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

[Lolobella]

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?!

It’s the absolute Pitts 😢

Yes, for anyone with low income it's debilitating

Yes. The UK is the 5th richest economy. But ..
My Mother died of cancer after 9 separate attempts to see HCPs. I'm on the waiting list to see if it's genetic - 5m to date, also been waiting for an Apnoea test for 14m now...). Educational standards in free fall (in Scotland & we've just withdrawn from league tables as so poor). Strikes everywhere. People are cold (-10 here today) but scared to turn heaters on. Housing stock old & inefficient or modern & poorly built. Mortgage interest leapt after latest Tory economic 'experiment'. Rentals eye-watering & no security of tenure.
Racism is overt. Class / wealth system still going strong. Uni Education now unaffordable so the working class are less 'upwardly mobile' than for 50 years. We become ever more insular as we 'Leave Europe'. But, hey, we have a Coronation & 2 more years of an(other) unelected PM to look forward to.

I work in the NHS (clinical), things are really terrible tbh, lots of operations cancelled due to no beds, long waiting lists, we are losing many good members of staff and can’t replace them. The quality of the work force is reducing not just the numbers of staff, many of our best staff are leaving to work private or retrain in another industry. Morale is very low, sickness is through the roof and people are over worked and underpaid, so the team spirit we once had where people would help out with covering extra shifts is just not there anymore. Managers are having to pressure and in a lot of cases bully staff into working shifts, so people are quitting in droves.

It’s not zero-sum.

Everywhere is struggling, the U.K. is a self-inflicted shitshow.

Yes, it’s horrible.

Yes it's bad here. Not just energy and food costs but the strain on the NHS too.

My son was admitted to A&E last night for a viral wheeze. Needed inhalers and chest x-ray. A&E had a queue out of the door. Children's department had poorly kids asleep on floors, chairs and on parents knees for hours on end. 7-9 hour waiting times to see doctors. Strep A, Scarlet fever, RSV, COVID and other breathing difficulties being the main reasons it was crammed :(
111 service saying wait 12 hours for a call back from a nurse who then tells you to go to A&E. GP services not being able to offer appointments when you call at 8am on the dot and are on hold for 47 minutes due to demand!

It's bleak. Winters just starting.

It depends. Obviously the cost of living has gone up, as it has done just about everywhere. A large number are extremely affected. But most people I know are able to make a few adjustments and carry on pretty much as normal.
Inflation rate here is high at 11%, but it's higher in many European countries, including Italy and Belgium, and similar to Germany and Denmark.

I’m with this too. The BBC are obsessed, if it’s not negative and frightening then it’s not news, it seems.

The actual country out there seems worse for some people than others. There were people queuing to get in Waitrose this morning (I noticed as I drove past to Aldi!) - it was rammed at 10.30 on a Tuesday. Those people aren’t worrying.

Shhhh! On Mumsnet, Europe is a magical place where everything is perfect!

No I don’t think so. Yes the cost of everything has gone up - much like most places I imagine though. The press just loves a bit of doom and gloom, as does mumsnet, so you’re only going to get responses saying how depressing it is here. We’re not well off but managing fine, as are most people I know.

Yes, it is truly terrible. Prices are sky-rocketing: rents, utilities, food.
People are waiting two days to be seen at A&E.

GPs seem to conduct most appointments by phone these days, not even Zoom, so no quick glance at the overall welfare of the patient.

There's a general strike: rail, bus, nurses, postal - so transport, communications and health are all in dire straits or have ground to a halt.

Anecdotally what shocks me most is how many people seem to be dying younger. So many people dying in their 50s and 60s these days.

I would love to live elsewhere. DH won't consider it but I am aching to get away. I feel so ashamed of UK and what it has become.

Yes. Typing this as I try to book an urgent chest X-ray through an NHS booking line. This is the 4th call I’ve made over the last two days - totally over 2 hours on hold and still no appointment booked.

The situation in general is dire. Spiralling costs, crap housing, all the rest of it.

I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the Tory party.

Yes, I think that things are really bad. Not sure that people in continental Europe really get it. In reality - the middle classes i.e. not rich people have now become poor while public goods i.e. roads, trains, health, education, social services, libraries, swimming pools etc are collapsing and falling apart. Whilst those who are wealthy can still to some extent buy themselves out - i.e. private schooling, health, leisure, private cars but am not sure how long they will be doing this. I think the UK is now much more on the par with parts of Eastern Europe where anyone in public sector is poor and everyone aspires to only work in business. Now what we still dont have is high bribe taking, elites migranting abroad for a nicer lifestyle - but we do already have the employees syphoning money off to their mates in private companies (so a form of corruption)

Yep, it's appalling.
There was an old man on the radio today crying because he couldn't heat his house or get a foodbank parcel delivered.
We (my DH and I and our extended family) are extremely fortunate.
We can absorb these increasing costs but God help us if we need an ambulance or anything else from the NHS.
It's absolutely awful and for those on low incomes, I honestly don't know how they will manage.

Yea it is that bad, thanks to the tories.

I just want to add, the staff at A&E were amazing last night. Everyone was so kind considering how manic it was. The staff working under those conditions I witnessed last night are absolutely amazing.
The relief I felt after being able to take my son home was immense. The queue remained the same as we were leaving. The stress must be so heavy.

@NewToWoo Life expectancy has fallen. I remember when that happened in the USSR and we were all shocked in Britain.

This is how bad it is www.itv.com/news/wales/2022-12-12/woman-drives-grandad-to-hospital-strapped-to-plank-of-wood

Out of interest, those of you living in countries where the energy prices have been capped (properly apparently)…what are your governments telling you about that?

UK energy prices aren’t high because we’re really bad at negotiating…wholesale costs are high the world over.

Different governments have chosen different funding mechanisms to support each population but at some point someone is paying for the difference between what it costs and what you’re paying and that will have to be paid back at some point.

More on topic, some people are having a terrible time, some people are ok and some people are getting wealthier…so far so normal. But, people doing ok doesn’t make good stories so of course what you’re seeing is the worst.

The thing I find frightening is healthcare. Anyone can have an accident or get sick, and having extreme wait times for A&E leads to unnecessary deaths. As does the lack of preventative medicine and early treatment of conditions, although then a few people can afford private.
The wider economy is crap but then we’re in a sort-of-war with Russia.

@Xer

I am glad your son is better. My 12 year old has a fever and cough, it’s very worrying. My 11 year old now has chilblains on her toes from the cold weather. I’ve honestly never felt so bloody miserable living in this country, I am trying my very hardest to be hopeful but it’s like walking on a tight rope.

Accessing emergency healthcare is such a worry and none of us know when we will need it.

Have you read any of the threads on here !!! Of course things are bad,
maybe not for any everybody, but for a huge percentage

Not to be pedantic but thats in terms of size of the economy i.e. China has the second biggest economy (probably the biggest by now) but its still a third world country economically in many ways and in most areas (except in the tier one cities). in the UK, its very unequal.

The average Slovenian household is richer than the Average british household. The average polish household will overtake the average British household by the late 2020s. This is from the FT so I am not just making up nonsense. In some inner london boroughs, gdp per capita is the same as in Switzerland. London has some of the poorest people in the country living side by side and of course there are parts of the north with lower gdp per capital than Bulgaria. Its all very unequal.

I would say that the UK is overall a poor country- #20, with some very rich residents. the top 7% are as rich as their counterparts in Germany or Norway. You have to earn in excess of £300k to be in top 5% of London's earners. So plenty of people on very good incomes, leading good lives. But they are concentrated in certain sectors like the financial services sector, the IT sector and some professions like doctor/solicitor. And of course the UK has quite a few asset rich individuals who are predominantly older. So I would say that UK is not a rich country but there is a kind of upper middle class (doctors, solicitors, IT workers, financial services workers, politicians, management consultants) and the very rich (asset rich, billionaires, wealthy expats). The rest are just poor. I think in a way its becoming quite similar to countries like Turkey and Italy- they were former great empires with a sizable upper middle class (who would send their children abroad and lead really good lives that you would associate with a first world country). Thats why we have a burgeoning luxury goods market. But if you don't fall into that category, you are likely to become very poor . If not you, then your children. Even if you own a house now with a comfortable income, there is no guarantee your kids can buy that same home or even if they could, whether they would continue to earn that income to sustain it without selling it to someone richer. Unless you inherit a lot and invest it carefully (but then you would count as asset rich, i suppose).

Worse than the U.S?

I think they are in a much worse position long term but seem more oblivious and as here people get on with the day to day and hope for the best long term.

There was a BBC piece a while ago that show GP distribution varied wildly across the UK which is obviously going to affect access. It is uneven and many in the media are focused in ones worse affected as that's the news bit.

I saw a theater reviewer youtube complaining shows were closing because people seem reluctant to pre-book now - in comments people outside of London were explaining they lack the confidence to do so because of train strikes - extra nights in London hotels aren't cheap. There are knock on effects - and I think we will end up in a recession as people cut back or adapt to ongoing strikes and price increases.

Despite that I do agree with PP media very negative and most people are rumbling on concerned but managing at the moment.