It’s not looking good is it?

[User15384]

Cost of living crisis
Choice between heating v eating
Pound dramatically falling
Higher interest rates
NHS on brink of collapse

And now the warning of a flu-covid “twindemic” this Winter

It’s all quite overwhelming and sad and seems to be never ending 😞

@Bearsan

What would some empathy cost you?

@Notonthestairs

A) are fully protected from requiring public services.

As an individual you can not independently buy everything you need. You can't renew your passport, educate a future workforce or do your own emergency c-section.

We're a family that hasn't needed much in the way of public services, but my point was that even if you don't need them now, or the ones you do need seem unaffected, there are no guarantees you won't need them at some point. And that even if you are somehow able to finagle magic immunity, you should still fucking care about those who can't.

Honestly, callousness is a societal curse.

Well it is if you live in a fancy area. For areas such as Lewisham, Ealing etc, it's perfectly possible to get a flat for about £1300 pcm. I wouldn't say the going rate is 2k.

"We're a family that hasn't needed much in the way of public services, but my point was that even if you don't need them now, or the ones you do need seem unaffected, there are no guarantees you won't need them at some point. And that even if you are somehow able to finagle magic immunity, you should still fucking care about those who can't."

Absolutely. I wholeheartedly agree @Wallaw

Even if you think you can circumvent public services you live in a society reliant on them - and they are your colleagues, your fellow commuters, your midwife, your niece etc.

People who think they don’t rely on public services are basically just dim. They can send their kids to private school, but they’re going to have to drive on a public road or walk on a public pavement to get there. And if their child gets run over walking to their private school, the U.K. has no private emergency medicine system. They’ll be waiting for the public ambulance for hours, just like everyone else.

This

i pay for private schooling but acutely aware that i very very very much use public services too - library, streets, rubbish collections… the list is endless

When DH and me got together in 1992 the mortgage rate was 15%. Times were not good. We ebb and flow financially, house prices, share prices and all the other prices keep changing. As someone else has already said ‘meh’ put your head down and down watch sensationalist news. And don’t think that voting labour in will make you any richer.

Things will get better and worse. We think things will just keep getting better and better, they won’t life goes in cycles sometimes good sometimes bad.

You sometimes just have to just roll with the changes.

the media are shit, they try and make everyone think in a certain way, fear the same things it enables them to sell more product.

most people will be fine, albeit they will prob have to make some big adjustments

Life is as good as you make it. People have been through harder times in the UK and go through harder times everyday, in other parts of the World. Do not buy into all the media headlines. They are nothing but doom and gloom merchants.

This

I agree that life goes in cycles and we've had worse before , but this could have been avoided at the moment. People with more business experience than me are saying the same too in tv etc
They had to sort out the energy crisis. I feel this is a short term solution, but it was sorted.
The tax cuts / borrowing could have waited ( as Rishi sunak championed ) until things were a bit more stable. It's only what I'm hearing , but they are not being pragmatic about it and the markets showed this with its massive wobble and the BofE intervention. It's not good , but clearly they feel they can do all this and it'll be ok. Im not so sure. Time will tell, but it's still worrying.

The UK should be doing as well, if not better than most European countries, we are not, why people revel in the appalling Govt the UK suffers from is a mystery,

Maybe it stems from our love of queuing?

Or is it just the fault of the media and UK bonds aren't falling in value, UK mortgages haven't risen, UK debt isn't a 100% of GDP and energy prices haven't double in 6 months... none of it has happened.... phew!

Or you've come from the Treasury to reassure us all?

Agree entirely- the news just whips us all up into a panic. Keep things as simple as you can, concentrate on the things that really matter like family, friends, pets and surround yourself with as much positivity as you can.

When you buy borrow, you should always build in a contingency. Everyone wants everything now, rather than buying what they can afford. Yes there are genuinely people out there that are struggling, but amongst the people I know 90% are living well beyond their means because they want to look like they are doing better than they actually are.

All those things cost money, can i surround myself with that?

Just need to get the fucking Tories out, with violence if necessary.

Good point OP. I've worked in the environment field (solving crises) for 30 years. We have known about environmental problems (including fossil fuels) since 1987 (the Bruntland Report - actually well before, because that was a big report) and had it globally agreed since 1992 (at the Rio Earth Summit). The media have been no help at all. This was always going to hit us now - but because of inaction it is now worse than any predictions. The media, along with goverments have simply never talked about it in the serious way we needed to hear.

Yes, its a function of the human brain too - we are absolutley s#*t at thinking ahead - much better finding comfort in the short term - especially noticable amongst politicians. In my conflict resolution work we even have a term for it - NIMTOO - Not In My Term Of Office.

And by the way, I work in trauma too.... and self soothe with Netflix - specifically Lucifer and anything starring Tom Hardy.... well, you know how it is....

Agree, it’s not looking good, but I have lived through the Cold War, falklands, winter of discontent, my dad having to work 3 day weeks, regularly power blackouts and the high interest rates of the 90’s. I do think the media has got a lot to do with, obviously not medias fault but we can’t just get away from it so adds to peoples depression., just seems to me that years ago we just didn’t seem so bothered by it. We have had very low interest rates for a long time so think we have got a little complacent.

I can't condone violence I'm afraid.
I'm as fed as anyone with them, but smashing things up only cause more money to be spent cleaning it up and really will not work.

My Gran used to say, when i was child and would look enviously at a new shiny car "they probably haven't even paid for a wheel yet"

But thats the society we live in, you can't blame people for spending more than they earn, plus the UK economy would go down the drain if we didn't have credit, we are a very judgemental society, as your post proves.

The pound is falling against the dollar.

Everything is falling against the dollar.

Lots of problems, some long term, a lot of the big ones are one offs due to the ukraine crisis.

Which doesn't make things easier at the sharp end.

But I don't think the media are trying to give people a proper understanding of what is going on.

Because the media vilified Ed Milliband and Jeremy Corbyn so that the Tories would stay in power. Simple.

Hahaha loving the Tory haters on here!! It will be fine, the country and world has gone through worse.

Covid is a non starter and media pandemic now.

Flu is bad every winter.

Energy issue, it is not a bloody crisis, well we just have to live with it. But successive governments have never invested properly in nuclear power or other alternatives for the last 30 years and yes that includes 12 years of of a labour government when we have lots of money and low national debt.

Brexit is here to stay, can do nothing about why worry?

Pound crashing for a day, well that's happended before

The problem is country is full people who have never had is so easy and as as it gets hard the media start a panic and then the sheeple follow.

And as for the climate crisis again a non starter and not a crisis. The world's climate changes we have to adapt.

And high interest rates? Well we only have oursepves to blame for over spending on mortgage and getting in debt on credit cards and loans.

I'm just reading a book about the Blitz at the moment which tends to put things in perspective! What the people in the East End particularly suffered was hideous. Shame it takes a book about death and destruction to do that.

I admit I'm even more concerned about Putin
His actions resemble Germany in 1933 at the moment. He is a total megalomaniac.
I don't agree that people shouldn't worry though, bills are huge and it is going to be hard.
I know a few people who are in dire straits and often wished I could win big on the lotto just to help them out.
I just hope things pan out, but it does feel one thing after another just now