Michael Lambert: Food Shortages and Business Bankruptcies in Post-Brexit Britain

Jan 27, 2024 | As we hear about the return of rickets and scurvy and children having to wear overcoats and gloves in school because of the cold.

There is more bad news for the UK following Brexit. From 1st February, the UK will have to begin imposing import controls on goods arriving in the UK from the European Union . These have previously been delayed five times since 2021. These controls will result in shortages and price increases. EU suppliers will be less likely to want to send goods to the UK if this involves uncertain delays. They are also likely to increase prices to cover the increased delays. Gaps on the supermarket shelves are likely to become normal.

More than 500,000 businesses are said to be in financial difficulty and at least 57,000 are expected to close in the coming weeks.

The highest taxes ever, increased cost of living, and energy price increases have all contributed to a reduction in spending.

Stunning Images inside Russian Grocery Store Show Dire Situation

Apr 2, 2022 • CNN's Matthew Chance reports on the economic situation inside Russia after Western nations imposed crippling economic sanctions in retaliation for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

‘We’re Going Back to a USSR’: Long Queues Return for Russian Shoppers as Sanctions Bite

THE GUARDIAN: After an hour and a half queuing for sugar, or worse still fighting for it in a market, Russians are feeling the effect of shortages caused by an unprecedented cutoff from the world

Muscovites queueing for bread in 1992. Russians are once again having to queue for essentials such as sugar and buckwheat. Photograph: Anatoly Sapronenkov/AFP/Getty Images
The lines for sugar in Saratov were hard not to compare to the Soviet era, part of a recent run on Russian staples that have revived fears that the Kremlin’s invasion in Ukraine will lead to a virtual slide back to the shortages or endless queues of the Soviet Union.

Bags of sugar and buckwheat began disappearing from local markets in early March, just a week after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. And when the local mayor’s office announced that it would hold special markets for people to buy the staples last week, hundreds showed up.

“People are sharing tips about where to get sugar. This is crazy,” said Viktor Nazarov, who said that his grandmother had tasked him with visiting the special market last weekend to stock up. “It’s sad and it’s funny. It feels like a month ago was fine and now we’re talking about the 1990s again, buying products because … we’re afraid they’ll disappear.”

After an hour and a half waiting at the city’s main square, he was limited to buying one bag of five kilograms, he said. Other videos shared on social media have shown fights for sugar in markets in other cities in Russia, all while officials have maintained that the shortage is part of an artificial crisis. » | Andrew Roth | Wednesday, March 23, 2022

They can blame their leader for this! This is all self-imposed. I have little sympathy with their suffering. Whatever they are suffering, it pales in comparison to the suffering of the Ukrainians. – © Mark

In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The nation’s economy is very different from the bleak days of the 70s, but certain parallels are unnerving Britons and loom as a potential headache for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Motorists lining up for fuel at a gas station in London on Friday. | Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
LONDON — Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation.

Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging Sixties, the Seventies were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver.

The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade.

“It’s a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it’s half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.” » | By Mark Landler, Eshe Nelson and Jenny Gross | Friday, September 24, 2021

U.K. Economic Headaches Pile Up From Inflation to Energy Crisis: Gas crisis, Brexit, the pandemic and furlough weigh on growth / Inflation surge adds to pressure on BOE to remove stimulus »

…petrol bosses limit drivers to £30 fuel each while panic-buyers gridlock forecourts and tempers flare at the pumps »