2018 predictions

[Deeps]

[Arwen Thebard]

Are you the one spamming me incessantly 24/7 about bitcoin? I ask the question, cos it sounds like you are flogging it!

NO not me spamming you Jansman and Im not selling it either. Just making a few quid on the side.

[jansman]

The only prediction I can possibly make is this: Crap WILL happen,both at World Level,and Personal Level.The big stuff I can do nothing about,the little stuff I can do precious little more about.However,I try to look for the positive in all situations. I have said before that it isn't possible to live a healthy life if you are on 'red alert' all the time.

As others have said,that is the beauty of this site.It ain't heavy.

[katilea]

I think food and other household products will get more expensive both by the price going up and in terms of what you actually get for your money (ie shrinkflation). I opened a 4 pack of imperial leather soap the other day couldn't believe how much the bars have shrunk compared with the size they used to be - haven't bought any for a while as I'd been getting shower cream. Crisps too there's barely enough to put in a sandwich in a small bag! - still I guess its better for my diet to only get a taste of crisp rather than eating a huge bag of them!

Everything is about money so I can see the article about targeting shoppers and rising prices in peak times or when a specific household uses most energy happening at some point in the future, along with possible disruptions to power supplies.

After a long 6 months I've managed to get through the first round of cuts to my income unscathed and got enhanced PIP so I'm planning to get the hybrid trike attachment for my manual chair I wanted. That's part of my prepping cos if power supplies are cut/reduced in future 1) it won't take as long to charge and 2) I'll get more distance out of each charge if I get the hybrid model where I can 'pedal' on the flat and downhill (doubt I have enough strength in my arms for the hills around here even with practice!) It should keep my arms strong enough for managing crutches for short periods and transfers myself as I see 'care of the elderly and disabled' been another area thats really going to suffer in the future with lack of funding, staff etc. The NHS is already past collapsing point with ambulances queuing up for hours, patients having to sleep in corridors and people dying before ambulances are getting dispatched to them.

I'm planning to get a home demo of the trike next month once my back pay has gone in, it will cover the deposit to order one. It should drastically reduce the amount of time for charging especially if companies are going to be sneakily hiking up prices whenever you use the most electric/gas (even if you try to avoid 'peak times'). I haven't got a smart meter yet, told my energy company I have to wait until my HA rolls out putting them in to all their properties so for now they can't see exactly when I'm using the most. I'll put it off as long as possible but I'm sure it will become mandatory at some point that every household has to have one, so they can get as much money as possible out of each property!

I think it will be very expensive to live here in the future, most of the south will be lived in by millionaires etc and any poorer families that have managed to survive that far will be shunted off into ghetto's further 'up north'! We'll end up like other countries with some areas of extreme wealth and areas of extreme poverty! the gap between the rich and poor will get bigger

[itsybitsy]

Just wondering where, exactly, the ghettos 'up North' are...

[Brambles]

I was about to ask the same itsy. The only ghetto I've heard of was the Ghetto club in London. Last time I looked, the south extended beyond Chelsea and Westminster and the north had far more going for it than ghettos.
I could say more, but I'd have to ban myself.

[jansman]

Don't tempt me! Ha ha!

[itsybitsy]

I could say more, but I'd have to ban myself.

I don't think that's physically possible

[katilea]

In general more wealthy people live down south, wages are usually higher and London seems to be full of visiting millionaires and billionaires!

I live up North too, lived here all my life. I remember a local area to me in the 70's, pit houses known as 'the dump' small houses back to back like rows of shacks, like a shanty town, it was pulled down in the 80's when the pit closed. The people that lived there were the poorest in the area at the time and I can just see something similar happening in the future but with wider areas of the north.

I just feel like things are going backwards rather than moving forwards, like privatising of NHS and a US Insurance type medical system, there'll be more people in the north of the country that can't afford private insurance and therefore treatment than there will be in the south.

[Deeps]

As long as 'the south' continue to prop up all us further north with benefits, I'll doff my cap, send my kids off to war and gratefully hold my hand out for said benefits.

Not that I'm on benefits and Wee Jimmy will have rebuilt the wall by then so I see Edinburgh as the big enemy.