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What the hell is happening to the world???

93 replies

ssd · 26/04/2022 08:45

Ive just read that nato is warning of an escalation in the Russian war to WW3 and the risk of it going nuclear. We've just started coming out of the covid pandemic. We've got Boris Johnson breaking the law as pm and not caring. We had Trump in the US for years and might have again. And thats not even mentioning the climate crisis or the cost of living.

I mean, whats happening to us all? I cant get my head around it. I'm mid 50s and can't believe what I'm reading. I'll need to delete my news app...AGAIN...i can't live with this info.

OP posts:
MrsSkylerWhite · 26/04/2022 10:29

Was ever thus

SScoobiedoo · 26/04/2022 10:29

The difference is climate change - that pending disaster wasn't hanging over us in the past.
Also the media was limited so you didn't get stuff flashed up hourly. More a daily paper and news on the radio once a day.

SScoobiedoo · 26/04/2022 10:29

The difference is climate change - that pending disaster wasn't hanging over us in the past.
Also the media was limited so you didn't get stuff flashed up hourly. More a daily paper and news on the radio once a day.

SScoobiedoo · 26/04/2022 10:29

The difference is climate change - that pending disaster wasn't hanging over us in the past.
Also the media was limited so you didn't get stuff flashed up hourly. More a daily paper and news on the radio once a day.

SScoobiedoo · 26/04/2022 10:31

Oops I'm out and about using 4g - kept saying it hadn't posted.

SScoobiedoo · 26/04/2022 10:31

Oops I'm out and about using 4g - kept saying it hadn't posted.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 26/04/2022 10:37

gamerchick · 26/04/2022 08:50

Hopefully humans as a species will be wiped out. Give the planet to another dominant lifeform. Humans were always going this way.

I feel sorry for all the animals that will go with us. They don't deserve that, none of this is their fault.

TheRealHousewife · 26/04/2022 10:56

tuliplover · 26/04/2022 09:03

You must have a pretty short memory. I'm 60 and remember the car I was in being searched for bombs during the height of the IRA, drills at school in case of nuclear bomb, mortgage rates of 14%, and the recent fuel shortage was nothing compared to the 70s, and of course the Vietnam war. Plus miners strikes, poll tax riots and so on. A lying PM, idiot leaders, fuel crisis and threat of war is nothing new.

I wish there was a like button! 👆This post by @tuliplover is spot on. What has heightened anxiety is the speeded up delivery of news and developments via social media and online news outlets. Putin is the new Hitler.

ILoveAllRainbowsx · 26/04/2022 11:24

I'm mid-50s too but worried much more about nuclear war in the 1970s and 80s.

I am too young to remember the Cuban missile crisis and we came much closer to nuclear war then.

Neverreturntoathread · 26/04/2022 11:42

It’s very, very, unlikely this will escalate into nuclear war. Putin has already withdrawn troops from most of Russia, and will leave most of Ukraine alone as soon as he’s taken control of another chunk of the East, which seems inevitable now that his troops are focused on that.

Putin is threatening nuclear war because it is his only leverage against the rest of the world. He wants everyone to stop arming Ukraine (despite him arming our enemies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea etc).

The only circumstance in which this would quickly escalate to WW3 is (1) if Putin remains in power but feels power slowly slipping from his grasp, or (2) his back is to the wall and he personally has little left to lose. He’d rather be king of ashes than not king at all. If he is either suddenly removed from power by rich Russians (quite possible) or if he remains in power but is given a face-saving option (ie the rest of world look the other way while he takes a chunk of resource-rich Eastern Ukraine), then he will let things calm down. The UN are meeting him in Moscow today, I hope about option (2).

My parents had primary school drills in case of nuclear war. Paper bags on head under table etc. It’s been a threat for a long time. Politically, things are still better now than in 1914 or 1939.

Pandemics? Yes, they happen every century or so, at least this one had an incredibly low mortality rate compared to eg bubonic plague.

As to Boris Johnson, he’s an idiot who hopefully will be replaced in the next couple of years. We’ve had poverty, riots, and bad leaders before.

The biggest issue you mention is the climate crisis, yep that is already causing mass migration from affected areas of Africa and will continue to cause more storms fires floods etc in rest of world including UK plus cause problems for crops. The migration and poverty etc will create social tensions while can lead to bad leaders emerging and wars being more likely, though hopefully not in Europe. Solving the climate crisis requires dramatic action by China and USA, the worst polluters, as well as the invention of new technologies. Anyway. It’s a long road.

Irishfarmer · 26/04/2022 11:47

I think it is just too much all the time. I watch the news once a day, sometimes watch one of the evening current affairs/ political shows. I did the same with covid. Too much will overwhelm even the best of us. I go about my little life in my little world for the most part and try not to worry much about things which are out of my control. Such as a war!

Things I can control - supporting red cross, watching my own power consumption, buying of baby items 2nd hand to reduce waste.

Suzi888 · 26/04/2022 11:50

gamerchick · 26/04/2022 08:50

Hopefully humans as a species will be wiped out. Give the planet to another dominant lifeform. Humans were always going this way.

^Completely agree.
The world is not a nice place and humans made it that way.

ImplementingTheDennisSystem · 26/04/2022 11:51

Bugger. DH and I have been working hard on the garden ready for the summer. It's just so typical that we're about to get nuked just as its starting to look decent.

Swayingpalmtrees · 26/04/2022 11:57

Russia have been saying this for months op, this is very old news.
They are losing the war and are now trying blackmail the west instead, it won't work.

I fail to see what Trump or Johnson have got to do with this, one is not even president any more. You sound jumbled and confused.

Johnson, in a rare moment of praise for the man has been one of the only leaders to visit Ukraine, to supply the country with weapons and training for years and to fully support the sanctions. You sound, with respect, a little out of touch.

Neverendingdust · 26/04/2022 13:50

The World right now feels like I’m a guest at an extremely large outdoors wedding (think Lake Como) wearing a beautiful Chanel ensemble, only I’m surrounded by drunken misfits and a mob of odd guests. The sky above is filled with heavy black clouds threatening a torrential rain storm with the odd crack occasionally when the sun breaks through for a brief second of two, quickly hidden away by the clouds. Everyone is on tenterhooks that it’s going to pour down and there’s no shelter.

Ohilovetorave · 26/04/2022 14:07

It's the awareness we have of it all that's the problem.

Climate change is the exception to that, we really are in trouble in that respect.

toomanytwinkies · 26/04/2022 14:23

Neverendingdust · 26/04/2022 13:50

The World right now feels like I’m a guest at an extremely large outdoors wedding (think Lake Como) wearing a beautiful Chanel ensemble, only I’m surrounded by drunken misfits and a mob of odd guests. The sky above is filled with heavy black clouds threatening a torrential rain storm with the odd crack occasionally when the sun breaks through for a brief second of two, quickly hidden away by the clouds. Everyone is on tenterhooks that it’s going to pour down and there’s no shelter.

Love this analogy! @Neverendingdust

And like in ‘Don’t look up’ there are those just drinking champagne blissfully unaware or don’t want to be aware.

purpleboy · 26/04/2022 14:30

Neverendingdust · 26/04/2022 13:50

The World right now feels like I’m a guest at an extremely large outdoors wedding (think Lake Como) wearing a beautiful Chanel ensemble, only I’m surrounded by drunken misfits and a mob of odd guests. The sky above is filled with heavy black clouds threatening a torrential rain storm with the odd crack occasionally when the sun breaks through for a brief second of two, quickly hidden away by the clouds. Everyone is on tenterhooks that it’s going to pour down and there’s no shelter.

At least you'll look bloody fantastic when it all endsGrin

jytdtysrht · 26/04/2022 14:46

My mum took took her O Levels in the 60s and at the time her and her friends wondered why they were wasting their time with them as they thought they were going to be nuked. Now my ds is taking GCSEs.

delete your news app

Idontgiveashitanymore · 26/04/2022 14:46

I don’t read the news because it’s all shit. If we were going to be nuked they would be saying how Boris is upping defence in Britain, movement of troops , warships etc. there is nothing! . It’s just Russian propaganda.
Just try to get on with your life, and try not to worry too much 💐

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 26/04/2022 14:52

gamerchick · 26/04/2022 08:50

Hopefully humans as a species will be wiped out. Give the planet to another dominant lifeform. Humans were always going this way.

Yes, let's pack it in and let the ants have a go.

balalake · 26/04/2022 14:55

@ tuliplover well put.

All of us who have local elections next week can express our view of the current Prime Minister (the worst ever in my opinion) via the ballot box. The more Tory losses there are, the more chance of Mr Johnson being voted out as Tory leader and being replaced by someone who will at least be less bad than him.

XiPooh · 26/04/2022 15:15

None of this is new sadly, as other people have pointed out, wars, genocides, human rights abuses have been going on forever. Ditto lying politicians, pandemics and other new illnesses.
Its just a lot more in your face now with 24/7 news coverage and every man and their dog thinking they are an expert on pandemics, wars and whatever else the news of the day is, its all consuming.
Curtail social media, and for the news, read or watch once a day from a reputable news sources, it will probably help with the anxious feeling.

SVRT19674 · 26/04/2022 15:31

Russian propaganda and pretty boring at that. They´re just trying to blackmail the west into not helping Ukraine so that they can blissfully annex the eastern part of the country to Russia, just like they did with Crimea. I live in hope that some rich Russians will give the little prick a dose of his own medicine.

Tabitha005 · 26/04/2022 16:17

Right after I turned the radio off in the car yesterday because I couldn't listen to another word of the news, I shouted, really, REALLY loudly: '.... bloody fucking warmongering men! CUNTS"! It felt rather cathartic.

For me, doing little acts of random kindness/friendliness - making a charity donation, sending someone flowers or a small gift that I know will brighten their day, having a chat with someone whilst waiting in line at the supermarket, telling a stranger I really like her outfit - helps to keep the blues at bay over all the shit going on in the world right now. And knowing when to stop listening to the propaganda and constant barrage of news is invaluable.