The current rate is apparently 6.7 per cent. That figure is not acceptable and certainly not a reason for celebration. A zero pet cent rise would be a reason for celebration.
And it is quite possible that interest rates will rise, heaping yet more misery on people already struggling to make ends meet. I'm not sure how anyone can understand how young people are expected to continually find hundreds of extra pounds a month just to live. They struggle, scrimp and save, find a way to just about survive and then get landed with more costs.
But enough about politics.
Spent yesterday morning on the next edition of Hethersett Herald, trying to make sense of a number of things going on in the village. That's not as easy as it sounds. There are lots of issues at the moment.
Parking is one of the problem areas. We have a village car park which is supposed to be short term but people park there all day, thus abusing the spirit of things. If you genuinely want to park there for a few minutes to pop into a local shop you have little chance of getting in. There are lots of arguments on both sides of this and I will hope to bring this out in my article.
Had a meeting yesterday afternoon to put the latest Good News magazine to bed. Kim A looks after the business and I do the editorial. We work well as a team. It's almost as if we are married. He generates income and I spend it. Although it's probably the other way round with me and the other threequarters.
At around 4 pm yesterday I drove down to the village library for the presentation of certificates for this year's children's summer reading event. The presentations were made by our county councillor David Bills who is also chair of our Library Friends group of which I'm vice chair. David is a good friend both of myself and Hethersett, working tirelessly on behalf of the village.
I usually walk to events in the village but yesterday took the car due to expected rain which did turn up whilst I was there. The problem was at 4 pm, Hethersett Academy was just turning out. I believe the school works late on one or two days a week.
There's a sign up on the wall of the library in plain sight stating quite clearly that the library car park is only for library customers. This certainly wasn't the case as many of the vehicles were involved in picking up from the school.
I remember a few years ago when I blocked someone in who was parking in the library car park and was at the school. I ran in just to take some books back. When I came out I was subjected to a considerable amount of verbal abuse. It's always beyond me when this kind of thing happens. In fact it makes me want to scream. It's another example of people ignoring signs and not giving a damn about other people.
I perhaps need to explain that the library car park and the Academy car parks are next to each other.
The presentation was very pleasant. I was taking photos for posterity. Usually trying to get children to look at a camera and smile is a tough gig. Not yesterday. Almost without exception they proudly held up their certificates with beaming smiles.
People were very kind with their comments as well. One lovely family said they are avid readers of Hethersett Herald after moving to the village a short while ago. They find it very informative and they thanked me for the work I put in. Their daughter told David Bills she wanted to be prime minister one day. Well somebody has to be. Somewhere in the UK will be a young boy or girl who one day will be PM. I have the photo of this young lady just in case her dream comes true.
When I came out of the presentation it was raining hard and that continued through the evening. It takes a lot for me not to go to a Norwich City match unless we are away on holiday. But last night we stayed in the dry, being unable to face getting sopping wet going to the football.
Our main problem is we sit on the front row and are not covered by the roof of the stand. The first home game of the season against Hull saw heavy rain throughout and we got cold and very wet and I wasn't prepared to feel that miserable again. If we were further up the stand we might have gone but to sit for almost two hours with the rain driving in on us - no thank you.
There's a bit of a furore going on at the moment over the weekend's 1940s festival at Sheringham in North Norfolk. We have been to this a few times and many people wear 1940s dress and many are in military uniform
This year apparently a group of about 20 wore Nazi uniform complete with deaths head insignia. There was a bit of a commotion over this and police had to be called in. The group said they hadn't meant to cause offence and were reflecting on the fight the German army had with the Russians on the Eastern Front - yeah right.
Having just completed a book about the massacre of 97 soldiers in Le Paradis by the Nazis and the heartbreak that brought to so many families, I have to say that I find the antics of these people offensive and completely unnecessary and unwanted.
One local man interviewed said he saw nothing wrong with the group. Perhaps he would like to read our book when it comes out and reconsider his viewpoint. What do you think?
Tonight we have another of our presentations at the library. Paddy Anstey will be giving a presentation on the Mid Norfolk Heritage Railway. Tickets at £5 which includes refreshments are still available. Just turn up at the door. The presentation starts at 7 pm and if you can't make it I will have details in tomorrow's blog.
Finally today, a shout out for Martin Wright who I worked with at the police. Martin's daughter came to say hello at the library presentation event. It was very nice to meet her. It would also be very nice to meet up with Martin again - one of the good guys.