Vox Pop

The Bank of England has announced that £1.8 trillion has been lost by financial firms around the world as a result of the credit crunch. The global recession is now threatening 1.2 million UK homeowners as house prices drop below that of their mortgage. The chairman of online estate agency, first4sale.com said “The housing market is severely depressed at the moment because of the lack of money supply and I’ve noticed the same symptoms in the international market. I can only see an improvement in the situation when the banks start lending again“.
Heather Atkins, 45 from Southbourne said “I’ve rung my mortgage, gas and electricity companies to organise my payment as I cannot afford to pay them all off in the same month.”
Many families will be hit hard by in the housing market; Amanda Mallett, a mother-of-two from Wokingham in Berkshire expressed worried about the price of her mortgage.
The unemployment rates have increased with up to 1.7 million out of work in 2008, causing many UK citizens to fear for their job security. John Grantham, a 42-year-old council worker from Christchurch said “I think my job could be at risk as there will be more competition. I work for the council. The commercial sector has been the worst affected so far but it may have a knock-on effect.” In contrast, another council worker, Sam Oliver, 20, of Edge Park, Bournemouth said “No I’m not affected at all because I’ve just started a new job, I would have been affected in my old job though.”
With winter approaching, charities such as Help the Aged are setting up schemes to aid the elderly, for example by providing free loft insulation to cut down their energy bills.
Mrs Morris, 81 from Christchurch said “The pensions haven’t changed yet but the bills have doubled. The government should help pensioners pay for their fuel bill; the current fuel allowance is nowhere near enough. I don’t worry about the bills until they come in and I realise I can’t afford them. Heating’s essential!”
Many younger people are not feeling the same economic pressures- Simon Reyes (24) and Ali Sharp(18) from Winton, both claim to have remained unaffected. For those in the tourist industry it is hard to say as they’ve not yet had a full season; Tom, a bouncy castle owner from Boscombe, said “I couldn’t really say, we had a tough summer but that was probably due to the weather.”
Despite it being a worldwide problem, at least some people are completely unaware- Rohann, 21, a law student from Cape Town said “I don’t know about it so I can’t really comment.”