Does anyone else feel like everything has gone a bit to shit and that there's no way out of the decline?

[Coldia]

I've noticed that I take it for granted now that things won't work, and that I need to make allowance that whoever I deal with whether personally or professionally is struggling practically, financially or otherwise. Like, my expectations are lowered, because nothing is as good as it was and life is a bit shit for everyone. It just feels so ... hopeless.

Does anyone else feel the same?

For you maybe, but what about all the children going to school hungry? The return of Victorian illnesses? The number of homeless families living in single, damp rooms? Those children are not having it so good.

Since Covid it feels like everything is broken.

Because Covid was the extra 10% we collectively decided we didn't need and would rather have tax breaks for the wealthy instead.

In one role, a director boasted of being "low cost IT". Which was all very well until another director casually asked what capacity they had for illness, staff leaving and to review changes before rolling them out. Turned out it was "0%". They went under the first week of lockdown.

Yes, we all want efficiency and low costs. But you can go too far. We could all save money by not eating.

Up to a point. And then it all becomes rather academic.

@Meadowfinch

I'm sorry to hear you've been through all of that, but I'm glad it all went so well for you & that you're feeling positive, well & happy 💕

Yeah, we’ve had to pay extra to have our garden waste emptied for years now. Though it’s cheaper here (£50) than the area we used to live. We paid £80 there ten years ago. There are literally no free Council services left. They used to collect furniture and white goods for free, and donate it to needy families. Then they started to charge for it, and now this year they’ve scrapped the scheme because they can’t afford to run it. There’s absolutely nothing left for them to cut. And to add insult to injury our council tax has gone up to over £4000 this year!

Agreed, but what depresses me are the number of people who think it will all be better once the Trories are out of office.

It won't there's too many problems to be solved by a simple change of government.

@Menomeno

On the subject of waste, I forgot as well to mention that you can't just go to the tip anymore. Oh no, you have to book an appointment! And don't be bringing it in anything bigger than a hatchback - you'll get turned away. And no hardcore (ooh err) or other building materials. Nope basically you can only bring some dead leaves and an old roller blind...and then get berated for putting it in the textile container instead of the metal one.

Needless to say the council is now spending vast sums due to the increase in fly-tipping.

Some purple haired loon with a lanyard somewhere thought this was a good idea.

Life is what you make of it, all we can all do is play the cards we're dealt.

@IvorTheEngineDriver

Yes, we were talking about that yesterday.

it feels like there's no political hope out there, can't get excited for the 'new government' & hope they'll get it sorted out.

im glad some people are seeing positive change & getting good result within the NHS, but to me it's all feeling very crap.

Pot jokes aren't generally life threatening in themselves, but they are causing accidents & expensive car repairs. Loss of income to people too.

NHS hasn't helped my friend in his mid 80's, they've finally taken him into hospital after a couple of weeks trying to get a Dr to see him, he now has sepsis on his lungs & yesterday had a heart attack there. They paid no attention to him when he told them he had indigestion like pain.

so his very frail wife is now at home alone, she can't even make herself a cup of tea. She's sleeping on the sofa because she can't get upstairs without his help. A week later she's finally getting 2 visits a day from carers but at very unpredictable times, brilliant for an ill woman who also has diabetes.

it's a huge clusterfuck.

the drivers on the roads are fucking feral or plain stupid, it's drinking my taxi driver FWB into an early grave (but he's if an age where setting a different job really isn't possible)

Food prices are astronomical if you want to eat healthily.

im older too & about to be made redundant (it genuine, not due to my age, health or anything else) & I have no idea how I'm going to cope as for various reasons I won't get a similar job for a similar salary. I'm too old to be looking to get another job the same, but far too off returning to do that.

i could go on, but I'll stop now. I'll just pop my head back into the sand.

Things aren't great. What baffles me is that I earn more money than I could ever have imagined earning, even five years ago (new job + DH dying young and leaving me a small monthly pension) but I'm still broke at the end of every month because costs have skyrocketed. I think about how fortunate I am, and yet what a struggle it is, and I just can't even begin to comprehend how tough things must be for those on lower incomes, or with caring responsibilities, or without secure employment or housing, or who don't know how to navigate the various broken systems we seem to have been left with post-Covid etc etc. Like... my doctor's surgery have a new online appointment booking and triage system, and it works okay, but I imagine those who aren't so good with technology really struggle and just want to be able to go and see a bloody doctor. And while I do have a lot of faith in the next generation – yes, some of the more hardcore "woke" (for want of a better word) proselytizing can be annoyingly naive, but in general I think it's a lot better than the undercurrents of racism/misogyny/homophobia/ableism we grew up with – I do also think their inability to just BE – to be still, to be quiet, to be bored – is something that they're missing out on. It worries me that it's so hard to escape – we're all always contactable, always keeping an eye on work, always getting news alerts, always imbibing information one way or another and I don't know if that's good for anyone.

Modern technology has made life easier in a lot of ways. But I'm not sure it's better.

@ConJob My childhood was a bit like that. We were never actually homeless but overcrowding and damp rooms, going to school hungry - yes I remember that. Things improved for a while but the country is poorer than it was. Public services are no longer what they were, almost everything you want to buy is made in China or clothing sometimes in Pakistan and it doesnt last. Potholes are an everyday topic of conversation. Sexual stereotypes are being forced back onto women and misogyny is blatant.

Greater awareness of environmental damage is good but we used to shop with reusable bags for groceries that were rarely in extra packaging. Holidays for those who could afford them were by train or coach, not by jet.

I've lost the optimism of youth. No political party has much idea of how to improve and the young seem to lack the energy and enthusiasm we had.

The people holding the antenna were lucky in life. Some of us had to use a wire coat hanger instead.

The potholes is an interesting one. I think it's another result of climate change, at least partially.

I'm a parish councillor and I know the amount our county council has spent on potholes in this year. It's way up but the amount of rain is far higher with resulting damage to roads. They really are doing their best.

The council is looking at different road surfaces in response to changing conditions.

The mechanical stress of EV acceleration isn't going to help potholes. Along with power steering that can grind a hole in tarmac.

The fact there isn't a study on the effects of EVs on UK road surfaces is a key marker that the whole "push" for EVs is a total and utter load of bollocks.

If you want to find out what other Big Ideas are really bullshit, a good start is to look at what groundwork has (or more likely than not) hasn't been done.

I think the infrastructure has broken down and I dont know how we get it back. Proper basics like water, roads, transport, housing, crumbling schools and hospitals. All this makes society less resilient.

There have always been people struggling within whatever system there is with winners and losers - but i do believe, that for a time we had ok infrastructure and let it fall apart.

I dont really see any political party with a plan for this. We probably need a party that has a ' 25 year managed decline plan' but who is going to vote for that?

Evs are a lot heavier too.
We just don't have the infrastructure in place to convert. I won't be any time soon.

I can usually take pleasure in small things and count my blessings, but there are wider things in general I worry about, or feel sad at the rate of change for the poorer. For example our nearest city is just row upon row of empty units interspersed with chain burger restaurants, bars and vape shops. Even when a physical shop exists, e.g. for a mobile phone company, if you go inside and try to do virtually anything other than buy a new phone or upgrade your contract, you're told "sorry, can't do that here, you'll have to ring up / use the app". I've nothing against technology that does make life better but more often than not you can't verify your security details / you get locked out of your account / it's a chatbot that can't handle your query and so on and so on. We're paying more and more for services yet at the same time more and more of it is being turned into self-service. Great when it's actually an improvement - I can't fault my internet banking, for example - but all too often it isn't, it's just a way for companies to cut staff.

Food costs spiralling, more money for less choice. Again, fair enough if it was market correction and farmers / food producers were being paid fairly to reflect the costs of production, but by and large they're not. It feels like so much profiteering, capitalist greed. If a company makes a slightly reduced profit since last year it's treated like a huge loss. It's still a profit, you're still ahead!

My GP surgery is only open three days a week now. We've lost a local pharmacy. I don't have a dentist because all lists within a feasible travel distance are closed to NHS patients and I can't afford private. I earn a little above the national average and I'm just about surviving month to month by dipping into my meagre savings. Holidays are out of the question. God knows how anyone on minimum wage is feeling about it all.

And it's mindset too. We're going backwards...Victorian attitudes about the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor. University courses are only of value if they'll turn out good little worker bee economic units; nothing about the joy of learning for its own sake. How can there be when you leave with £27k+ of debt? How hard you can work for the employer who doesn't give a shit about you is the be-all and end-all.

Government attitudes too. MPs are supposed to serve us, supposed to be public servants. Instead it's about how much they can line their own pockets, stripping public services back to a bare skeleton while their corporate pals get fat contracts to balls things up even further.

I could go on but I've depressed myself.