I think people in Britain are genuinely having trouble comprehending their currency's massive weakness.

For example the euro and pound were almost 1:1 at one point, which meant that anything priced in pounds was the same in euros. This led to some interesting price comparisons:

Nintendo DS Lite in eurozone = 150 euros = 150 pounds
Nintendo DS Lite in UK = 100 pounds = 100 euros

It meant that people who sold imported hardware in the UK suddenly found that even 30% profit margins were being totally wiped out, and were forced to raise their prices simply to make up for the pound's weakness. The manufacturers weren't earning any more from those raised prices, all they were doing was standing still.

But when the price rises on imported goods started to happen, a lot of people in Britain didn't understand it and claimed they were being cheated somehow.

UK-based forums discussing price increases due to the weakness of the pound are quite interesting, some people comprehend the reasons for prices going up while others seem to just take a "naa naa naa not listening!" attitude. Look at the comments thread on this article for example:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/uk...-have-to-go-up