." - "They're just selling rotten veg a lot of the time."
"To be fair, education around how to cook and how to care for yourself is another major factor. Most people simply don't know how to cook a healthy meal, not knowing that it can often be done for much less than the price of whatever fast food they rely on. And another factor is time and energy. I can cook, but I fall back in chicken and chips far more than I'm proud of because of low energy."
"Just a reminder that one of the key reason state welfare was created in Britain was because in the late 19th and early 20th century, the British Army was struggling to find recruits because so many people in the country were malnourished.
It speak volumes that those governments, headed entirely by people from the most privileged backgrounds in history, had a more logical view on the needs of their common citizens than most modern politicians."
"Also the grain laws were brought in because the rich realised they could pay workers less if food was cheap. They dont even have that foresight now just you cant have rises to pay for things like living cos wage price spiral."
"You know how when you ask people to describe Swedish people they immediately reach for "Tall" and "Blonde"?
Turns out the Swedish used to be some of the shortest in Europe until they started a serious policy of free School Meals to every child, not means tested free meals for the poor, the policy was universal, every child in every school eats for free every day. They then shot up in height year after year and remained iconic for being tall ever since.
Kids that don't eat properly, don't grow properly. UK Kids haven't been eating properly lately."
"The UK cut spending from $17.2k per person in 2010 to $17k per person in 2011 compared with Lithuania which cut spending from $9.7k per person in 2011 to $8.9k per person in 2012.
Lithuania did more austerity than us."Writing exclusively for The Independent to mark Pride Month, he recalled the “fierce” opposition he faced from hostile MPs, sections of the press and the church.
“It was only through long conversations with colleagues, friends and my wife, Samantha, that I became convinced that denying gay couples the ability to get married made them feel like their love for one another counted for less than straight couples,” he wrote.
"One of the only good things he’s done and he had to be talked into it by his wife."
A lawyer who has met hundreds of people needing help with their claims has accused the Home Office of institutional racism, saying she believed no other group of people in society would be treated “this callously”.
Jacqueline McKenzie, partner at the law firm Leigh Day, said they had had clients who were initially rejected for any compensation who were then offered tens of thousands when their case was reviewed in what she said is evidence of “poor case-working”.
"Thinking of Windrush people. They would not have been needed if, instead of sending British orphans overseas, our future workforce had been given work based education at 13 & 14 if mature enough.
Australia was the beneficiary (as well as Canada & Kiwida).
Do not jump on my back for typing 13 or 14. I was an apprentice at 15. From age 12 I was working in various jobs after school, mainly physical. I retired aged 66. missing out on 65 by 4 days. I am coming up to 69 now."
"500 migrants did not rebuild war damaged Britain. even 5,000 or 50,000 could not have done it, whatever they claim.
There is another aspect to this claim. They came for they were promised a better life, not a sense of duty to the Commonwealth. I do not detract from their contribution. Most were hard working, honest people unlike the modern generations. Be realistic and do not put them on a pedestal for behaving as others have throughout history.
The ten pound poms did not go to Oz, NZ or Canada from a sense of altruism, it was to get a better standard of living...period."
"And how much money has she made from the scheme?"
Some comments could be called racist.
"Yes, some things that went on were wrong and she wants reparation etc. Well how about the Government says sorry for the Government's actions of the past and we leave it at that . But no she'll want money as compensation like they always do ! Money won't cure the past."
Another Wednesday news was that WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos are among a string of companies named for failing to pay the minimum wage.
More than 200 firms face penalties of nearly £7m and must reimburse workers for breaches dating back over a decade. WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos all said the breaches were unintentional and had been swiftly remedied.
It is unclear how much they paid in fines, but the government said penalties amounted to up to 200% of the arrears owed. "Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working staff," said Kevin Hollinrake, minister for enterprise, markets and small business.
The National Living Wage and Minimum Wage rose by 9.7% this April
"All BS on their part, of course. It'd be trivial to alter payroll software to check this kind of thing.
And this :-
The retailer said it had misinterpreted rules around uniforms, having asked staff to wear specific coloured trousers, skirts and shoes without reimbursing them for it."Following a review with HMRC in 2019, and in common with a number of retailers, it was brought to our attention that we had misinterpreted how the statutory wage regulations were applied to our uniform policy for staff working in our stores," a spokesman said.
And the 'genuine error' here is that their lawyers told them that they could get away with not having to pay for uniforms if they just told their staff to all dress in same coloured clothing instead. i.e their attempts to weasel out of a commitment failed and for that they are truly sorry.
Undoubtedly they've taken steps to replace the lawyer in question so the next loophole works."
""Failed to pay" ?
Funny that, if a customer leaves with an item without paying it's theft, when a company does it then they "failed to pay"."
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