To be genuinely concerned about the next few years

Same and 99% of thing the press like to scaremonger about never end up happening.

That was sarcasm. None of it has.

Well this thread has cheered me up no end 🤣 (should not have stupidly clicked on it)

Basic life (i mean basic like being able to afford to travel to your job, put food on the table and heat your home and pay for basic hygiene, dentists etc and cover repair bills for car, boiler home etc..) will become unaffordable in the very near future.

It's like a bloody apocalypse and every day I feel relieved that I havent had any children.

YANBU. The whole place is fucked. I am just thinking if I can just make it to the end of my little life still affording to live, then pop my cloggs. Don't think beyond it. It doesnt bear thinking about.

Prepping at most people's level is just something we do to soothe ourselves and give a false sense of control. But largely unnecessary.

In a small 'emergency', you'll be saving yourself some minor, short lived inconvenience. Meh.
In a serious situation like extended major society breakdown, you don't need to stockpile, it will be total bedlam and the strongest and most violent will win.
In a very serious situation like a nucleur war you'll be dead or dying a slow death from the poisoned air and your bottled water and 14 tins of soup will be the last thing on your mind.

We’re reaching environmental tipping points for climate change. By the time you notice the effects on supermarket shelves it will be too late.

@KidsLifePathQuestion

Everyone should have a prep cupboard for any kind of emergency, be it the national grid going down or flooding. Here's the government Prepare website: https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/get-prepared-for-emergencies/

I've always been inclined to prepare for the worst. Nothing extreme, but we've always have enough in the house to last a while in case we can't go shopping etc. I think it stems from the 70s when I was a child and we had power cuts, the 3 day week, shortages, preparing for petrol rationing etc., and my parents did a fair bit of "prepping" with always having candles to hand, paraffin heaters, plenty of tinned/dry foods etc. When we bought our home and got married in the late 90s, it was almost automatic for us to buy some "prepping" stuff just in case, such as candles, battery torches, gas camping stove, etc - we just bought that kind of thing as we shopped for everything else we needed for our first home. With food/drink, we always have at least two of everything tinned or packeted and when we run out of something and go onto the next tin/packet, we put it on the shopping list to keep stocks up. We've got frozen bread and milk in the freezer and a chest freezer in the garage which is full of all kinds of frozen stuff. We also keep the cars quite full of fuel, by filling them up whenever they get close to half.

Worked well during Storm Desmond several years ago when our entire city lost electricity for four days! Shops were all closed so you couldn't buy anything. Petrol stations were closed so people couldn't put petrol in their cars to drive to nearby towns to buy stuff. Telephone was down. Luckily we had a couple of old battery radios so could get at least some local information from the local radio that was still functioning via a generator. Cooked food and heated water via the gas camping stove. If anything Storm Desmond increased our "prepping" and we are now ready for the same happening again, or something longer and more damaging, as far as you can go without going full on tinfoil hat crazy! The modern "just in time" stock deliveries etc are very high risk and it doesn't take much to bring it all crashing down.

I was born in '55.
This is way worse.
But worse than the fact that it's worse, is the fact that most of it has been predictable for a long time.
Climate change - known about for about 100 years.
Putin - in plain sight since last century.
Etc.
Politics suffers from short termism which arises out of the need to be elected and therefore popular.
For the first time in human history we have a situation where almost everyone can inform themselves about almost anything, so short termism is now doomed.
We are where we are and it ain't pretty.
Prep as much as you can is my advice.

I was planning to retire later this year or early next year and have been talking to potential buyers of my business. But over Easter, I gave a lot of thought to things generally, and I'm pulling out of the sale process and going to carry on working for another 3-5 years, just to "future proof" myself and savings/investments, etc. If I sold now, I'd be relying on investments and pensions, which could fall massively if there was any worsening in the UK and Worldwide economy. At least if I keep working, I can add to my savings/pensions rather than draw from them, so have some protection from inflation or asset value falls etc.

I was born in 1958. TheI was born in 1958. There have been loads of really tricky/risky/shit times in my life.
This is no worse than others.

This is far worse. In 1958 the catastrophic effects of climate change and AI were not even known about. Never mind the proliferation of weapons and globalisation.

I don't think so. We've got unhinged leaders of both Russia and the USA. China is also becoming a dominant superpower in terms of economy and military. Even if the UK isn't directly impacted by war in terms of military damage/invasion, our way of life and economy could easily be badly impacted by trade route blockages etc/. as seem during covid, the suez blockage and now the oil tankers being blocked. The cost of oil is rocketing which means shipping goods from China to the UK will be more expensive, plus carriage/delivery of goods, plus food production costs due to fertiliser cost increases, etc.

National debt is close to the highest in living memory. It's decades since we've had a surplus, so the debt is just getting bigger and bigger, even in Gordon Brown's "good times". We spend more on interest than education.

AI is looming which WILL mean even more unemployment, on top of the current increasing unemployment, very high youth unemployment.

More and more people reliant on benefits, fewer proportion of population actually working and paying taxes. More and more elderly people compared with workers, meaning more costs of pensions, healthcare, social care, etc.

The UK is reliant on other countries for most things these days, food, power, oil, etc., so we're very fragile to World events. Go back a few decades and we were more self sufficient - yes, not fully self sufficient, we never have been, but certainly not as reliant on other countries as we are today!

Everything is heading in the wrong direction with no glimmers of hope at all.

Agreed that economically it is looking bleak. I am stocking up our pantry with non-perishables when Lidl have offers on or the 10% off on a shop is available. I’m not a prepper per se, however there is no harm in it if food prices are going to go up- 1/3rd of fertilisers for food production go through the Hormuz Strait. I will also be trying to save as much money as possible by putting savings into ISAs with the best interest rates in an effort to offset other rising costs.
I don’t think there is a reason to be downhearted about things out of our control, however if you can prepare for the economic shock all the better.

We haven’t ever had the demographic issues before & the subsequent impact of that on public services plus years of austerity

Really?
I am in my 60's and can't remember anything like this.
Trump is so unhinged and those around him so amoral that it seems far worse than anything I can recall.

If the oil issue continues it will impact transport and therefore food.
I have just bought pasta, rice, peanut buttter, tinned foods like beans, loo paper and flour, basics.

These all have a 12+ month date on them so can be used as normal.

I am hoping to goodness things calm down but I am very concerned.
Europe is very vulnerable.

I am hoping European countries can negotiate with Iran directly as Spain, France and Italy are doing to get deliveries through the Straits.

I am trying not to stress about it, but I am definitely worried about the future for my extremely cossetted but lovely young adult children.
They have lived charmed lives up to now, including Covid.

I was born in 1958. There have been loads of really tricky/risky/shit times in my life.

This is no worse than others.

We had barely started to recover from the 2008 crash before covid either. Top economists at the time of the 2008 crash said it would be a decade to recover the lost ground in terms of the economy, which took us basically to the eve of covid, which will take another decade to recover from. It's going to be a very bumpy ride from now on.

We never recovered from the 08 crash

Everyone should have a prep cupboard for any kind of emergency, be it the national grid going down or flooding. Here's the government Prepare website: https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/get-prepared-for-emergencies/

THis came out a couple of years ago specifically to make sure people could get through a couple of days hardship. In Europe they've had the same info but in much starker terms!

From the website:
Put together an emergency kit of items at home
This could include:

Battery or wind-up torch – torches are safer than candles.
Portable power bank for charging your mobile phone.
Battery or wind-up radio to get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, however in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.
Spare batteries for torches and radio and a backup battery for any medical equipment you rely on.
A first aid kit (or some first aid items) including items such as waterproof plasters, bandages, a thermometer, antiseptic, eyewash solution, sterile dressings and gloves, medical tape for dressings, and tweezers.
Hand sanitiser and wet wipes for hygiene purposes when the water is off.
Bottled water – there is no standard figure for this as emergencies can vary in duration and people use different amounts. A minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended by the World Health Organisation for survival. 10 litres per person per day will make you more comfortable by also providing for basic cooking and hygiene needs. Additional water might be needed to make up baby formula, for medical devices and for pets.
Non-perishable food that doesn’t need cooking, such as ready-to-eat tinned meat, fruit or vegetables (and a tin opener). As with water, how much you need will vary based on your own circumstances. Don’t forget food for pets.
Baby supplies such as nappies and baby formula – ready made or ‘ready-to-feed’ formula is best as you may not be able to boil water or sterilise bottles.
Rather than buying all the items at once, you could just add to your emergency kit when you are able and build it up over time.