UK Economy Bounces Back

Urmstongran

So isn’t that A Good Thing for the UK economy?

No!

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/11/uk-exports-to-eu-fell-by-20bn-last-year-new-ons-data-shows?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
U.K. exports to EU fell by 20bn last year not great news

One of life’s mysteries indeed MayBee.

Why are comments unbiased if the reader believes them but biased if they don’t?

* I mean with the exchange rates (natch) not the fact that we import more.

No

So isn’t that A Good Thing for the UK economy?

We import more than we export….

Ooh I hope so Josieann! Be great. For holidaymakers. And importers. But not exporters.

GrannyGravy13

vegansrock

This is why a windfall tax has been called for- but oh no, got to protect the shareholders.

Not just shareholders, millions if not billions of pension funds both private and company are invested in utilities.

Not sure if making pensioners suffer twice is a good thing?

I'm sorry, but I don't see how a windfall tax on excessive profits is going to hit shareholders (a group which includes the pension fund investors). I'm sure that the energy companies will have more than enough left after tax to pay their normal dividends.

Of course, it is worth remembering that investing in any private company is something of a lottery, dividend is (or should be) dependent on performance and what is left after taxation. Investors cannot expect to rely on good returns year after year after year.

Doesn't the exchange rate fluctuate throughout the year? I always saw it rise during the summer months, which was good for all British tourists (not just me!) If we are €1.19 today in February, then that bodes well for several months' time.

Well, well. Apologies Casdon my memory obviously isn’t as good as I thought!
Weird that best and worst exchange rates were both in 2015.
Perhaps I went over to Malaga and missed the ‘good’ months that year!

Here’s the evidence. It was 2015 Urmstongran. I just copied this off the web as I can remember going to Spain and being happy with the rate.
‘This is the British Pound (GBP) to Euro (EUR) exchange rate history data page for the year of 2015, covering 365 days of GBP EUR historical data. Best exchange rate: 1.4409 EUR on 18 Jul 2015. Average exchange rate in 2015: 1.3777 EUR. Worst exchange rate: 1.2747 EUR on 06 Jan 2015.’

I didn’t suggest that at all growstuff just curious as to why if you or anyone else always have such a negative view of the UK you are happy to live here. Yes there are negatives but lots of positives too. But then I suppose there wouldn’t be anything to continually moan about.

Well said.

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.

Well said Hetty58 and GG13 ?

Gwyneth We all separate out politics from the rest of our lives, surely? There are many things I love about the UK, and about Wales in particular.
The current UK government isn’t one of the things I love, in fact quite the opposite. It’s good that the economy is recovering to some degree, but only good in part, as of course it’s a relative rather than absolute recovery, and not everybody will benefit. Nothing is simple.

It wasn’t that long ago we got almost €1.50 to the £

Evidence please.
Last time it was anything at all that high was the commercial exchange rate (higher than the tourist rate) when we bought our apartment in Malaga in 2004.

Never reached such dizzying heights since.
I watch them avidly as we pop over frequently. First big dip was the global recession in 2008 and more recently the pandemic. Brexit never made much difference. Strange that.

vegansrock

This is why a windfall tax has been called for- but oh no, got to protect the shareholders.

Not just shareholders, millions if not billions of pension funds both private and company are invested in utilities.

Not sure if making pensioners suffer twice is a good thing?

Urmstongran, true, there's not enough to moan about for some. I'm just very grateful that things don't look too bad - especially considering what we've been through.

Urmstongran

This thread won’t last long. There’s not enough bad news to feast on. The UK doing well? ?

There does seem to be a general annoyance directed towards any positive news regarding the U.K.

I do wonder if some folks on GN and elsewhere are enjoying the pessimism and are just waiting for the next…

growstuff I will not rise to your insults…

This is why a windfall tax has been called for- but oh no, got to protect the shareholders.

www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/uk-big-six-energy-firms-one-billion-pounds-profit-cost-of-living-increase/

yes some in the U.K. are doing well the big six energy companies made over £1bn profits.
It wasn’t that long ago we got almost €1.50 to the £.

But it's what I expected.