To think the UK is losing a lot of soft power?

[alloutoffucks]

The UK has always had a certain reputation in many countries abroad of being competent and organised. That reputation translates into soft power. It beings increased respect for British businesses and business people, and helps foster trust.
Of course it does not mean that every British business person or business is respected or trusted. But the assumption that Britain in general is competent and organised does affect people's assumptions and views of British business.
I think that is eroding fast. Every friend and family member abroad I have spoken to has see that video of the nurse crying and I have been asked a few times why our supermarkets are empty of food (I know they are not, but that is the impression some of they now have). They ask me why British people are not co-operating when in their own country there is no evidence of stockpiling and the only shortage is hand sanitiser. They ask me why we don't have enough PPE for medics.
Some of these questions are by people who pay attention to the news, but everyone has seen the video of the nurse crying.
So AIBU to think Britain is losing a lot of soft power and that this will have an impact on British businesses abroad.

Clavinova, what do you expect those leaders to say? They’re hardly going to say ‘Oh yeah, I heard the British PM was ill, but I don’t really give a shit about the incompetent sod or his irrelevant little country’, are they?

I think that no country is going to come out of this without the perception of others being altered in some way.

@GabriellaMontez I don't know if they are representative of views abroad. I was interested in whether they were or whether others still see the UK as competent, efficient, capable and trustworthy and their views are an aberration.
I hope I am wrong here. I do not want the UK to lose soft power. I think soft power matters. And I want it to still exist.
Those who keep going on about what is happening in other countries are missing the point. Most of my friends and family are living in countries where they expect a rich country like the UK to do better than their country. The fact that in a number of issues such as lack of food shortages, tests and PPE they think their country is doing better is shocking to them. And it does not matter if you produce graphs showing how the UK is doing better, that is not their perception. Not mine either.

That's to do with the nature of social media and the fact people lack critical thinking and think a video made by one individual equals what is going on for an entire nation..

That Nurse said she'd just finished 48 hours at work. Which meant she was AT work for 48 hours and sleeping in side rooms in between or whatever because she'd decided for her own reasons she not to go home between shifts. IF it's true what she said.

That was interpreted and published on SM and people on MN said that she'd completed a 48 hour SHiFT at work.

Which is illegal for a start and even if it wasn't, is not happening AT all even in times of COVID.

But aren't most of us guilty of that when it comes to other countries? I don't read detailed articles about the political and economic situation of most countries abroad. My perceptions are based on social media posts, the occasional news article and spot on the TV news. This is how perceptions are formed.
You think every senior manager who thinks Bob in marketing is brilliant has actually looked at his work record in detail to analyse if he really is a brilliant and competent worker? No they get a snapshot picture that may give an overall inaccurate impression.

Well, you could have shown the clips of Australians fighting over toilet roles in supermarkets in March on or the American nurses and doctors in the richest country in the world saying there is a shortage of PPE or ditto for most other countries - Google is your friend - or you point us in the direction of these perfect countries so we can Google them to see how perfect they are. Or you just conclude that some people are simply smug and enjoying point scoring.

Every country has had issues with PPE and their citizens stockpiling except SK. The German And French Goverments are both super pissed because we stole their PPE equipment after they bought it from 3m so they are ticked too.

Unfortunately, it is very easy to manipulate peoples opinions through social media posts and obviously it is not where anyone should be getting their news from! We live in a very open and free society and for that reason, people overseas can see what goes on here warts and all!

Are you suggesting that we censor social media so that people don't get the wrong impression?

One for example who lives in Thailand told us all how she had to really persuade medics to test her and was unhappy about this - it was obvious from what she was saying she had symptoms of a cold but she was a worried teenager. She went to the drive through place and got a free test that was negative.

These drive-thru centres in Thailand charge the general public for testing although one is free to taxi drivers (the free service will serve only ten drivers per day. Bangkok has an estimated 140,000 taxi drivers) - the other gives a refund if the test is positive not negative;

www.thaienquirer.com/10858/drive-thru-coronavirus-tests-have-come-to-thailand/

thethaiger.com/coronavirus/bangkok-offers-free-drive-through-covid-19-tests-for-taxi-drivers

Thailand are trialling a new rapid test but it's early days;

"Patients who get positive results are sent for a follow-up PCR test, those who are negative are told to self-quarantine for 14 days"

"Some 50 patients can be seen each day at the facility in Bangkok where chairs are meticulously separated to enforce social distancing."

@alloutoffucks

I'd hope that no-one would see a video on-line of someone they don't know and don't have any evidence at all that they are a nurse or telling the truth about anything and form their views on an entire nation based on that.

If people are doing that, they're not very bright.

Might be worth mentioning that the UK is the world's top flexible contributor to WHO (over 52m$ in the last financial year) or that is has contributed more than any other G20 country to Covid vaccine resarch - £210 million. Or that it spends 0.7% of GDP on international aid, the 6th highest percentage in the world and a much higher figure in cash terms than the five who have spent a bigger percentage because they are all countries with smaller GDPs

There is nothing wrong with the UK's soft power when it comes to being an international player.

Tell your friends to educate themselves.

alloutof - Well perhaps you should tell them not to believe every bit of nonsense that they see or read.

Yes there were food shortages at the beginning but there was in other countries too. I don't think we are any worse than any other country at trying to cope with this.

Any death from coronavirus is shocking, but it should never have been allowed to happen in the first place. The world should have learnt from the SARS and MERS outbreaks.

while Brexit has sent negative signals to the EU, the same signal is positive to the US, Middle East and Far East.

Did you not see the memes from the US about Brexit being a more stupid decision than electing Trump?

If anyone sees it as positive, it's because there is money to be made from a UK that doesn't have the EU traffic bloc bargaining power.

Yanbu op.

It's so sad how this country has fallen in recent years. But, we get what we vote for.

If anyone sees it as positive, it's because there is money to be made from a UK that doesn't have the EU traffic bloc bargaining power.
I agree. I think lots of countries were rubbing their hands in glee at their strengthened position relative to us. I don't think they're interested in us now though, they've got enough on their plates.

What you are talking about is other peoples perceptions, and I think Britain is finding out that, certainly for countries with educated people in close contact with the UK, it does not control those. It’s made the old mistake of projecting images of solidity and forgetting all the substance that lies beneath. The inequalities in Britain were well known in the parts of Europe I’ve travelled in, whether they enjoy the royal pageantry or no. Parts of the world that don’t like hypocrisy will not like the conflict between image and reality either.

Every friend and family member abroad I have spoken to

From which countries?

Did you not see the memes from the US about Brexit being a more stupid decision than electing Trump?

No, but I did see this a few weeks ago;

"The US has lifted its ban on British beef exports."

A step in the right direction.

www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2020/03/13/UK-beef-export-ban-lifted-by-US

And by 'every friend and family member' how many people are we talking about who have independently commented on this?

@nellythenarwhal vast difference between memes and soft power.

Do you look at the dates of videos before assessing their content

Actually yes I do otherwise you cannot assess what exactly you are seeing or in what context with regard to history.

If you don’t then anyone can show you anything and tell you anything and you would lap it up as current news.

Obviously it reflects badly when you compare to countries like Germany who started off with a better healthcare system, better lab capacity and got off the ball quicker with introducing testing and providing PPE to their medics and consequently are seeing better results. It's not just a case of perceptions they're objectively doing a lot better.

@leaannb what? A link please?
Unless you are American and are referring to Trump's modern day piracy.

while Brexit has sent negative signals to the EU, the same signal is positive to the US, Middle East and Far East.

They're absolutely delighted that they'll have access to our healthcare system and can export and import to us on their terms since we'll have absolutely no bargaining power.

I think Britain has been haemorrhaging soft power since the Brexit referendum and is unlikely to recover it. The UK's time in the sun ☀️ is over as far as international standing goes.