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.

the funny thing is- half the british people have no idea of our decline, not a scooby.

Leaannb I didn't quote you

@Helmetbymidnight The link is further up thread on how poorly Germany did and they are still short on PPE. Here is a link discussing NZ shortages
www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120981315/coronavirus-new-national-ppe-distribution-system-introduced-after-faults-and-shortages....

Greece got a donation from China after they had to go begging
greekcitytimes.com/2020/03/22/china-sends-planeload-of-medical-supplies-to-greece/?amp

There are only x amount of PPE in the world, if the demand massively increases (which it has) where is it gonna come from?

eBay.

Not a joke.

My GP surgery sourced PPE from eBay because the NHS supplies weren't there.

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

Well those memes would be the opinions of some Democrats, wouldn’t they? The same Democrats who are currently not in power and therefore not representative of most Americans. Should I really have to spell that out? Since when has an internet meme been concrete evidence of anything?

the people who are pleased by it are generally not the people who contribute significantly to the economy or country. Not the scientists, medical staff and entrepreneurs. It's middle Englanders who don't understand economics or international law

I hate to break it to you (again, like a broken record) but you are wrong about that. It is true that many people who do not significantly contribute to our economy are in favour of Brexit but it does not follow, therefore, that everyone who does contribute significantly is not.

she said 'generally' and thats true.

okay, so we're fast on the way to one of the highest death rates per population and yet we're doing miles better than germany, new zealand and greece. in what way does that make sense to anyone?

It was lost at brexit, no worries there. I've never heard anyone non british think it wasn't insane, inward looking, and xenophobic.

so greece is doing badly because they got donations from china? and i suppose we're doing well because we turned down ventilator schemes from the eu?

some bewildering logic here.

Yes it is true that people in countries where they have heard of Brexit are bewildered about it. But the people I know in Thailand had never heard of it.
Someone talked and how the all ex pats they know who moved abroad think Britain is great. I am not sure that would be true as why move abroad if you think Britain is so great? But the relatives and friends I know are not British. Most have never been to Britain.
And I don't agree that everyone thinks their country is competent and capable. I have friends in Brazil who are horrified at what is happening in Brazil and really want to emigrate.

Greece were sensible to accept donations from China.
And everyone knows Greece is a poor country. That is no secret.

And I don't agree that everyone thinks their country is competent and capable. I have friends in Brazil who are horrified at what is happening in Brazil and really want to emigrate.

The Venezuelans I know have felt that way for years.

If we wanted to be respected, we wouldn't choose a Buffoon as our leader.

Britain is a laughing stock. Sheep led by donkeys.

A lot of people abroad could not name who our Prime Minister is. Don't make the mistake of thinking what is important to us is important to them.

There are plenty of videos and photos of shortages in other countries too. I saw Australia and Hong Kong long before CV was a mainstream topic in the UK.

Australia have been ramped up for a CV onslaught that hasn’t (yet) happened, there’s more PPE now although still concerns about capacity.

It’s moot though because there are now, like NZ, murmurings about possible eradication aims. There is minimal community spread, a robust public health response. We’ve tested over twice as many people per capita as in the U.K. Our borders are closed, some state lines are closed.

We have had 65 deaths and the curve is very flat.

Whether everybody all over the world saw a video of a crying nurse, I have no idea (my relatives in the states haven't mentioned it), but I suspect that at the moment, they are all agog at another story entirely.

And we all know which one. And it kind of knocks the OP into a cocked hat.

I'm down in NZ.

Among the (very Anglophile) intelligentsia, Brexit is seen as a massive mistake and Johnson a massive tool. Outside that group, both Brexit and Johnson are liked (insofar that people think about them at all).

The UK's is seen as doing about the same as most other Western countries in its pandemic response.

There is a slow decline in British cultural influence here. That's for many reasons, it's been going on for decades and Brexit hasn't really influenced it much if at all. Nor has the pandemic.

The best quality international news resources in English round here are British.

A lot of the comparisons between the UK and various other European countries just look like minutiae from here.

To me, the criticisms of the UK government by the UK media just show that the latter is in good health (compared to this country where the media is on life support and so criticism is muted).

The Irish are making jokes about how thick we are. I’m Irish living in England. My mum was telling me the jokes.

The Irish are making jokes about how thick we are.

"Irishman alleged middleman in $16.37m PPE scam."

"A garda statement on Tuesday said the probe was launched after German health authorities attempted to purchase 10 million face masks worth about $16.37 million (€15m) from a cloned website. It was later discovered the site was run by scammers."

www.irishcentral.com/news/irishvoice/irishman-ppe-scam

The thing that gobsmacked me was this:

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/13/uk-missed-three-chances-to-join-eu-scheme-to-bulk-buy-ppe

Can't find the BBC link but sure it was on there too.

I also think that the government will let us crash out, which was always their aim, as no one is paying much attention to it any more.

@TomPinch Thanks for that really interesting.
I think the UK is in a very slow decline overall as a country and I don't think most British people recognise that yet.

I agree Beetroot that we will crash out.

I think the UK is in a very slow decline overall as a country and I don't think most British people recognise that yet.

A lot of the English might not have cottoned on to this yet but I'm pretty sure a lot of the populations of Wales, Scotland, and NI are fully aware of it.

From here, the differences between the various constituent parts of the UK also look like minutiae, and more like the non-English bits ever trying to differentiate themselves.

Can we have some of the jokes the Irish are making please?

OP why are you ignoring questions? How big is your sample size of ‘every friend and family member abroad’ who has actually commented on this to you and which countries are they in?