Some people are slipping through that modest safety net, like andrew wood, who used to be a super fit sports psychologist, but then caught long covid. since then he s been physically unable to work and now his mortgage payments are set to double. there are millions of people suffering the same thing. hopefully this wil revolutionise the way we treat post viral illnesses. if they want people to come back into the workplace, finding out and researching the root cause of the issue, it will alleviate everything else. while the economy s stagnating, the majority of rate setters on the bank s nine member committee are worried about the jobs market, where employers are bidding up wages to atrract and keep staff, leading to the biggest pay rises this century. they fear employers will have to boost prices even more to cover bigger wage bills. four more rises are expected by city traders up to a peak of nearly 6% next year. but a minority think they have already gone too far. andy verity, bbc ne
Renters are being hit too, as thousands of landlords pass on higher mortgage costs. the bank of england s decision to boost rates by half a percentage point, when many expected a quarter, brings its official rate to 5%. compared to a low of 0.1% two years ago, it is a multiple of 50, the steepest rise in over 30 years. but then again, inflation is only slowly coming down from its highest level in 40 years. it is not for the bank of england to do less. the alternative is for the government to do more, to try to help in two ways. one, to enhance the responsiveness of the economy, to make sure we do not have to fall into recession in order to control inflation. and two, to strengthen safety nets. the bank of england alone cannot deliver lower inflation, financial stability and no recession. it needs help from the government. some people are slipping through that modest safety net, like andrew wood, who used to be a super fit sports psychologist, but then caught long covid. since then he s