That everywhere has got busier?!

[JudesBiggestFan]

I can't decide if it's because I'm older and less patient or whether everywhere is just busier? I find myself frustrated so often...sitting in traffic on the way to work, on the way back, on the school run. Queuing for hours in the barbers to have my sons' haircuts no matter when I go, never being able to find a parking space when I go to to the supermarket/cinema, shops just mad all the time! I live in a decent sized town near Birmingham but then I've always lived here...it just seems so busy! Is there anywhere in the Uk that feels more peaceful that's still hear a big town for work etc?! I feel I would be so much calmer if I was t always in a bloody queue!

Because if we don't massively increase the birth rate, increase the number of younger people, there will be nobody paying taxes that will support the enormous number of older people.

But those "massively increased" births will themselves be older people in 67 years' time needing the state pension, health services, care, etc., so to pay for that, you need even more "massively increased" births. We'd end up with exponentially growing population so it's not sustainable. We need to find ways of controlling population not forever increasing it.

2020 your thinking is mad. It’s like a massive Ponzi scheme with more and more people supporting increasing large older populations?! Have you thought this through? There is finite space and resources

London is noticeably so much busier than it was before.

The old argument that we need more births because of people living longer. The population of the UK cannot just keep growing. I don't know what the answer is but it certainly is not keep having children.

We moved from Essex which had got horribly crowded and busy. We now live fairly rural but as soon as we get away from our immediate area things are more or less the same. I think, if anything, the roads are possibly worse.

I am just so glad I have no children because I dread to think what things will be like in the future

It’s awful, I live in a beautiful city that’s totally trashed by crowds and cars.
I understand nobody had ‘more’ right to be anywhere than anyone else but every car journey is just nose to tail traffic, every shopping trip is shuffling like penguins with nowhere to stop your trolley without being in 12 peoples way.
I’m fed up of ‘excuse me’ every few seconds and feeling like I’m apologising for existing.

It makes everyone grouchy, irritable and short tempered which does nothing for society. I understand the arguments for and against increasing the population but honestly the country just can’t cope anymore. ‘We need people to pay taxes to fund the elderly’ is crap- everyone of our generation 20-45 have been given ample warning of the need to invest in private pensions and therefore should have taken steps to provide for themselves.

If everyone who can afford them (no need to be ‘wealthy’ but no reliance on gov funding) just had 1-2 children the country would be perfectly well provided for and the benefit pot much healthier for those genuinely in need (disabled, chronically unwell, NHS...etc)

Neah, I don't agree. It's not busier at all anywhere I go, than I remember in the past. Most places are faster to get to, actually (better roads now than 20 yrs ago).

Japan has very low immigration & quite low birth rates. They are managing to stay wealthy, somehow, it is possible.

Well if we don't have adequate numbers of taxpayers then I guess the alternative is euthanasia? Or we abandon the NHS and social care? Obviously that will result in a lower "burden" of older people.....

Absolutely love the blackbird input from all concerned. Really made me chuckle!
Agree about more cars, but most people no longer live where they work and public transport (I'm in East Mids) is crap, at best. My mum's bus service to and from town stops at 6!

Everything was over-crowed, run down, dirty. Houses where there used to be agricultural fields and lovely little country lanes. People being nasty to each other in public. Shouting even. Trash, graffiti and vandalism to bus shelters etc. Metal shutters on shops. We used to keep Britain tidy and were so polite to each other.

Sometime in the 80s, our cultural view of public spending switched from being money well spent on shared infrastructure and services that support our quality of life, to an immoral drain on the working person that should be as minimal as possible. So, having decided to spend as little as possible on anything that’s not privately owned, we find our common services and spaces are mean, overstretched and crumbling. But humans are social creatures and the spaces we live and interact in subconsciously guide how we behave, so in making our spaces reflect values that are selfish, mean and impoverished, so our society goes the same way.

It's awful in Essex. I moved to my current town about 14 years ago and everywhere is now so congested and trying to park anywhere is a nightmare. It was t that bad when I first moved here! It's just a fight to get a load of bread these days and I'm aware that I'm adding to the congestion when I go out. I hate it but I've added to it so it's a vicious circle.
Modern life is rubbish!

I live in a city whose population has increased hugely over the last 20 years. Flats and houses built anywhere but with no improvements to roads, hospital or education services.

Increased Traffic and pollution, pavements crammed, shopping stressful and busy.
Reduced quality of life. I think about moving, but not sure where. I’m old enough to remember when the population of England was around 45 million. Life seemed more relaxed then.

I suppose an unintended consequence of high levels of home ownership is that people are completely emotionally invested in their properties, even when something smaller would be much more suitable and free up housing stock for those more in need of it. I think there are going to have to be real changes in public policy to deal with all this very soon.

How do you know that something smaller would be more suitable? If you've bought and paid for your house, why should you move out of it? Who judges need? I'm sure a young family might think they 'need' my house, but whilst I own it and live in it, and unless they make me a large enough offer for it, then no dice. I like my space, and have plans for it.

It also takes my teenagers 1.5 hours to get to college some days and they are frequently late for lectures because the buses are so packed full they don't stop !

Yes everywhere is definitely busier. So what do we do?

Move to Canada ?

Lol at theBlackbirds! I was gonna say - there is NO way NI is as densely populated as the graphic showed.. didn’t even know we had that many blackbirds!

Agree with the constant feeling of overcrowding - and Belfast is a small isolated city, can’t imagine how bad other parts of the UK feel!!

Worldsonfire, hedgehog - city dwellers - why not cycle?

bloke23 I hate Colchester traffic as well, it is getting worse

I think this is probably the most honest Tory thread I’ve seen in quite a while. Not every poster mind you. (I’ve been here for about 10 years, quietly).
It’s fascinating to watch it all play out.

The next few years will be very interesting indeed. Dunno if you’ve watched the crown, love it myself. It’s intriguing to see how C21 filmmakers have filtered through a very fine sieve the acts that have lead the British people to this, via the optic of their own royal family

2020 your thinking is mad. It’s like a massive Ponzi scheme with more and more people supporting increasing large older populations?! Have you thought this through? There is finite space and resources hmm

Saved me from saying exactly the same thing, some people (including govt policy makers unfortunately) really are a bit dim and shortsighted.

@sall74 I do see what you're saying and I agree, but what's the answer? My sister is a single parent who rents, with a low paid job, my brother works in factories on temporary contracts, his wife works evenings on a zero hours contract - no pensions for them.
And so many poorer people like them, working for the gig economy who can barely live day to day, let alone put aside significant amounts for retirement. It's a ticking time bomb but what's the answer?
I worry that this government will continue with short term thinking that further enriches the already well off at the expense of sorting out these major issues.

Just what I needed to read being slightly homesick in New Zealand over Christmas . I have been here 15 years and still have to say” this wouldn’t happen back home” when we drive somewhere and easily find a parking space - that we don’t have to pay for either. And like a PP mentioned , overcrowding can make people seem grumpy and less helpful to strangers.