‘Private renters are almost twice as likely to be struggling with problem levels of debt than the general population, with a sharp rise in the numbers in serious financial difficulty since January, research shows.

The figures come against a backdrop of private rents in the UK hitting record highs, and days after the government announced a shake- up of the sector to tackle the ‘injustices’ that many tenants are facing.

The debt charity StepChange, which issued the polling data, said that “with so many renters in financial difficulty”, stronger protections for those who fell behind with their rent were required or else people would be left vulnerable to “hair-trigger eviction”.

It said that while the renters’ reform bill announced last Wednesday was welcome, it did not go far enough, as many financially and otherwise vulnerable tenants faced challenges that would not be addressed by the proposals.

The private rented sector was now “unaffordable, inaccessible and insecure for those on the lowest incomes, leaving them at high risk of problem debt, poor mental and physical health and prolonged housing insecurity,” the charity said as it issued a report.

It also published a YouGov poll showing that 15% of private renters – 1.1 million people as of this month – were in problem debt, compared with 8% of the general population. The charity added that this number had risen “sharply” – by more than a third – since January, when it stood at an estimated 800,000 people, or 11% of private renters.

Signs of financial difficulty include using credit, loans or an overdraft to make it through to payday, falling behind on essential household bills, using credit to keep up with existing credit commitments, and getting hit by late payment or default charges, said StepChange, with those in severe problem debt typically displaying three or more of those signs.

The research also found that half of all private renters – about 3.7 million people – had had their rent increased in the last 12 months, while more than 1.2 million said they were using credit to make ends meet.

Many have described the private rented sector as being in crisis, which Michael Gove, the housing secretary, appeared to acknowledge last week when he said: “Too many renters are living in damp, unsafe, cold homes, powerless to put things right, and with the threat of sudden eviction hanging over them.”

The number of households renting in England more than doubled between 2001 and 2021, the latest census revealed, and a string of surveys have indicated that typical private rents have hit new highs. Earlier this month the estate agent Hamptons said tenants in Great Britain were now paying typically 25% more than they were at the start of the Covid pandemic.

Meanwhile, experts say severe shortages of rental properties have led to intense competition for what is available, with queues for viewings, desperate renters paying over the odds, and some landlords insisting on a year’s rent in advance.

StepChange’s report stated that one in five private renters who had tried to find a new home in the last 12 months said they were asked to pay more than two months’ rent in advance. More than half were asked to bid on the property they were trying to rent, and only 28% were successful, it added.

The charity’s client survey found private renters “struggled with the affordability of their homes more than any other housing tenure”. Average monthly private rent payments were found to be almost double those in the social sector, and 39% more than average mortgage payments.

The reforms outlined by the government last week will ban no-fault evictions but also strengthen landlords’ rights to throw out tenants for antisocial behaviour.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said at the time that, as a result of its package, 11 million tenants across England would “benefit from safer, fairer and higher-quality homes thanks to a once-in-a-generation overhaul of housing laws”. The department was approached for comment.’

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/may/23/private-renters-almost-twice-as-likely-to-struggle-with-debt-than-uk-general-population

‘Rising food prices will soon overtake energy costs as the main force fuelling inflation in the UK, an independent think tank warned in a report on Friday. Food makes up a far larger share of the typical household’s consumption than energy, says the Resolution Foundation, whose aim is to improve living standards for those on low to middle incomes. As grocery prices will remain at a high level while energy costs decline, this summer “food costs will have overtaken energy bills in the scale of the shock they are administering to family finances,” the think tank predicted. Grocery bills have jumped by almost 20% during the past year, official figures for March showed, with the overall consumer price index standing at 10.1%. Energy prices peaked at record levels last year but have since declined significantly.’

‘The cost of living crisis is often thought of as a cost of energy crisis. That is an understandable, but increasingly inadequate, view. In particular, it understates the growing role of food prices (up by 25 per cent over the past year and a half) in the squeeze on living standards that households – especially low- and middle-income households – are living through.

While energy prices have risen faster, food makes up a far larger share of the typical household’s consumption (13 versus 5 per cent in 2019-20). This, combined with food prices continuing to rise even as energy bills fall back, means that by this summer the average increase in food costs since 2019-20 (£1,000) will be larger than that for energy bills (around £900). And this is not just true at the average: this will also be the case for a majority of households (56 per cent or 16 million). The food price shock is about to overtake the energy price shock as the biggest threat to family finances.

This spotlight examines the contribution of food prices to today’s high inflation and the pressure on households’ living standards, before considering how families and government have responded to date.

Inflation is on the way down. Having plateaued close to 40-year highs since the Autumn, sharp falls are anticipated from next week: a near 2 percentage point reduction from March’s 10.1 per cent is expected in April, as Figure 1 shows. This marks the end of the peak energy costs part of this crisis, albeit without energy bills remotely returning to pre-crisis norms. This first significant fall is driven by April 2022’s large increase in the energy price cap dropping out of the annual inflation calculation. But next week will also see confirmation that energy prices will actually fall from July – the energy price cap is expected to be reduced from £2,500 to £2,063) – reflecting the retreat of wholesale energy prices, and contribute to inflation falling back further through 2023.’

https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/food-for-thought/

 ‘Britons don’t have an automatic right to low food prices, former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe has claimed, adding that people should simply go without certain items if they are struggling financially.

Discussing the UK’s cost-of-living crisis on the BBC’s Politics Live show, the former Tory member suggested that anyone claiming unemployment benefits should be made to fill labour shortages by picking fruit.

Widdecombe also advised people who cannot afford to pay for some food items to simply stop buying them. 

“Well then you don’t do the cheese sandwich. None of it’s new. We’ve been through this before,” she said. “The problem is we’ve been decades now without inflation, we’ve come to regard it as some kind of given right.”

The cost of living has risen sharply in the UK over the past two years, with annual inflation standing at 10.1% in March, driven largely by soaring food prices. Although the inflation rate dipped from 10.4% in February, it fell less than expected and is still well above the Bank of England’s target of 2%.’

‘The cost of British food staples such as cheese, white bread and porridge oats have soared – with one brand of cheddar increasing by 80 per cent in one year.

Overall inflation on food and drink at supermarkets continued to rise in March to 17.2 per cent, up from 16.5 per cent the month before, Which? found.

The price of cheddar cheese, which accounts for roughly half of all cheese sales in the UK, increased by an average 28.3 per cent across eight major supermarkets – Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose – compared to a year ago.’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/which-supermarket-cheese-price-uk-b2322366.html

 Shu Xiang, 21, started looking for a job in February and still has had no luck. A financial management major at a college in Chengdu, China, Ms. Shu said she had received five responses to about 100 applications. Graduation is in a few weeks.

“I’m not so confident about finding a job,” she said. The only thing that makes her feel less anxious, she said, is knowing she’s not alone — most of her classmates were facing similar problems.

Ms. Shu is one of nearly 12 million Chinese expected to enter the job pool next month at a difficult time. The government reported this week that 20.4 percent of people ages 16 to 24 looking for a job were out of work in April. That is the highest level since China started announcing the statistic in 2018.

High youth unemployment has been a dark stain on China’s economy for several years, exacerbated by strict pandemic health restrictions limited travel, decimated small businesses and damaged consumer confidence. The government, facing rare public discontent as young professionals in major cities across China protested the “zero Covid” rules, abruptly announced in December that it would start easing the policies. But the youth jobless rate has remained high, even as the overall rate has ticked down two months in a row.

The Chinese government has introduced a set of policies meant to stimulate youth employment, including subsidies for small and midsize businesses that hire college graduates. State-owned enterprises have been directed to make more jobs available for those just starting out…’

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/business/china-youth-unemployment.html

 There was no other way to deal with these men, but to break them to pieces … if you do not break them, they will break you.” – Oliver Cromwell

On 17 May 1649, three soldiers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire. They belonged to a movement popularly known as the Levellers, with beliefs in civil rights and religious tolerance.



The name “Levellers,” like most party names (e.g., “Lollards,” “Anabaptists,” “Quakers,” “Whigs” and “Tories”) was originally a nickname applied in scorn and derision. The Levellers were those who demanded, so early as 1647, that the “whole body of the People” should make the people’s laws. During the Civil War, the Levellers fought on Parliament’s side, they had at first seen Cromwell as a liberator, but now saw him as a dictator. They were prepared to fight against him for their ideals and he was determined to crush them. Over 300 of them were captured by Cromwell’s troops and locked up in Burford church. Three were led out into the churchyard to be shot as ringleaders.



The Levellers were the most energetic and uncompromising faction in the English Revolution, with a short life taking shape in 1646 to be crushed by Cromwell’s dictatorship in 1649. The English Revolution was the revolution of the rising capitalist class against the monopolies and other restraints on free competition of the feudal-monarchic state in which many sections of the country gentry were capitalist, rearing sheep on land from which the peasants had been driven. Thus in 1640 they were able to combine with the merchants and lead the yeoman farmers and the artisans and apprentices of the town. 



The Levellers started as a propaganda group and transformed themselves into a party as their influence extended and the revolutionary movement mounted. The Levellers linked themselves with the rank-and-file of Cromwell’s New Model Army. They supported elections of soldier’s delegates and the agitation of the soldier’s committees which took up their grievances and favored a popular militia, democratically controlled. Most of the Agitators in the revolutionary army either belonged to the Levellers or were inspired by their ideas. Both the Cromwellians and the Levellers moved forward to a Republic. The Cromwellians wanted a regime in which sovereignty was concentrated in the hands of the large property owners. The Levellers demanded a democratic republic based upon the power of the people and responsive to their demands.



Their religious, political and economic ideas expressed the interests and outlook of the artisans, apprentices, shopkeepers and similar lower middle-class and working-class elements in the cities and the yeomen in the country districts. The”far left” was occupied by the dispossessed peasants who formed the agrarian communist sect of the Diggers who recognised that political democracy was impossible without economic democracy. However, the Diggers’ condemnation of private property in land ran counter to the aspirations of the peasant majority. By contrast, the Levellers were opposed to “making all things common,” defended the rights of private property, and called for free trade. The Levellers called for sweeping democratization of both Church and State. Among the religious reforms were full freedom of religious belief, separation of Church and State, the suppression of tithes; among the political reforms were a constitutional republic, annual election of a Parliament responsible to the people alone, general manhood suffrage; among the legal reforms, the right to a trial by jury, no star-chamber hearings, no capital punishment or imprisonment for debt; among the civil rights, freedom of the press and no license on printing. In their day such doctrines were audacious and revolutionary.



The mass petition was the principal means they used to inform and arouse the people. These petitions containing the demands of the people were widely circulated for signatures, submitted to Parliament, and backed up by meetings and demonstrations. In March 1647 a great petition was presented to the Commons. It called for the abolition of tithes, for the abolition of the Merchants Adventurers Co., for relief to imprisoned debtors and assistance to the poor, for limitations on fees of all judges, magistrates, lawyers and government officials. It demanded the abolition of the veto power of the King and the House of Lords. The Commons ordered the petition to be burnt. Lilburne who had hitherto been a fervent admirer and supporter of Cromwell broke with him for his subservience to Parliament, denounced the Parliament as a tyrant and oppressor and called for a new constitution and new elections. Lilburne, himself at one time a soldier, now turned to the army’s the rank and file. A popularly elected soldier’s Council argued about the Army’s political programme on level terms with the Generals.



Both the Cromwellians and the Levellers supported a republic but the Cromwellians wanted a regime in which power was concentrated in the hands of the large property owners. The Levellers demanded a democratic republic based upon the power of the people and responsive to their demands.



The Levellers were the first to encourage women to participate in political activity. In one of the petitions offered in their name the women asserted that they had “an equal interest with the men of the nation in its liberties and securities.” They did not go so far, however, as to demand female suffrage.



Although only active for only a few years on the stage of history, the Levellers left a durable imprint on the development of democratic thought demonstrating how a revolutionary group which itself never attains the heights of power can nevertheless profoundly affect the course of a great revolution and fertilize progressive tendencies for centuries thereafter. 



Marx and Engels knew that the Levelers were before their time and said so often, but they wrote also: 

“We find the first appearance of a really functioning Communist party in the bourgeois revolution at the moment when the constitutional monarchy is removed. The most consistent republicans, in England the Levelers, in France, Babeuf, Buonarroti, etc. are the first who proclaimed these ‘social questions.’” – The Moralising Criticism and Critical Morality.

 MAY 2023 EVENTS

 As the cost of living continues to spiral, a new report shows more than half of gig economy workers in the UK are paid below the minimum wage.

The first-of-its-kind study, led by the University of Bristol, found 52% of gig workers doing jobs ranging from data entry to food delivery were earning below the minimum wage. On average respondents were earning £8.97 per hour – around 15% below the current UK minimum wage, which rose to £10.42 this month.

More than three-quarters (76%) of survey respondents also experienced work-related insecurity and anxiety.

Lead author Dr Alex Wood, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Future of Work at the University of Bristol Business School, said: “The findings highlight that working in the UK gig economy often entails low pay, anxiety, and stress. As food, fuel and housing costs keep rising, this group of workers are especially vulnerable and need to be more adequately remunerated and better protected.”

Equally concerning, more than a quarter (28%) felt they were risking their health or safety in doing gig work and a quarter (25%) experienced pain on the job.

When asked what would improve their situation, basic rights such as minimum wage rates, holiday and sick pay, and protection against unfair dismissal were most wanted.

Unions and platform councils (similar to works councils that exist in some European countries) to represent their needs and help influence how gig economy platforms operate and affect their working conditions also featured on their wish list. More than three-quarters of respondents believed the introduction of such bodies would bring immediate 

Dr Wood said: “A major factor contributing to low pay rates is that this work involves spending significant amounts of time waiting or looking for work while logged on to a platform. Not only is the work low paid, but it is also extremely insecure and risky.

“The self-employed who are dependent on platforms to make a living are urgently in need of labour protections to shield them against the huge power asymmetries that exist in the sector. This clearly warrants the expansion of the current ‘worker’ status to protect them.”

The study involved 510 UK gig economy workers who were surveyed last year. There was representation from across the sector, with around half being remote freelancers using platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr to pick up jobs ranging from data entry to website design. The other half comprised local drivers providing food delivery and taxi services via platforms including Deliveroo and Uber.

More than just side hustles to earn extra cash, respondents spent on average 28 hours a week undertaking gig work, comprising 60% of their total earnings.

Respondents overwhelmingly considered their work to be best described as self-employment and thought an extension of labour rights to include the self-employed would significantly improve their working lives.

This was the first research to investigate what forms of voice gig workers want. The findings suggest strong support for European style co-determination whereby worker representatives are consulted on and approve changes that impact working conditions and employment. Works councils that exist in countries like Germany could therefore provide a model for platform councils and assemblies in the gig economy to facilitate workers having a say over the decisions which affect their ability to make a living.

Brendan Burchell, Professor in Social Sciences at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the report, added: “Respondents strongly felt the creation of co-determination mechanisms would allow workers, and their representatives, to influence platform provider decisions which could instantly improve their working lives.

“These policies include elected bodies of worker representatives approving all major platform changes that impact jobs and working conditions. Our findings emphasise the potential for trade union growth in this sector, with majorities being willing to join and even organise such bodies.”

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2023/may/gig-economy-worker-research.html?ref=upstract.com

A gig economy is a labor market that relies heavily on temporary and part-time positions filled by independent contractors and freelancers rather than full-time permanent employees.

Gig workers gain flexibility and independence but little or no job security. Many employers save money by avoiding paying benefits such as health coverage and paid vacation time. Others pay for some benefits to gig workers but outsource the benefits programs and other management tasks to external agencies.

The term is borrowed from the music world, where performers book “gigs” that are single or short-term engagements at various venues.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gig-economy.asp

1 in 6 adults in the UK currently work a gig job at least once a week. For most, 71.5%, gig work makes up less than half of their income. The UK gig economy workforce is now estimated at 7.25 million. https://standout-cv.com/gig-economy-statistics

 Russia Today, is, ‘a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government.’ Wiki. Its reporting of statements emanating from the various arms of the Russian Government should therefore be read as being one hundred per cent from the horses, or bears, mouth. 

On May 12th, under the headline, Russia warns Britain over cruise missiles, the following report appeared:

“London’s decision to supply Kiev with long-range cruise missiles is another step towards a “serious escalation” of the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The ministry called the move “a very unfriendly step” on the UK’s part, which shows London’s “unprecedented level of involvement” in the conflict.

“Carried away with geopolitical games … the UK is apparently ready to cross any red lines and bring the conflict towards a totally new level when it comes to destruction and casualties,” the Foreign Ministry’s statement read.

Russia “reserves the right to take any measures deemed necessary to neutralise a threat that may arise from Ukraine’s use of the British cruise missiles,” the ministry said, adding that those behind this “reckless step” and London’s “destructive activities” in general would be to blame for the consequences.

On Thursday, the UK confirmed it was handing several of its Storm Shadow cruise missiles over to Ukraine. The weapons can hit targets over 250km (155 miles) away.’

(‘The Storm Shadows intended targets are command, control and communications centres; airfields; ports and power stations; ammunition management and storage facilities; surface ships and submarines in port; bridges and other high value strategic targets.’ Wiki.)

 ‘Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called it a “calibrated and proportionate response” by London to the situation in Ukraine

Washington indicated on Friday that it is reluctant to follow London’s example. The US has long refused to provide Kiev with longer-range weapons such as ATACMS missiles. In March, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said it is not an option since the move would dwindle the Pentagon’s own stocks.

Western officials have reportedly said that giving Ukraine the option to attack targets inside Russian territory recognised by the US and its allies would be a major escalation of the conflict.

Kiev has long asked for longer-range weapons. President Vladimir Zelensky’s top adviser, Mikhail Podoliak, said this week that longer-range missiles could be used to strike Crimea, which Kiev considers an illegally occupied territory. The peninsula joined Russia in 2014 following a referendum.

Moscow has repeatedly warned Western nations that weapons deliveries to Ukraine make them de facto participants in the conflict – something many of them have vehemently denied.

On Thursday, the Kremlin vowed to have an “appropriate answer” to the deliveries of the British missiles.”

The US has provided Ukraine with around seventy five billion dollars worth of aid of one sort or another since the beginning of the conflict. (Kiel Institute for the World Economy).

The US has said however that it has no intention of supplying similar missiles to Ukraine.

 It’s reported that inflation in France accelerated in April, driven by a surge in energy prices – data published by the national statistics bureau Insee.

‘Consumer prices rose by 5.9% last month on an annual basis, up from 5.7% in March. Energy price growth soared to 6.8% in April after a 4.9% increase in March, mainly due to rising fuel costs.   

Meanwhile, the increase in gas prices eased from the March reading of 35.6%, coming in at 22.9% higher year-on-year in April.   

Food prices climbed 15% year-on-year, slightly lower than the March reading of 15.9%. The downtick was attributable to a seasonal decline in the prices of fresh goods. However, despite the slower pace of price growth, Insee economists said that soaring food costs have had a more significant impact on overall inflation than rising energy costs.   

A recent survey by market research firm Elabe showed that 43% of French consumers have cut back on buying certain food items due to inflation. 

43% reported having cut down on meat, 34% were buying less fish, and 27% had given up cakes and biscuits. According to the survey, most French consumers have had to adjust their shopping habits, with 44% opting for cheaper food and 30% now buying smaller quantities.   

In March, the French authorities introduced a so-called “anti-inflation food basket,” comprising about 50 basic items and obliged large retailers not to hike prices on these staples until June.’

 This report is taken from Russia Today, dated 14th May. 

As as already been pointed out in a previous SOYMB post, Russia Today, is, ‘a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government.’ Wiki. Truth, as it has been said, is the first casualty of war. The reader must therefore judge the veracity of this report.

However, should there be any accuracy in the statement issued then the potential consequences have it has to be of grave concern to everyone who opposes armed conflict wherever it occurs in the world.

Luhansk Lugansk is a city in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be 397,677 (2022 est.),making Luhansk the most populous city in the In 2001, nearly half of the population was ethnically Ukrainian, and 47% was ethnically Russian.

Luhansk serves as the administrative center of Luhansk Oblast, although the  Ukrainian administration was relocated to Sievierodonet when the war in Donbas broke out following-Russian unrest and the proclamation of the Luhansk People’s Republic. In 2022, Russia declared its annexation of the region. Wiki.

“Ukraine’s military used UK-supplied long-range missiles to target civilians in the Russian city of Lugansk, resulting in several children being injured, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence and local authorities.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said that a Ukrainian air strike on the Poly-pack food processing factory and the Milam home goods store in central Lugansk a day earlier had used Storm Shadow missiles. The attack came despite London’s assurances that those weapons would not be used to target civilian facilities, it claimed.

Several houses were damaged and a number of people, including six children, were wounded, the ministry stated, adding that Russian aircraft shot down the Ukrainian Su-24 bomber that had conducted the strike on Lugansk, as well as an MiG-29 fighter accompanying the aircraft.

Initially, the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), which tracks Kiev’s attacks on the Donbass, identified the projectiles that hit Lugansk, which had long been considered to be out of range of Ukrainian artillery, as Grom missiles.

Later, however, it clarified that the strike involved two Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles and a US-made ADM-160B decoy missile.

On Saturday, the JCCC claimed that Kiev fired another Storm Shadow at the village of Yubileiny, west of Lugansk. It added that the strike injured one elderly woman, damaged windows in seven houses while wrecking 25 garages, 15 cars, and a power line.”

The Lugansk People’s Republic, along with three other former Ukrainian territories, was incorporated into Russia last autumn following public referendums that saw the local population overwhelmingly support the move.

On Thursday, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed earlier media reports that the UK had provided Ukraine with low-observable Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250km (150 miles). The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the move as an “extremely hostile step by London” that “clearly confirms the unprecedented level of British involvement” in the conflict.”