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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be terrified?

158 replies

Newkitty · 01/12/2020 13:54

I've just read in The Times that the UK's economy is forecast to have the slowest recovery from covid of all developed nations. Brexit is on the horizon. Debenhams has just folded. Everything is absolutely terrifying, and this country is already on its knees - schools and hospitals are crumbling, millions of people rely on food banks. How much worse is it going to get?

How do you cope? I can't concentrate. Everything seems so pointless. What can we do? There's no amount of preparation that would make a difference. We don't have enough room to stockpile even if we had the cash to do it. We rely on systems working. I'm so, so scared.

OP posts:
Caplin · 01/12/2020 17:53

The NHS sprang out of post war innovation as did Europe. We have created an NHS before, we can rebuild, and we can rejoin Europe (which I think is inevitable).

Out of the ashes always come creative and transformative thinkers. It is not all blackness.

Greektome · 01/12/2020 17:55

We've already seen that extremely rich people who funded the Vote Leave campaign have been cashing in on the effect of Brexit on the UK economy. And that the government is massively cashing in (via friends and family) on the Covid crisis, by paying well over the odds for PPE to companies set up purely to cash in - with no prior experience of manufacturing PPE. They are continuing in the same vein with Brexit. It's basically a way of removing what they can from the UK by dismantling it / selling it off, before scarpering.

Didthatreallyhappen2 · 01/12/2020 17:59

I'm sorry but I don't recognise the country you're talking about. Our schools and hospitals aren't crumbling, not where we are anyway. I'm still very happy with the amazing education our DC get, and have recently had a (non-Covid) experience at our hospital that was excellent in every respect. And our local foodbanks are well used, but not overwhelmed and coping fine.

I am sorry that you're so worried, but I think you are making things out to be much worse than they are.

randomer · 01/12/2020 18:09

I cba stockpiling. I think it says something about people. I am growing some Kale and sprouts mainly for fun.

CunnyLingus · 01/12/2020 18:11

The UK is a nation of shopkeepers. So long as people need to live they need to work and, unless you are self-sufficient on a Welsh hillside, that involves trading with each other. We may not have 162 different lines of breakfast cereal but we will surely have 10. Humans are extremely adaptable and resourceful. You could stand on your doorstep holding out a long shitty stick but retailers will still find you.

At the moment you are looking down a very long telescope and magnifying something that may be quite small. Change your mindset.

timeforanewstart · 01/12/2020 18:12

We aren't going to run out of food, we may have short term shortages but we won't have whole empty supermarkets . Do people realky believe that no supermarkets etc are preparing either .
Newspapers like to scaremonger and make predictions of what MAY happen , then following week they run another story
They predicted after the brexit we would crash straight away , we didn't , they have no way of knowing how the uk will perform they can guess and predict
But for every expert who predicts one thing , another will go against it.

Pippin2028 · 01/12/2020 18:12

The problem is we have news and 24 hour access and alerts to everything, I think this is why things look so bleak for all of us. There are always hard times and even in good times there is people still having hard time in their industries. The only thing we can do is wait to see what unfolds and deal with it. Many countries in Europe especially will have big issues, people are using food banks in Germany, France, Spain, Italy.

Eckhart · 01/12/2020 18:13

I don't think I could live through what my grandparents lived through

How would you have 'not lived through it', though? Unless you're suicidal, there's no option. You just have to get on with it. You don't sound suicidal. If you are, speak to a health professional.

Every human who ever lived could have focused on worrying about what might happen. It's a choice. Take responsibility for yourself: make a choice that serves you better than choosing to catastrophise.

akerman · 01/12/2020 18:16

Today's tin of soup is tomorrow's tin of soup. How is it going to metamorphose into a case or a larder? It's very sensible to pick up just one or two extra items cumulatively when you shop, I was doing that ready for Brexit in March 2019 and my stash was really helpful when Covid struck. And it meant I could stay away from the shelves when there was pressure on them from others.

rwalker · 01/12/2020 18:16

Yeah hard times coming but we'll get through it. The debit this country will be in will be atstonomical it will have an impact for the rest of my life time.

akerman · 01/12/2020 18:17

hey predicted after the brexit we would crash straight away , we didn't , they have no way of knowing how the uk will perform they can guess and predict
But for every expert who predicts one thing , another will go against it.

To be fair the predictions of an immediate crash were predicated upon the idiot Cameron saying that we'd leave immediately if that's the way the vote went. He clearly hadn't bothered his arse looking at what needed to happen in order to trigger our exit.

RoSEbuds6 · 01/12/2020 18:25

I really sympathise with you OP, I guess at the heart of my unease is the fact that I have no faith in our government at all. I really want to think well of them (for my own peace of mind) but I just can't.

Do what you can to cope - maybe try to plant some veg? Something to make you feel like you are being constructive and also (according to Women's Hour) we should all be learning how to code. Free courses online apparently.

ancientgran · 01/12/2020 18:26

I realise that people had it worse in the past. I don't think I could live through what my grandparents lived through. You underestimate yourself, you'd be amazed with what you would cope with if you had to, particularly if other people are going through similar. You just take one step at a time and one day you find you've arrived at a nicer place.

Thank you for the nice messages, Mummyratbag and Chottie. I am looking back at it and seeing those ladies, they were all older than me so probably pushing 80 now or in their 80s. I hope they are all well.

There are good people in the world.

Nunoftheother · 01/12/2020 18:36

I can't believe there are sane, sensible adults who are egging each other on to spend the next few months surrounded by cardboard boxes of stockpiled food.

Nobody's going to starve just because it's a bit difficult to get your favourite brand of tinned tomatoes, FFS. Get a bloody grip.

Chottie · 01/12/2020 18:37

@ancientgran - you are absolutely right, there are good people in the world. Good will triumph and we will come through.

corythatwas · 01/12/2020 18:42

I'm more concerned about the long term impact tbh. Though if there are hold-ups in medication that could affect my family badly.

Gottheteeshirtandlostit · 01/12/2020 18:51

therealMrsJamieFraser - well said.

Original poster
Newkitty · 01/12/2020 18:52

@roSEbuds6 I feel the same. The govt is not just inept but also corrupt. I don’t trust them to look out for people in this country. They seem to have other priorities.

OP posts:
Greektome · 01/12/2020 18:53

Yeah, let's just ignore all the predictions and pretend everything's going to stay the same as it is now Hmm.

Original poster
Newkitty · 01/12/2020 18:54

Thank you to all the kind messages by the way

@chottie your outlook is really beautiful

OP posts:
randomer · 01/12/2020 19:05

Things wont be the same but grabbing wont help anybody.

Greektome · 01/12/2020 19:10

Which is why lots of people stockpiled ages ago, which had no adverse effect on food supplies. The problem will be panic buying.

NoSquirrels · 01/12/2020 19:11

@ancientgran

I just had a thought. I was the youngest, and probably poorest, mum at playgroup. Everyone was so thrilled I won. Was the raffle a fix? I never thought of it before but I can see the committee ladies all smiling and so excited for me, I bet it was and I could cry.
Ah, this has made me teary. ancientgran, aren't people kind?

OP - people will get us through this. It may be rubbish and things may all go to shit, but people are kind. Focus on that.

CoronaIsWatching · 01/12/2020 19:12

Meanwhile the housing market continues to soar, what's going on?

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 01/12/2020 19:21

Omg your anxiety is way ott.

The UK still produces lots of it's own food.

Apples
Pears
Onions
Carrots
Swede
Peas
Beetroot
Potatoes
Flour
Butter
Cheese
Milk
Chicken
Beef
Pork

Are all widely available from UK producers.

There are also a huge selection of things in supermarkets (especially in winter) which are coming from southern hemisphere - green veg & fruit from Kenya, south Africa, Peru etc, all unaffected by Brexit. Tinned tuna from the Indian Ocean.

Yes there will some shortages of odd things but they are likely to be quite specific and limited and for many of them, there will simply be a gap in the market that either UK or non EU producers will race to fill.