This is going to really hurt!

And that's ALL of us, according to this from the Daily Express reporting on a forecast released by USwitch that energy prices may rise by up to 46% (yep, that DOES say 46%) this year!

OK, the 46% is the worst case scenario, but coming on top of fuel, food, mortgage repayment and across the board tax increases, I reckon that many of us, myself included, are going to be struggling financially before long!

And here's the Telegraph's take on the same forecast report.

Ouch!

This might be very painful for commercial enterprises and consumers right across the planet - Oil price could hit $150 a barrel.

On the other hand it could go down by $30 a barrel.

Isn't 'could' a great word.
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Call for curb on speculators - The Guardian.

Like a beer? Get ready for £3 a pint!

Those of you that enjoy a decent pint or two every now and again, get ready to pay more for your favourite tipple. This from Harpers reports on the increasing costs of basic raw materials that has already hit the UK's breweries, with Barley increasing in price by 40% and Hops by 100% this year.

The piece, perhaps rather too pointedly, firmly lays the blame directly at the door of climate change. It seems that you can blame anything on climate change nowadays, but with the cost of diesel also going up by 12p/litre over the last 12 months too, I reckon we could be paying £3 a pint for a decent beer by the start of next year!