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.

@Cantseethewindows
'...... and the one thing that we need most at the moment - competent, courageous leaders with intelligence, integrity and a long-term strategy - is sorely lacking.'

You are exactly right. Something that struck me was we don't need a Minister for Drought as someone was suggesting recently, we need a Minister for Domestic Insulation and Refurbishment.

Rather than wittering about the cost of fuel, why isn't the govt (this govt, any govt) dealing with the inadequate standards of insulation in 50% of the nation's homes. Properly, not launching useless schemes that attract cowboy contractors but doing something useful like...

Insisting 90% of all new builds have solar panels and water panels on their roofs. Stop being so bloody spineless and giving in to the developers.

Updating the standards for new builds to require better ventilation.

Doing a survey of all households with an income of under £20k and get on with installing loft insulation, dealing with damp, mending roofs etc, or forcing landlords to do all of the above to a fixed timeframe. Set up apprenticeships to teach college leavers to do the same, We are going to need a lot of them.

If we are going to get anywhere near net zero, we need to get on with it, and I can't see Truss, Sunak or Starmer having the balls to bring it about. The Green party is useless, and the more extreme organisations think superglueing themselves to the M25 is helpful🙄

As you say, we badly need someone competent!

You are right to be afraid. Civilized life, where things are pleasant and calm, is the exception. In fact, civilization often hangs by a thread (as anyone who has lived near violent, 'problem' families knows). It has to be worked at and maintained. It wouldn't take much for things to fall apart - no matter where you live. As someone once said, "society is only ever two meals away from anarchy."

One thing I really hate about the UK is how overcrowded it is. You just can't move. And everywhere I go they seem to be building yet another ghastly housing estate. During the last heatwave, I got lost in town. I spent about an hour driving round and round these endless new build estates, moving from one traffic jam to another, in the stifling heat. It was like a vision of Britain's future.

Kids born now might not have a great childhood but by the time they’re 20 the world will be great. Equally the kids who had great childhoods in the 2000s are going to have a shit time as young adults in their 20s.

I think you're right. I've been thinking this for a while. I have teens. I took them on multiple trips in their childhood - to places that I dreamed my whole life of visiting. I prioritised travel and experiences over a nice home/car, i haven't bought clothes in five years. I went into debt to do it and have spent so much time worrying if I made the right choices. I'm SO glad I did that now, no regrets at all.

I think we are slowly descending into anarchy, particularly looking at teenage behaviour. Two knifing incidents recently in our local area, this simply wouldn't have happened 10, 20, 30 years ago. Obviously not all teens, and I remember the rebel rousers in my day, but they were nothing like as aggressive as now. In our local area there are now no go zones because of teen violence.
I do wonder at what point society says enough is enough.
Again I know it the minority making trouble for the majority but it's pretty grim.

We have been living at such a high standard for the last few decades, I think it was just unsustainable. In my lifetime I have seen private car ownership going from very, very rare amongst even the middle class to two and three car households being the norm. Central heating was similar, I was the first person in my ( quite affluent) class to live in a house with partial CH about sixty years ago; now the middle class are aspiring to air conditioning. Foreign holidays: one a year for the minority; now it’s weekend breaks several times a year for the same people.

My parents went through WW2 with all its hardships; my grandfather was in the trenches for all four years ofWW1. My grandmother worked long hours as a seamstress in a uniform factory while he was away. The serge made her hands bleed.

we have become accustomed to think that we can all have everything. We were mistaken.

I am much younger than you, but I agree.

Serves us right if we keep voting in the Tories.

The most feckless corrupt government scares me most!

saving grace: lots of jobs available gives me hope

Agree

‘Why don’t you go back to work?’

Umm… because I’m fortunate enough not to need to right now? As I said in my first post, as a family we’re not (yet) adversely affected by any of this stuff, other than having to access semi-functioning public services. DP earns in excess of £100K, we made a conscious choice to only have one child (partly because we wanted to remain financially comfortable) and I chose to spend DD’s preschool years as a SAHM - something which has worked out incredibly well for us given the pandemic and the closure of her nursery etc. Now DD is heading off to school I’m looking to retrain as I don’t want to return to teaching in the current climate. I’m lucky to have that choice.

But in any case the points I was making weren’t about me, but the hardships that I see many others around me enduring, and the public services that are clearly crumbling around us. ‘No man is an island’, and all that.

@Crunchymum

’Why don’t you go back to work?’

Umm… because I’m fortunate enough not to need to right now? As I said in my first post, as a family we’re not (yet) adversely affected by any of this stuff, other than having to access semi-functioning public services. DP earns in excess of £100K, we made a conscious choice to only have one child (partly because we wanted to remain financially comfortable) and I chose to spend DD’s preschool years as a SAHM - something which has worked out incredibly well for us given the pandemic and the closure of her nursery etc. Now DD is heading off to school I’m looking to retrain as I don’t want to return to teaching in the current climate. I’m lucky to have that choice.

But in any case the points I was making weren’t about me, but the hardships that I see many others around me enduring, and the public services that are clearly crumbling around us. ‘No man is an island’, and all that.

I don't think we ever came out of the 08 cycl

cycle

we haven't had a prosperous time since then.

Given the rate at which teenage pregnancies dropped since then it looks like it wasn’t a particularly bad thing to have done.

We need to judge on results, not ideology, and under this government teenage pregnancies have continued the fall that we saw under the last few years of Labour.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/conceptionandfertilityrates/bulletins/conceptionstatistics/2020

"I could write for hours on this subject."

yes but please don't.

@Allthegoodnamesarechosen agreed 100%. 4 years in trenches - good god - and here we are grumbling about hot water bottles.

@TempsPerdu as a “former teacher” whose husband is richer than Croesus. What do you think will benefit your child’s school more? 5 Prit-sticks and some coloured felt? Or 50 Asda uniforms anonymously donated to the school?

I'm the small end of the scale, we have stopped using the local library. They are open maybe 2 days a week for a few hours, and I'm working for that so I can never get the books back. It's such a shame as toddler DD loves the library, but I can't take her anymore.
There are no council run clubs without a 2 year waiting list. I managed to get my 5yr old into swimming lessons after a 2 year wait with YMCA, so whilst not mega expensive, it's still private and costly.

A 'new style' food bank has opened locally that you pay an annual membership for and you can get 4 bags of dry shopping for £15 a time. It's inundated. I drive past it every morning and there's £100k cars pulling up.

The streets are overrun with weeds. No one is coming from the council to maintain them.

Parks are full of broken equipment and smashed glass, although to be fair not all of them.

Both DH and I work. If the energy prices rise as predicted, we actually won't be able to pay them. I don't know what position that puts us in financially. Will the energy company take us to court? Will we be on a debt management plan? Will I lose my home?

We got three bags of shopping from Tesco and it was £96. I didn't even buy any meat. So we switched to Aldi and all our food is rotting before we can eat it.

The petrol light is a permanent fixture in the car. Getting the bus is just as expensive here, really.

It pisses me off when older colleagues suggest that Netflix is the reason for my predicament. What's £9.99 gonna get me? It won't even pay for the bus tickets for us all to get to the town centre, once 🤣

Allthegoodnamesarechosen My family fought in both world wars too .My dad was hungry as a boy and my Grandad had to spend some time in an orpanage.They felt they were fighting for a better life for their children and grandchildren .Surely having decent food and central heating are not luxuries ,but essential.Also the fact of holidays abroad and the use of a car each may be part of a comfortable lifestyle .But hardly rich, when Celebrities are jetting round the world between their homes on different continents .Its not a race to the bottom or shouldnt be . We shouldnt be thinking of going backwards surely?

@Boybandfacedfannyfart

Well, the Pritt sticks as it happens, given that that’s what the school has actually asked for; I’m sure Reception won’t be complaining about several hundred pounds worth of extra resources. They wouldn’t be able to do much with 50 extra uniforms, given that they already have more donated second hand uniform than they know what to do with, and anyway in our immediate area it’s the school itself that’s in the direst financial need, not the parents. I’m a governor there, not some random clueless new parent - I know what they need (that and a new boiler, which is something of a trickier prospect).

It's just War, Famine, Pestilence and Death doing their usual rounds. They are always somewhere in the world, they just happen to be in Europe at the moment which is why we are feeling the effects.

I am worried especially as we seem to have politicians who have forgotten they have a country to govern and believe all they need to solve problems is good PR and a clever slogan.

I wouldn't have dignified that with an answer. You don't owe anyone am explanation as to why you chose to be a sahm.

My dd's school would be most grateful for glue sticks etc.

The situation in Northern Ireland where the DUP are refusing to take their seats in the Assembly and therefore no decision can be made to give the people their £400 fuel payment - they will get it eventually, just no one knows when, can you imagine how infuriating that is. Listening to a local phone in on BBC Ulster, 3 callers from the older generation seemed to feel that the kids today could do with a harsher life to sort them out, that and a bit more bible study it apparently didn't do them any harm (empathy bypass maybe?)!!! I remember growing up with ice on the inside of the windows - I have no fond memories of that! I really fear for people this winter.

Yep! Many years of Phoney Blair and his Tory lite New Labour spend it all policy, followed by many years of Tory austerity and low interest rates. Add in Brexit, Covid and Ukraine.

We're all fucked!