this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
51 points (98.1% liked)

United Kingdom

4081 readers
77 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 15 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] merridew@feddit.uk 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Inflation rates are quoted as rolling annual percentages.

Since 2019, the cost of goods and services has gone up 21.94%.

You can find out more about much the value of your money has decreased over time using the Bank of England's Inflation Calculator at https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

[–] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 12 points 1 year ago

This is the important one. Inflation figures are year-on-year.
If the high rate continues for more than 1y, the hike can be more painful than the YOY number suggests.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

as cost of living pressures ease

Like the rest of the media, The Guardian is helping to make out that - as inflation supposedly falls - food and energy prices will fall. That's not what's happening - or will happen. Prices will continue to rise, just not so sharply.

I can't see how "cost of living pressures" will go away without deliberate price cuts. AND THAT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE UK.

[–] Lazylazycat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Deliberate price cuts and wage rises at the level of inflation.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 4 points 1 year ago

Yes. Agreed.

But what is that....? The sound of Sunak refusing decent pay rises to public sector workers and allowing the triple lock for Tory-voting old people to add £10 billion a year to government spending.

Or, and now hear me out, wage rises that are a fair bit higher than inflation like boomers enjoyed for most of their lives.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 6 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The UK’s annual inflation rate fell sharply to 6.8% in July, down from 7.9% in June, as the drop in energy prices over the past year led to the smallest increase in the cost of living since February 2022.

Financial markets had been braced for a marked easing in upward price pressure last month, and the figure announced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) was in line with their prediction.

The ONS said the main reason behind the fall was that the big jump in gas and electricity bills in July 2022 had not been repeated, although there was also a decline in annual food inflation last month to below 15%.

The shadow chancellor added: “After 13 years of economic chaos and incompetence under the Conservatives, working people are worse off – with higher energy bills and prices in the shops.”

Two years ago, inflation measured by the consumer prices index (CPI) stood at 2% – in line with the government’s target – but it rose steadily in the months that followed and hit 6.2% in February 2022.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in that month gave an added boost to inflationary pressure by pushing up global oil and gas prices, and inflation peaked at 11.1% in October before falling back.


I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] Blapoo@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sorry, I'm poor. What does inflation have to do with my inability to buy anything? Will my pay increase, or prices decrease with less inflation?

[–] o_oli@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Prices won't decrease but they are just rising fast instead of really fast which is... progress?!

Technically peoples pay should increase but there will no doubt be a nice lag to that too won't there.

[–] BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah but if we do that then inflation will just go up more. Somehow. Even though real wages has been dropping for decades.

[–] o_oli@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Almost like the system is fucked hey.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

A̶l̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ the system is fucked hey.

Let's be accurate! :)

[–] Aux@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Real wages have not been dropping for decades.