Page 24 | Are things in the UK as bad as it sounds in the news?

Lolobella · 2022-12-13T11:04:49+00:00

I left the UK in 2017 and now live in Europe. I obviously still follow the UK news closely and visit, although I have no family left there. In the last few months the UK news have become increasingly grim and concerning. I can't tell if it is just the news painting the country in a worse light than necessary, or if things are genuinely as bad as the news make it sound. Obviously this is a tough historical moment for many countries, but the doom and gloom in UK news is just on another level and makes if sound like the country is in free fall. Poverty, strikes, crazy energy prices, failing NHS and public services.. Is it really so bad?!

bakebeans · 14/12/2022 21:05

Yep! 100%. It's the publics fault and the government are doing everything they can by pledging more nurses, pledging to help with energy bills whilst the food prices keep hiking up dramatically, pledging to do something about immigration, pledging to increase help for those on benefits. So pretty much still pledging since you left in 2017. Wish I had done that!

BruisedPear · 14/12/2022 21:19

dollytot · 14/12/2022 08:42

My orginal post was referencing illegal immigrants.

So please tell me smart ass, who is paying for all the Albanians who have come here lately, claiming 'asylum?'. Where are they being housed?! Exactly. In warm hotels - paid by the taxpayer, whilst people genuinely can't afford to heat their own homes.

They are receiving food, warmth, shelter, money- all paid for my the taxpayer. Its an absolute joke.

There are getting PLENTY of handouts. And if you think otherwise, it's you who's the idiot.

Show quote history

In hotels because our asylum system is a shit slow mess run into the ground by the current government. Asylum seekers are unable to work (the government could easily change this law but don’t) and get £44.50 a week not exactly a life of luxury. Again your ignorance is showing as they are not entitled to public funds or handouts! We also take the least asylum seekers in Europe.

Also they are housed in hotels through companies run buy Tory donors another example of government corruption and kick backs.
Silly uneducated fool stop reading the daily mail and maybe you’d realise the problem isn’t the Albanians 😂

LaDamaDeElche · 14/12/2022 21:19

nannykatherine No one on these threads are interested. I've frequently answered with what the reality is for people living in Spain on these type of threads and no one has ever responded to me. The British are very...British-centric . They're not interested to know what's going on in other countries or that they're much more fortunate than the majority of the world 🤷🏻‍♀️

venus7 · 14/12/2022 21:26

Fordian · 14/12/2022 20:56

I read at least 50% of this 500+ thread.

Things are not looking great for an awful lot of people in the UK as a result of Brexit, voting Tory, Covid and Ukraine. 65% of this is our fault -Brexit, yes; voting Tory, yes; late response to Covid; corruption in PPE sourcing/care-homes- yes a fair bit; Ukraine, no. (Tho why were we so utterly dependent on overseas power suppliers, regardless of their political situation? 🤔).

I'm 'insulated' in a £100k household; I don't see the pain many are suffering- but I know that it's there.

Dispassionately; I see this as England's reckoning. We are a nation of feudal, cap doffing, drunken, intellectually-suspicious peasants, easily swayed by anyone with a posh accent and quick wit.

It has 'paid off' for long enough, in that the peasantry (many, many of us) haven't frozen or starved; but the balance has tipped to where many might. The mendacious mediocrity that constitutes our current government have scented opportunity, and grabbed it, like any banana republic would.

But we're still 'okay' with that. Given we aren't actually rioting. Cos we're peasants who know our place.

Again, dispassionately, I think England needs this reckoning. It needs the slapping that's coming its way. It needs to understand that a war won 77 years ago needs to no longer inform its dog-whistle reactions to 'Europe'.

England needs proportional representation. A massive uplift in educational standards. A huge public housing program. Proper taxation of second home owners. High inheritance tax. No off-shoring of profits (earn the money/pay the tax). To learn to stop equating posh with clever, let alone altruistically minded. To value high quality vocational training. To pay politicians well, but no second jobs, no lobbying, sensible expenses; not exploitation (warm stables?).

I could go on... 😂

Well said, I agree. (almost completely!)

LuluBlakey1 · 14/12/2022 21:26

RosesAndHellebores · 14/12/2022 20:41

And who @LuluBlakey1 initially encouraged people not to work and subsidised many many people to limit work through the introuduction of working tax credit and the 16 hour rule.. I believe it was a chap called Bliar. The same chap who let PFI rip through the NHS and is now as rich as croesus.

I work in London. We cannot recruit administrators on £28 to £35k. We need people with a good foundation education. Our applicants are Post 92 graduates who cannot construct a grammatically correct sentence or convert 25% to a fraction. When one occasionally gets through the in-tray test they repeatedly bleat they want to be involved in strategic projects before they learnt to organise their time and tasks on Microsoft Office.

In other parts of my life my Surrey Town is very clean, services are good, except NHS, schools are excellent and I don't personally know anyone entitled who doesn't want to work and indeed hasn't worked for the last 35 to 40 years. Their well educated children are similar. Many of those nasty old capitalists have paid tax in spades, been quite philanthropic and have not used public services despite making full contributions to them.

I believe head teachers' salaries often now exceed £100k. They are top earners in the UK. I hope no left wing professional ever looks for a tax efficiency insofar as their personal affairs are concerned. I imagine they could never live with themselves.

You are right about Headteacher salaries- but not many earn over £100,000. Most earn somewhere between £55,000- £90,000 with many (in primary schools) towards the lower end of that. The bigger earners are academy chain Heads. I'd never say Heads are badly paid but main scale teachers often are.

Tony Blair was not PM in 1992- we had a Tory government. When Blair was PM, education and health were well-funded and standards did improve. Blair never had an issue with people earning millions- he wanted social justice for everyone, not to limit those at the top. I don't think you understand New Labour as it was then.

Schools do not exist to train children to do what every employer wants them to do.People continue to develop skills throughout life. If you are saying people who have graduated since 1992 have poor written English skills, then they, and the people who have employed them in the last 30 years, have had a responsibility to develop the employment skills required in their job. You can't blame schools they left in 1988/89 to go to university.

Soothsayer1 · 14/12/2022 21:31

@RosesAndHellebores
Many of those nasty old capitalists have paid tax in spades, been quite philanthropic and have not used public services despite making full contributions to them.
they may not have used them directly but they surely (as do we all) still benefit from the fact they exist? Without schools for the plebs no business could be staffed, without hospitals their employees would be less available...they need the plebs to be educated and patched up so that people will work for them and make them wealthy
@Fordian
England needs proportional representation. A massive uplift in educational standards. A huge public housing program. Proper tax of second home owners. High inheritance tax. No off-shoring of profits (earn the money/pay the tax).
Yes but the people who make the rules rely on all that to keep them rich and inpower....they make the rules to favour themselves, thats why they get richer & richer and we get poorer. Once people are in power they dig in, they use their wealth & power to protect & extend their wealth & power

lieselotte · 14/12/2022 21:37

NoelNoNoel · 14/12/2022 16:56

Having private healthcare doesn't help if it's gatekept by GPs

I haven’t had this experience, I have a few specialists I see and i email them direct if I have any concerns and get seen within the week at the latest. I always manage an appointment with a private GP within two days and very often on the same day.

That works if you are paying yourself but generally if you are insured you have to have a GP referral, although it depends, some services like physio are self-referral.

But eg when my DH needed a knee replacement, he had to get a referral from his NHS GP to see a consultant. We used e-consult which was great and he got a telephone appointment and a referral (and I have also helped my mum use it and she actually got a face to face appointment) but guess what, my surgery have discontinued using it! So who knows what would happen next time.

colouringindoors · 14/12/2022 21:40

@MadMadaMim Exactly. The amount of gaslighting on this thread is sickening

Mary54 · 14/12/2022 21:43

Tiggy321 · Today 18:33
I left UK in 2006 and have lots of family still there. I know things are bad but isn’t the media hyping it all up too?? I am in Belgium and prices are crazy here- energy is barely affordable even for professionals. Food prices have always been higher than UK and are rising fast. We have strikes too regularly. Life is no picnic here either and I don’t think it is worse or better than the UK tbh..

exactly this

German energy prices are 25-30% higher that UK, electricity having doubled and gas increased fourfold in the last year. Have just spent approximately €6000 on a tank of oil and wood for the winter’s heating.
Food prices have increased. Dairy items about 3 times the price they were at the beginning of the year.

Not denying the problems in the UK but other countries are in the same situation.

Escarpahell · 14/12/2022 21:45

I live in Portugal. We use gas bottles for water heating, a bottle costs about €30 and lasts around 6 weeks. We don't stint on electric (washing machine, dishwasher, lots of electronics and - at the moment - 3 dehumidifiers going 24/7) and our bill is c€80 a month. Heating is mainly from a pellet burner and that is now expensive, a bag costs €9 and lasts about 3/4 days so will average €90 a month over the winter. Water/rubbish collection is €20 a month. So total utilities €210ish.

A doctors visit is free, as is a specialist referral. If you need an operation and it can't be done on the health service within 6 months of you being seen by a consultant you will be sent to a private hospital and the cost covered by the state.

I've been to hospital twice in the last six months. First time was to a private hospital for a sudden sciatica attack. Seen, X-rayed, treated and referral letter within a hour at a cost of €125.

Second time to my local hospital for back pain. Waited 8 minutes. Seen, examined, pain killer prescription, CT scan and full bloods ordered and referral to neurologist - all free.

I follow the UK news (Ch4, Guardian/Times & LBC) and I am very glad to live in Portugal.

Mandyjack · 14/12/2022 21:50

It's fairly realistic, there are lots of strikes, energy, fuel and food are rapidly increasing in price but wages aren't. Interest rates are going up too so good if you have money in the bank but not if you have a mortgage.

MonsteraLover89 · 14/12/2022 21:58

I’m from Malta but live in the UK, and I can say energy prices in Malta, a small european island with no natural resources and a much smaller economy than the British one, has not increased energy prices and neither fuel prices. University is still free for all and there are no strikes or issues with most sectors. Is it perfect? Definitely not. But when the UK government here keeps blaming Russia for a 100% increase in energy bills, lack of funds and food cost increases, its clearly not the only issue. Otherwise all countries would have the same issues, probably even worse.

in my opinion what we’re seeing is the UK government not blaming themselves for the hardships of Brexit and the gross misuse of public funds during covid, now the pax payers must pay it all back but hey lets blame the biggest crisis in the recent 100 years on a war in Russia…because its the only thing no one can blame the government now that covid is over..

itsnotmeitisactuallyyou · 14/12/2022 22:02

Yes,can confirm its a shit show

GreenLunchBox · 14/12/2022 22:07

dollytot · 13/12/2022 17:58

Put it this way, I left the UK December 2021 and went to live somewhere lovely and hot. I have just recently came back due to parents ailing health and FML it's miserable.

I am STILL dealing with the culture shock of it all, and planning desperately to move again in the summer for good, but I can't live being this miserable knowing how happy I was a few months ago. Some things that stand out to me since returning :

The sheer pettiness of people about the most silliest of things
Immigration getting worse
Crime out of control
Media news (cost of living, Harry & Meghan constantly shoved down your throat)
Everything is pretty expensive
No GP appointments
No decent school for my DD
No NHS dentist appointments in my area (happy to go private, but DD needs NHS).
The weather is beyond shit
So many health issues since I've returned
Lack of housing (had to put down 6 months to get anywhere).
General doom and gloom

This is a moany post andI know that other countries have many issues too. But this isn't a country I even recognise anymore and I've only been gone less than a year.

The audacity of this immigrant moaning about immigration🙄🤔

Ginburee · 14/12/2022 22:16

Yes it is, I am a nurse and going out tomorrow to support my workmates.
It is pretty shit.

CurryandSnuggle · 14/12/2022 22:22

Every single bill has gone up significantly even food, and energy now costs quadruple what it did this time last year 😬 and it appears there’s no end in sight as rental cost and mortgages due to increase by a predicted £300 next year for a lot of people. Glad we went on a 3 year fixed rate back in July but I slightly wish we went for a 5 year as I’m scared this shit show will last for a very long time and we won’t be able to afford the mortgage. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen.

Tonymate · 14/12/2022 22:37

No. Bear in mind that the only bad news is news. There is a tendency for our (ie UK mainstream media) to report bad news with a certain relish.

Sarahbumdaa · 14/12/2022 22:37

Its truly awful here everyone I work with has had enough I couldn't get a doctors appointment for my son or daughter when they were ill dd ended up in hospital as she couldn't get antibiotics as we couldn't get to see doctor. I've been stuck off by my dentist as I couldn't afford to pay for a check up. Food is crazy expensive we are cold and wondering what is the point we are only existing not living.

Chuck2015 · 14/12/2022 22:39

I’m in my early 50’s and it’s by far the worst period I’ve lived through. And I lived through 70’s Britain and the shortages/strikes - which is why I assume baby boomers keep voting Tory, but without remembering the good bits, ie a great NHS with no waiting times, free education, swimming, musical instruments, council funded drama school etc etc. I’ve been pretty active politically over the last 7 years and honestly people who continue to vote these lot in should hang their heads in shame. It’s been very depressing canvassing on the doorstep incidentally, people show so little interest beyond their own little world, seem to have no foresight and believe everything they read in the press which is why we are where we are quite frankly.,

Odessafile · 14/12/2022 23:14

@RosesAndHellebores well obviously life is great in your home counties surrey town. Of course it is but quite a lot of the UK isn't a bit like Surrey 😂. Services cut to the bone, litter everywhere as well as homeless on every corner.
It would open some eyes if folk like you saw how the rest of the UK has fared.

colouringindoors · 14/12/2022 23:34

Ah yes Surrey. The wealthiest county in England.

Are things in the UK as bad as it sounds in the news?

dementor72 · 14/12/2022 23:36

The UK is now reaping the ‘reward’ of Govt policies over the last 40 years. The greed is good era, removal of regulations that protected us all , selling off all National assets et al is what’s behind this mess. Brexit only exacerbated the rot. Even Labours PFI policies were flawed however well intentioned.
When did it become acceptable for billionaire employers to be subsidised by taxpayers via universal credit top ups for their underpaid workers?
Who allows senior NHS , Rail and Water company managers to dispose of land and properties for buttons to their arms length mates who then cash in … I know of one transaction where receipts of £1.4 million yielded £75+ million profit .
There is a profound lack of oversight and effective accountability .
The corrupt response to Covid may have been avoided had pandemic contingencies not been sidelined as unnecessary and expensive.
The Civil Service was told not to make any plans to manage Brexit as senior figures expected a second referendum to change the outcome ; no planning was done until far too late.
Etc Etc
Government relies on the Official Secrets Act and 100 year rule to keep people in the dark. So much goes unreported.
This shitshow has been long coming .
Its a National disgrace and we are suffering badly.

helford · 14/12/2022 23:42

And who initially encouraged people not to work and subsidised many many people to limit work through the introuduction of working tax credit and the 16 hour rule.. I believe it was a chap called Bliar

Tories introduced income support in 1972, it has been called many things since, the latest is UC.. by the Cons, so might be an idea to check your facts before writing complete rubbish or criticising graduates who can't string a sentence together - neither can you.

UnicornRidge · 14/12/2022 23:44

Fordian · 14/12/2022 20:56

I read at least 50% of this 500+ thread.

Things are not looking great for an awful lot of people in the UK as a result of Brexit, voting Tory, Covid and Ukraine. 65% of this is our fault -Brexit, yes; voting Tory, yes; late response to Covid; corruption in PPE sourcing/care-homes- yes a fair bit; Ukraine, no. (Tho why were we so utterly dependent on overseas power suppliers, regardless of their political situation? 🤔).

I'm 'insulated' in a £100k household; I don't see the pain many are suffering- but I know that it's there.

Dispassionately; I see this as England's reckoning. We are a nation of feudal, cap doffing, drunken, intellectually-suspicious peasants, easily swayed by anyone with a posh accent and quick wit.

It has 'paid off' for long enough, in that the peasantry (many, many of us) haven't frozen or starved; but the balance has tipped to where many might. The mendacious mediocrity that constitutes our current government have scented opportunity, and grabbed it, like any banana republic would.

But we're still 'okay' with that. Given we aren't actually rioting. Cos we're peasants who know our place.

Again, dispassionately, I think England needs this reckoning. It needs the slapping that's coming its way. It needs to understand that a war won 77 years ago needs to no longer inform its dog-whistle reactions to 'Europe'.

England needs proportional representation. A massive uplift in educational standards. A huge public housing program. Proper taxation of second home owners. High inheritance tax. No off-shoring of profits (earn the money/pay the tax). To learn to stop equating posh with clever, let alone altruistically minded. To value high quality vocational training. To pay politicians well, but no second jobs, no lobbying, sensible expenses; not exploitation (warm stables?).

I could go on... 😂

"a posh accent and a quick wit" 😂
I am with you. We are the very lucky 1% who don't feel much impact from inflation. Many people are. But they voted the Tory in. They are easily impressed by the likes of JRM and BoJo.
From the recent interview with red wall voters, it looks like they will keep voting the Tory / Nigel Garage in. Depressing 😥They are the exact people who are doing worse under the Tory.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/11/this-lot-no-way-what-red-wall-voters-think-now-of-boris-johnson-the-tories-and-labour?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Rebecca Layton, 37, a nursing assistant, also voted Labour until 2019. “Labour just didn’t have many things to do for Blyth,” she said. Plus, it had a “loony” leading the party. “I know they say don’t vote for the person, vote for their policies, but he was the face of Labour and he was going to rule the country? No, sorry. Boris Johnson was the better man to do it.”

Ann Rackham, a retired research psychologist who grew up in Penistone and lives in the town, considers herself European and voted to remain in the EU but is a big fan of Nigel Farage and would still like to see him as prime minister.

She said: “I think he has a lot of common sense. Farage is the man we need at the moment. I like politicians who shout, or at least who are assertive.”

Pearfacebanana · 14/12/2022 23:47

It's bad for all the reasons stated. But ... people are still spending right now. Retail footfall has held up better than anticipated in December. I think the shit is still to hit the fan...