A grim statistic
Peter Hoskin 2:03pmAccording to the Financial Services Authority, home repossessions in the second quarter of 2008 were up 71 percent on the previous year. With the financial and economic crises now biting even deeper, the figures for the third and fourth quarters of the year will most likely be even grimmer. Of course, this tragic human element to the downturn presents a challenge to all the political parties: they need to devise ways to limit it. But it also creates a particular problem for Gordon Brown: the more people feel the fiscal pain, the less likely they are to go along with the Our Economic Saviour narrative of the past few weeks.
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Gil Hedley
October 28th, 2008 2:33pm Report this commentThe worse house repossessions record was during the miners' strike in the 1980s, but no-one seems to refer to that - only sacked miners made homeless, so that's alright then.
Hereford
October 28th, 2008 2:57pm Report this commentYep Gil, sacked miners who priced themselves out of a job supporting the political ambitions of a rampant egotist.
Oor Willie
October 28th, 2008 3:35pm Report this commentHave no fear---I distinctly heard that nice Mr. Brown say that we are best placed to ride out the recession because of our low debt and low inflation.
Short the UK
October 28th, 2008 3:35pm Report this commentMy window cleaner told me today that business has fallen off a cliff. He is going to sell his house as he can't afford the mortgage.
My postman went bankrupt with 26K in credit card debt.
If we have had so much fake (debt) growth in the economy could GDP fall at least 10% in the coming 24 months?
TomTom
October 28th, 2008 4:05pm Report this comment"Yep Gil, sacked miners who priced themselves out of a job supporting the political ambitions of a rampant egotist."
Aye but oil and gas producers and retailers never price themselves out of a job, nor do water companies....funny that...imported energy costs inflate without limit but domestic production must be cheap and cheerful
Lance Grundy
October 28th, 2008 4:47pm Report this commentThe British people are the turkeys who voted for Christmas.
Number Nine
October 28th, 2008 5:09pm Report this comment"Repossession" numbers, like "falling house prices", are being distorted by buy-to-let idiots who bought more rabbit hutches than they could afford at inflated prices. Serves them right.
Hereford
October 28th, 2008 6:24pm Report this commentTomTom: The very reason why we are tied into foreign imports is that the british worker priced themselves out of the market. Once they had destroyed their own industries, they left us at the mercy of the overseas provider. If the British worker had been more restrained and less obsessed with overthrowing the establishment and establishing the collective, we would likely have a manufacturing, power and energy base right now to rely on.
RH
October 28th, 2008 8:41pm Report this commentI notice Brown has got nothing to say about this...usually can't shut him up these days, he seems more concerned about the Brand/Ross story, very nice distraction to cover a nasty bit of news, even the BBC home page has relegated this to second spot behind the idiotic (but useful) duo.
Nicholas
October 28th, 2008 10:09pm Report this commentYes, TomTom, don't put the honest working men and the nasty pea-brained socialist subversives who exploited them and ultimately destroyed their livelihoods into the same category. The same nasty pea-brained socialist subversives who are now "governing" the country and plunging that into an equal state of destruction.
It wasn't the workers who priced themselves out of the market but the increasingly inane and confrontational demands of the soviet sleepers running the unions which undermined and ultimately destroyed British industry - oh, yes, that and the successive Labour governments - also full of soviet sleepers.
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