UK officially in recession...

[Startingagainandagain]

Latest stats released show the UK is now officially in recession (Office for national statistic data).

Gaslighting has started in the media by ministers to try to minimise that fact.

Isn't it time to face the facts instead and call a general election?

I know the picture is bleak and any new party in power will need years to try to sort out this mess but something needs to be done...

The UK's decline in the past few decade or so has really been dramatic.

@Naptrappedmummy would you reduce mat leave entitlement then? Even with the best workplace benefits most of us become economically inactive around the 6 month mark, claiming smp a benefit.

I know.

I suppose it’s lost on you that the reason this is happening is because of a lack of funds.

So what I said was not hyperbole, then?

Social care is chronically underfunded. The Tories promised to fix it, but haven't. They have chucked money at many other things, though and wasted god knows how much.

You think it is OK to put disabled people into care homes against their will. I don't.

Your attitude to disabled people is really disturbing and upsetting naptrappedmummy

Social care is chronically underfunded. The Tories promised to fix it, but haven't. They have chucked money at many other things, though and wasted god knows how much.

No matter how much money is pumped into any system, The Tory way is it has to go through any number of layers before it does anything. Because that is how you move taxpayers money into your mates companies. Just ask Michelle Mone.

Many tradespeople are out of work right now, they are getting no calls. No one is having any work done. Let's hope things pick up in the spring.

There isn't a lack of funds, they're just being mishandled. Plenty of poorer countries provide services and care to all their citizens, our government choses not to. They know that certain people will just lap it up when they claim there isn't enough in the pot while giving tax cuts and private contracts to their mates. Callous people who LOVE the idea of people being punished for the crime of asking for assistance, people who think punching down is so much fun until they finally realise they're being punched from above too! Luckily, most are too thick or pig headed to work it out so remain ignorant their whole lives. Ahh, bliss!

Because it's prohibitively expensive. It's a self fulfilling prophecy really, over charge and get no work.

@PartyLikeIts2024 did you not read what I said? They are getting no calls. Not even the chance to quote for a job. Costs went up due to the huge increases in materials.

I know. Because it's so expensive! People ask their friends if they know a sparky to do a job "sure but when I had that done it cost me ...." And it's always far more than people can afford.

It really is.

Which other countries specifically?

Bellamountain - The months following Christmas are usually quiet as people have quite often overspent in December plus because of the weather most people don't want jobs done until the spring.

A lot of people share my views. They may not be common on here but they are in real life - among people I know, anyway. Nobody wants anybody to suffer, but equally some people just cannot admit there are limitations on what can be provided when the country is in the sort of state it is in.

Hearing the exact opposite where I am. People seem to be very like us. Literally had enough and want a kinder, greener more honest government who cares about health, education, MH and the average voter instead of the rich and their friends.

I definitely want a greener, more honest government.

I've learnt not to engage with Naptrappedmummy. She does not engage with or even respond to facts. She displays a callousness towards the sick and disabled that I've never seen on mumsnet (and I've seen some nasty stuff).

I am actually doubting she is who she purports to be. I have noticed her on many threads now and she is either unhealthily obsessed with removing benefits from the vulnerable due to genuine ignorance of the benefit system (and her inability to look at data over emotion could suggest this) or she has an agenda.

No it isn't sustainable, infact its a national scandal, 4m people in work, report life limiting health issues.

These people have MH, back pain and arthritis ... all treatable but for some reason we don't wish to treat or prevent getting these problems.

We are reaping the whirlwind of Austerity, in particular public health & a failure to fund the Health service

Time for the Tories to blame the disabled again. Do they still have a tenner a week to live on? Unacceptable while poor billionaires blah blah blah.

Meanwhile corporate profits remain on an upward trajectory (be nice and don't ask for a pay rise plebs or your boss won't be able to upgrade his tax haven this year), and British Gas saw ten-fold profits up from £75 million in 2021 to £750 million post - or during? - energy crisis, backed up by Ofgem in January who bumped our bills up by 5% so British Gas wouldn't be inconvenienced into having to spend any of that profit, and of course do remember to use your half price electricity bonus on Sunday to save £1.50 off your massive gas bill! We're all in this together!

@Naptrappedmummy at 11.44.. I was hoping you'd finished spouting??.....'Anyway I’m out.'

Where has anyone even said that🤣 talk about reading replies & then making up an alternative!

Do people want genuinely disabled/sick to receive money to live on since they can’t work? Yes. Do people want those that are working the system/choosing not to work as a lifestyle? No.

I don’t believe in non means tested benefits other than pensions

That is exactly what naptrappedmummy said. Contribution based ESA, PIP and DLA are non means tested disability benefits. Means testing them would mean disabled people losing those benefits if they work (in the case of PIP), if their spouse or partner works, or if they have household savings over a certain amount. So, no, I am not making things up.

Do some people want genuinely disabled/sick to receive money to live on since they can’t work? Yes.

FTFY.