To be genuinely concerned about the next few years

I don't worry about it at all. I skim through the news every day but I don't dwell on any of it tbh. There's nothing we can do about it anywat. Fuel crisis-wise... I can't WFH in my job (and dh works in the same town and ds goes to school there too, so they go in the car with me) but fortunately we have an electric car. Prepping? No, I really don't feel that's necessary. The media love to cause a panic.

vote for politicans who have a cohesive plan for improving/saving the economy.

A proper plan would involve unpopular choices eg removing the triple lock so the politicians who propose this wouldn’t get the vote.

The problem with fuel prices rising is that it will affect food prices, public transport, all of those things even if you reduce your own car use.

I am liking the advice about saving and upskilling as well though.

Time for people to put themselves in the best possible position to weather the storm, i.e. saving and investing more, spending less, taking promotions/extra shifts etc to build savings, investing in themselves by taking training/education courses to upskill.

Great post up until the 'simple' tips which are anything but for many people.

Should we be prepping? Stockpiling?

Surely it’s panic buying now?

Before this war we still had big problems, low growth, ageing population, global instability. Basically taxes & the cost of everything will only be going up.

Completely agree with all of this, but would (perhaps wrongly) think that everyone would do this anyway. Just as part of adult life?

For fuel prices, you can use the car less, i.e. start applying for more local jobs or jobs that you can get to by public transport, walk or bike for local journeys to the local shop, etc. When it's time to change car, look for a more fuel efficient model.

For the economy, upskill to get a more stable/lucrative job, work longer hours, build savings/investments, stop spending/wasting money, and vote for politicans who have a cohesive plan for improving/saving the economy.

I agree. Nothing we can do about the World wars etc - we just have to hope that the relevant leaders can get the behind the scenes deals done to end them.

But a big YES to the UK economy. That's a much bigger issue. Unemployment up, numbers of job vacancies down, the "bulge" of older people requiring pensions, benefits and expensive health/care. Lack of affordable homes. Ever worsening deprivation in the regions. Debt up, spending more on interest on the huge national debt than on education. I just don't see how there'll be any improvement on a national scale. Time for people to put themselves in the best possible position to weather the storm, i.e. saving and investing more, spending less, taking promotions/extra shifts etc to build savings, investing in themselves by taking training/education courses to upskill. All the kind of things that most people can do to help protect themselves against worsening economic climate. And of course, thinking carefully about who to vote for in the local and national elections of the next few years as we need people who can "repair" broken Britain.

But what can you practically do about fuel prices or the economy? Prepping isn't going to help.
Are you being unreasonable to worry? Probably, yes. Because there's little you can do to change the outcome. Other than emigrate, earn significantly more or broker world peace.

It makes much more sense to be genuinely concerned about the UK economy

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/04/labour-welfare-bill-income-tax-revenue/

No stockpiling is necessary. I tend not to worry about things that I can't do anything about.

Individually? In the UK ? In practical terms probably nothing.
Collectively, morally and ethnically? Think hard about our use of fossil fuels. Think hard about which countries we support and where we sell arms.