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Inflation: Why price rises are worse for some people than others
The cost of living is more than 10% higher than it was a year ago, the official figures say. But you may feel your bills have risen by a lot more.
That’s because your own personal inflation rate is driven by factors specific to you: if you’re someone who buys a lot of petrol, your weekly outgoings will have gone up a lot more than someone who cycles everywhere, for example.
Here are some ways that your individual experience of price rises may be at odds with what’s reported in the news.
It depends on what you’re buying
Inflation is measured by taking a typical “basket” of goods and services and seeing how much they’re going up in price.
The contents of that basket change each year as habits change. Pet collars, sports bras or canned pulses on your shopping list? The Official for National Statistics (ONS) which is responsible for calculating inflation statistics, says you’re on trend for 2022.
In the age of hybrid work, however, suits are out, and blazers, for the more sporadic trip to the office, are in instead. Individual bakery doughnuts are also out because people working from home are more likely to plump for multipacks instead apparently. Not everything you buy is reflected in the official inflation numbers; the more niche, the less likely it is to be monitored. And the things you’re buying may go up in price by more than what’s in the basket, or if you’re lucky by less.
It’s also a question of how much
It’s not just what’s in the ONS’s basket that’s re-evaluated at the start of every year – but how big a part that item plays in our day-to-day spending. Every item has a “weight” attached, so the changing price of petrol will have a much bigger impact than if the cost of tea goes up – simply because we spend a much bigger proportion of our income on petrol.
Sometimes that means there’s a bit of a lag. For example, at present, the ONS assumes that household energy bills make up about 3.5% of spending, which was accurate at the start of 2022. But with energy bills poised to at least double, they’re ultimately going to take up 7% or more of a typical household budget. That means the official rate of inflation may not be fully reflecting the impact of rising energy bills until next year.
On the other hand, the stats office has yet to decide how to account for the help given to households this autumn, which will offset some of the increase. The help won’t automatically be reflected in headline inflation numbers but it should help ease the pressure.
What type of home you have also matters
Inflation has been driven mainly by higher energy costs over the last year – but bills vary widely from household to household.
For the 86% of UK homes that are mainly heated by gas, bills have risen more sharply, than where heating is from oil or electricity.
Fuel efficiency makes a big difference too. Homes are rated on energy performance, from A to G, with A being the most efficient. Average fuel costs for a home in England with a D rating are a fifth higher than for those with an A-C rating. Those with a G rating may pay three times as much; those lofty but draughty period homes come with an invisible extra price tag.
It’s the basics that are going up
Between 2014 and 2021, the ONS reckons inflation was pretty much the same for people in all income groups.
But that’s changed this year, because the main items that are rising in price are staples: food as well as energy. That has a bigger impact on those with the lowest incomes. At the start of 2022, energy bills typically made up just 2% of the spending of the richest 10% of households’ spending. But for the poorest 10% of households energy made up 7% of their budgets. Even if that draughty mansion is expensive to heat, that might not represent as big a problem to the owner as a person on a low income in a small flat.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a thinktank, reckons that the least well-off households will consequently face an 18% inflation rate in October, compared to 11% for the richest 20%.
A rising income can cushion the blow
Even if prices are rising for everyone, the pain felt varies. And the only way to maintain living standards is to have more money coming in.
The average pay packet is failing to match the rising cost of living; the gap between the two is the biggest for at least two decades. The private sector – in particular hospitality, where staff shortages have been acute, and financial services – have typically seen bigger pay rises than the public sector. Those relying on the state pension or Universal Credit may see those rates go up by 10% – but they’ll have to wait for next spring.
So if you feel your money goes less far than a year ago, chances are, you’re far from alone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of using “nuclear blackmail”
Ukraine war: Zelensky warns Russian soldiers at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Russia seized the plant in March and has been accused of turning it into a base from where it hits nearby towns.
Both countries have traded blame for shelling it in recent days, prompting UN warnings of a nuclear disaster.
Mr Zelensky says any Russian soldier who shoots at or under the cover of the plant will be a “special target”.
The six-nuclear reactor Zaporizhzhia station is located in the city of Enerhodar, on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River (Dnipro in Ukrainian) in southern Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, seizing the plant within days. Moscow has kept Ukrainian personnel to operate the facility.
The UN has warned that continued hostilities around the station could lead to a nuclear disaster affecting much of Europe.
Russia has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing at the plant.
It says it seized control of the plant to prevent leaks of radioactive materials during fighting in the region.
During his video address late on Saturday, Mr Zelensky said Russia had engaged in “constant provocations” by firing on the plant and said forces stationed there had used it as a base to shell the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets – on the other bank of the river.
This was being done, the president said, to “blackmail our state and the entire free world”. But he stressed that “Russian blackmail only mobilises even more global efforts to confront terror”.
“Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant or shoots under cover of the plant must understand that he is becoming a special target for our intelligence, our special services, our army,” the president said.
He added that “every day” of Russia’s plant occupation “increases the radiation threat to Europe”.
Ukraine’s defence intelligence agency also accused Russia of a provocation by parking a Pion self-propelled heavy artillery piece outside a nearby town and painting a Ukrainian flag on it, in an attempt to discredit Kyiv.
On Thursday, foreign ministers from the G7 group of industrial democracies demanded that Russia withdraw from the site immediately.
Their warning echoed statements from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which called for an end to “all military activities that endanger nuclear security”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the situation at the plant could “lead to disaster”.
Lulo Rose: Largest pink diamond in 300 years found in Angola
This rare pink diamond, weighing 34 grams, is thought to be the largest discovered in the last 300 years.
The 170-carat stone has been named the “Lulo Rose”, after the mine in Angola where it was found. It is believed to be the largest pink diamond mined since the 185-carat Daria-i-Noor, which was cut from a larger stone and is now among the Iranian crown jewels. The Lulo Rose is a type 2a diamond, meaning it has few or no impurities.
“This record and spectacular pink diamond recovered from Lulo continues to showcase Angola as an important player on the world stage,” said Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s minister of mineral resources. It is the fifth largest diamond recovered from the Lulo mine – a joint venture between Australia’s Lucapa Diamond Company and the Angolan government.
Similar stones have been bought for tens of millions of dollars in the past, with one – known as Pink Star – selling at a Hong Kong auction for $71.2m (£59m) in 2017. But it’s impossible to speculate on how much the Lulo Rose will fetch until it’s cut, said Joanna Hardy, an independent fine jewellery specialist
Pink diamonds are extremely rare – but the same physical attributes that make the stones scarce also make them very tough, and not easy to work into shapes. Hardy said the stone is unlikely to end up in public view – or even brought to auction – as retailers have clients waiting to snap up such a rare find.
The largest known pink diamond is the Daria-i-Noor, discovered in India, which experts believe was cut from an even larger stone. The largest rough stone of any colour ever recorded is the Cullinan diamond, found in South Africa in 1905.
Weighing 3,107 carats – more than half a kilogram – it was cut into 105 different stones.
The largest of these – the Cullinan I – is the biggest clear-cut diamond in the world and forms part of the UK Crown Jewels.
Ancient fortress found by archaeologists may be a lost royal city
A 2,000-year-old fortress built on a mountainside in what’s now Iraqi Kurdistan could be part of a lost royal city called Natounia.
Anynews.us – Ancient fortress found With the help of drone photography, archaeologists excavated and cataloged the site during a series of digs between 2009 and 2022. Situated in the Zagros Mountains, the stone fortress of Rabana-Merquly comprises fortifications nearly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) long, two smaller settlements, carved rock reliefs and a religious complex.
Upper fortifications at the 2,000-year-old site are shown.
The carving depicts a figure with an unusual hat and is thought to depict a king of Adiabene, said lead researcher Michael Brown of the University of Heidelberg.
WhatsApp Reactions Now Let You Use Any Emoji, Feature Rolling Out Globally
Mark Zuckerberg announced that the WhatsApp Reactions expansion rollout had begun in an Instagram post on Monday.
anynews.us | WhatsApp Reactions feature is getting an update two months after it first began rolling out. While users were initially limited to just 6 reactions – like, love, laugh, surprise, sad, and thanks – they will now be able to use any emoji when reacting to a message. CEO of WhatsApp’s parent company Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that the rollout had begun in an Instagram post on Monday.
To recall, WhatsApp Reactions feature was first launched in early May, after at least 4 years of testing by WhatsApp. The instant messaging service was playing catch up with rivals such as Telegram, iMessage, Slack, and even Instagram. In his post announcing the rollout of the Reactions update, Mark Zuckerberg also shared some of his favourite emojis for Reactions, including robot face, french fries, man surfing, sunglasses smiley, the 100 percent symbol, and the fist bump.
The ability to use any emoji as a WhatsApp Reaction has been tipped since before the launch of the feature itself, as far back as April this year, besides being tipped again recently. To use any emoji as a reaction, long press a message, and press the ‘+’ button in the emoji pop-up – the emoji selector will open up (as seen below).
WhatsApp has been testing several features in the recent past, as per reports by beta testers. These include a chat sync feature for Android phones to allow users to log in from another handset, as well as the ability to hide your online status from certain contacts, and more.
In June, WhatsApp began rolling out granular privacy controls for users, allowing them to choose who in their contacts gets to see their About status, their Last Seen, and their Profile Photo. Zuckerberg recently also announced in June that the ability to easily transfer WhatsApp data from an Android smartphone to an iPhone would soon rollout. It is still in testing, as per the latest reports.
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Chris Pratt Tries to Rebrand: I’m Not a Religious Person!
Chris Pratt piss off the entire internet
Anynews.us | Last year, Chris Pratt managed to piss off the entire internet. In response to the backlash, he attempted to hide behind his faith. He’s done it before. This is part of a larger pattern for Chris, whose former internet fans have begun to dislike him in recent years. The internet’s least favorite Chris is trying to repair his image in a new, unconvincing interview.
Before we unpack Chris Pratt’s spin, let’s take a look at what he actually said in internet. In an interview with Men’s Health, he is first and foremost expressing remorse for shading his ex-wife … and son. He made creepy comments about wife Katherine Schwarzenegger staring at him in adoration.
It reminded people of of how fundamentalist wives are expected to smile worship fully at their husbands. That was not all, of course, but that is where Pratt began. “I said something like, ‘Find someone who looks at you the way my wife looks at me,’” he acknowledged.
“And then I gave her some s–t in the thing,” Pratt characterized. “And,” he continued, he “said, ‘But I love you. I’m so thankful for my wife. ‘She gave me a beautiful, healthy daughter,” Pratt recalled his statement.
The issue, of course, was that Pratt’s child with Anna Farris was born prematurely.
Many of Pratt’s internet fans and critics alike believe that this health crisis led to Pratt tilting towards more extreme religious zeal. Frankly, it was hard to read this as anything but a slight towards his ex and his son. “Then a bunch of articles came out and said, ‘That’s so cringe worthy,’” Pratt recalled.
He cited articles saying “‘I can’t believe Chris Pratt would thank her for a healthy daughter when his first child was born premature. ‘Pratt continued:
“‘That’s such a dig at his ex-wife.’ And I’m like, that is f–ked up.”
“My son’s going to read that one day,” Pratt then acknowledged.
“He’s nine,” he noted, hinting that one day could easily mean tomorrow.
“And,” Pratt characterized, “it’s etched in digital stone.”
“It really f–king bothered me, dude. I cried about it,” Pratt expressed.
He added: “I was like, I hate that these blessings in my life are — to the people close to me — a real burden.”
To be clear, people were reasonably happy about his daughter’s health, but took issue with how he celebrated.
Chris Pratt also acknowledged that, for some mysterious reason, people think that he’s especially religious. Obviously, being a Christian isn’t why “may Chris Pratt be cast to voice your favorite character” is a curse.
Instead, people take issue with Pratt’s “alleged” affiliation with the infamous Hill song Church and with its eerily similar offshoot. “Religion has been oppressive as fuck for a long time,” Pratt noted to Men’s Health.
That is a bit of a generalization, but he is hardly the first to conflate evangelical Christianity with faith as a concept. “I didn’t know that I would kind of become the face of religion,” he claimed, “when really I’m not a religious person.”
“I think there’s a distinction between being religious — adhering to the customs created by man,” he began.
He explained: “oftentimes appropriating the awe reserved for who I believe is a very real God.”
Pratt continued: “And using it to control people, to take money from people, to abuse children, to steal land, to justify hatred.”
“Whatever it is,” Pratt went on.
“The evil that’s in the heart of every single man has glommed on to the back of religion,” he characterized.Pratt then added: “And come along for the ride.”Interestingly, Pratt denies having attended Hill song Church, a controversial organization.Hill song is an international mega church. It famously caters to celebrities, utilizes youth culture, and had various scandals.
Though Pratt went on to attend Zoe Church, people saw and photographed him attending Hill song in 2017.
Throwing Hill song under the bus seems like an easy deflection, but is Zoe Church really any better?
Pastor Chad Veach executive produced a 2017 film that equated cheating and “sexual brokenness” to the LGBTQ+ community.
It’s not like Pratt doesn’t know about Veach; the two are also golfing buddies.
Perhaps Chris Pratt is just trying to clear the air, but the timing of this interview after months of silence suggests otherwise.More likely, his critics suggest, he is trying to spin his image ahead of Thor: Love and Thunder, where he reprises his role as Peter Quill.That doesn’t have to mean that he’s lying to the world. He may not be being entirely honest with himself. On a final note, I want to make it clear that no one thinks that Chris Pratt is evil, or hates him for being a Christian. His coworkers all say that he’s a great guy to be around, and 60% of the country is of that faith.
But if he wants to get people to like him, more honesty and transparency would help. Rewriting history, not so much.
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