Is the UK heading for an apocalypse?

[BleakWinter]

Hello dear Mimsnetters. I wonder if anyone can lift me out of this dreadful feeling I have of impending doom? With the oncoming energy hikes, rent increases, mortgage rate hikes and increased interest rates, I honestly feel a bit hopeless about everything and powerless to do anything about it. I'm just reading about how most countries, despite having their own particular difficulties, are starting to bounce back after Covid. They are starting to trade again, unlike us apparently. I feel like we're not Global Britain, we're Little Britain and we're falling further and further behind other countries. I feel desperately sorry for our youngsters and those in their early 20's. How are they going to afford to house themselves or run a car? I honestly love this country ( by which I mean the UK so not strictly a country but you know what I mean.) and I think this is why I feel so worried. The government has gone completely AWOL and neither of the 2 new PM candidates fill me with much confidence. I feel like we're in the worst possible position with a non existent government. Is there anyone out there who feels things might start getting better? I know things are cyclical...but the fact that things have been horribly difficult before doesn't really make me feel any better. How can I stay positive and not get overwhelmed?

No one has mentioned the environment. That's what I worry most about.
joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news/droughts-europe-july-2022-almost-half-eu-uk-territory-risk-2022-07-18_en

The four horsemen are no doubt preparing to mount even as we speak .

OP, turn the news off and do something nice. Anything you enjoy. It is what it is and worrying/thinking/pondering on it won't change anything.

There's no point staring misery in the face, as my Dad always says.

I'm just watching Threads which was made in 1984, people thought there was going to be an apocalypse then also. It's nothing new

Maybe don't read the Daily Mail they revel in all this

TBH OP I don't think YABU. I find some of the responses to you rather shortsighted and a bit dim. This country is in a worse mess than others across Europe because we have brexit. This is causing huge problems with employment and people being able to work here. We also have a ludicrous 'government'.... I'm not an economist but even I can see Truss's tax cuts are only going to benefit the rich. I don't know what is going to happen but I share your sense of impending doom. I lived through the 70s power cuts and strikes too, but believe me it was NOTHING like this. The present right wing Tories have people scared and confused and they think that the working class have had it good for too long. They've taken away the NHS, education, homes, money..... People won't know what they've lost until it's gone. Yeah I think we are in an apocalyptic situation here, I just wish people would realise this before it's too late! There'll probably be a general strike, civil unrest, all sorts of horrible things will happen. But Brexit has made us i. e England, into a tiny little island that will become a tax haven once the UK falls apart... which it will. I'm sorry I don't have anything optimistic to say - but I refuse to stick my head in the sand and read the Daily Heil for solace. I'm just sorry this is happening.

Er....no!
We have an elected, functioning Government as part of a stable democratic system. (And if you don't like the Government, you are free to vote for another party at the next election).
Most of the UK population are amongst the richest people in the world.
We have public services and free education.
We have had decades of peace.
We enjoy many luxuries that would be unimaginable in other parts of the world.
We may be facing recession & financial difficulty, but that has happened many times before and no doubt will again - we'll cope.
Ukraine is still at war and Ukrainians are still dying as a result.
Countries in the Horn of Africa are facing another catastrophic drought.
The people of North Korea are still living in a brutal dictatorship.

I mean, we do really need to get some perspective here.....

The thing is OP, you asked about an apocalypse which does sound like either very high anxiety or doom mongering. If this thread is just one of the many about the general state of the UK at the moment, then fair enough, nothing to see here.

Did you really want people's opinion on a potential apocalypse or not?

My ancestors, as far as I know, were far from wealthy.

There was dire tragedy in various parts of my family at various times.

However they mostly survived through wars, famine, illness, no home comforts, severe financial insecurity. They moved around, cut their cloth, and took opportunities when they could.

I’ve often thought my life is very comfortable by comparison. I’m well, I had a good state education, the opportunity to go to university and I’ve never been unemployed. I’ve never been hungry or excessively cold or not had reasonably suitable clothing for whatever I was doing. In the whole history of time, mine has been a very luxurious existence!!

a lot of people will be trading down… a lot of people will indeed be going without. But whilst there are fireworks, fizzy drinks, billions of items of clothing available to buy, clean water in the tap, food in the shops, we’re not, as a society, heading for an apocalypse. There are still billions of people all over the world who work very hard just to keep themselves in bread, water and firewood. As a society, by comparison, we’re light years away from this.

Sure, some people are going to have it very hard. Probably on average more than before. But there have always been very poor and very unfortunate people and we should be asking ourselves what we were doing for them when times were better for more people.

I think it’s always best to assume that these ARE the good times.

We have public services and free education

Im not sure we do, they’ve all been cut to the bone.

And to the poster upthread who said we have mild winters. Not in the north of England where l live. It snows for ages in winter and is very cold.

@WallaceinAnderland I suppose I was referring to the possibility of civil unrest similar to that of the poll tax riots. Whether anybody thought that might happen again. I don't think it's fair to say, as many have, oh god another doom mongerer. I just feel really concerned about the future and wondered how other people felt. If there was any room for optimism? There's been a huge range of responses and they've been useful to me, especially those which have talked about the adaptability and resilience of humans. That we'll have to tighten our belt but we'll be ok. I live alone so I don't really get the chance to bounce these thoughts around with someone close who can be reassuring.

I don’t think people really understand what a financial recession and ‘difficulties’ mean. It’s not about cancelling sky, putting an extra blanket on in the winter instead of turning the heating on, or forfeiting your annual ski holiday. Those are not difficulties.

As I mentioned at the start of the thread, I come from Spain. My parents bought a flat in 2006 valued at 120k. Three years later, its value was 28k. It’s just barely hit 50k now in the current market. My children (so their DGS) are set to be paying their mortgage at this rate.

Property will devalue. People will lose hundreds of thousands of pounds that they have invested throughout their lives. They will be priced out of their homes, unable to sell them because why would you sell your home and be left with a mortgage 5x the amount that it sold for. The economy will need resetting because inflation can’t just go up indefinitely.

There’s a whole generation in countries like Greece or Spain that has lost all the value in their properties, who will have 0€ to pass on to their children. Those children have started their lives from scratch.

It’s not about a takeaway or the price of petrol. It’s about the economy undergoing a massive change if it’s meant to keep going.

Head over to the Preppers threads. Lots of sensible, non-panicky voices and ideas about making adjustments or managing if things get really difficult.

There's definitely room for optimism. I don't remember lots of rioting over Poll Tax. I know some people refused to pay and they were taken to court. I remember writing a poem about poll tax.

This was at a time of high unemployment and rising interest rates, when we still had the Berlin Wall and constant threat of nuclear war. We've lived through it before. The only thing that's really different is the effects of climate change. I think being forced to change the way we live could, in the end, be a good thing.

Thank you @bellinisurge

I don’t think we have lived through it all before though. I’m 58, l can’t remember anything like this. There were individual things, but not everything all at once.

I don’t think property will devalue that much. There’s not enough housing stock, this is what’s keeping prices high.

Ive bought and sold 4 houses since 89, they’re all worth about 7 or 8 times the price l paid.

Didn't some property take yrs to recover from 08 though? Some areas will be more impacted than others I assume.

I don’t want civil unrest as I’m sure the vast majority don’t too but unless something drastic changes then it would be naive to expect those hardest hit to simply sit and do nothing as they watch their already difficult living standards fall further and futures completely disintegrate. Answers and solutions are needed pronto because Autumn and winter are looking bleak.

well crime will increase im sure

Yes! This. The area i used to live took years to recover. Only last year were houses being sold for the SAME as 2007.

Agreed

Haha our bills are going up it's not amegeddon , need some perspective

I think there's a little more to it than that @hattie43

I think this is quite an optimistic assessment!

From January Pensioners will be paying between 45 & 50% of their pension on their gas & electric bills!

If you claim universal credit as a single person you receive £331.34 per month, the predicted energy cap monthly payment is more than that before you even take in to account food & council tax.

The UK Economy is very much service driven, If a large proportion of the population is spending most of tt's disposable income on gas & electric & petrol to get to work, how will people be able to go to the cinema, eat out, have their hair done, have their nails done!

If people stop doing that stuff how many people will lose their jobs?

And as for a functioning Govt - hollow laugh !

70 Charities wrote to the Govt last week to ask them to take action to tackle the cost of living crisis ! Tumble weed!