Why does life seem to shit in the UK

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

Endless threads about schools going down the pan and poor behaviour in schools making teachers want to leave.
NHS waiting lists and quality of care medical is poor.
housing market market in crisis and affordability of housing

I read the threads and it feels like life in the UK is really shit. Plus crap weathe for 8 months of the year.

how did we get here snd what is the solution?

Because it was once great but unfortunately too many governments relied on that and the reputation of things rather than continuing to fund services and keep things updated eg schools and the nhs. They and anyone else wealthy just relied on private services while the things that were once just as good and publicly funded slowly crumbled . Now it’s all broken and there isn’t the money to sort everything at once

Absolutely not - it was you who was advocating emigration as a solution, not I!

I work in education and can say that it's much worse than twenty years ago because funding doesn't meet needs. This is largely due to funding cuts in austerity but also rising needs in the level of support needed.

Other countries are having their problems but I think things are worse here for self-inflicted reasons. Austerity was absolutely the wrong response to the financial crisis. Then just as things were settling down we had Brexit, which had huge economic repercussions.

I think the figures suggest that it depends

https://cps.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CPS_TAKING_BACK_CONTROL_PDF.pdf

I'm in Germany at the moment and can say it's far cleaner and the trains are much better!

Well..... maybe you have not been reading enough news.
People complaint because most services in this country have been steadily and quickly deteriorating, under an ever lasting tory "leadership". Every single one.
Health, pharmacies, education, transport, welfare, councils, roads.... even journalism itself- facts are no longer that factual.
Surely this has happened in other countries and it has something to do with global economics. But there is much that can be done to sort it and the tories did not move a finger, but got all their pay and treats without a second thought. Do you remember the Health minister refusing to meet up with the unions about the nurses strike? He just plain refused to get his ass to a table. Really, what other example do you need? We paid this idiot money to deal with things like those!

At a global level, the failure of the liberal capitalism system to move money towards the lower earners and distribute it along the scale on a long term affordable way, instead of the massively precarious top heavy current situation, is at the centre of many problems.
But that is what we vote governments in or out, to deal with these things, adjust their national laws to changes and influence the global arena towards fairness to their citizens, that not damn coorporations!

Now, you may be happy. Good for you.
The guys that complaint are not neccessary unhappy, but concious that if we do not say the truth of what we are living, the ultra rich coorporations would keep amounting money while there are no medicines in our local pharmacy and much of the population cannot afford heating their home as they used to.

We need to fight for our rights.
But, I would not leave UK, no. There is no much sense on leaving. The way forward is changing how the country does things, so we get those services back and running nicely.

Everything feels so competitive. Hundreds of people going for one job, waiting list for everything, online queues opening at the stroke of midnight - its depressing that we're forced to compete with each other for resources like wild animals.

I lived there for 2 years and hated it. It’s very subjective.

I know someone who died due to medical negligence and the doctor probably won't face the faintest repercussions I also left state schools for private due to being assaulted and abused by students that don't belong in mainstream education. I also have pay £600 per month just in interest for my house, so yeah. I get where you're coming from.

Hmm.. I will read this but am slightly suspicious of any paper written by Robert Jenrick, with his right wing agenda.

Devil's advocate on here is always the most ludicrous comparisons. Just because life is bad elsewhere we should suck it up and be grateful.

All those saying it’s shit in other countries are missing the point. The UK has suddenly taken a huge nose dive in the last few years and it seems like some people are keen to deflect and ignore it.

Covid caused a huge amount of problems both financially and societally in the Uk, fall out of which is still seen across many sectors particularly healthcare and education.

Brexit was a self inflicted blow that unfortunately we are now paying for both economically and socially.

The media cycle is showing a never ending stream of bad news, bills constantly rising, poor infrastructure, terrible public transport, diminishing hope of a brighter future with a new government now at odds with itself, a theological hate filled war in the Middle East, terrorism threats, unchecked immigration, a growing population putting more weight on creaking public services- the list of bad news doesn’t stop and there seems to be no light at the end of this tunnel- yet.

Social media and the digital world are responsible for a malevolent impact on our relationships with each other and a self entitlement that brings a sterility and coldness for those of us who remember the days of conversation and no distractions, the cruel world can be harsh and this is by no means a problem unique to the UK but is exasperated in the UK because everything is going to shit so quickly.

Its the people as well. I don't understand what's happened to people. My neighbour has worked in retail all her life and enjoyed it but she's taking early retirement because its become the norm to be verbally abused multiple times a week.

We've tried our boys in two scout troops so far this year, with my husband volunteering. Both they've had to quit after a couple of months. My husband was in the scout system his entire childhood but he said the kids today are just wild, utterly feral, completely disinterested in any activities, won't listen to any adults, terrible language.

All our local nature spots and walks are ruined by dogs, there is a gorgeous river walk near our house but there's just so much dog poo everywhere that it's rendered entirely unusable. The kids playing field nearby went the same way, never see any children there now.. just drab figures listlessly trundling back and forth with several dogs per person.

Our local library is useless, the books are dire and only fit for the bin..complete garbage in terms of literary quality. My god, the wonderful books I had out of the library as a child.. ours is mostly full of gaming tie ins, David Walliams and AI produced inane crap about football or girls wanting boyfriends.

Went to centre parcs recently and over half the kids were overweight or obese, bloated and pasty with vacant expressions. The air at the pool stank of cheap aftershave/perfume to the extent that I was worried about air quality for my baby. There was someone there with a pornographic tattoo and another with foul language tattooed on their back.

I can't believe how society has regressed.

Most of Europe starts at a much higher level of public services to the UK, more health facilities and staff per head of population, better and much cheaper public transport, stricter regulation, so United Utilities wouldn't get away with dumping millions of litres of sewage into one of the UKs best loved lakes.

We've relied on "market forces" for decades, can't even blame it all on the Tories either, Labour under Blair and now Starmer believe in the 'market can fix our ills"

We also wanted Brexit, or rather fell for Boris Johnsons lies, this makes us less competitive, less trade, less investment, less skilled migration from europe.

Why do accept roads that are crumbling? 2000miles driving in France = no pot holes, minutes back in England and the roads are a patch work of temp repairs and large vehicle damaging pot holes, even motorways are starting to have them now.

Downs Syndrome diagnosis - 2 to 3 years, according to the Childrens Commissioner.

But we have voted for all of this, it happened under our watch, only ourselves to blame.

The U.K. is a country where water companies regularly dump vast amounts of shit into rivers, lakes and seas and nobody cares.

It's kind of telling.

People do care but nothing is done.

It’s not a race to the bottom. Things are dire if we’re comparing here to like in Afghanistan. We should be comparing ourselves to other developed countries-aren’t we the 6th richest in the world?

How have we voted for this exactly?

I agree but I admit to feeling a sense of despair. I loathed the Tories but I have very little faith in thus government being much different.

I don't agree we voted for it. When have we been given a decent alternative? People just oscillate back and forth between voting for Labour and Conservative out sheer desperation hoping for change.

I work for the NHS and my new trust in Somerset paid for my entire relocation. They pay this for all bandings in my department.
Some places like rural Somerset find it hard to recruit and will pay relocation. Some other employers do this too in the area.
It's worth looking into.
I would have found it hard to leave the south east otherwise. Homes are much cheaper here too as is rent.

The point is who wants to pay for these services?
The very rich don’t seam to want to. There is also a growing sector of society who don’t feel they are responsible for their own behaviour. I see it at work all the time.
Arguing with the receptionist because they have missed their appointment, due to them being late. Well that is your fault.
Arguing with teachers when they try and instill discipline.
Screaming at other roads users when they are in the wrong.
Expecting the council to clean their home/garden/take their child to school.
Parking anywhere and everywhere because a blue badge means they have had their brains kicked out so can block others in.
Expecting to use our toilets at work even when we are closing.
Expecting the taxpayer to pay for them to lose weight. Or provide food for their children whilst driving around in massive petrol guzzling cars.

I’m sure they do, like they do in other countries too 🤷‍♀️ but it’s not all doom and gloom for everyone like it seems on mumsnet. Some people are actually happy,

Nobody said some people weren't happy though.

Too many people and decades of not investing in the infrastructure to cope, whether that is housing, health, police/prisons, drainage, telecoms, transport, etc.