City Workers Are Nervously Awaiting Winter

Ollie Smith takes to the streets of the square mile to ask 10 workers about the cost of living crisis, government help, and the controversial topic of pay rises

Ollie Smith 11 August, 2022 | 9:41AM
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As energy bills hit horrifying highs, talk turns to what can be done to alleviate the pain.

Yesterday I took to the streets of the City of London to ask its inhabitants about precisely that. Some will benefit from pay rises in the coming weeks. For others that's a pipe dream. And for one man, interest rate rises can't come sooner anyway.

A full transcript of our interactions is available below.

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Ollie Smith: Inflation is back with a vengeance. So, I'm here in the City of London to ask workers in the Square Mile how it's affecting them.

Interviewee 1

OS: How is inflation affecting you? What are you noticing? What are you feeling right now?

Interviewee 1: I don't know really. It's petrol and that, really, I think.

Interviewee 2: It's making me think twice about what's going to happen during winter and how much money I'm going to spend, [I'm] starting to look at cutting back on different things.

OS: Like what, if I may ask?

Interviewee 2: Like spending money on coffee when I could just get it at home.

Interviewee 3: I graduated last year, and after graduation, it was kind of a situation where a lot of goods kind of increased, everything started increasing, and I had to basically just find a way to live and support for everything. Right now, I think, from bills to everything, everything is just expensive.

Interviewee 4: Well, I've got savings and I have had no interest on my savings for years. I'm old fashioned. I saved my money and they're giving me 0.1%, and then, they're taking my money and making profit with it, and I'm getting nothing back. So, hopefully, they start putting interest rate up and I get some interest on my money, because it is pointless to putting my money in the bank, I'll stash it under my bed.

Interviewee 5: I mean, I guess we definitely felt the petrol and diesel rise. Unfortunately, I don't have electric car yet. And food prices have gone up. I'm a family of three with one small child. So, we're not quite feeling it yet. But I'm sure it's going to come soon in the next few months.

OS: What are you feeling the most, food?

Interviewee 6: Absolutely food, especially [with the] summer holidays, and these two get through a lot of snacks. So, yeah, food has definitely gone up.

Interviewee 7: Having a side hustle is no longer a choice, it's a necessity. That's because of the state of the economy and our state of life at the moment. It just goes to show you how screwed we are right now as a nation, because I don't even know where to look.

OS: In the workplace, is your workplace doing anything to help? Or are they addressing the issue in any way?

Interviewee 2: Not at the moment. I think there will probably be quite a lot of planning going on. But no, at the moment everyone is just watching and being a bit nervous and trying to enjoy the sun until the winter comes.

Interviewee 6: I do work for a good company. So, I'm sure that there is stuff in place if they need it to – need to help people.

Interviewee 8: Well, we're getting a relatively modest pay increase.

Interviewee 1: Payrise? No.

OS [to a Dutch couple]: Is the Dutch Government doing things to help people with the war on inflation?

Interviewee 9: Oh, yes, I think so.

OS: What are they doing?

Interviewee 9: They are helping people with some extra money. But if you think about inflation, I think more about the gas prices.

Interviewee 10: You know, we all saw the scandal with giving these £30 food packages to people and then it turning up and it looking like a £5 Lidll food package. You know what I'm saying? Like, obviously, when they're dividing these jobs between so many different agencies, especially among government members and their friends, who are not realistically qualified to actually be in charge of these budgets. And then, they're supposedly spending the money on helping people and giving people packages to help them survive. A lot of the money is obviously going missing. That's a big problem.

OS: Do you think the government could do more? 

Interviewee 4: I can't comment on that. I don't know what more can they do.

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Ollie Smith

Ollie Smith  is editor of Morningstar UK

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