To think The West is morally bankrupt

Partly - it's slowly going private in a very patchy way.

Some of my family still have NHS dentists rest it's usually a monthly insurance scheme with extra payments on top as necessary with some discounts or very expensive outlays as neccessary.

Sometime it's because there is a shortage of dentists in area or they've been let go by NHS dentist but care is complex due to underlying condtions/medication and no private dentist wants to take them on - then they get left to dental hositals who mainly do extractions - that happened to my Dad.

Sometime it can be cheaper to go abroad depending on what needs doing - though that's the same for some operations with long wait lists as well.

All of my family do have dental access - just have to increasingly pay for it - but many kids in our area just don't.

I didn’t know that. How awful. Is it because it’s too expensive?

Very expensive, shortage of dentists and hygeinists and very little provision accessible via the NHS for those on lower incomes.

I didn’t know that. How awful. Is it because it’s too expensive?

In fairness access to dental treatment is no terrible in the UK and people are pulling out their own teeth here.

What? Was that a personal attack because you don’t like my opinions? Maybe I know more about the conflict than what is shown in the west and maybe my family are Israeli and I have friends who were murdered by Hamas. How dare you write as though there’s a conspiracy of discussion about me among people on this forum - making judgments about me!!! I refuse to be intimidated, gaslit, censored or silenced. I’m more informed than any of you. I’ve never once said that I’m not sympathetic and appalled by what is happening in Gaza. I’m allowed to support Israel though. You may think that Zionists and Israel are the devil but that isn’t reality and I’m not here to convince anyone of that, just to keep the truth. Shame on you. You wouldn’t dare say that to anyone who supported any other country, the fact it’s the only Jewish one in the world - and you’re so willing to believe everything you see and hear - speaks volumes.

that's ok though x

Why are you singling out only Israel as an issue? Is that the reason for your post?

I have lived and travelled in many countries on various continents. Nothing comes close to the UK as far as standard of living, access to health services, education, social welfare is concerned. I’ve lived in countries where women are forced to stay with abusive men because there is no support if they leave and the law gives the children to the abuser. I’ve lived in countries where school isn’t free and finishes at 12.45 and little children have to stay alone at home. I’ve lived in countries where people remove their own teeth because they can’t access or afford dental care, where they don’t have access to fresh food or water, where they can be arrested and sent to camps for “correction” for the smallest thing.
There are regimes that don’t allow women to drive. Regimes that send 6 year olds to war. Countries where entire families live on a cabin on stilts over a river, where men marry 6 women, where abortion is illegal, where there are no elections, where the colour of your skin means the difference between mastery and slavery.
The UK is a beacon of opportunity, potential and safety for so many - why do you think people are willing to die on a boat in order to live here?
I always thought, after many years of living in the developing world, that British people seem to complain about things that seem so insignificant, because they are nothing to do with survival. Almost as though you have no real basic problems.
If you were born British you are among the most privileged people in the world.

Ah The Gambia the bastion of historical morality.

'About 5,000 slaves a year were shipped to America from the Gambia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Mandinka mansas grew rich by raiding neighboring kingdoms and taking captives to be sold as slaves. They also collected customs duties from the European slave traders. In 1808, the British outlawed the slave trade'

No, I have seen it on every thread when somebody has the audacity to critique the UK

This OP has cast their net far wider - the whole West!
So i guess they could move to Gambia since that got a fond mention.

Oh the west is so horrid! 🥱

Funny how everyone is flocking here isn't it.

No, I have seen it on every thread when somebody has the audacity to critique the UK. The automatic response is, ‘leave the country then, you won’t be missed!’ That is also juvenile in my eyes.

But it’s ok to criticise where you live surely?

Yes but the OP is spouting wildly hyperbolic, juvenile drivel. I'm sure actual thoughtful criticism would have been received differently.

Women’s and childrens rights are a very good indicator of who is morally bankrupt OP, also LGB rights.

As someone who works in mental health, I am increasingly disappointed at the use of being mentally unwell as an insult on social media. Please don’t pretend you have genuine concern for that poster either.

As a second generation Asian Muslim (born and brought up here), I love the UK, esp London and don’t want to live anywhere else. I am not very observant, have an English husband and am fully integrated here. No desire to move anywhere else, including my parents’ home country.

But it’s ok to criticise where you live surely? Everywhere has pros and cons. People get soooo defensive when posters criticise the UK. Automatic rude replies, telling people to leave the country, saying how much worse life would be in other countries (true in many cases). But it’s not perfect here. And we have had our part of play in historical conflicts. Why is it not ok to talk about this stuff?

Should we just be lauding our leader and extolling the benefits of UK life without any negatives? That’s all a bit dictator-y in my eyes.

It must frustrate you terribly that you know almost nothing about me

I can infer that you're probably having some sort of mental health episode.
If you smoke a lot of weed, my advice would be to stop.

You are confused - - Hamas & its leadership are responsible. No one else. Trump is many things …. But he is not the cause of Hamas and their governance, policy, military strategy and treatment of women, children and the disabled. Thats 100% Hamas.

😂 The arrogance of it!

I think your posts are very revealing, actually. You argue like a teenager who has recently left their little bubble, has encountered people who have challenged their beliefs for the first time and who is now coming home to inform mum and dad that they are, in fact, imperialist scum. Well, as Janets and Brians up and down the land would respond; that’s nice dear. Would you like a cup of tea?

My only question is whether or not you have blue hair.

OP is being racist towards those OP views as ‘the west’

Gambia as a national state is a recent invention. The colonisation in the region was inter-tribal and involved very nasty slave-taking and trading and particularly cruel treatment of slaves.

Oh blah blah blah, there are no 'good guys'.

Humans are tribal, we will always prioritise our own over others. Always.

You may have been in a special, happy bubble, where you deluded yourself that you were somehow special and nice, but that was because you were being protected and coddled.

You get the luxury of complaining and bitching, and carrying on because other people do nasty dirty things on your behalf because you are part of their tribe.

Do you feed your children over others? Do you ensure they are safe and warm, while you have the knowledge others are cold and hungry? Could you fit a couple more in your house no matter how small it is? Could you split your food a little further, but you don't because you prioritise your own? Congratulations, you are just like everyone else.

The West, the East, it is all arbitrary. Technologically advanced tribes are going to take what they can from less technologically advanced tribes. Humans are going to human.

When push comes to shove, you do the same. You will watch those Gazan kids starve while feeding your own. You will watch kids in your own country/city/town starve while feeding your own. Of course you will, it is stupid to pretend otherwise. If you wouldn't feed your kids or kill to protect them, or your own tribe then you have no business being a mother/parent and you and your people won't last very long any way.

You can pretend that the less developed world is nicer than the West if you like, it isn't true. People are people, and once they have power they use it. Don't be so fucking stupid.

Stop whining and either get up and DO something yourself, like I don't know use your own time and money to help people, or shut the fuck up expecting everyone to change their lives and fix everything whilst continuing to coddle you in your delusions about good and bad guys. Grow up.