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.

I think we have gone backwards in the last 10 years, so I agree the 1950s - 90s were not better. Social mobility has declined, homelessness is increasing, even life expectancy has recently fallen in the U.K. - that is unprecedented, it has always increased never fallen.

The NHS saved my DH's life last year (and continues to keep him alive) and it hasn't cost us a penny at point of delivery. I say you can't get better than that, thank you very much.

We're still better off than a lot of countries.

Do you know much about the rest of the world, op?

If you land in London you will come through a mucky overcrowded city and it could well seem scruffy and unkempt. Although not all of it is. Many Brits drop litter which doesn't help.

Snapshots. I could point to the ferocious racist attitudes I came across in Australia, the beggars crawling on the ground in hong Kong ( where a public sitting area is a bench next to a busy road), the poverty and drunkenness in new Zealand, the dog filth in France. All these places are also great to live in.

Nowhere is perfect. Go to Denmark - clean and safe. Freezing cold, pitch dark for months, very pricey.

Snowflakes then?

Didn't take long.

YABU. I just received excellent NHS care for a non urgent problem.

Yawn, OP why not move and experience all of the countries that are so much better!

Not being able to afford a studio in Battersea and having student debt is not the worst thing that can happen to a person, by a long shot.

Over 250,000 people have died due to Tory cuts to the NHS and social services. What about them? Are they snowflakes as well?

You would really struggle to name many countries with a higher standard of living than Britain. Why do you think so many people want to live here? Those who moan about this country in this extreme beat are ignorant and spoilt.

To the posters who say when they come back to visit the UK, they are shocked at how it has become, can I ask out of curiosity, where do you now live and what is it about these countries that make them better than the UK?

I'm in Sweden. I wouldn't say Sweden is better than the UK, I'd say it's different and those differences are better suited to me and my family.
The things I love about Sweden could well be the stuff of other people's nightmares.

My shock was over the appearance as seen from a tourist's perspective. Everything was grotty, unkempt and dirty. For example I took DS to big park in my home town. The bins were overflowing, the play equipment was broken, the toilets were locked up, derelict and covered in graffiti. The place was depressing and we didn't stay long. I don't remember it being like that. It's like 'everyone' has just given up.

If the U.K. is so bad why are half the population of the world trying to get here? Try living in the US on a low wage!

The U.K. needs to stop all immigration, which is adding to the homeless on the streets, many are from the EU. Then only allow people who are needed and will earn enough to contribute to the economy ie no housing benefit, tax credits etc.

It's worse than that, Momentum Bot, most of those people don't even exist outside of the rather vivid imaginations of your paymasters!

Effects of health and social care spending constraints on mortality in England: a time trend analysis

bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/11/e017722

BMJ.

I was born in the 50 s and honestly the standard of living is so much better now.
Trust me.
Our homes are so much Warner and cleaner.
Most houses had coal fires. What were we breathing in?
Most rooms were freezing.
Ice on the insides in winter.
Showers were unheard of.
Clothes were much harder to wash and dry . A wash load seems to take forever.
There’s more choice of fresh food available. Whether it’s better quality is debatable but I never saw an asparagus as a child, or aubergine or any of the myriad vegetables and fruits we take for granted.
Holidays were usually to a relatives, or a short city break until the travel and tourism industry got going.
Cars. We were the first to get a car in our street and it revolutionised our life.
Dad could look for work outside of the town for a start.
Better health care now...tuberculosis was still quite rife in the 50s
As for America. One night in hospital for my mum was $14,000

What a joke. For running a few tests and scaring an elderly lady senseless

Mimpi "I don't remember it being like that. It's like 'everyone' has just given up."

it's not "everyone" as such, it's council cuts.

I've just filled in the annual "consultation" for council budget here. It's the usual - obliquely phrased management crap when all we wanted was the basic services provided 10 years ago.

The worst thing is the lack of thought for other people.

More and more people seem to wander round heedless of other pedestrians, traffic and have no clue about keeping themselves to themselves.

Phonecalls are held at high volume, bluetooth speakers are played also at high volume and offence is taken when someone tells them to keep it down.

Mindfulness of others is lacking. Fewer people seem to care what other people think of their actions in public.

Don't be put off by the Happiness Hacks title it's actually quite informative.

Yep. just blaME bREXIT FOR EVERYTHING WRONG IN THIS COUNTRY. LIKE IT HASNT BEEN THIS WAY FOR AGES NOW. YEARS IN FACT, AND iM OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW.

(oops, caps lock!) I blame Brexit .

I was born in the 50 s and honestly the standard of living is so much better now.
Trust me.
....
Most houses had coal fires. What were we breathing in?

We weren't breathing in so many traffic fumes - only a quarter of the cars on the road (on the other hand, petrol still had lead in it)
There’s more choice of fresh food available. Whether it’s better quality is debatable but I never saw an asparagus as a child, or aubergine or any of the myriad vegetables and fruits we take for granted. Our family could afford asparagus in the 50s, we ate it all through the season. I look at it now, 8 stems for £2, and put it back on the shelf. Kiwi fruit were around, under the name "chinese gooseberry", but then unaccountably disappeared. Avocados, mangoes etc were rare. But more variety in the fruits we did get, especially plums.

The U.K. needs to stop all immigration, which is adding to the homeless on the streets, many are from the EU. Then only allow people who are needed and will earn enough to contribute to the economy ie no housing benefit, tax credits etc

This ^^

I too love the uk.
Fantastic place to live and so beautiful and diverse.
Yes it has its problems but so does everywhere.
I love Tenerife. I go there regularly, yet there’s a 4 or 5 star hotel where many rooms overlook an absolutely squalid dump.
Not exactly the sea view some people would have hoped for. It’s a whole block long.
Along the promenade in los Cris after the last set of restaurants, towards the five star arona gran hotel, there’s squatters city. Been there at least two years.
People have taken up residence in the two storey empty units...why is that allowed to happen.
My dh had his pocket picked in a mall in Spain, and there were two failed attempts in Tenerife.

Hasn’t happened in one of the roughest towns in the uk.
It’s everywhere.

*Mimpi "I don't remember it being like that. It's like 'everyone' has just given up."

it's not "everyone" as such, it's council cuts.*

That's why I wrote it as 'everyone'. I know it's primarily council cuts but it's also society's acceptance of those cuts. I remember 20 years ago when our local council stopped free special rubbish collections. Fly tipping became common place and residents were up in arms over the impact it had on their environment. So much so that the council had to reverse the decision quite quickly. Now it feels that people are so ground down that there's no will to fight, that they are resigned to lower standards. That they feel powerless.

Like I say, it's just how it felt to me, seeing things from the perpective of someone who's been gone for a few years.

The most "impressive" (ahem) figure I can find associated with the study is 120,000 early deaths which is rather less hyperbolic than your 250,000 for starters make. I can only conclude that you wish the number of dead people was higher, so sorry to piss on your chips

So 120,000 is acceptable?

By-the-way, Mike Godwin has recently suspended his law under similar circumstances....

@NewYearNiki America is populated by religious zealots?

How the fuck do people get away with being so fucking rude about the States? If it were any other country it wouldn't fly.