Sterling X rate down to 47.70 to the £1!!

[READ-THIS]

personally speaking, even if the pound was worth the same as a zimbabwe dollar i would find a way of keeping my home in UT, the thought of cashing in and moving back to antarctica (UK) where the last person who left switched the lights off, then getting a pokey flat on some estate and wait for the obligitory 2 months before the wife pisses off back to UT to play songkran in the basking sunshine aint an option - anyone who does this please give us a report in about three months time just before you fasten the rope around your neck and kick the stool.

yeah old timer i get your point however , one must adapt im thinking about it at the moment im just waiting for the housing market to drop what they will because it is reported estate agents are only selling 1 house per week and with the intrest rate at a all time low ! (all type 10 year fixed rate) Loads of pound sterlin from the exchange rate (burp!!!) time to make mega dosh Thailand is going nowhere fast it will always be on the map no one is taking it anywhere (burp!! jesus onions) now why did i not become a financial adviser ?

[Watson.]

As a new boy, not a reincarnation, it makes my head spin the way the forum veers this way and that! But although i feel the pain and worry of current expats, over here it ain't bad really. My mortgage is a tracker .08% above base. It's gone from 5.58% to 1.58% saving me over £600 a month. My job is secure. I'm alright jack. Retirement to land of smiles, well, what? Worry over money. Worry over visa rules. Worry girlfriend is going to rip you off. Why is it i still want to do it? F*** knows!

[READ-THIS]

watson may i ask do you wai 7/11 girls ??? just a thought

[Watson.]

Why would i wai 7/11 girls!

[BobHelm]

No, the question is why would he ask that Watson.
The answer is because he cannot help but try & wind people up.
You can take offence, as some do - or should I say have done in the past, or you can pity him for the fact that he needs to do that type of thing.
As he well knows, from his MANY previous lives on the forum, personal or racial abuse is completely against forum rules. However within a very short time of re-signing up on the forum he will always fall into his old ways. Some have suggested that he might actually need professional advice, I am not sure & don't care as that is not my problem, but he certainly needs to respect the rules of the forum, which is my problem.

Chang (AKA READ_THIS in this reincarnation) I am sorry, you are banned yet again

[izzix]

Brit tourists will be evaluating their choice of holiday destination thats for sure and even if they do go
they will be very cheap charlies with their satangs look how its fallen, 75 -65 -50 -47 ..arrgghhh.
Thai hookers are definitely cheaper in London than they are back home and they arent worn out divorcees wearing a roadmap on their stomachs ,but very attractive young gals with taught firm bodies that never saw a baby birthed ,ever

[arjay]

Maybe Izzix should be posting this one. It's more doom and gloom. From the BBC News website:-

Data set to confirm UK recession

Official data due later is expected to confirm the UK is in a recession for the first time since the early 1990s.

Gross domestic product is predicted to have fallen by 1.2% in 2008's final quarter, following on from a 0.6% contraction in the previous quarter.

That would mean that the widely accepted definition of a recession - two consecutive quarters of falling economic growth - had been met.

It would also represent the biggest decline since 1990's third-quarter.

Although a technical recession - two consecutive quarters of negative GDP - is seen as inevitable, many analysts expect that there will be a year-on-year decline in GDP, otherwise known as a "full-blown" recession.

If the consensus is right, the figure will also represent a 1.4% decline on the same quarter a year ago - the biggest year-on-year fall since 1991.

'Grim figures'

"A sharp fall in manufacturing output - down 3% in November alone - has led to fears that the decline in total GDP in the fourth quarter will exceed the 1% fall previously pencilled in by analysts," said Andrew Smith, chief economist at KPMG.

What started as a crisis in the financial sector continues to infect the wider economy.

Unemployment is accelerating sharply, with 1.92 million people now out of work, the housing market remains severely depressed and retail sales are weak, with December figures also out later not expected to reveal much cheer on Britain's High Street.

"It is difficult to see why things should improve in the foreseeable future," Mr Smith said.

Neil Mackinnon, chief economist at ECU Group, said the GDP figures would "be grim and underscore the depth of the recession".

"There are no green shoots of recovery, no light at the end of the tunnel," he added.

The average recession in the UK since 1955 has lasted three quarters, but the past two recessions have lasted for five.

In fact, many forecasters believe a recession could stretch into 2010 and be as severe as that of the early 1990s.

Deteriorating picture

GDP is the most commonly used indicator of national income.

It attempts to measure the sum of incomes received by the various wealth-creating sectors of the economy, from manufacturing and retail to agriculture and service industries.

The consensus forecast for 2009 as a whole is now for a 2.1% decline in GDP.

As recently as December, the forecast was for a drop of 1.5%.

This highlights the rapidly deteriorating economic picture over recent weeks, during which a number of the UK's best known high street retailers, such as Woolworths and Zavvi, have gone into administration.

The pound has slumped against the euro and many analysts believe that parity is now inevitable. Sterling also hit a seven-year low against the dollar this week.

International investors are said to be losing confidence in the UK economy and the government's attempts to kick-start lending from the banks.

The official government forecast is for a decline of 0.75% to 1.25% in 2009, although the Chancellor Alistair Darling has indicated that he will revising this figure in the Budget.

Injection

Efforts to prevent recession deepening have been widespread, though critics say they have not gone far enough.

The Bank of England has aggressively cut interest rates to 1.5% - aimed at driving down the cost of lending and making it easier for consumers and businesses to access credit.

However banks have been reluctant to lend sufficiently, despite a £37bn injection into major banks, and a scheme to offer insurance to banks against potential losses on risky loans.

A temporary cut in value added tax (VAT), from 17.5% to 15%, was an attempt to encourage consumers to spend and boost the retail sector and wider economy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7846266.stm

[laphanphon]

they aren't worn out divorcees wearing a roadmap on their stomachs

well it isn't all doom and gloom, bit of a sense of humor.

[arjay]

Another effect of the slide in sterling, from the BBC News weblink:-

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/ ... 876614.stm

Pound's slide hits Foreign Office

MPs have called on the Treasury to provide the Foreign Office (FCO) with additional funding to cover shortfalls caused by the pound's declining value.

At a time when all Britons are finding the pound does not go as far as it once did, the FCO's work abroad means it is feeling the pinch more than most.

The Foreign Affairs Committee says the removal of Treasury protection against currency fluctuations is another blow.

The pound's value against the euro and dollar has slid in recent months. It is now trading at around 1.10 euros, compared with 1.50 in 2007, and has crashed to around $1.45 in trading against the American dollar.

The bulk of what Britain's diplomats do abroad is paid in foreign currency - so the plunging pound has hit Foreign Office budgets much harder than any other government department.

The FCO uses "hedging" arrangements to limit its exposure by securing foreign currency in advance at a fixed rate, but told the committee it acknowledged that it will face "a tougher challenge" to fund its activities in the next financial year.

Meanwhile, the FCO warned that anticipated increases of more than £3m a year in the cost of subscriptions to international bodies like the United Nations may force it to cut other programmes.

The committee's chairman, Labour MP Mike Gapes, said it was "deplorable" that the department was forced to shoulder alone the cost of subscriptions which benefit the whole government, and urged the Treasury to cover them.

The FCO expects its overall funding to grow from £1.6bn in 2007-08 to £1.7bn by 2010-11. In the year ending 2007 it was able to spend £58m less than expected.

The committee report also highlighted dissatisfaction among Foreign Office staff about their career prospects and changes within the service.

The FCO's own staff survey last year found just 35% believed the promotion process was fair and objective, while feelings of job security had dropped by 14% to 42%.

And an independent "cultural audit" carried out last year found that most staff "loved" working for the FCO, but uncovered criticisms of the department's "too conformist, consensual, bureaucratic and risk averse" culture.

The FCO said in a statement: "We welcome the report and will respond to specific points raised by the committee in our formal response."

It's nice to know it does hurt the government too!

[bumper]

Well at least Bush and the boy's ain't getting $200 a barrel, that was like the violen and Rome

(Not make light of anyone situation, been ther I didn't like it either, I'm afraid fo some odd reason Arjay' s Brit humor brought it out)