What on earth is going on in the UK? "UK plan for supermarket price cap on basic food"

[El Presidente]

Inflation is an issue everywhere but the UK is particularly struggling out of OECD countries. I know there are some unique features (Brexit aftermath etal). I have UK mates in business going broke at a staggering rate. 

How bad is it on the ground? 

 

 

UK plan for supermarket price cap on basic food

https://www.9news.com.au/world/uk-voluntary-price-caps-on-food-essentials/0a677dab-fc5e-4f53-8c4d-89303769ff8d

"The UK's latest inflation figures were released last week and showed food prices increased 19.1 per cent in April."

 

[Arabian]

and what if supermarkets don't agree on this 'voluntary agreement'?. state-controlled price?. 

[El Presidente]

Maybe leave it to the UK lads to educate us a little when they jump in tonight 

[ha_banos]

Well there has been a food bank (free food) in one of my local supermarkets for a while now. Appeared a couple of years ago I think. There are more closed local shops on the high street than I ever remember. Interest rates hikes that will hit mortgages are kicking in now and over the next few years this will have an interesting impact. I'll be going from 0.95% onto 8% soon. Energy is +100£ per month from 6 months ago on average. Home food shopping must be +50% what it was a year ago. Petrol is at 1.45£ a litre (over 8usd a gallon) Insurance premiums up. A pint of beer in outer London is 7£! How to keep up?

These are common themes across Europe.

 

[ha_banos]

And the weather's a bit shyte today! 

[cnov]

My guess is that you're looking at a political party throwing out ideas to try and grab a few points. It won't happen, they're doing their usual feeling out, their funders in big industry will no doubt advise them that they will cut their political donations and this story will disappear along with those promised hospitals.

[99call]

There are two many things going on to really communicate but here are the headers,

- 14 years of corrupt thieving government

- Brexit itself

- Diversionary wasted time of lying about Brexit i.e. for people that championed it, and voted for it.  they are wasting valuable time and resource lying about it's impact, then we could be actively repairing it. 

- Lots of supermarket owners are lifelong Tory members and donors, some have even had jobs with the tories.  Much like the newspapers, these worlds are far too heavily intertwined. 

- The attempt to crush the public sector,  Royal Mail, The NHS, The Railways, UK waterways,  they are all being squeezed to absolute breaking point, They've all been plundered and are on the verge of collapse. 

- American funded libertarian think tanks.  What the whole Liz Truss debacle uncovered, was the sheer degree that she was the puppet of think tanks on Tufton Street.  The aftermath of this mess, has had a long term impact of peoples mortgage repayments. 

- The price of 'basic food' is an interesting one.  Lots of studies were done through covid & Brexit, and largely surmised that poor peoples food, dry pasta, canned food, etc was getting much more expensive, where as rich peoples food was largely same.    that's starting to change now, now pretty much everything is more expensive. 

- A creaking victorian infrastructure, is making everything expensive.

- Total debacle around migrant labour.  The tory party has been in hock to the far right for so long now, they constantly feel as if they need to chum the waters with migrant panic. Wether it be lorry drivers or fruit pickers, it's been a massive own goal.     Now they are moving on to foreign PHD students.....because you know......we don't want them here do we!?.....they might invent something....or cure a decease.

All in all this is like the days of Rome, there are lots of very unusual things that have happened all within a 5 year window.    The death of the Queen. The increased desire for parts of the commonwealth to be independent.  The crowning of a new King, who seems to want to put the monarchy to bed.   Brexit itself was sold to people who wanted the UK to be back in the 1950's again.  It all has the smell of an empire that has finally lost its way, and is confused about what it want's to be.   As a country we have always felt safe in some odd comfort zone of being victorious in WW2, as an island nation we were challenged, and were triumphant, With the Queen gone, (and increasingly veterans), this bulldog spirit cure-all seems to have worn off.  In the event of the Brexiteer's finally getting their prized sovereignty,  they realise a polyester union jack to wave around, doesn't feel very secure, or brimming with ideas.  We need to look to the future, and to stop crying over empires lost.  

It would be very interesting to see if this purposeful running of the country into the ground, is the government just being very bad at its job, or whether they have been running "The Two Santas Strategy" to hamstring Labour. 

http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/thom-hartmann/two-santas-strategy-gop-used-economic-scam-manipulate-americans-40-years/

I saw this the other day, it really gives you an insight into how odd, and incapable of empathy or understanding these people are.  

 

[Arabian]

1 hour ago, ha_banos said:

Well there has been a food bank (free food) in one of my local supermarkets for a while now. Appeared a couple of years ago I think. There are more closed local shops on the high street than I ever remember. Interest rates hikes that will hit mortgages are kicking in now and over the next few years this will have an interesting impact. I'll be going from 0.95% onto 8% soon. Energy is +100£ per month from 6 months ago on average. Home food shopping must be +50% what it was a year ago. Petrol is at 1.45£ a litre (over 8usd a gallon) Insurance premiums up. A pint of beer in outer London is 7£! How to keep up?

These are common themes across Europe.

 

This might be the new normal. increasing food bank outlets with many people queuing up indicates government failure. 

[99call]

4 minutes ago, Arabian said:

This might be the new normal

I think this will only be the new normal if people are willing to accept it, or feel hopeless to do anything about it.      Here in the UK, it looks as if it is going to be a Labour government in a years time (fingers crossed).   They are going to inherit a country in terrible shape, and will be greatly limited in terms of the changes it can make, and the speed it makes them within,     but hopefully slowly by slowly,  they will be able to do away for the need of food banks. 

[Webbo]

51 minutes ago, 99call said:

There are two many things going on to really communicate but here are the headers,

- 14 years of corrupt thieving government

- Brexit itself

- Diversionary wasted time of lying about Brexit i.e. for people that championed it, and voted for it.  they are wasting valuable time and resource lying about it's impact, then we could be actively repairing it. 

- Lots of supermarket owners are lifelong Tory members and donors, some have even had jobs with the tories.  Much like the newspapers, these worlds are far too heavily intertwined. 

- The attempt to crush the public sector,  Royal Mail, The NHS, The Railways, UK waterways,  they are all being squeezed to absolute breaking point, They've all been plundered and are on the verge of collapse. 

- American funded libertarian think tanks.  What the whole Liz Truss debacle uncovered, was the sheer degree that she was the puppet of think tanks on Tufton Street.  The aftermath of this mess, has had a long term impact of peoples mortgage repayments. 

- The price of 'basic food' is an interesting one.  Lots of studies were done through covid & Brexit, and largely surmised that poor peoples food, dry pasta, canned food, etc was getting much more expensive, where as rich peoples food was largely same.    that's starting to change now, now pretty much everything is more expensive. 

- A creaking victorian infrastructure, is making everything expensive.

- Total debacle around migrant labour.  The tory party has been in hock to the far right for so long now, they constantly feel as if they need to chum the waters with migrant panic. Wether it be lorry drivers or fruit pickers, it's been a massive own goal.     Now they are moving on to foreign PHD students.....because you know......we don't want them here do we!?.....they might invent something....or cure a decease.

All in all this is like the days of Rome, there are lots of very unusual things that have happened all within a 5 year window.    The death of the Queen. The increased desire for parts of the commonwealth to be independent.  The crowning of a new King, who seems to want to put the monarchy to bed.   Brexit itself was sold to people who wanted the UK to be back in the 1950's again.  It all has the smell of an empire that has finally lost its way, and is confused about what it want's to be.   As a country we have always felt safe in some odd comfort zone of being victorious in WW2, as an island nation we were challenged, and were triumphant, With the Queen gone, (and increasingly veterans), this bulldog spirit cure-all seems to have worn off.  In the event of the Brexiteer's finally getting their prized sovereignty,  they realise a polyester union jack to wave around, doesn't feel very secure, or brimming with ideas.  We need to look to the future, and to stop crying over empires lost.  

It would be very interesting to see if this purposeful running of the country into the ground, is the government just being very bad at its job, or whether they have been running "The Two Santas Strategy" to hamstring Labour. 

http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/thom-hartmann/two-santas-strategy-gop-used-economic-scam-manipulate-americans-40-years/

I saw this the other day, it really gives you an insight into how odd, and incapable of empathy or understanding these people are.  

 

Bravo Sir, a word perfect summary.

[Webbo]

Regarding supermarket supplies in the UK there are now periodic shortages and empty shelves for certain items. Yes there are many reasons but the biggest single factor is Brexit. Leaving the the EU means migrant labour from Europe can no longer come and pick crops, food is actually rotting in the fields or UK farmers are simply producing less as there is no one to harvest it. There are no (or not enough) UK workers prepared to do these jobs and ts unlikely that anyone unemployed in London or Manchester would move hundreds of miles away from home and family to briefly pick produce in Norfolk. Net immigration figures also now show that this year is the highest recorded influx from non EU nationalities moving to the UK (mainly from India, Bangladesh and Nigeria) many of them to fill job vacancies here. So well done on the much trumpeted cries of reducing immigration Brexiteers !

Secondly the items that we import from the EU are experiencing supply chain issues as it is now so much more complicated and time consuming for lorries to enter and leave the UK, higher costs, more paperwork and often significant delays (I buy from UK suppliers for my company in Germany and can personally testify it is now a horrific process). As such "foreign' drivers prefer not want to deliver to the UK and also when there is a shortage of a product the producer prefers to sell first into the EU market rather than the UK, thus the plentiful supply of tomatoes in North Finland while the UK had next to none for a while recently.

 

[99call]

6 minutes ago, Webbo said:

Regarding supermarket supplies in the UK there are now periodic shortages and empty shelves for certain items. Yes there are many reasons but the biggest single factor is Brexit. Leaving the the EU means migrant labour from Europe can no longer come and pick crops, food is actually rotting in the fields or UK farmers are simply producing less as there is no one to harvest it

You're talking absolute nonsense.......we all know the reason we can't get any fresh food.........and that because it's been hot recently in Morocco!!!.  or so says the gout crystal incarnate Therese Coffee.

Makes perfect sense to me

[Webbo]

11 minutes ago, 99call said:

You're talking absolute nonsense.......we all know the reason we can't get any fresh food.........and that because it's been hot recently in Morocco!!!.  or so says the gout crystal incarnate Therese Coffee.

Makes perfect sense to me

For those lucky non UK members she is actually a minister of the government (previously health minister and as thick as a whale omlette to boot) and actually also responsible for the UK beaches and rivers currently swimming in shit, and you wonder why the UK is bolloxed? .

[amberleaf]

2 hours ago, Webbo said:

Regarding supermarket supplies in the UK there are now periodic shortages and empty shelves for certain items. Yes there are many reasons but the biggest single factor is Brexit. Leaving the the EU means migrant labour from Europe can no longer come and pick crops, food is actually rotting in the fields or UK farmers are simply producing less as there is no one to harvest it. There are no (or not enough) UK workers prepared to do these jobs and ts unlikely that anyone unemployed in London or Manchester would move hundreds of miles away from home and family to briefly pick produce in Norfolk. Net immigration figures also now show that this year is the highest recorded influx from non EU nationalities moving to the UK (mainly from India, Bangladesh and Nigeria) many of them to fill job vacancies here. So well done on the much trumpeted cries of reducing immigration Brexiteers !

Secondly the items that we import from the EU are experiencing supply chain issues as it is now so much more complicated and time consuming for lorries to enter and leave the UK, higher costs, more paperwork and often significant delays (I buy from UK suppliers for my company in Germany and can personally testify it is now a horrific process). As such "foreign' drivers prefer not want to deliver to the UK and also when there is a shortage of a product the producer prefers to sell first into the EU market rather than the UK, thus the plentiful supply of tomatoes in North Finland while the UK had next to none for a while recently.

 

And yet the UK still has some of the cheapest food in Europe. I returned from France recently and everything in the local Carrefour was at least 10% more expensive than my local Tesco. Even French Brie was more expensive than in the UK. I've seen similar in Belgium and Germany too.

The cheap food in the UK is thanks to the intense competition between retailers. The downside is that when supply becomes constrained for whatever reason it gets diverted to those that pay the most and we end up with shortages. The free market at work.

 

[Meklown]

Been back in London after 8 years away. Sure, things have increased 50-100% in price since then, but otherwise it has been pretty consistent for me in the past 6 months. I think a lot of it is media hype to generate backlash against the current government. 

Blaming all the issues on one political party or the other is extremely naive in my opinion. I doubt any of these politicians care about anything other than getting the next big paycheck. Things aren't going to change even if the government does. Everyone uses the same lazy excuse; "yeah it was the previous guy's fault and I am trying my hardest but I can't do anything about it, but TRUST ME I have your best interests at heart". Sunak blames Liz, Liz blames Boris, Boris blames Theresa, and Keir (if he wins) is gonna blame all of them 🤷‍♂️

I think like in any economic crisis, the poor is always the first to suffer and last to recover. 

A big problem is also that the UK currently is unable to find its place in the current world system. Europe being a broken place/system regardless of whether you think Brexit is right or wrong. Siding with the US against the evil communists when the US has actually pivoted towards "America first" (I see Canada and Australia being taken for a ride in this same boat). Not to mention so much local unproductivity, laziness, sense of entitlement, strikes - the problem lies as much with the people as the politicians. 

[Webbo]

33 minutes ago, Meklown said:

Been back in London after 8 years away. Sure, things have increased 50-100% in price since then, but otherwise it has been pretty consistent for me in the past 6 months. I think a lot of it is media hype to generate backlash against the current government. 

Blaming all the issues on one political party or the other is extremely naive in my opinion. I doubt any of these politicians care about anything other than getting the next big paycheck. Things aren't going to change even if the government does. Everyone uses the same lazy excuse; "yeah it was the previous guy's fault and I am trying my hardest but I can't do anything about it, but TRUST ME I have your best interests at heart". Sunak blames Liz, Liz blames Boris, Boris blames Theresa, and Keir (if he wins) is gonna blame all of them 🤷‍♂️

I think like in any economic crisis, the poor is always the first to suffer and last to recover. 

A big problem is also that the UK currently is unable to find its place in the current world system. Europe being a broken place/system regardless of whether you think Brexit is right or wrong. Siding with the US against the evil communists when the US has actually pivoted towards "America first" (I see Canada and Australia being taken for a ride in this same boat). Not to mention so much local unproductivity, laziness, sense of entitlement, strikes - the problem lies as much with the people as the politicians. 

While I have a pretty lower opinion of all politicians of every persuasion its a fact that the same political party have been in power for the last 13 years so I don't think its unreasonable that they shoulder much of the blame. For what its worth I also fully agree with the strikes by the doctors & nurses. That a junior doctor can be paid less than someone making coffee at Pret while the politicians have voted for raise after raise makes me furious.

[Cigar Surgeon]

It isn't just the UK. grocery prices in Canada have been increasing at a staggering rate, 10.6% YoY as of February 2023.  That might not seem like much but keeping in mind that food prices comparatively in the US are significantly lower, there are a lot of people pointing fingers at grocery chains for price gouging.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/grocery-price-analysis-1.6774669

https://globalnews.ca/news/9540042/canadian-grocers-food-price-inflation/

Quote

He gives the example of a pound of butter, a product he says he recently paid $8 for in a major chain, up from $5 before the pandemic.

Quote

According to a Dalhousie University report, all three companies posted higher profits in the first half of 2022 compared with their average performance over the past five years.

When I tell my friends in the US what I'm paying for beef they're flabbergasted. Have I mentioned that one of the major industries of Alberta is beef? It boggles the mind.

[Ciscojohansson]

1 hour ago, Meklown said:

Been back in London after 8 years away. Sure, things have increased 50-100% in price since then, but otherwise it has been pretty consistent for me in the past 6 months. I think a lot of it is media hype to generate backlash against the current government. 

Blaming all the issues on one political party or the other is extremely naive in my opinion. I doubt any of these politicians care about anything other than getting the next big paycheck. Things aren't going to change even if the government does. Everyone uses the same lazy excuse; "yeah it was the previous guy's fault and I am trying my hardest but I can't do anything about it, but TRUST ME I have your best interests at heart". Sunak blames Liz, Liz blames Boris, Boris blames Theresa, and Keir (if he wins) is gonna blame all of them 🤷‍♂️

I think like in any economic crisis, the poor is always the first to suffer and last to recover. 

A big problem is also that the UK currently is unable to find its place in the current world system. Europe being a broken place/system regardless of whether you think Brexit is right or wrong. Siding with the US against the evil communists when the US has actually pivoted towards "America first" (I see Canada and Australia being taken for a ride in this same boat). Not to mention so much local unproductivity, laziness, sense of entitlement, strikes - the problem lies as much with the people as the politicians. 

Must politicians care about power, not money. Why would Sunak want more money? Those who are not rich already become so after office, look at Obama. Also, it is inherent in democracy that the most convincing liars rises to the top. 

[Shaunster]

Political stunt from the self serving scum that have been ruling the UK for the past decade.

Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

[99call]

2 hours ago, Ciscojohansson said:

Why would Sunak want more money?

In Sunak's current position, he can direct, involve, and tip off his billionaire wife, as he see's fit (oh and believe me he does)    His father in law's company 'Infosys' is still operating & profiteering from the Russia conflict, even though they said they would remove all investments........that was about 8mths ago.....surprise!!!!........ they are still operating in Russia

[BrightonCorgi]

2 hours ago, Ciscojohansson said:

Must politicians care about power, not money. Why would Sunak want more money? Those who are not rich already become so after office, look at Obama. Also, it is inherent in democracy that the most convincing liars rises to the top. 

There is no "off switch" when it comes to the power hungry.  In office, out of office; the guise does not matter.

[Ciscojohansson]

1 hour ago, 99call said:

In Sunak's current position, he can direct, involve, and tip off his billionaire wife, as he see's fit (oh and believe me he does)    His father in law's company 'Infosys' is still operating & profiteering from the Russia conflict, even though they said they would remove all investments........that was about 8mths ago.....surprise!!!!........ they are still operating in Russia

But do you really think he is motivated by money? I find that hard to believe. I think its power. Look at Tony Blair, he wants it sooo bad, by any means. He wants to rule the galaxy, for a safe and secure society!

[Meklown]

7 hours ago, Webbo said:

While I have a pretty lower opinion of all politicians of every persuasion its a fact that the same political party have been in power for the last 13 years so I don't think its unreasonable that they shoulder much of the blame. For what its worth I also fully agree with the strikes by the doctors & nurses. That a junior doctor can be paid less than someone making coffee at Pret while the politicians have voted for raise after raise makes me furious.

Don't get me wrong, I agree completely that the current government hasn't done a good job, just that I disagree with the assumption that changing the person/party at the top will be a silver bullet, rather, I am resigned to accept that it will be the same. I can't even get my local council to fix a lift, because, well, it's somebody else's fault (I don't even know what party they belong to and I don't care to find out). 

I personally generally agree with strikes for industries and professions who actually contribute value to the society with actual skills (doctors, nurses, teachers come to mind), but disagree with strikes for professions only requiring low/unskilled labour.

6 hours ago, Ciscojohansson said:

Must politicians care about power, not money. Why would Sunak want more money? Those who are not rich already become so after office, look at Obama. Also, it is inherent in democracy that the most convincing liars rises to the top. 

I don't disagree with power. Some people have a hunger for money / power / control that is insatiable. I might have not been clear but I meant to say that politicians want the top job partly because they can get rich after office, not necessarily during.

 

To answer the original question, I guess I'd sum it up as the politicians not doing things in the country's interest, the international situation not making it easy, and the population not helping themselves. Everyone needs to get serious about fixing issues, not just talking/lying about it or throwing their toys out of the pram. 

[GavLew79]

On 5/29/2023 at 4:03 PM, Webbo said:

 For what its worth I also fully agree with the strikes by the doctors & nurses. That a junior doctor can be paid less than someone making coffee at Pret while the politicians have voted for raise after raise makes me furious.

Whilst I agree with most of it, I don't buy this at all. Min. Salary for a junior doctor is £29k when doing foundation training. Average is £50k depending on experience. While at Pret, you have to be a store manager to hit £35k, and Baristas are paid £8-10 an hour. Pure tabloid bollocks, if you ask me. 

[MrBirdman]

 

22 hours ago, Meklown said:

personally generally agree with strikes for industries and professions who actually contribute value to the society with actual skills (doctors, nurses, teachers come to mind), but disagree with strikes for professions only requiring low/unskilled labour

Ummm, why? Do they not deserve a decent living?