So when were things good then?

[Wouldcou]

Growing up there was the credit crunch, then austerity, then Covid and now cost of living.

Im only 33, when were things good then? A small patch in the 90’s?

I’ve heard about the joblessness of the 80’s, the 4 day week of the 70’s…

What is it suppose to be then?

@suggestusernamepls & you are not understanding my reply. I was simply challenging the notion that “every generation thinks they had it the hardest”. We don’t all think so.
Whether you agree if it’s actually harder or not for others is irrelevant to that point.

What you're not getting is that every generation has different things harder than others. You're not very informed if you can't list different things that have been more challenging during different time frames.

OMG it’s really not complicated. I’m not debating whether things are easier or not just the idea that every generation thinks it was harder for them. I don’t understand how to breakdown it anymore for you….

You're not very informed if you can't list different things that have been more challenging during different time frames.

The irony of questioning my intelligence when you can’t even comprehend my very simple point 😆

The 90s - up until 2008 were pretty good?

Then I remember around 2012 until 2016 (Brexit referendum) being OK as well?

I'm 38.

You can be very intelligent and still be uninformed, so again you're not understanding. There's a distinct difference.

Good times are just around the corner when Lord Nigel leads us to the sunny Brexit uplands.

Things were good when people could leave school, walk into a job and buy a house few years later.

So 50s and 60s? Not so good if you were a woman or person of colour though. Many in the 50s and 60s were expected to leave jobs on marriage. If they didn't, they certainly were expected to when their first born arrived. Where I grew up, women still needed their husband's permission to open a bank account in their own name. Let alone what it was like to get a mortgage as a woman. An elderly relative was an air hostess. They didn't have maternity uniforms. She told us that when you were pregnant and couldn't get into it anymore, you quit. Less welfare, abortion illegal in many places. Shorter life expectancy. And if you were a person of colour, way worse time to be alive.

Now even a degree doesn't guarantee a job and Brits have to compete with people from all over the world.
Not even touching what those jobs will buy you now.
Professionals used to be able to put their kids through private education, not any longer.
NHS - 1 year wait lists for referrals (have personal experience), awful wait times in A&E.

Just my opinion, and obviously it depends what field you want to get into, but I think it's worth questioning whether a degree is worth it, or if there are other paths these days to the same end. Degrees are very expensive. Sure, you need them for some professions, but it's not something to undertake without some serious thought these days. My first degree was done because it was 'the next step'. It's really only been useful as a stepping stone to my other degrees. I'd advise my younger self to be more focused as to the purpose of a degree for me now.

@suggestusernamepls what I'm saying that things were good when people could afford not to care about futher education, and still were able to have decent standards of living.
And people who cared about education or career a bit more, could afford much more than that.

This resonates with me. I was born early 60's. I think the late 70's and the 80's were great. You could walk into a job in any town, housing was cheap and wages were pretty good. There was hope throughout the 90's I think.

Life is so diminished now. You have to pay through the nose for everything. There are no bargains. There used to be libraries, swimming pools, lots of independent and interesting shops (compared to the homogenised high streets we have now), children could learn life lessons by being semi feral, motoring could be as cheap as you wanted to go and life was generally more fun. It's all just a slog/survival mode/full of fear now which is very unhealthy for people. Nothing functions in this country. The Police, the courts, water companies, fuel companies, the roads are shot, councils have no money, jails are so overcrowded the crims are let out early and sentences and consequences are low compared to crimes. The NHS is fucked top to bottom and ordinary people are getting loans to pay for basic healthcare. This tiny island is straining under the population. People are stressed to hell.

I'm glad I was born when I was as life held genuine joy back then or, as Adele sang, 'I was born and raised in a Summer haze'.

This post sums it up perfectly.

Less people went into further education though. I left school in the 90s and there were still people from my cohort who had been able to leave school in their mid-teens and go into a profession. Even easier for earlier generations.

I understand what you're saying though. My DH is a bit older than me and got very cheap university education. I didn't. It really did make a big difference. I've urged my children to think more about direction with university plans and where it will lead them, due to the cost.

I was born in the 50s.

I was a teenager in the 70s and while it's my "era" things were tough. Strikes, three day week, power cuts, threat of nuclear war. The main good thing was that you didn't "need" a degree for a good job.

The late 90s to early 00s were the best for society as a whole imo. The Blair years. Healthcare improved beyond recognition but at a cost (PFI) that we are still paying today.

As an immigrant, I think decades ago Brits had a much better and easier life than the rest of the world.
Now young professionals in the UK can afford less in terms of housing, holidays, education and medicine than people in the same professions in other developed countries.

I think it also depends on where you live...I'm in the South East...we have still open libraries, subsidised council swimming and buses for kids, most of the local secondary schools are fine and I've still got a dentist.
(We do have a lot of pot holes though)

So while things aren't great on a national level, at least on a local level things still seem to be ticking along fine.

All Geri’s fault then.

You mean he hasn’t done it already?

I was born in 1960, the years of 'You've never had it so good'. By the 1970s, things were grim - three day weeks, 20% inflation oil crisis, Cold War, Northern Ireland sectarianism. When I was at university in London, unemployment peaked at 3m. That late '70s/early 1980s grimness passed. As a teenager on the brink of adulthood, the grimness was a backdrop to growing independence, financial freedom, travel, shaking off a provincial upbringing. I am optimistic that the same will happen now, although the issues are very different. Analysis doesn't help as it's chance factors that bring about change. In the 1980s, it was unexpected leadership -Thatcher, Gorbachev.

Had my family late 90s and we managed well in 1 full time and 1 part time wage . 2010 onwards which coincides with full access to the web , ubiquitous phones etc things probably shifted
Cause or coincidence who knows ?!

My best time was when I was young, but many wouldn’t have thought it a good time. It’s subjective and depends on all kinds of things, including finances, health, family and the global situation.

for some they have always been good. Fortunate to have/come from money, good job etc. Given the number of new/expensive cars on the roads, people lined up at the airports going away, house prices that never fall there seems to be a lot of people who do ok. I know there are a lot who dont

While it may be true that young professionals overseas are better off than those in the UK my own children in their 20s are significantly better off than I was at their age.

As someone else said though it depends where you live, my family are all in the NE where housing is cheaper.