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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to ask how different you think the UK will look in 15-20 years?

112 replies

evilcherub · 21/01/2016 10:11

It's changed so much since the turn of the century. How different do you think the UK will look in 15-20 years? Any radical changes? Do you think it will be better or worse for those currently living here?

OP posts:
suzannecaravaggio · 23/01/2016 12:22

Even those who are expert in the field they are making predictions about don't make reliable predictions, none of these are anything more than wild stabs in the dark which reveal far more about the. concerns and preoccupations of the predictor than they do above what will actually happen.

The future depends upon complex interactions between multiple factors, one small unexpected change can throw things off entirely

A butterfly flaps it's wings....

Woodhill · 23/01/2016 17:22

Definitely agree Allthetrees as they tend to have larger families. I wonder if people will have the religious freedom we take for granted now?

crazycatguy · 23/01/2016 17:40

I think we'll be like America, sadly.

DeeCrepid · 23/01/2016 17:59

I think we are totally underestimating the impact of immigration on our schools, housing, hospitals, and roads.
Since the Court ruling about the rights of migrants to join family already here, it would seem this could open the floodgates.
I think immigration will change our country beyond recognition in 15 years

MrsWalrus · 07/01/2022 14:38

It’s a really interesting thread to read five years on. Some predictions are proving accurate due to the pandemic perhaps accelerating them.

Yummayumma · 07/01/2022 14:40

Yep - the posters predicting a rightwing hellscape were spot on.

everythingbackbutyou · 08/01/2022 08:29

I didn’t realize what frightened little Islamophobes so many mumsnetters are.

Lottie2shoes · 08/01/2022 10:42

@everythingbackbutyou
Yep. I am surprised too. Given that the Muslim population are generally becoming more westernized, it is weird to see how many people are scared of islamification on this thread.

Player20868 · 08/01/2022 11:27

I'd take a bet the future wilo pretty much be the world portrayed in the science fiction TV series Firefly (without the space ships - replace those with electric cars - and the total bilingualism, English will probably still be the major world language, even uf America goes full on gun toting civil war like it almost did this time last year). This includes food shortages, artificial or synthesised food, overpopulation in some areas and a wild west border vibe in others, beyond currently comprehensible technological advances for the wealthy and subsistence level existence for most people.

The UK will have broken up, at least Scotland will probably have gone, taking her rainfall, whisky, oil, and porridge oats with her, and Ireland will be on the verge of reuniting, taking her fresh produce, beef, dairy, and porridge oats too. Not sure about Wales at this point!

Those dreaming of a world without the NHS, free education for the ordinary working class, and anything resembling a welfare state are likely to get their heart's desire but I don't think it's going to be quite the utopia they imagine...something that regularly eludes those banging on about private health care is where, exactly, those private clinicians are all going to come from. Though of course AI might have replaced HCAs by then...

And then there's climate change, which will affect us even here on untouchable Plague Island, especially if you live at the coast, even in pretty little enclaves like Devon and North Yorkshire. There are interesting flood maps out there but I'm not sure they currently take what's happening in Greenland and other places into account.

To get a good idea of what that world is probably going to look like, one option is to take a current situation and follow it through to its logical conclusion.

(For anyone who thinks we couldn't have or didn't predict the current pandemic, as just one example, there are plenty of pandemic plans and risk registers out there even now that show a pandemic has been on the cards fir a very long time. What seems to have been left out were the effects on the economy and people's mental health, particularly for the younger generations, a situation currently in the very early stages.) Historians, scientists, and many medics have been pointing out the likelihood for decades.

The only thing that is absolutely certain, though, in any future, is that the rich will continue to get even wealthier and more insulated, life will get harder for most of us, and people will continue to elect governments that don't give a monkey's ass about their people when it boils down to it.

Oh and we'll probably still have the FPTP political system in England, the current Prime Minister's wife will be firmly ensconced as Bad Galadriel, Ruler of the Free-to-her World, and anyone who dares to protest about anything at all will have been thrown into the Tower or local equivalent until a suitable more permanent solution can be found...!

Player20868 · 08/01/2022 11:28
  • will not wilo!!
Player20868 · 08/01/2022 11:29

Oh, and whatever mumsnet has morphed into by then still won't have an edit option....

shivermetimbers77 · 08/01/2022 11:34

I think the impact of climate change will be much more obvious: more regular floods and fires. Heatwaves . Droughts. Increased food costs.

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