On the news tonight about the soaring diesel and petrol prices in the UK and how this is starting to have a major impact on many rural communities where the prices are highest. Diesel per gallon in rural communities in the south west of the country has now hit an all time high, costing $11.35 a gallon!! This means filling up the tank with 14 gallons of diesel will now cost $159.00! Petrol (Gas to you North Americans) per gallon is also at a record high, costing $10.10!! 80% of petrol/diesel prices in the UK is government tax! Also affected is the cost of red diesel which can only be used in agricultural vehicles, fishing boats etc, this has doubled pretty much over the past 12 months, putting the livelihoods of many in these industries at great risk of going belly up, under. House prices have also been valued in the UK as being about a 1/3 overpriced, and prices are set to fall by about a third over the course of the next 2-3 years. A first time buyers home costs in this part of the UK at present, costs around $355,000 (which doesn't buy you very much at all btw). Food prices have also been escalating at an extraordinary rate this past 3-4 months or so, again it is the rural communities that generally get hit the hardest first, since the pay often in these areas is a lot less than many city areas. There is also great concern in the agricultural sector at our reliance upon foreign labour, for example from Poland and other eastern European countries, that workers from these countries could leave these shores and jobs, just as quickly as they arrived. This is because of the weak pound against the current strong Polish currency. I think this is all going to represent a very bumpy road ahead. Talking with my father earlier about it all, (he's 73), he said that he's never known prices to go up so fast in this country in his lifetime, in such a short period of time. I'm wondering where all of this is going and am starting to worry a little bit about the future. How do the other British citizens here feel about the developing situation? If living in North America, are you shocked by these prices given to you? Thoughts appreciated.
All of them are as bad as each other. The Lib Dems, never had the foggiest clue what they were going on about, have always seen them as very weak and ineffectual. The Conservatives, well, I've still not forgotten the last recession in the boom and bust years, wouldn't trust that political party with a bargepole. Labour, pretty much the same, in all honesty, this whole country has gone to the dogs of late, faster I can get out of here the better. I just cannot see a decent future anymore living in the UK, there's too much wrong with this country these days and life is too short to stay here until I kick the bucket. Place has become a shambles on so many degrees it's unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful country, the people for the most part, the most wonderfully ecletic, eccentric bunch of characters you could find anywhere that collectively wear their hearts on their sleeves, but of late, there's just something fundamentally wrong with living on these shores, sad but true, perhaps one of the reasons that Britons are leaving here in their droves over the past few years. The stress of living here is unbelievable. I want out.
I'm a Conservative. It's funny how people only remember our darkest days in the early-nineties. They never seem to recognise the good shape the economy was in when Labour came to power in 1997. One of the first things Tony Blair did as he stepped into Downing Street was to acknowledge our stewardship of the economy. Likewise people choose not to remember the way the country was under Labour in the seventies - bodies piled high in mortuaries and rubbish festering on streets during the winter of discontent. We're heading back in that direction.
I agree with your points regarding the rural economic problems, here in Cornwall it is really getting scary. Here are the main poits as I see them; OPEC thinks oil will go to $200 a barrel, God knows what that will translate to at the pumps. Inflation is really around 12-15% maybe more, not 2.1% as the government say it is. Many business is failing due to too much tax and red tape. Greedy and stupid banks needing bailing out with our money so they can make record profits with no risk. House prices in Cornwall totally demented. 50% of Eastern Europeans heading home due to pounds weak value. Massive state dependence by those who should be working. Stock market held up by oil and metals stocks, otherwise it would fall and fall. The prime minister has no authority. I am thinking of liquidating my assets and getting the hell out of it before it's too late.
Ahhhhhh a Cornish lass. Maybe we should emigrate together across the Tamar, to that far flung land, they call England. As for the state the country was in under the Conservatives, what are you on CountryBoy? The country was on it's bleedin' knees, it was in a dreadful mess, the economy was in tatters, home repossessions galore, bankruptcies had become the norm, how on earth you can sit there and say that Labour was handed a great economy just staggers belief. Had you forgotten that interest rates at that time in 1997 were running at 14.6% under the conservatives? It was absolutely bloody awful. Labour/Conservative, both rotten apples in the same barrel. Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, we'd have more luck flying concrete hangliders than having that man in charge of this country, as for David Cameron, well, words fail me.
Sounds like politicians over there are as bad as the ones here. As for the figures being staggering I actually am not that taken aback. The US Dollar has become so weak anymore that just about everything is worth more then it. This country is in a recession. Gas is almost $4 a gallon and diesel is well over $4 a gallon. The situation as a whole is just downright ridiculous. Now I happen to be an old country boy and unfortunately that means poise and grace and diplomacy isn't exactly my thing. My course of action is to get loud and start kicking ass. However there is nothing I can do about it and I know it. If I could get everyone that feels the way I do organized and take a stand saying we won't take it it still would not work. We would probably end up called terrorists and disposed of in the interest of national security. Though I have a course of action that would work I can not speak it for fear of being paid a visit by the FBI.
I know that sounds bad but look at the USA. Gas was $1.60 or less before Bush and the dollar was worth alot more money. Now gasoline is almost $4 a gallon where i live and the dollar is worth half in my opinion. That is a 250% rise in gas prices and diesel used to be cheaper now it cost more. Not sure but i think you used to pay well over $5 so it is up 100% correct. The grass is always greener some place else i guess
i went Conservative aswell =) i notice how they justify the up in gas because the national minimum wage will rise by 21p... Food is going up things in the shop jump like 20p at a time what to me aint right free range eggs and "good" food that the goverment tell you to eat is like 20p a apple! i mean its the same with houses, when my mother and father got this house it was on the market for 190,000 and 18 years later the house a few doors down is selling at 480,000 and i would say we where a middle class family.
Welcome back to Old Labour circa 1970. Yep its back to the good old days, oil price going mad, public sector on strike, wasted tax money, country nearly bankrupt, yet more tax to keep the whole party going. I rememeber the 70s but the difference is that there is no Margaret Thatcher to save us this time.
Price of fuel is an absolute joke at the moment! I have just got back from New Zealand where they seem to be moaning about their prices but ours take it to a whole new level!
This is why I find it funny when I'm in the states and everyone around me is complaining about petrol prices, it's so cheap there. I don't know who to blame to be honest, the petrol companies, the government, the workers who've gone on strike... What makes it worse is that we went to war to secure petrol prices but they've shot up since we invaded so what was the bloody point, all that money down the drain which should have been spent on our schools and hospitals, not Iraqs. Labour have definitely fucked this country up, this is why I'm voting Conservative because they're the only ones who have a chance of getting in and because it'll be hard for them to fuck up worse than Labour.
That price is shocking; I had no idea. That's your price in US$? Looks like you all need to start making all-natural biodiesel locally.
A month later it now costs $12.57 a gallon in parts of the country! Truckers were out in protest today, blocking one of the main arteries into London.
Well here in Holland we pay like €1.62 for one liter of diesel. Thats freaking insane. That will be that I need almost 16 gallon for my BMW here in holland..Thats more then $16 a gallon :S
I believe your government duty on gas (petrol) and diesel is also among the lowest in Europe whilst ours is the highest. I think I might invest in a Pal-V and move to The Netherlands instead!
$5? That's 1980's prices, cheap as chips. What on earth are you moaning at, it's an absolute steal at that price! If I could buy it at that figure, I'd be storing the stuff at the docks.