The Cost-of-Living Crisis
Question: What is the cost-of-living crisis?
Answer: A huge wrecking ball that has swept devastatingly through the lives and circumstances of millions of ordinary hard-working people, wreaking unprecedented havoc and hardship!
We are seeing the highest inflation rate in over 40 years and have watched slack-jawed at the biggest drop in living standards since the 1950s!
Energy prices have risen astronomically, while food prices have increased to unpalatable levels!
Interest rates have shot up alarmingly, and look set to continue on this trajectory for a while yet!
It’s bleak, and it’s harsh and it’s proving increasingly tough out there for countless households, as the gap between income and making ends meet continues to widen!
The causes are numerous, varied, and complex.
The fallout from Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine, acerbated by a widely held stagnant wage policy, to highlight a selection.
https://blueskyifas.co.uk/where-did-the-cost-of-living-crisis-come-from/
All in all, it’s brutal right now, and the suffering is all too real for far too many!
There IS, nonetheless, a glimmering of light at the end of the tunnel!
While 2022 will probably be the year remembered as the worst on record for actual cost of living, and 2023 is in danger of becoming the year of debt disaster as many borrowers continue to fall behind on repayments, there are projections that the economy is going to stabilise by the end of this year.
This should result in the cost-of-living decreasing, and a welcome breeze of relief springing up in 2024 as the impact of these developments reach the embattled consumer.
And of course, the true spirit of indomitability that imbues the daughters and sons of this island of ours has not failed to shine through in this extended time of trial.
Ingenuity and inspiration have sprung to the aid of many as they have negotiated the choppy waters of tribulation.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/barclaycard-ten-clever-cash-savings-27811218
A determination to survive against all the odds, combined with a kindness and care displayed, practiced, and shared between us, has eased the misery and mounting despair.
And never forget, when all else fails we STILL have Tea!
(even if the price has increased by around 20%)
“The British definitely like their tea. It’s their solution to everything, all problems and concerns. If there’s ever a major crisis, a cup of tea will help.”
C. R. Stewart, American writer.
But it is indubitably the little acts of compassion and kindness that have bought considerable comfort and succour to those who have been hardest hit!
And STS has not been slow to recognise the value of offering practical support and has partnered with a local business, implementing a program of buying up short-dated foodstuffs which would otherwise have gone to waste.
This is then offered free to all staff to help themselves.
It’s a brilliant arrangement that helps everyone, from those who have been finding it difficult to keep their families fed, to the retailer which now has a revenue stream for goods that they were forced previously to discard as unsaleable.
There is always something that one can find to do to ease the lot of their neighbour.
To help another human being get through a rocky patch.
As we look around with a keen eye and an inquisitive spirit, an opportunity will come onto view, and then it’s up to us to go for it.
And make a difference!
The lean times are sure to end, and a brighter tomorrow is on the horizon but in the meantime, we remember the words of Anne Frank.
“No one has ever become poor by giving”