Well, there it goes. Another year passes in a blur and off we go into 2011.
What’s in store?
VAT rise, National Insurance rise, petrol price rise, inflation rise, interest rate rise, income tax rise .. any more?
It’s clear we are one of those households that the government has targeted to pay for everything, as we are deemed well off enough to pay for all these increases, without it affecting our way of life.
Never have I been so disillusioned with politicians preaching about fairness in a system which is currently working against our personal circumstances. I’m not one for moaning about politics, but if I was ever in a room with Gordon or Tony, I have several fiscal questions I would like to ask them.
So it’s not going to be much fun.
Or is it?
Surely, there is an upside to all this. The newspaper headline today claims that this is going to be the toughest year on the middle classes since 1982. Scary stuff. Well in 1982 Gerry Armstrong scored for Northern Ireland as they beat Spain and topped their world cup group so anything is possible (yes – I do remember where I was!) so lets look at the upside!
Maybe we will all be better for a little austerity. Maybe a reality check is just what the general public needs to ensure that we don’t get into the kind of mess that other parts of Europe are staring at, and that finally – just a little bit – we will start to hold our politicians accountable for their mistakes. All right – that’s a little far fetched!
Spending a little less, saving a little more, thinking more about what we really need and recycling a little more. Surely none of that is a bad thing?
Maybe it’s a little rose tinted, and maybe we’ll be grumpy but we’re all in it together (except those that aren’t, thanks to the ‘fairness’ of current decisions) and unless we all up sticks to somewhere else we just have to get on with it!
Resolutions .. I always try and always fail. Lose weight, exercise more, spend more time with the children all on the list year after year. I’ll keep you posted on those!
If it all gets too much, there is always the camper van and some knitted sweaters. Mrs W has her eye on one of those!
Happy New Year.
