AIBU to think this godforsaken country is a shambles?

[Toysintheattic29]

THIS IS WHAT’S ON MY MIND: this country is in shambles. I’ve never seen so many homeless people on the streets; social care services unable to cope with overflowing caseloads; our precious NHS struggling to care for anyone at all (forget it if you have non life-threatening surgical needs or are elderly); train fares continually getting jacked up; rising costs; roads cracking up; broadband speeds laughably slow and the biggest con of all, BREXIT. Even in the austerity of the 1950s things were not as grim as they are now - at least we had a reliable health service and publicly owned transport systems and many members of the public didn’t have to rely on food banks.

Snafu.

We’ll muddle through

Difference between my Swedish hometown and the English town I live in is not so much the number of homeless/beggars as the fact that the ones in Sweden are so obviously non-local, come to the country specifically to beg, and seem to disappear at night (suggesting some kind of organised lodging), whereas the ones I see locally are generally British, often ex-army, and are actually out there on the street all night.

In other words, it looks like the Swedes are dealing with the social problems of a different country (Roumania?) while the British problem is at least in parts home-grown.

Completely agree mirime and what's even worse is that we've gone backwards even in the last couple of years.

I wonder how many of those complaining things are crap in the UK, have ever spent considerable time living abroad (not just holidays). It is an eye opener.

Things are not perfect in the UK but you have it far better than far many people across the world. Where I live, someone I know's father grew seriously ill whilst visiting. They didn't have insurance. They incurred hundreds of thousands of pounds in medical fees (before their father ultimately died). The elderly are forced to work into their 80s because there is no adequate assistance or support. Generations of families live in small apartments. Statutory maternity leave is minimal. The minimum wage is so low it would be unlivable by western standards. There is practically no employment protection. I live in a first world, developed country.

I have found UK citizens have a reputation worldwide of being whingers and when I read threads like this I can understand why.

Capital flight is a real thing

As is offshoring. And lobbying.

I have found UK citizens have a reputation worldwide of being whingers

Ouch . No one likes a whinger or a moaner. How depressing.

Cory - I think that depends which part of Britain you are in. I can't remember the last time I heard an English accent begging in London (or even selling "the big issue", come to that). Yet I've recently spent a lot of time in Manchester and Nottingham city centres where they all seem to be English. I guess that makes sense; if you were new to Britain, you probably would head to London.

I have found UK citizens have a reputation worldwide of being whingers

So?

The French have a reputation the world over for being rude. I read an article

Hit post too soon.....i read an article where the French had conducted research to find out what the world thought of them. The answer was people thought they were very rude.

All nations have stereotypes. Doesnt mean they are accurate.

I have found UK citizens have a reputation worldwide of being whingers

Yes "The winging Pom" but it's usually other Brits that perpetuate this reputation! In the living overseas section there are regular "what do you/don't you miss about Britain?" threads. One common theme is winging/moaning. Ironic really if you think about it

I think people want more value fr money from the NHS, not American style service as it can be financially crippling but at least the basics dealt with reasonably. We are watching Breaking Bad with DH and ** having to spend more than $100,000 for cancer treatment is horrible.

Btw, why is it that in the UK if you want an emergency private MRI scan the NHS says that you don't need your GP to refer you but the private doctor demands that you get a GP referral (I have visited several websites) who could waste your time, say no, you wait on the NHS and if you do get the private referral then the private doctor will charge not only for the MRI but for consultation and other shit you never received or even asked for to make more money? The say the MRI costs £500 but then they charge another £1300. Our GP says that's how they make their money.

Just because people in developing countries have it really bad and we SHOULD REALLY be grateful and I fully appreciate this doesn't mean that we can't demand better in our countries. People in the developing world have corruption and inequality ingrained so deeply into the system and society that they have resigned and see no hope. If you work 16 hours a day to make a living, will you have the strength to change your life or just collapse when you go home? They see it as a natural occurrence to be the lowest of the low in the pecking order and live in slums. We should NOT resign. If we can get things to be a lot better, why not? That's the idea without the moaning and whinging. And I am glad I was not alive in the 50s btw. Especially as a woman!! Or during the Victorian era

And whinging about how bad the country is is not inherently British.

@Toysintheattic29
Move to a different country. Simply!
I'm guess your not very worldly

"I have found UK citizens have a reputation worldwide of being whingers" well yes, every country has some kind of reputation, often nasty and bigoted (the rude or ineffectual French, the ignorant never travelled right wing American, the efficient German, the alcoholic Irish). We also have a reputation for a 'stiff upper lip' which doesn't really chime with being whingers! Who cares? These stereotypes are often nasty and based on very little fact, they should be ignored.

For example the average British person won't accept GM food. Sadly, in other countries this has been established as the norm. Or many vegetable oils made for the markets of developing countries are palm oil because they are more ignorant or because they are poor and they couldn't care less. A British person would know AND EXPECT better. We also have some Italian biscuits which say "senza olio di palma" on the packaging.

These are some examples. So far we have acquired a lot of knowledge and we shouldn't let standards slip just because other countries have it a lot worse. Either by introducing lower food standards or crippling private health insurance bills or gender inequality creeping in.

How are things supposed to improve when as soon as someone points out how shit they are, a bunch of people take great offence and start harrumphing about how at least it's not as bad as the third world and how we should be proud? Pathetic.

the efficient German
DH was shocked at how he missed his flight and how rude the Germans were at everybody at the airport. There was not enough staff to cover hundreds of passengers and they even blamed brexit for it I have read on here so many times how bad the American airports are for example and DH confirmed it so here is another great British thing He said that they didn't seem to care, were unprofessional, very abrupt and couldn't care less to give him more information which he needed because of his injury. Then he had to wait for hours to have his flight rescheduled. Some other British passengers ended up apologising to the Germans Why do the British have to make up for the Germans being rude by being polite themselves?! MIL also asked later "but aren't the German's meant to be efficient?".

Re US healthcare, my sister who's lived in the US for decades, had a very badly cut finger some time ago. I said, Well, , at least you've got insurance.
She said You're joking - there was a $2000 excess.
And this despite already paying several hundred $ a month for herself and her daughter.

How are things supposed to improve when as soon as someone points out how shit they are, a bunch of people take great offence and start harrumphing about how at least it's not as bad as the third world and how we should be proud?

It reminds me of a video I watched of an elderly American lady explaining politely about how great the American health services are but because she couldn't afford it she went to India for treatment instead. Glenn Beck ripped her, Indian doctors and India in apart in tiny pieces. Aren't problems meant to be addressed?

I don’t live in the Uk anymore, I live in Australia. Often held out as a land of plenty. It’s great but is another first world country with similar social issues to the uk. It’s not all beaches and sunshine. But people in first world countries are generally very fortunate and on the whole they all provide similar standards of living. OP if you travel to many countries which aren’t so fortunate as these countries, you will realise how cushy we have it with our rule of law, social safety nets, comfortable housing and governments who don’t routinely resort to violence, oppression or surveillance, and where corruption isn’t the exception but the rule. Countries where all that matters is the daily fight for money to provide for basics and surviving involves living day to day on your wits in a struggle and in fierce competition to get what you need, and watching your back every time you meet someone new, in a life full of suspicion and mistrust. This is the real world many citizens of many countries live. We are so fortunate in our countries. They are not perfect but could be so, so much worse.

I haven't RTFT - not enough time - but I've lived in 4 countries, including US, one other European country and UK (not listing them all as very outing). Quality of life for me was better everywhere than the UK now. The UK 15 years ago was pretty good but now things are definitely getting worse from my point of view - and markedly so in the last year with the falling pound. My weekly shop costs a lot more than it did.

Talking to friends in the US with a similar job / family set up - they are better off than us in terms of healthcare, they have more disposable income and a bigger house for less cost.

Of course, we live in the SE, if we lived in Yorkshire I suspect our quality of life would be much better on the same pay. I honestly don't know about the rest of the UK but I think things are beginning to fall apart in the SE - only the wealthiest can afford houses, schools constantly asking parents to chip in now. Councils cutting services left right and centre.

I think the two choices are move elsewhere (in the UK or abroad) or get involved in politics and try and see where things are going so badly wrong. I agree with since if we don't discuss what's going wrong how will we ever fix it?

I have to say, while I miss the nhs (broke my foot recently and it's set me back $10,000) and my family and friends, I wouldn't move back to the UK for anything.

As others have said while Britain of course has its problems there are still many many worse places in the world to live. We fortunate to live in a first world country.
Likewise we are clearly materially better off than our parents or grandparents in the 1950's. I think there are differences between 1950's and the present day. Now bearing in mind that I wasn't alive then it seems to me maybe wrongly that while people lives were harder they also had hope that their lives or the lives or their children would get better. The welfare state and the NHS were in the process of being set up.
Now I think people don't think that their lives or children's lives will improve. Living standards, quality of life and life expectancy across the first world are starting to plateau. My parents grew up very poor in the 1950's and are essentially fairly normal mediocre hardworking people and they were able to have hugely better life than their parents in the first half of the century. I would say that DH and I as essentially fairly normal mediocre hardworking people have broadly similar lives to the ones our parents had when we were growing up. I sometimes worry that our children will be lucky to even have that.
For example were I a lower middle class Chinese person I would probably expect my children to enjoy a higher standard of living and a better quality of life than me. How many people in the UK can say that ?.

How are things supposed to improve when as soon as someone points out how shit they are, a bunch of people take great offence and start harrumphing about how at least it's not as bad as the third world and how we should be proud? Pathetic.

Or, as evidenced in this thread, they're told to leave.

our problems do need addressing.

1. pay higher taxes, there's more people in the house and we need more facilities
2. lose the culture of growth and presenteeism
3. start making things not just shifting cash around
4. waste less, lose the idea that all stuff has to be new and shiny
5. reduce commutes
6. lose the consultants, ask the workers.

People posting on here saying how better off we are than X y and z.... it's not a race to the bottom.