Yes it's been a good couple of years

[chef]

???? what get rid of cheap permie's but keep expensive contractors that may leave at next renewal... madness, what about others who work at more sane companies?

[Pinto]

???? what get rid of cheap permie's but keep expensive contractors that may leave at next renewal... madness, what about others who work at more sane companies?

Yep, it's a funny old world. I've been here, as a contractor for 11 years, and I've seen lots of permies come and go, voluntarily.

[miffy]

This thread is really depressing.

As my dear old nana used to say to me "don't worry, it'll be alright..."

Will it though?

[Spartacus]

Who cares as long as house prices keep rising which they will in Britain until about 2050, bar the odd hiccup.

[DimPrawn]

Who cares as long as house prices keep rising which they will in Britain until about 2050, bar the odd hiccup.

[chef]

i care,

need to do one of three things:

1) duck into a stable contract just before things start to go down hill, ride the titanic as long as possible then choose either option 2 or 3
or
2) duck into permie job (shudder) and sit grumpily working for pittance but knowing i have an income..
or more likely
3) book my round the world ticket and continue back doing backpacking fun (ignoring the fact im too old to be doing this) but still a tan and life experience is far better than depression in a permie role .. and a boss

[rootsnall]

My new gig has a whole range of regular and nuclear bomb shelters that I can choose from.

You get lousy mobile phone reception there, though

How many tins of beans are there in each bunker ?

[HarryPearce]

If you want to be really informed (aka depressed) you might like to read http://www.cisd.soas.ac.uk/Editor/as...dy%2007.07.pdf Considering a war with Iran: A discussion paper on WMD in the Middle Eastby Dan Plesch and Martin Butcher. Both authors are based at SOAS (School for Oriental and African Studies) and are well respected, so their not your typical American neocon conspiracy theorists.

Sleep well

Harry

[Spartacus]

If you want to be really informed (aka depressed) you might like to read http://www.cisd.soas.ac.uk/Editor/as...dy%2007.07.pdf Considering a war with Iran: A discussion paper on WMD in the Middle Eastby Dan Plesch and Martin Butcher. Both authors are based at SOAS (School for Oriental and African Studies) and are well respected, so their not your typical American neocon conspiracy theorists.

Sleep well

Harry

Executive summary please. Time is money you know.

[ChimpMaster]

Who cares as long as house prices keep rising which they will in Britain until about 2050, bar the odd hiccup.

Wrong. The sub-price farce is extending beyond the US housing sector and is already affecting the UK housing market. Banks are no longer able to get their hands on cheap money because liquidity has dried up and inter-bank funding has all but come to a halt... cue Northern Wreck. LIBOR is going up due to this lack of trust between banks. Hence they are unable to offer great deals on mortgages to the same extent they have been doing so over the past several years. This has already seen mortgage approvals come down substantially. Lower mortgage approvals imply less sales, reduced demand and hence falling prices.

Mortgage interest rates are rising even though the BoE is likely to drop the main rate rather than increase it. So there aren't any more great re-mortgage deals out there once all of the current homeowners come out of their low fixed rate deals next year. This next big impact will lead into the final part of the cycle, which is herd mentality, i.e. everyone follows suit and "holds off" on buying, or tries to sell quick, because prices are falling.

In 2015, it will be time to buy again.

Don't get me wrong - I'd love house prices to go up as I have a couple... but you've got to see the truth and not just what you'd like to happen.