cricket1again

It would be interesting to find out the age group of some of the more negative posters. The current Y generation have never been through a recession before so they have no idea how to cope with it or what to expect and they really do think it's the end of the world.
Try telling them it's a cycle through which we all have to come through, and it's like getting your head shot off.

Lucky they keep missing me.

Sad though, they really don't know how to cope with it because they haven't yet known a tough time.

ABCDiamond

Agreed about the water, the amount of flooding that we have is really bad. We need someway to drain all the excess water away...

I disagree with the expense to move the exports, our main export market is to Japan and China, which aren't too far away.
In comparison the UK's main export market is the USA.

Umpatan

You can live in your car in Vancouver as well. But you have to park in certain places.

dingbat

Sikh temple car parks are generally safe.

Exile

The UK is closer to the US than Australia is to Japan.

London Pete

have read some of your threads on here and you are quite witty especially liked the England too expensive thread

ABCDiamond

It is actually suprisingly further than I thought...

The total distance from:
Hong Kong to Darwin, Australia is 2,640 miles
Tokyo, Japan to Darwin, Australia is 3,363 miles
New York, NY to Southampton, United Kingdom is 3,431 miles.

elfman

since Darwin isn't really a major port a more relevant comparison would be Sydney to Tokyo: about 4,700 miles

Jules Europe

As Geddy Lee once sang "Catch the witness, catch the wit, catch the spirit, catch the spit"

australianinleicester

Well I would love to agree with you on that one, except I am sure that the good people who used to work at the 807 branches of woolworths before they got closed down at christmas would have difficulty agreeing, also the 1,060 people who lost their jobs this weekend at Land of Leather, or 367 jobs that went at Waterford Wedgewood, or 684 people at JCB, or the 4,200 people who have been laid off until June 1st from Honda, or the 1,800 jobs lost at Jaguar Land Rover, I could go on.

Those of us that still have jobs can easily close our eyes to all this and say well I'm ok because my mortgage is costing me less, or we can delight in the number of bargains to be had in the closing down sales, or think that there is nothing to worry about because it's not my fraction of the world.

Well this is very much a part of the world that many people live in today, and telling people who are living this nightmare that there are loads of jobs is just madness.

Grayling

Sounds very similar to what is happening in Australia then

australianinleicester

I am very sorry to hear that Grayling, I hope that things pick up sooner rather than later for all concerned no matter where they are.

cricket1again

The world leaders are all stating that it is the worst financial crisis in history so it is happening everywhere, not just the UK. BUT.........one of the reasons it's having so much effect and the reason why it's happened so fast is because people's spending levels are out of control.
10 or 20 years ago, we all went through recessions but many of that earlier generation did not have the debt that this generation have. Why do they have that debt? Because they accepted invitations to borrow far more than they were earning.

No one is disagreeing that things are not bad but there is a future and there are jobs if you are prepared to step outside your comfort zone and do something that might not be your choice but will at least pay the bills.
The mortgage rate has come down dramatically but it's not paying the mortgage that's the problem. It's paying store cards, credit cards, car loans, personal loans and other loans that's causing the problem. The real problem is that if those same people lose their job, they also lose the debt because they can't pay it. It then falls into one big black hole and has to be paid back by those who are working, have never borrowed beyond their means and who have saved.
Those people are now paying for the greed of others. It will be sorted out in the end but it had to happen, it has and now we've all got to get through it regardless of whether we are in the UK, US or Australia. That's just how it is.

australianinleicester

The original OP asked "just how bad is it in the UK??"

I am not comparing the UK to Australia, or USA or Canada, i am just telling him that all is not rosy in the UK. That is what he is asking.

aasmith1957

think the reason why we feel it is a lot worse this time is because of globalization.in 1990s no real info from other countries except a few lines in the main papers .with the way we communicate around the world today compared to 10 years ago via fax,phone,internet,satelite etc its instant. the newspapers etc have to keep themselves a float and so do the journalist,so they write as much as possible to almost saturation point.dont you think that factories,shops, steel works,coal mines etc didnt close down or shed jobs in the 1990s?(it was called retrenchment if i can remember correctly).i feel for people losing their jobs,homes etc but sadly when things like this happen there will always be winners and loosers.but i do think the british are very prone to the "woe is me"attitude.also a lot of people in both australia and uk bought a second property,bought shares,big cars etc.in the 1980s this would have been unheard of.only for the rich not joe blog down the street.we will go back to having a house that is our home not a quick way of making a big profit.trading our cars less than we have etc.
i do agree with cricket in her saying that we will get over this but will our countries /people learn the lesson? maybe for a few years and then it will be forgotten about when things turn good.at least in uk and australia you are provided with govement assistance,retraining,help with rent etc.oh and we are still moving back to uk sometime this year after 18 years in australia,self funded.