This s**t didn't come out prior to the election...

[Don]

Nice one BBC. Is it just me - or are these economic stories just, conveniently a little too late?

April - Worst retail figures in over a decade.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4531709.stm

And Home Sales suffer a sharp drop. Down a third from the same time last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4529957.stm

Don't give me any crap about how great the economy is. Me and my Chamber of Commerce and IoD chums know the truth.

Nice. A Labour third term as we slip into recession.

Well. Sadly. I feel things need to get a lot worse before they'll get better.

[chris watton]

We have been in a recession since before Xmas, in the industry I am in, scale models, we have lost no less than 6 large model shops this year, and these were healthy and been around for at least 30 years each. It is a mix of uncertainty from the public and huge rate increases from local councils which are killing the shops in the high street.
The problem is that because we're now mainly a 'service industry' country, a lot of blinkered people don't see this, if you work in a cimema for example, you still see a healthy amount of people walking through the doors, you think all's well, so you blindly vote Labour again!
We have been hoodwinked by lie after lie, and spin after spin, and whilst the pro Labour papers and BBC exectives get rich peddling these untruths, the rest of us are slowly going under!

[GregE240]

Don't panic Don.

They'll slice 0.5 off the interest rates next month.

That ought to do it.

Maybe....perhaps?

[mechsympathy]

I wondered the same when they had the stories on the news this morning. Someone's been holding things back.

[catretriever]

Good morning my conspiracy-minded chums. These figures are published monthly and are freely available to anyone who cares to see them. End of pinko-conspiracy!

[iandbeech]

All the signs have been building over the last 6 months - manufacturing, retail and housing - the financial pages have been reporting it but it`s only just making it to the front of the papers.

If the election had been held 6 months from now, everyone would be well aware of the real state of our economy and I reckon it could be a different electoral result!

[chippy17]

catretriever said:

Good morning my conspiracy-minded chums. These figures are published monthly and are freely available to anyone who cares to see them. End of pinko-conspiracy!

ditto I too was thinking the same thing whilst watching the news last night.

They may be published every month but Labour kept very quiet (one of their main arguments was how well the economy was doing) and Torys did not seem to pick up on it. I did hear a rumour that the Torys are not overly upset about not getting in because they reckon (as does the city) that a recession is on its way.

[srebbe64]

The problem is the country's consumer spending has been almost entirely based on borrowing. House prices have been rising enabling people to get increased credit facilities. Unfortunately as house prices "correct" themselves the ability to borrow is affected, or at least the the confidence to borrow is reduced.

Also another issue, to my mind, is the absurd levels of Tax we pay in the UK. The more money that is taken by the Government the less there is for Joe Public to spend in the shops.

Paradoxically, from my personal perspective, as companies struggle more business owners are inclined to sell. Equally, during the good times companies tend to sell for higher prices - so it's something of a "self regulating valve" for me!

[turbobloke]

Sure, the information is there if you know where to look, and some of the specialists were covering these stories prior to May 5th, but it looked very much like the BLiar Broadcasting Collective were keeping shtum. Nothing unsual there, but still wrong.

[Size Nine Elm]

chippy17 said:

I did hear a rumour that the Torys are not overly upset about not getting in because they reckon (as does the city) that a recession is on its way.

Agreed - I think this was an election to lose, as was the 1992 election. John Major and the Tories won that with a small majority, and their weakness and the economic downturn cemented the massive swing in 1997. This election appears very similar to me - Labour going downhill, and the economy about to go through a major trough, so it really was an election to lose, and then win big-time next time round.

Assuming we don't actually have a one-party state by then.

[catretriever]

turbobloke said:

Sure, the information is there if you know where to look, and some of the specialists were covering these stories prior to May 5th, but it looked very much like the BLiar Broadcasting Collective were keeping shtum. Nothing unsual there, but still wrong.

Sorry, but I not sure I understand how the BBC are supposed to see into the future and report figures prior to 5th May that aren't released until 10th May

[anonymous-user]

GregE240 said:

Don't panic Don. They'll slice 0.5 off the interest rates next month. That ought to do it. Maybe....perhaps?

Actually "they" cant do it. It's up to the bank of England.

Speaking as a retailer and a friend of many other retailers trade has been shite for months now in the non food sector. Courts and Allders have gone bust, figures are poor from Matalan, M&S, Kingfisher, JD and even Sainsburys.

Brown has been screwing up the economy since 1997. Fotunately for him he inherited such a strong situation from the Tories that he's got away with it up until now. There's a shit / fan interface due any time now.

[chris watton]

unrepentant said:

GregE240 said: Don't panic Don. They'll slice 0.5 off the interest rates next month. That ought to do it. Maybe....perhaps? Actually "they" cant do it. It's up to the bank of England. Speaking as a retailer and a friend of many other retailers trade has been shite for months now in the non food sector. Courts and Allders have gone bust, figures are poor from Matalan, M&S, Kingfisher, JD and even Sainsburys. Brown has been screwing up the economy since 1997. Fotunately for him he inherited such a strong situation from the Tories that he's got away with it up until now. There's a shit / fan interface due any time now.

Yep, so true, we are losing all of our 'economic weapons', so that when Tesco is the only one left standing and puts its prices up because it can, where you gonna go to protest?? Also when the Chinese and other Pacific rim manufacturers, including cars, put their prices up as the competition is extinct, what are we gonna fight back with?? We have nothing that is economically self sustaining, its all being chipped away into nothing. I can't believe other people can't see this, and the dire repercussions in future years!!!

[Fidgits]

well... this is an interesting snippet:
www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/archive/2005/05/02/swindon_news1ZM.html

[off_again]

Don said:

And Home Sales suffer a sharp drop. Down a third from the same time last year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4529957.stm Don't give me any crap about how great the economy is. Me and my Chamber of Commerce and IoD chums know the truth.

I personally wouldnt trust the BBC to report on anything to do with house prices. They have successfully proven that they are useless and just publish news items on it to grab the headlines.... I cant remember when it was, but a PH member put up a picture of the BBC news site with the related items on it. Some said that the price rise was continuing, some said that it was crashing and some others said that it was stable..... it just clearly illustrated that they dont care, just want headlines!!!

BiL is an estate agent and he says that things are steady. Nothing major, just steady. He's seen the bad times and the massive growth. But he thinks that the general market (where he is) is just fine and plodding on nicely.

Personally I think that there is concern on longer term interest rates. They are likely to rise and this will have an impact. There are many areas in the UK which have massively overpriced houses and this needs to be corrected. Dont think there will be a major correction, just equalisation of the prices and a little more rationalisation. It worries me that there are still people who think its fine to borrow 4 to 5 or even more times their salary.

[LongQ]

chippy17 said:

I did hear a rumour that the Torys are not overly upset about not getting in because they reckon (as does the city) that a recession is on its way.

Many years ago the company I was working for were in pole position for quite a substantial deal (for us at the time) in the US which would have been a tremendous toe hold into the market.

We went over and gave a presentation and scored about 90% out of the box - pretty good for business application software.

The failed encumbent supplier, who admitted loads of problems and a total failure to implement 2 years earlier, had talked their way to the second presentation slot.

We didn't get the deal.

6 Months later we decided to call the guy who had been the project manager at the time and find out how the project was going. He was no longer with the company. We did track him down though and he was able to tell us that the implementation was, once again, failing.

His telling comment was - "It was a good one not to get."

Nice to think that, whatever his job function, Gordon looks like he will have soms big problems to deal with. Not so nice to imagine how he might approach the fixes.

[Don]

off_again said:

I personally wouldnt trust the BBC to report on anything to do with house prices... I cant remember when it was, but a PH member put up a picture of the BBC news site with the related items on it. Some said that the price rise was continuing, some said that it was crashing and some others said that it was stable..... it just clearly illustrated that they dont care, just want headlines!!!

That would have been ME!