at its fastest rate in a0 years, welcome to this special edition of your questions answered. over the next half hour, we ll be examining in detail different areas of the squeeze on the pound in your pocket and some of the solutions that individuals, and communities, are finding. so, we ve got a panel of experts. sarah pennells is a consumerfinance specialist at royal london, which calls itself the uk s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company. sabine goodwin is co ordinator at the independent food aid network, which provides help to those at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis. and mercedes osborne is a mortgage expert at pointers financial based in exeter. welcome to all of you. and also with us this week, our climate editorjustin rowlatt, who s out and about giving tips to householders on simple measures that may help reduce energy use. we ll be withjustin a bit later. and as you can see, we ve got a whole range of topics lined up. but first, here s our
we will be examining in detail different areas of the squeeze on the pound in your pocket and some of the solutions individuals and communities are finding. so, we have a panel of experts, sarah pennells is a consumer finance specialist at royal london, which calls itself the uk s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company. sabine goodwin is coordinator at the independent food aid network which provides help to those at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis. and mercedes osborne is a mortgage expert at pointers financial based in exeter. welcome based in exeter. to all of you. also with us this week is our climate editorjustin rowlatt, who is out and about giving tips to householders on simple measures that may help reduce their energy use. we will beat with justin we will beat withjustin a bit later. we have a whole range of topics lined up. first, kevin peacheyis topics lined up. first, kevin peachey is has analysis on working age benefits and whether
i think it s hard not to draw the conclusion i think it s hard not to draw the conclusion that all this will require conclusion that all this will require a significant monetary policy require a significant monetary policy response. ukraine accuses russia of sabotaging two major gas pipelines to europe in what it describes as a terrorist attack . the kremlin says it s concerning . hundreds of thousands of people are without power in cuba after a hurricane hit the island with wind speeds over 120 mph. it s now heading for florida. and it s liverpool vs glasgow, in the battle to find out which city will host eurovision 2023. the labour leader sir keir starmer has told his party s conference that the united kingdom needs a fresh start and a way out of what he called the endless cycle of crisis caused by the conservatives. in his speech to delegates in liverpool, he was scathing in his criticism of the government s handling of the economy especially of last week s min
over the past week and beyond. what does it mean for the pound in your pocket, your mortage rate, and the future of the uk s economy? to help answer these questions, we have a panel of experts. andrew walker is a former bbc economics correspondent who has reported on many tumultuous events in economies around the world and will turn his weathered eye to what the uk has been experiencing. and from across the uk, we have mercedes osborne a director at the exeter based mortgage brokers pointers financial paul lewis, is a personal finance expert who presents the bbc s money box radio show and joins us from llandudno, and fiona cincotta is a currency expert and senior market analyst at city index the online trading platform. she s in north london. welcome to all of you. so, first, andrew how did all this turmoil start? the pound at one stage went to an all time low and lost ground against other currencies. the bank of england which is responsible for controlling inflation an