looks like the GBP Is slowly returning to its former glory! Any thoughts on the outlook? I'm thinking £1-$1.90 CAD by April. Mainly due to weak oil prices.

I'll take that at some point next year based on the BOE starting to raise interest rates.

Also the collapse of the Rouble has accelerated the Russian wealthy pumping money in the UK.

With my UK pensions due to start in mid-2015, I am thinking a return to the heady days of 2.40 would be very nice. Realistically, I'm guessing much the same as it is now.

When I was a boy £1 was US$4.80 ! What happened ? Did they lose the Empire ? Who do I complain to ?

If only ..........

I don't think the pound will ever fully recover,the population has increased too much against employment levels,there is always going to be a huge unemployment problem in the UK with people claiming benefits.
The EU nosedive didn't help,and as more of the poorer countries join it's gonna keep fluctuating.
If the politicians had spent some time working out plans and details instead of thinking about seats on the EU parliament and those nice EU pensions they will be claiming things may not have turned out so bad for the tax payers.

Hmmm..... sounds like the UKIP retoric

I have never understood why people who dislike the idea of a federal europe ..leave to live in Canda the other big federal system ...?

Nothing to do with UKIP,its simple facts,the UK government along with the other EU governments never properly thought through the entire fiasco.
People leave Europe for Canada to get away from the hopelessness of the place amongst other reasons.
Canada is NOTHING like the EU so attempting to compare the 2 is pretty futile wouldn't you say Mike,after all everything is so much cheaper in the UK is it not Mike?

People don't like change being forced upon them. When someone decides to move country, you accept all that comes, warts and all. What the EU BRINGS(good and bad) is often forced upon the citizens of UK, so the comparison is not quite the same. The UK is doing ok at present, for how long that will continues I don't know, but it will turn around, the debt will have to paid and the resource will disappear, the fortunes of Canada will turn around, it has gas oil and mining. To be fair, it has much in resources, that ultimately will be the factor that makes Canada a better place to live. I HOPE!
Before I ramble on and take the gist of this thread further away from the intended, I'll quit now.
Before I ho, I think the first country to blink and increase interest rates will be all that will make the difference, if UK increase interest rates, the exchange rate will go closer to 2:1. If Canada puts them up first, then the exchange rate will likely go to 1.5:1. Thought the weaker the currency, the better for exports, does Canada export much?

There we are, my first tramadol induced post of drivel. Merry Christmas!

No, Canada doesn't export much apart from crude oil, liquified natural gas, gold, lumber, cars, aerospace products, fertilizer and other products. It only added up to some $532+ billion in 2011 !

How much debt does the UK have?
1.43 TRILLION pounds last I read,that will take some effort to pay off I would imagine!

What point are you exactly trying to make with this post? The UK government has run a fluctuating debt throughout history.

yep... for me.. overall on average... it cheaper... spreadsheet backing over +10yrs to check against

but like it or not... just as the UK is tied to the EU

the provinces of Canada are tied to federal Canada


But in the much bigger picture... and taking national debt into account.... Canada is tied to the US which in turn is tied to the petro Dollar... a nightmare of there own making

and that petro dollar dictates if Alberta thrives or dies ...

doesn't matter what you have to export, if you have no buyers




On the Debt thing the Uk is ~$2,638,351,639,344 and Canada is ~$1,668,701,366,120

so yes the Uk owe's more than Canada

But per person .......the UK is ~$41,365.46 and Canada is ~$47,326.26

the UKs is about 99% of GDP and Canada is 85.6%

but then taking those numbers the UK's GDP is higher... just depends on how you wnat to look at it....

just to add a perpective the US owe's ~$14,434,323,770,492 but the debt per person is only $45,417.11

The US economy is way more diversified than Canada's and isn't weighted so heavily on natural resources, particularly oil. The US is trying to to become independent from oil imports by developing it's shale oil.

Canadian dollar will probably keep going down from what I've read.

Ontario in particular still tries to be a manufacturing economy whereas the prairies are all resources and BC seems to be aiming for a euro-style knowledge based economy. All while Quebec is on strike/ lunch break.

So the same sort of problems as a federal Europe.