Why is the pound in a state of collapse ?

[John50]

Well it's tumbling fast now:

a Pound is 1.137 euros and a euro 87.9 pence

Frightening and very worrying.

[yllig]

Surely Gordo does not want to go down in history as being the Prime Minister at the time when the £ totally collapsed??

Apparently the Times were saying at the weekend they predict that sterling will go back up to 1.25 end of 2009/beginning of 2010.

Lets hope that is the case.

[Warrior]

Surely Gordo does not want to go down in history as being the Prime Minister at the time when the £ totally collapsed??

Apparently the Times were saying at the weekend they predict that sterling will go back up to 1.25 end of 2009/beginning of 2010.

Lets hope that is the case.

Smiler will go down in history as the prat nobody voted for who destroyed the pound, and probably took us into the Euro at level rates.
The end of 2009 is 12 months away and they say a weeks a long time in politics so what can happen in a year?

[John50]

In this united europe, the Germans and Brits are now arguing over the best way to sort this mess out. Great, even more people are dumping the 'PP' (pathetic pound) now which has fallen to 1.12 ! Happy bloody Christmas !

[yllig]

There wont be any Christmas in our house!!

We have even re-used the Christmas cards to send to each other that we sent last year and forget buying presents.

We are sending e-cards to relatives and friends by email to save the stamps!!!

[meldrew]

I believe mr brown wants to be the prime minister to give us the euro and ditch the pound ,just look at tesco they are already priceing up in euro & pounds.on all their labels.

[Warrior]

Well ta very much America - having destroyed the economy of the whole world they now won´t agree a bailout for the Auto Industry, that means the western worlds car industry in Europe & UK will also go down the pan. How many more jobs can we afford to lose before they start another world war to get rid of the dole queues.

[John50]

At this time the pound is buying around 1.118 euros although it does seem to be extremely variable. That makes the euro worth 89.4 pence.

A while back I was dismissed for saying the fall of sterling would have serious consequences for tourism here. In the local rag today, there is coverage of Spanish press reports that bookings for Christmas and the New Year are down 30% this year although Benidorm has reduced that to a 20% drop by offering cut price trips for Spanish pensioners.

[Armin Tamzarian]

A while back I was dismissed for saying the fall of sterling would have serious consequences for tourism here. In the local rag today, there is coverage of Spanish press reports that bookings for Christmas and the New Year are down 30% this year although Benidorm has reduced that to a 20% drop by offering cut price trips for Spanish pensioners.

Well John50, I was critical of your earlier posts in this thread, when I said that I didn't believe the situation would be anything like as bad as you make out. And I still think your analysis is wrong.

I haven't seen the local rag you refer to but I am familiar with the source article they've obviously lifted those figures from.

The drop in bookings for New Year has little to do with the foreign market (British or otherwise). The majority of tourists to the Costa Blanca is Spanish and over the New Year period those staying in hotels are in the main Alicantinos. It is THEIR unwillingness to spend because of the crisis that is causing the substantial fall in bookings.

[John50]

Well John50, I was critical of your earlier posts in this thread, when I said that I didn't believe the situation would be anything like as bad as you make out. And I still think your analysis is wrong.

I haven't seen the local rag you refer to but I am familiar with the source article they've obviously lifted those figures from.

The drop in bookings for New Year has little to do with the foreign market (British or otherwise). The majority of tourists to the Costa Blanca is Spanish and over the New Year period those staying in hotels are in the main Alicantinos. It is THEIR unwillingness to spend because of the crisis that is causing the substantial fall in bookings.

Time will tell.

Pound/Euro now at 1.108 a euro costing 90.2 p to buy and dropping fast as it has been all day.

[bob@goodman9741.fsnet.co.]

yep , new poster, but must agree with jhon 50 it can only get worse, just think of all the unsureties and we are only just starting into this mess ,really think bookings will remain high next year ? unemployment going on in the uk right now ? no massive unemployment!! no ones sure of job security, who wants to spend £ 4 FOR A BEER in spain people will stay at home can get 18 holes on a good course for £6, not in spain ,spain is finished so is briton atleast for the next ten years!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob

[John50]

My God - what on earth has happened overnight ?

£1 now 1.10 euro and a euro costs 90.9 pence.

At this rate parity does seem feasible by Year End but beyond that ? Very worrying.

[Armin Tamzarian]

My God - what on earth has happened overnight ?

Federal Reserve set US interest rates at 0%.

UK expected to follow suit (of course).

Knock-on effect against Euro for both currencies.

[Warrior]

yep , new poster, but must agree with jhon 50 it can only get worse, just think of all the unsureties and we are only just starting into this mess ,really think bookings will remain high next year ? unemployment going on in the uk right now ? no massive unemployment!! no ones sure of job security, who wants to spend £ 4 FOR A BEER in spain people will stay at home can get 18 holes on a good course for £6, not in spain ,spain is finished so is briton atleast for the next ten years!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob

My God, where on earth are you paying GBP 4 for a beer in Spain - I bet it´s in a Brit or pseudo Paddy Bar, you can still get a large San Miguel or Mahou in my local Spanish bar for €1.75.

[John50]

If what I am seeing happening now is not a run on sterling UK Government, I really don't know what is ? The pound has fallen over 2% today alone and is now down to 1.087. That means a euro costs 92 pence ! There may be talk of parity but one pound = one euro is not a cast iron thing. The pound may well drop below parity, what then ?

Surely this will impact on food imports into the UK and cause the idiots to take measures to prop up the currency ? I know we are the great 'expat' unwashed and don't count for anything but perhaps when imports start costing a lot more, their arm will be twisted ?

Surely the BofE won't really cut interest rates again will they ?