gruffydd

Don't forget they could get furlough and then another job too! Sunak allowed that too, did he not? Mind you - another key point - many of the people I know on furlough moved back home (abroad) - so many in hospitality, retail, etc., are non nationals. Then they got a job back home supplemented by furlough.

and where is the regulator... they're supposed to prevent threats to economic stability... where is the Bank of England? Asleep?

Didn't Corbyn win it... then Starmer and his ilk make out that Corbyn was the problem... I don't think so! Centrist bilge, which offers people no solution is the issue - leaving the gap open to hardline British nationalists (the Tories) to fill the void. I actually view the Tories as an extremist party these days.

No it isn't supply because that's rigged - there's banks and "investment vehicles" buying new houses these days. The key issue is the lack of regulation of both mortgage lending (main driver of prices) and investors (an increasing driver - especially institutional investors). Now I see the Irish Gov is bringing in shared equity as the solution... Neoliberal capitalism is unable to deal with the issue. Eoin Ó Broin is the only politician in Ireland who really does get it and he's a Sinn Fein man - I'd vote for him given the chance!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56979570

British intel developed tech years ago - now shared worldwide to access laptop webcams (and no doubt other types of webcams)... even when the laptop is switched off... there we go.

Points taken - but I'd rather be in Australia than corrupt old blighty with its mismanagement of COVID-19, any day... or a competently governed part of south east Asia... places that do lockdowns that work... that said, I take your point about governments exploiting the crisis to unleash their own visions of hell.

It won't because the impacts will be long term and the current phase of governmental response will be constrained by inflation in due course (which will feed through to interest rates).

I am not sure there is the old normal so where does full recovery sit? There's another question... this pandemic could have an impact 2+ years into the future. Come the turn of the year, things will become incredibly challenging.

Although at least price will fall back (sharply) in the autumn... again, of that I have little doubt. 4-6% by the end of the year, or lower (depending on inflation and its impacts, which look to be alarming) - perhaps lower. Perhaps we will be in negative territory by then as holes appear in the bubble. Hopefully Sunak will be on the backbenches by then too.

Inflation is red hot. Buffet is right. Here in the UK people really are asleep. https://www.ft.com/content/06220c54-43c6-4e77-8952-a65245011a99

No doubt the powers that be have their agenda... mostly to do with their own debt. It is incredible people are still in denial about this, or suggest it's just a spike... not learning from the data or past patterns!

Interesting data - thanks!

Yes, everyone working in the corporate world knows what's going on. The thicko media will be a few weeks behind the reality, sadly - and even then they will fail to understand all of this. And wages will follow.

There are actually some serious material shortages right now in the UK which will hit house building - supply chains screwed up - partly because of massive demand in places that are booming in Asia. Mental! And mark my words - wages will follow of there will be revolutionary change... actually we are already seeing major wage inflation in hospitality/restaurants, I suspect... and that will flow elsewhere.