Collapse of normal life

[OldPot]

It feels to me that this is what is beginning to happen. Spiralling bills that surely only the well off can pay, shortages of things we all took for granted (2 of my mum's regular medications are out of stock, no chemicals for the local swimming pool, things opening for a few hours instead of all day (post office, banks etc), NHS on its knees, many other services just not running as they should). Plus the sodding infernal heat and drought this summer.....

And yes I know we are luckier here in the UK than many, many others countries.....but I just feel there is no turning back to life pre-covid.

Other countries aren’t using “inferior polio vaccines”, they’re using polio vaccines that are the most appropriate for their infrastructure, citizens and most importantly, vaccines that best protect the whole community to reduce overall transmission - something we don’t need to do in the UK as rates of polio are so low/non-existent. Hence the difference in strategies between the UK and other countries. What’s “best” here isn’t “best” in other countries.

I'm a university lecturer and many of my grads have got graduate roles or schemes in top rated organisations on graduation.

they hoped The Rich People would make them Rich too and the Wanting Things to Be Fair People might not let you Get Rich

this is so true, people don't vote for policies that they think will disadvantage them in the future not realising that they make the reality of those aspirations further away.

I appreciate people are concerned but the level of batshit ton hat nonsense on this thread is unbelievable.

@CarlCarlson Oh for heaven’s sake, have my first ever Mumsnet . At no point have I made any of what I’ve written about my own situation, and I have acknowledged ad nauseam on this thread how fortunate my individual circumstances are.

Is this a race to the bottom thing? Are people who earn above a certain salary now not allowed to notice that their local library has closed (thereby impacting deprived communities most severely), or their local swimming pool is filthy, or their primary school is chronically underfunded, or their ageing parents can’t access the healthcare they need - just because some people will always be worse off than them?

Surely it emphasises the severity of the problem, if even those of us with above average household incomes are noticing these things and worrying about them? Our neighbours’ WhatsApp group, largely comprising better off professionals like hospital consultants and GPs and IT workers and teachers, is constantly discussing this stuff at the moment and wondering what, if anything, we can do to help - is that wrong? Would you rather we were all oblivious, or couldn’t give a shit?

It’s like during the height of the pandemic, when any complaints about lockdown were shouted down with ‘At least you’re not dead/on a ventilator/being bombed’.

This. Plus Brexit which was an act of self harm on a national scale, and for what? It was an attempt by two men - Cameron and Johnson - further their political careers. Neither of them were even Leavers before they saw something in it for them.

When are we going to stop letting this bunch of bloated parasites ruin our country?

Please stop voting Tory!

I agree - but the root cause is not Covid, it's Tories (and ultimately market capitalism, which cannot be meaningfully reined in for long.)

NHS - Tories. Likewise CAMHS and adult mental health services
Austerity - Tories
Supply chain - Brexit, ie Tories
Energy 'caps' at a multiple of other European countries - Tories
Biggest differntial between low and high incomes in West - Tories
No council housing even for those in desperate need - Tories
Councils who are penalised for spending on the things that the poorest need - Tories.
A political culture where is it fine to just... lie, such that the average voter will never discover the depths of Tory ethical depravity - Tories

I could go on.

the Great Resignation will be linked to some of the staff shortages and I still hope that will have some positive effects. But anyone who just thinks life should improve and improve is nuts

why is it nuts?

Medium to long term, the good times are probably over for most of Europe/the West. Living standards measured by average accessibility of housing, disposable income, household working hours, bills etc peaked around the 80s- 00, depending on where exactly lived. But most Western European countries are choosing moderate and relatively astute political leaders and parties who will soften and lengthen their decline by decades - while the British electorate seems intent on speeding it up.

Ah, I see I am not the first to mention those Tory cunts vampires.

We are just going back in time to the sort of quality of life we had in the past. It will be ok but will take a bit of adjustment.

Collapse of normal life?
In the 60s, when I was a teenager, normal was being taken on one week's holiday in GB. By 1995 normal was going abroad for 2 weeks of holiday. When I retired normal became one or two short GB holidays and often an abroad hol. When Covid came normal was no holiday. This year it's been one 5-day holiday in GB and a few days out but I think we'll rest it there because there are fuel bills coming up. Out of those normals which was the most normal?
Was my normal life when I found myself unemployed in 1975 or when I'd been in steady full-time work for several years in 1995?
It all ebbs and flows, all the time. Nothing is wholly right or perfect, just some bits are quite good some times.

In the 60s, when I was a teenager, normal was being taken on one week's holiday in GB. By 1995 normal was going abroad for 2 weeks of holiday.

yeah because of cheap flights, I used to be able to fly to Europe return for less than a night at the pub

These fat cats presiding over energy companies with their mega profits (and individual salaries over 500k in cases😲) - surely only time before those without start door stepping?! Non violent quiet protest that makes them think - not that I’m sure they’re capable of it🤷🏼‍♀️

How would you define 'the Britain we love'?

These fat cats presiding over energy companies with their mega profits (and individual salaries over 500k in cases😲) -

it's a lot more than that, they earn millions.

@Qik it was a joke I'm 61 and in Logan's Run I would be gone as well (or a runner !). As for Willliam he is very well renumerated as an accident of birth I'll leave it at that.

I just can't get worked up about it. Life has always been like this - from the Black Death and the fire of London to Spanish flu and the First World War, then the Blitz, we have endured appalling conditions and survived them. We have a long history of useless leaders - most countries in the world do. It only feels especially odd because just had a long period of peace. But we'll come through it.

This.

anyone remember the Guardian reporting this back in may 2019 and people called Corbyn a communist;

Labour will announce plans on Thursday to seize back control of Britain’s energy network from private shareholders in an effort to fight climate change and end fuel poverty.
Jeremy Corbyn and the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, are expected to say that heat and electricity should be a human right for all and nationalisation of the network is key to decarbonising the economy.
Under Labour’s plan, companies that control the UK’s £62bn energy infrastructure – the pipes and cables that supply homes and businesses with gas and electricity – would be taken back into state control soon after a Labour election win.

You might want to leave it there, but I will highlight again what you said.

When are Kate or William going to visit a food bank or a council estate to show that they 'care'. Or was William's cosplaying a Big Issue seller that?

This was of course to suit your narrative. He could have chosen to live a different life. He chose to train very hard to save lives as an air ambulance pilot. He worked very hard at that and put his own life at risk in the process.

What you could have done is identify a myriad of other people to fit your narrative better. There are plenty of people who take and do not give back. There are plenty of famous people who do that.

What do you do by the way?

@NFLwidow yes I do remember that seems unbelievable now I bet Corbin can’t believe this

It's almost like the Tories voting to dump raw sewage in our rivers was a bad thing

I’m just not sure what the answer is there are no politicians that I can see who have a genuine moral compass to do the right thing they are al career politicians

@Qik give the Royal worship a rest