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Is the UK heading for an apocalypse?

143 replies

BleakWinter · 20/08/2022 15:02

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?

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goshy · 20/08/2022 22:34

Most of the UK population are amongst the richest people in the world.

🙄 yes millions don't have access to clean water or a roof over their head so we should be grateful that our poverty isn't as bad as others.

BleakWinter · 20/08/2022 22:35

Completely agree @Janesdufflecoat with your response to that other post. You worded it much better than I could!! Also 'functioning government...'...Really?? This 'government' is just a great big nebulous chunk of nothingness...

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SO224350 · 20/08/2022 22:36

EngTech · 20/08/2022 17:47

I am just waiting for the next crisis to be hyped up by the media 👍👍👍😎

This. What about the doubled electric prices that were happening months ago? My direct debit went up £10 a month don't know anyone else who is paying double energy prices. Too much scaremongering in the media. I wonder what happened to all the food dehydrating machines the preppers bought during covid as the uk was definitely going to run out of food 😂

SO224350 · 20/08/2022 22:37

Ori1 · 20/08/2022 17:46

@ThinkAboutItTomorrow

Don’t be daft.

This is a very inflammatory response to genuine fear felt by ordinary working families. Most people working minimum wage jobs are, like, properly crapping themselves right now, or perhaps you don’t earn minimum wage & don’t have a young family to feed.

Perhaps you’re not at all worried about paying £500 + per month for energy alone. I guess you’re feeling ok & that’s great; but it’s be good to know what your situation is so we can make a fair comparison & get a measure of where that dismissive comment is coming from

That's simply not going to happen unless you live in a mansion

FourTeaFallOut · 20/08/2022 22:40

The price cap won't be confirmed until next week and won't kick in unit October SO224350. There weren't any price increases last month, the last time they were raised was April.

SO224350 · 20/08/2022 22:48

FourTeaFallOut · 20/08/2022 22:40

The price cap won't be confirmed until next week and won't kick in unit October SO224350. There weren't any price increases last month, the last time they were raised was April.

Yes that's what I mean, my direct debit went up in may by £10. My Dad is on a state pension he pays no rent, council tax, tv licence. has free travel. He has plenty of money left every week and can heat and feed himself fine. If the scaremongers claim he'll be paying 40% of his pension a week on energy he'll have over £100 a week to buy food, pay his water rates and mobile phone contract. He's not worried at all. Then again he doesn't smoke or drink heavily

StormzyinaTCup · 20/08/2022 22:49

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

Id be interested to know if those 70 Charities have also written to the CEOs/shareholders of the energy companies and asked them if they have thought about making a sizeable donation out of their obscene profits. These same energy companies that have likely taken a chunk of government (tax payers money) in furlough payments. I believe OVO furloughed a third of its workforce, not sure about any others. I expect there would be tumbleweed there too.

The government can’t carry on printing money for our DC and DGC to pay for in the future.

I don’t know what the answer is but the amount of debt we are incurring is frightening.

goshy · 20/08/2022 22:55

The government can’t carry on printing money for our DC and DGC to pay for in the future.

there's not going to be any DC or DGC to pay it!

BrightBlueFlamingo · 20/08/2022 23:03

While there is a lot of scaremongering around at the moment my mum's energy bill has gone up 50% and she is in credit. She's on as pension and worried as she can't cut back much more. It's quite worrying .

Janesdufflecoat · 20/08/2022 23:10

StormzyinaTCup · 20/08/2022 22:49

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

Id be interested to know if those 70 Charities have also written to the CEOs/shareholders of the energy companies and asked them if they have thought about making a sizeable donation out of their obscene profits. These same energy companies that have likely taken a chunk of government (tax payers money) in furlough payments. I believe OVO furloughed a third of its workforce, not sure about any others. I expect there would be tumbleweed there too.

The government can’t carry on printing money for our DC and DGC to pay for in the future.

I don’t know what the answer is but the amount of debt we are incurring is frightening.

So do you think if they had that the Energy Companies would have said 'oh yes of course you are right, we will stop paying our shareholders from our billion pounds of profit & immediately reimburse the British Public!

The French Govt has frozen has prices and limited the increase of the regulated price of electricity to an annual 4%!

That's the sort of action we need tbe Govt to be taking!

Janesdufflecoat · 20/08/2022 23:22

We don't need to be bloody printing money! We need to be redistributing the billions of pounds profits made by the Energy & fuel companies!

The water companies were privatised in the UK in 1989 sine then not a reservoir has been built, no infrastructure built to move water from the wettest parts of the Country to the driest, 2.4 billion litre of water lost per day through leaks while paying shareholders huge bonuses!

If you don't think there's something wrong with that then 🤷‍♀️

StormzyinaTCup · 20/08/2022 23:43

We don't need to be bloody printing money! We need to be redistributing the billions of pounds profits made by the Energy & fuel companies!

Isn't that what I said in my post? The energy and fuel companies need to step up and be seen to be doing something not just sitting there guarding their profits because, like a lot of people in this country, it's expected/easier to just get the government to give the money tree a shake and see what falls to the ground and the. let the little people run around gathering it up.

On the issue of France, what happens to peoples bills when the price freeze is over? As an aside I think EDF (which is part nationalised anyway and soon to be fully nationalised) are in the process of suing the French government for about 8billion for losses (to date) incurred due to the government forcing them to sell to rivals at a lower rate. I wonder who is going to be paying for that?

Walkden · 21/08/2022 04:26

Latest reports are that energy prices could reach 6k in April.

It does seem that the country is in decline.

NHS staffing levels low and demand high for various reasons. Government response money is there it's not being used effectively.

Years of progress on water quality reversed after next and literally full of shit. Government response we need to cut regulation and red tape.

People in many industries have reduced wages since 2008 and offered yet more real terms pay cuts. Government response you can't have pay rises as it will make people poorer. How about when they can't afford to heat their homes in a few months time?

Mortgages rates going up but not saving rates. How many people factored in £500 quid a month heating bills when they did affordability and stress checks? Government response no more handouts!

Small businesses schools and hospitals facing massive bill rises over next 6 months. Government response. No action.

All very well saying we can vote for a change but looks like we wil have 2 years of grim times until that can happen. We voted to take back control and gave it to a government that is not cutting vat on bills or shielding the populace like lots of European governments are are happy for workers to be exploited and backtracking pretty spectacularly on the high wage economy and pay rises they promised people.

daisychain01 · 21/08/2022 06:16

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.

this is a great example of the cyclical nature of the economy, history repeating itself.

1980's - house prices in the UK were easily within the reach of the average person on £15k per annum salary, prices were on an upward trajectory. Late 1980s into the 1990s, Interest rates overheated, demand and pressure to own rather than rent led to over-inflated house prices and an eventual crash in demand, homeowners who bought at the top of the market "handing back their house keys" to banks/mortgage providers because they couldn't afford the monthly mortgage payments, suffering negative equity.

Exactly the same economic conditions as now! Plus people losing their jobs due to challenging trading conditions... just like now.

As I was always told, do everything you can to stay in work, now isn't the time to take risks. Don't move house and take on more debt. Keep as much financial stability as you can. Batten down the hatches and the storm will pass. It always does.

During the Pandemic (anyone remember COVID, the last apocalypse on here where everyone was speculating if the world would come to an end?), people on here would flame anyone who dared talk about survival during WWII when our economy was on its knees. Those people weren't prepared to look to lessons from the past, having to survive with rationing, because they were so used to nipping to Tesco or Asda and plentiful food supplies, and seeing empty shelves was freaking them out. What do they think it was like in the 1950's when production hadn't yet recovered!

UK has always survived, we have great talent and resilience - who designed the C19 vaccine, who invented the internet? Two Brits, in our lifetime!

VerveClique · 21/08/2022 07:05

Exactly @daisychain01 !! Brava.

SugarNspices · 21/08/2022 07:13

Apocalypse 🙄 hard times yes, but don't be so dramatic

goshy · 21/08/2022 07:14

I've said this before but we never came out of the bust cycle from 08 and all that QE inflated house prices & inequality grew. And now high taxes but not for all & declining public services.

FourTeaFallOut · 21/08/2022 07:21

Exactly the same economic conditions as now! Plus people losing their jobs due to challenging trading conditions... just like now

Well that may happen but it isn't true to say just like now. Unemployment rates are currently below 4% and the lack of available workers is one of the main drivers of inflation.

BuenoSucia · 21/08/2022 07:25

Quite @daisychain01 - it’s all a bit shit but “Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.”

im “old poor” though and old enough to know the piper always has to be paid in the end. I’ve noticed a lot of the fear coming from those in their early-30s.

Indoctro · 21/08/2022 07:30

I'm worried for my young kids futures that's for sure.

I have a uneasy feeling about what the future holds.

goshy · 21/08/2022 07:34

Well that may happen but it isn't true to say just like now. Unemployment rates are currently below 4% and the lack of available workers is one of the main drivers of inflation.

yes we have more jobs than workers

BleakWinter · 21/08/2022 07:44

@SugarNspices I think the current and impending situation is actually pretty bloody dramatic. Maybe people are just unaware of how bad it's going to get..

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FindingMeno · 21/08/2022 07:53

I can foresee a situation of families being on the street. When people ended up with their homes repossesed before there was some social housing availability. Nowadays we don't have the housing in the private sector either, and without a rent cap, just watch the rents increase even more.
I can also foresee people trapped in a debt spiral for years.
It's a shit shower coming.

GreenLunchBox · 21/08/2022 08:03

Aposterhasnoname · 20/08/2022 16:30

Actually uk exports to the Eu are at records levels despite the fuck up that is Brexit.

www.cityam.com/boost-for-global-britain-as-uk-exports-to-eu-defy-brexit-challenges-and-hit-highest-level-ever/

Virtually every country in the world has the same problems as us, many worse. But don’t let a few inconvenient facts get in the wat of your doom mongering.

Did you actually read your link? These record numbers are due to inflation and BREXIT is still a shitshow

BleakWinter · 21/08/2022 08:06

Me too @Indoctro. I really feel for the next generation coming through.

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