成人论坛

No matter what age, social background or education status, the current economic climate is bound to have some kind of affect on people's lives.

So just what kind of impact has it had on students, living and studying in Leicester.

In the first part of her report, 成人论坛 Leicester's Khush Sameja's been to De Montfort University in Leicester to talk to undergraduate Aisha Mahomed find out what sort of pinch the crunch is having, and what the future holds for her.

Listen: Credit Crunch - Part One

"I'm a student obviously so I work part-time, just do a Saturday. I have a maintenance grant coming that helps, but at the end of the day when you're a student you have different expenses.

"Expenses such as paying for food, renting a place, bills and obviously transport. As the cost of fuel has gone up so yeah it's had quite an effect."

Bleak Future

"My main concerns about the future are mainly getting on to the property ladder, which is going to get harder to own property because mortgage and interests rates have gone up.

"I'm going to have to get a full-time job in the next two years and this credit crunch doesn't guarantee whether I will be able to find work."

"At the end of the four year course I'll have to pay in excess of 拢15,000 and I'm really worried."

She adds: "The future looks really bleak."

But how is the current national and global economic unrest affected people in their thirties and forties?

In the second part of her report, 成人论坛 Leicester's Khush Sameja talks to a man who's concerned about his and his family's future.

Listen: Credit Crunch - Part Two

Nigel Howard lives in the Aylestone area of Leicester. He and his wife have six children.

The impact the credit crunch has had on his life is the inability to find work, despite having three degrees.

He believes it's because of the credit crunch: "Various types of work which were easily accessible ten or 15 years ago have dried a bit."

Lifestyle Changes

He says it's also had a big impact on the way he lives:

"Food prices, the way they've escalated has been the hardest. Our weekly shop is quite big and we're at the stage where we're just buying supermarket own brands and we shop online to save on fuel bills.

"It certainly made us a lot more aware and more paranoid to make sure the kids are switching off all the light and TV. Personally I find that you're watching the pennies more.

"You're looking a lot more at the budget and you're weighing this up. It's the close scrutiny of your money and your financial position.

"My immediate concern is paying the mortgage. Our home is our investment for the future."

In the third part of her report Khush spoke to taxi driver Gary Clarke, who's in his 50's.

Listen: Credit Crunch - Part Three

He has one daughter, three grandchildren, a mortgage and two cars.

He says he's lucky as he has a fixed mortgage so the crunch hasn't hit him hard.

But Gary says he has seen a drop in his trade, but he says he feels relatively safe:

"I'm not in panic mode not yet. At the moment, touch-wood I'm not too bad. I'm lucky my wife has a good job but if she was at home then it would be hitting me tremendously because I wouldn't as so much be able to support my family on the wage I'm getting at the moment."

But how will the crunch affect people over 60, either heading for retirement or already there?

Khush spoke to one Leicestershire man who's future plans could be affected.

Listen: Credit Crunch - Part Four

Canon Michael Wilson is planning to retire next year. He has to buy a house next year as he and his wife have lived accommodation provided by the Church of England.

He says he's savings have been hit hard. "Our savings are not worth as much as they were a few years ago.

"How we deal with this I don't know? We can wait and see whether things begin will perk up again. Of course there is no indication from the government or听 through the media about how the world wide crisis can be dealt with.

"We are worried, money is important around the world and we want to be properly and wisely housed. Because of house prices going up, our savings could never keep up, but we do听 feel we can't chose a place to live in the present circumstances, because we don't know what financial liabilities there will be in the future."

Wait it Out

Canon Wilson adds it's been a tough time but there is very little he and his family can do about it: "It's very difficult. No stability at all."

He talks about his frustration with the lack of discipline within the global markets:

"What I can't understand is how banks and governments world-wide have been taking on negative values and treating them as positive values.

"This has driven house prices up and everyone's caught a cold.

"How on earth someone can buy billions of pounds or dollars worth of negative mortgages and treat them as assets I don't know?

"I think there is something spiritually wrong here."