Well, if interest rates and inflation go up, that will be good for savers and those expats who have pensions that are increased in line with inflation each year. Another one of those "winners and losers" scenarios.

Re interest rates IF yes that would be better for savers but if you end up with big inflation your moneys worth nowt. So no real winners

So it seems like, Heads you lose, Tails you lose, and if the coin lands on its edge, well you lose. Somebody must be making money when the pound falls if only those nice speculator people with their million pound bonuses.
Call me cynical if you like, but I have seen it all before. Sad thing is there seems little we can do about it.

Without any bad news for the UK I see it has now slipped below the 1.16 rate. Seems that the money people have certainly turned away from the pound. Ok so the Eurozone in total PMI increased slightly mainly on the back of Germany, whilst the UK's fell slightly , however UK's still above eurozone overall.
I wonder if that is what Osborne has been talking about when he kept blaming UK woes on the eurozone, i.e. any good news for them would bring the £ down.

Whatever he's doing is fine by me, Footsie highest for years, up over 6,300, my investments have never been so high! But I'm always braced for a downward adjustment, been doing it far too long not to have experienced severe ups and downs! It's only paper money at the moment, not until it's cashed in can you say I made a great profit. I always had a target figure in mind, once it reached that I said I'd cash in, well it's gone way past that, I might regret not having done it!

Actually there is a lot of concerned writing abroad about the UK economy's poor performance. The big worry is that we don't have it in us to dramatically improve exports and pay our way even if the pound slumps further. Ramping up the London housing market and keeping the banks afloat with 300-400 billion bailouts+qe only works for so long. We really need to find growth from somewhere - remember the UK has to pay over 200 billion yearly in benefits alone. It's one reason I see Boris Johnson taking over from Cameron within 3 years - for all his faults Boris is the guy who will bring business back to Britain and get growth again.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...re-why/272556/

Stevie, it is not just a case of Euro versus Pound. The euro has also been rising against the dollar, not what the eurozone needs at the moment, especially the PIIGS. I think the UK is quite happy for a low pound right now.

Th UK may not doing so good but according to some analysts it's doing better than most European countries. House prices up .22% in January...normally a quiet month, more first time buyers, new mortgages up, car sales up, jobs up...and the most important the stocks. I am getting worried about the latter, not sure which way things will go. Time for a bit of profit taking

I bet the Spanish wish they had a weak currency. bad figures coming out daily. All these on the same day. They have no possibility of keeping up with the richer more successful eurozone countries.

Las matriculaciones de turismos retroceden un 9,6% en enero

La firma de hipotecas cae un 31,6% y suma 31 meses a la baja

El Ibex pierde un 2,1% lastrado por la banca

Well the Ibex is up well over 30% since last July, so a slight dip due to the latest scandal isn't going to hurt.
And there have been plenty of good news stories about Spain this week, if you keep away from the envelopes allegations.
- Nissan seal their deal to build the new Almera in Barcelona (to add to other major car company investments in Valencia, Pamplona and Valladolid)
- Restalia to open up 450 new outlets in 2013
- Production companies reverse outsourcing and start to bring back to Spain
http://economia.elpais.com/economia/...87_526072.html
- the 50 euro autonomo deal for young entrepreneurs
- Spain Current Account surplus grows on Investment inflows http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...t-inflows.html

Don't worry, this is the year the economy in spain turns the corner, partly enabled by its fine export growth (weak currency not needed!)

But it is true that the weak pound will probably reduce Brits ability to spend abroad. Spain will have to hope growth in tourist numbers from Russia and home-buyers from the likes of Sweden continue to grow.
http://news.kyero.com/2013/01/31/swe...buyers-up-138/

Most European and the worlds stockmarkets have recovered to more or less what they were before the crash...except for few of the PIIGS. Remember Spain's market hit 15,000...what was it today, 8200

8200 today, and up from under 6000 in July last year!

Yes, it's all looking good, very encouraging figures! Not a hope of meeting their targets, could be a German appointed puppet taking Rajoy's place.

Spain is stuck between a rock and a hard-place.
They don't seem to have the bottle to go it alone so could well end up under Mrs Merkels jackboots for many years ahead.

I hope the bosses at Volkswagen, Ford, Nissan and Renault aren't reading this! They'll probably say "well, we did decide to move production to Spain, but seeing that the same UK-based posters are knocking Spain again, perhaps we'd better change our minds"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/155006.stm

Maybe when they match this sort of standard there will be some hope, however Spanish work ethics being what they are I won't hold my breath.