UK inflation at its highest level in almost 3 decades!

M0nica

LIthium is essential for batteries and car manufacturers cannot make electric cars if there are no batteries to put in them.

There isn't an imminent shortage of lithium.

MerylStreep

MayBee70

DH has just been to the market to get a new battery for his watch. The guy selling them said the cost has gone up 30% and will soon go up another 15% and is totally down to leaving the EU.

It’s obvious the man in the market doesn’t understand that the demand for lithium is outstripping supply. It’s a worldwide problem.

Standard watch batteries are silver oxide, not lithium.

MerylStreep

MayBee70

DH has just been to the market to get a new battery for his watch. The guy selling them said the cost has gone up 30% and will soon go up another 15% and is totally down to leaving the EU.

It’s obvious the man in the market doesn’t understand that the demand for lithium is outstripping supply. It’s a worldwide problem.

DH tells me it was actually a shop he went to as the market man wasn’t there. I can’t help but feel the shopkeeper knows more about why his goods are costing more than you and I. It wasn’t DH that raised the subject of brexit: we tend to avoid that these days.

LIthium is essential for batteries and car manufacturers cannot make electric cars if there are no batteries to put in them.

I'm not sure computer chips have lithium in them.

Good excuse though.

MerylStreep

MayBee70

DH has just been to the market to get a new battery for his watch. The guy selling them said the cost has gone up 30% and will soon go up another 15% and is totally down to leaving the EU.

It’s obvious the man in the market doesn’t understand that the demand for lithium is outstripping supply. It’s a worldwide problem.

It is having a knock-on affect on many industries, new cars, power tools, computer chips to name just a few.

Spare a thought for all the very young children who are enslaved to mine for this precious commodity.

MayBee70

DH has just been to the market to get a new battery for his watch. The guy selling them said the cost has gone up 30% and will soon go up another 15% and is totally down to leaving the EU.

It’s obvious the man in the market doesn’t understand that the demand for lithium is outstripping supply. It’s a worldwide problem.

CvD66 It is a question of the overall rise in prices across the whole economy and separate indices for individual groups.

The government needs to know what the overall inflation rate in the economy is and they need to cover everything that people spend money on and people do buy furniture, cars and all the rest, so they need to be included. However within the index items are weighted by how much they form of the average household expenditure, so that a 10% rise in food prices will have more effect on the index than a 10% rise in the price of furniture.

None of this stops the government or anyone else, drawing up sub indices for food prices, items bought weekly, for those over 60, parents with children or even lighthouse keepers.

In the past week, campaigner against poverty: Jack Monroe, has highlighted the actual difference in the cost of living prices over the last year with examples:
cheapest pasta from 29p to 70p (up 141%);
cheapest rice 45p per kilo to £1 for 500g (344% rise),
baked beans 22p now 32p (up 45%).,
canned spaghetti was 45p now 58p (up 29%).
There are many more examples where either the price has gone up massively or quantity for price has reduced!
These increases hit the worse off parts of society and not the electric cars, currently included in the inflation ‘shopping’ bag. With 4.1million of UK’s children growing up in poverty, these horrific increases in base food stuffs are devastating for these families.! And of course, the huge increase in the cost of heating is yet to hit in April! As a result Jack’s efforts, the ONS who report on cost of food prices and inflation, have significantly changed how they work out these figures. It will however take time to come through.

It plays to the gallery M0nica. It reinforces the idea that there are all these layabout benefit scroungers around. You can see that misconception on this thread.

The logic of the government's recent decision eludes me.

Let us take an example. Ahighly skilled engineer loses their job and cannot get another job within a month, so he has to apply for any job he can do and applies for work as a waiter, a supermarket assistant and a general labourer. Are any of those employers going to take him on? I doubt it, because they know that as soon as he can he is going to leave them to go back to a job that fits his qualifications and pays better.

I can see why the three month limit was there because after that period there may be many reasons why the kind of job he is looking for is no longer available, structural changes in industry, the economy and he will need to retrain or change careers to get back to the work level he is accustomed to.

Coastpath, yes, the majority of 'working age' benefits go to people who are in work.

The govt are going to get tough on people who are claiming benefits and are proposing to make them apply for jobs in sectors other than those that the people requested or have the necessary skills.

A quick look at the job vacancies shows the following:

Health sector 183,000
IT 120,000
Trade and construction 95,000
Engineering, teaching, logistics and warehousing - more than 70,000 in each of these categories

The above numbers total 698,000 which is more than 68% of the supposed million vacancies. It seems to me that most of the above require skilled workers. They may also be taking on trainees but I doubt that the number of trainees hired will be minimal compared with the vacancies.

It reminds me of the days of a certain Tory who said that people should get on their bikes - Norman Tebbit I think. Given the dire shortage of social and or affordable housing how are people expected to be able to move for work, especially if they have a family or one parent is working?

I heard one caller to LBC the other day who is a fireman and whose wife worked for the police and he they said that they are having difficulty in managing. At one time those jobs would have been regarded as being reasonably well paid.

rosie1959

If we have the jobs available should people not work rather than sit on benefits

It's about the mismatch of jobs and available skills.

People aren't always where the jobs are.
People don't always have the skills needed.
A good example of this is the recent lorry driver problem - Fork lift drivers retrained to be lorry drivers. Now there is a shortage of people with fork lift driving skills. People can retrain, but it takes time and money.

Lots of people aren't 'sitting' on benefits, they find themselves on benefits because of the employment market or other reasons.

Many people claiming benefits are in work.
Many people who don't work don't claim benefits.

Sorry, that was a reply to Lincslass and should have read 'mostly Switzerland'

No, I think it's most Switzerland. Not in EU but in single market.

Inflation affects different people in different ways. If you have a large productive allottment you will be unaffected by increases in the prices of fruit and veg, if you do not have pets the increase price of pet food will pass you by.

Even the effect of fuel prices will be dependent on how well isulated your house is. In fact we have been unaffected by rising fuel prices because 2years ago, our boiler was moved and the kitchen/family room radiator removed as we were about to start building a family room extension. As a temporary measure we put an electric oil-filled radiator in the room.

Then COVID struck. Our building project was delayed by over a year. The oil-filled radiator was our only kitchen/family room heating through 2 long winters - and our last two years fuel cost went through the ceiling. Now we have a new highly insulated extension, plus a previous extension roof was also stripped and replaced by a highly insulated roof and our fuel bills have dropped year on year.

As I said, everyone has a personal inflation rate, but governments have to deal with generalities.

rosie1959

If we have the jobs available should people not work rather than sit on benefits

I think that you will find that this thoughtless initiative is very unpopular with employers.

Lincslass

MayBee70

DH has just been to the market to get a new battery for his watch. The guy selling them said the cost has gone up 30% and will soon go up another 15% and is totally down to leaving the EU.

Really, thought watch batteries were made in China, not the EU.

I don't know much about batteries or their importation.
But I can imagine a situation where China had a trade deal with the EU that governed tariffs, and that no longer applies since we are no longer in the EU.

I don't know if this is true, it's a thought.

But what is definitely true is that there are consequences of Brexit on imports that are much more complex than some voters seem to think.

Casdon

It’s not relevant to you that other countries are affected if you are the poor soul or family with inadequate food and heating. Different countries use different strategies to mitigate the impact of rising inflation on the poorest, this country needs to do the same. The plan apparently is to make it harder to get universal credit to force people back to work, which won’t help those people on very small pensions.

No , but it is showing that there is global inflation rate at this present time. So not all down to Brexit, as the one and only influence, as so many on here are saying.

If we have the jobs available should people not work rather than sit on benefits

Casdon

It’s not relevant to you that other countries are affected if you are the poor soul or family with inadequate food and heating. Different countries use different strategies to mitigate the impact of rising inflation on the poorest, this country needs to do the same. The plan apparently is to make it harder to get universal credit to force people back to work, which won’t help those people on very small pensions.

Is this part of the great employment initiative that Johnson was boasting about at PMQT?

HolySox

So the triple lock should ensure state pensions increase with inflation... But wasn't kept in line with wage increases last year, so do we think the Chancellor will weedle his way out paying a 5.4% increase?

Yes

MayBee70

DH has just been to the market to get a new battery for his watch. The guy selling them said the cost has gone up 30% and will soon go up another 15% and is totally down to leaving the EU.

Really, thought watch batteries were made in China, not the EU.

I put aside £20 a week for a month then do a bulk shop---Asda delivery as today. Everything I have will last another month and beyond then I do the same again.
In between times I can pay a bill or two.
This week with Asda I had a £10 off voucher so that was another saving. Fridge and freezer are well stocked up. Cat food and all.