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?!

Sorry wrong thread. Bloody back button jumps things around!

It isn't just the inflation rate. If Inflation was 11% but the average household income was 80k (in the whole of uk not just the SE), we would probably be able to manage better. Its a whole combination of factors-

1. Lots of working people on Universal Credit so no leeway in the budgets
2. the middle class having to pay large mortgages if they bought recently
3. the middle class having to pay high unsubsidized childcare fees to pay that aforementioned large mortgage
4. state pension being quite low and lots of older people relying on it.
5. landlords being able to raise rents at will and shortage of rental housing leading to higher rentals at the same time as an increase in energy and food costs
6. Lots of long term sick due to underinvestment in healthcare whcih delays diagnosis and means they are in the worst state-they can't work
7. Society relying on a crumbling welfare state so less reliance on family unlike in Asian countries where there may not be a welfare state but close knit family networks mean people have something else to fall back on. in the uk, when the welfare state fails, there is no fall back option.

Its pretty bad. Mortgages gone up, rents unaffordable to many, food prices gone up and continuing to rise, energy prices astronomical and will rise again in April. We're in the middle of a cold snap, so having to heat the house.

There's just been a report that prostitution has massivly increased in the last few months, over 70% of the women are mothers trying to feed kids and keep a roof over there heads. Honestly, this is Dickensian, women having to sell themselves to feed their children.

We both have health conditions that mean keeping warm is not optional. I am at high risk of heart attack, and live in fear that there won't be an ambulance available if I have another one, and if there is, then there won't be a bed for me.

We are lucky that we have savings and are using them to keep the house warm and have a healthy diet. But if they run out goodness only knows what we will do. A few times I've had to wait until the pharmacy can get hold of medication, luckily I hadn't run right out, but its an extra worry on top of everything else.

I am awake at night trying to think of ways two unwell people can make a bit of extra cash, and what we can cut down on to make ends meet. Its not a good time in the UK to be honest, and there are others far worse off than me.

Yes, it is bad.
Almost everyone I know is cold and worried about their fuel bills. Many people have stories of unnecessary pain, anxiety or even relatives dying because they couldn’t access medical treatment within a reasonable time. Today we just heard that a crucial local bus route is going to be axed.
I am reasonably well off and don’t know anyone who can’t afford to eat but even at the comfortably off level we can see things getting worse faster than they ever have before, even things that have been specifically admitted by recent governments to need improvement like public transport services in certain areas.

It's pretty bad but I don't think it's as bad as it's been made out in comparison to other times, but I guess not everyone alive today lived through the blitz, rationing, WW2, the 80's super recession (very high inflation), the early 90's property crash, etc.

I suppose Bristol is in Europe geographically...Maybe OP lives in Swiss Road and is a little confused.

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/bs3/swiss-road.html

It is bad, but not as bad as the media like to make it out to be. Bad news sells remember!

It is dire here. Heating, food, rents and mortgages are through the roof for people. Some people are so desperate to try and save money that they are sitting in the cold and dark

Scared that our elderly neighbours will need an ambulance again, because goodness knows when one will turn up. GPs have no appointments and waiting times in a&e are horrific. There's an acute antibiotic shortage (despite what government ministers will tell you) leaving parents driving desperately from pharmacy to pharmacy trying to get some.

Even when there are no train strikes, the trains are cancelled and delayed. Rail replacement buses don't exist, because there's a shortage of drivers.

Spend hours on customer services, to be told that we can't have an engineer visit out for two months.

You can't get parts that are needed when something breaks. I go into the supermarket and wonder where all the products that I used to buy are.

It's actually just really fairly shit.

Sadly it's all true OP, probably even worse.
Energy prices, food prices, mortgage rates, rents etc - all skyrocketing.
We can't even put the heating on, it costs too much - it's 9 degrees in my house.

@TheLeadbetterLife ........

Of course the Tories have made some improvements.........there are now lots of foodbanks whereas before they were not so prolific, and.......many churches and other organisations are providing warm spaces where people who can't afford heating, can go to. What's not to like?

........yes, I'm being sarcastic.

Been to Bristol recently with Christmas market and busy shops it seemed to be doing alright better than many other city centers we've seen last year or so.

Agree. The NHS will never be sorted out as long as we continue with a FPTP electoral system. It's archaic. There will be as many people moaning about a Labour government in 5 years' time as there currently are moaning about the Tories.

FFS, OP knows where she is. She merely stated thatv the left the UK and now lives in a European country. A few dopes decided that she doesn't know that the UK is geoghrphically in Europe or that Switzerland isn't in the UK, though there is no basis for thinking that.

You might want to watch the superiority complex when you are so lacking incomprehension.

As for all the posts about how the UK is no worse than anywhere else....it's so obviouly bullshit.

No, of course not. We are a wealthy, democratic nation. Unfortunately, many UK citizens have no appreciation of just how lucky they are.

its pretty bad and its going to get worse, we have had £10s million removed from work budget next year that is going to translate into peoples jobs. Locally 3 pubs/restaurants closing as they cant afford bills.

2023 is going to be grim ....and its Tory inflicted! they outright lie and there is a steady erosion of our rights. Right to protest, right to strike and right to vote... Human rights will go soon as well as worker and food safety protections.

I'm not sure that it's any worse than anywhere else. Hard to say, everyone can only speak to their own personal circumstances. Fuel bills, interest rates, inflation are going up everywhere. I can't imagine it's a massive laugh in Switzerland if e.g. you are at the bottom end of the earning scale with a dodgy landlord and health conditions either (as per some of the UK commenters above).

The NHS is rubbish, but it has been my entire adult life so that's not surprising. Trains ditto. Potholes in the road etc. same as ever.

Yeah it's bad. It will depend on circumstances obviously, some will be relatively buffered, but bit in all circumstances. Even the wealthy who need an ambulance will be suffering along with the rest of us. It's not just the NHS etc, NOTHING works anymore, basic public services are not provided. Trains cancelled willy nilly, whether it's a strike day or not. Near me no pavements are gritted, none at all. 10 years ago the council would have gritted the pavement on major routes along with the road. The elderly must be confined to their homes. Britain in 2022 is a depressing place.

If I genuinely believed there was anywhere that was truly better in all respects, I'd be there asap. I don't have any loyalty to the country, just find it hard to believe the grass is really greener anywhere else

As others have said, it’s bad. Yes, covid and Ukraine war have contributed but 12 years of Tory policies meant our economy and public services were already weakened and unable to withstand these events as well as other countries.

Austerity under Cameron and Osborne decimated public services and caused sluggish economic growth with wages not raising over a decade in real terms. Some economists at the time said austerity would not work but most of the media and govt did not listen. Cameron’s Tory govt being Tory prefer a small state and claiming austerity was the only way to recover from the global crash gave them the perfect smokescreen to try and reduce the size of the state.

Then the absolute folly of Brexit which was always going to hurt the economy if the U.K. left the single market. Cameron probably should have realised that allowing the referendum to go ahead after years of austerity would mean some people would blame the problems wrongly on the EU and vote to leave. Also not insisting on needing a super majority result for such a momentous decision was an error.

The very rich whose interests Conservatives serve have done fine though massively increasing their wealth through quantative easing. The 1000 richest people in the U.K. increased their wealth by £500 billion since 2009. QE may have been necessary but as the rich have benefited so hugely there is a strong case for a wealth tax.

So sad to read this thread. I haven't been able to return to the UK since 2015 due to disability but I too follow the news and was hoping it was all over the top reporting. Lately a few Brits in my expats FB group are returning in the run up to Christmas and are all commenting on how shockingly run down home appears to be right now. Very sad indeed.

I’m abroad in Europe too, I agree it looks bad from outside. But when I go back where my parents live it’s all huge houses and nice cars.. I don’t see many struggling but I do think it depends on the area. Food and cars have always been cheap in the Uk. Many people sat in houses with a lot of equity. I think for the younger generations- 35 and down, life will be much much harder than the previous generations. Xx

This is really sad :(

The grass is greener nearly everywhere. The UK doesn't even have any greass left, except in private parks for the rich. The grass is dead.

@Setyoufree I reckon you could take your pic of places tbh. We were in France in the summer, our DD needed to see a Dr. It was a much more straightforward experience than in the UK, even with the language barrier. Tbh everything just worked so much more smoothly. I think that could be replicated in many other countries, I don't think there's anything special about France.

I have a house in Spain and spend half the year there. Portugal and Spain cannot be compared with Northern Europe, partly because the need for heating is clearly lower, but mainly because they source their gas from Algeria (plus Nigeria in the case of Portugal). For this reason the EU have exempted them from some of the collective measures the rest of the Union are subject to. Food prices in Spain, while cheaper than the UK because of the comparative weakness of the economy, are certainly going up. The Spanish government are currently looking to see what they can do about this, as people are struggling because of their historically low wages.

Things are undoubtedly difficult currently for quite a lot of people and very difficult for some, not least because of the warmonger Putin's actions. The current cold snap and the upcoming strikes won't help matters either. But to speak of "widespread collapse" is nonsense, and fed by the catastrophising, click bait headlines adopted by most of the media today.