The elder posters in this topic are correct. It’s just because the UK imports most of its stuff, look at bike prices, it’s cheaper for china to shoot out bikes like sperm and ship them over here than for a factory to shoot the same amount out here. The exchange rate means nothing, other than the fact that the pound is strong in value than most other currencies. We get more for the pound, if we go to the Euro im going to go nuts. the new £20 are showing the start of a change. Hopefully a new leader and a new chancellor of the exchequer should come along and make England a cheaper place to live but yet to still keep us as a rich country. The richest buggers are the Americans But the whole world is greedy. I think it matters not about the money, just look at the worlds poorest companies, if the USA, Britain, Russia and Germany cleared the debt of the poorest companies they could find their feet again and get out of debt. Were just too damn greedy. Slightly off topic I still think bush bums Blair, Britain is a fooken great country and I love to be British but we are all just too damn greedy Im sure ive just gone off at a tangent from this topic but the main thing is we pay for how we want to live and since we live so well why we don’t just carry on paying how we are. Were a rich as hell country And we kick ass. EDIT: dont i ramble