To be disgusted with the government and increasingly negative about life in this country.

[nottherighttime]

I'm not sure if it is getting older and having more experience of things not going very well or that politicians seem to have becomes more and more dishonourable and self serving to the extent that many in the current cabinet are happy to tell bare faced lies to the general public and give extremely lucrative contracts to the chums.

I feel that the general public are increasingly manipulated by the very small percentage of super wealthy and privileged inidividuals in power and by the media who act in tandem with them. Johnson really seems to be a master manipulator and liar but still so many seem to think he is doing a good job. Williamson has been beyond incompetent and has made some embarrassing gaffs. Patel has been accused of bullying and there has apparently been a large payout made. Rishi professes to be honest and likes to 'level with us' (and apparently some believe him according to the polls) but has increased taxes for the poor and middle-higher earners but failed to increase capital gains tax or inheritance tax at all which would affect the wealthy and deliberately put a rocket under the housing market pushing the prices up a ridiculous amount and further out of reach of FTB and lower earners/ those without family money. Jenrick has been caught out telling lies on several occasions, the Cummings fiasco, enough said!

The media has served the government's purpose well. They are pitting public sector workers against private sector, furloughed workers against NHS workers asking for more than a 1% pay rise and it is working brilliantly. Instead of all working together and taking collective responsibility for the society we live in there is in-fighting and the wealthy happily taking more and more from people who can't afford housing or food for their children at the lowest end of the scale (and many others in the middle). There seems to be so much more of an 'every man for himself' attitude in more recent decades and less thought for society as a whole.
There is also the lie perpetuated about how there is no money for funding essential services, UC, free school meals, etc but yet there have been billions for track and trace, millions wasted on PPE which was substandard without any apparent thought. The government can create money via the B of E when it suits them and it is a political choice not to fund certain things and to fund others.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Yep.

Yes I think you’ve got it about right OP

There is certainly something not working correctly with the way society is organised if children have to be given free school meals.

YANBU. Sorry for brief response but yes it's depressing. The only way to get through it for me is to surrupticiously surround oneself with like minded people, however few, in order to avoid the drip feeding of all kinds of ignorance people spout to eachother on a daily basis having read the 'usual' newspapers or dim witted facebook posts. Even the bbc is no longer unbiased. And head of Ofcom now a Tory chum too.

Yep. I can't argue with the points you've made, sadly.

The Tory apologists will be along shortly, however.

YANBU in the slightest.

We get the politicians we deserve.

Any country has so many people that can treat the request for a decent reward for healthcare professionals after the year we've had with such hateful vitriol and bogus economics clearly deserves the bunch of charlatans, spivs and incompetents that we have in Government at the moment.

The last decade has been a truly awful backslide for our society and it seems many people couldn't be happier about that.

It’s so depressing because I feel helpless. Hancock was proven to have illegally given out billions of pounds in ppe contracts and ......nothing. The track and trace shambles- they are unnaccountable. It’s as if they know nothing will be done and are now totally brazen and shameless. Gah.

Agreed. Maybe I'm getting old but back in the day govt had to at least pretend not to be dishonest and entirely self-serving.
But I don't agree that we get the politicians we deserve - who do you vote for when all the options are bad?

Great article by Matthew Syed in the Sunday Times saying exactly this, but it's behind the paywall I'm afraid.

link

It's not only this government though, this has been going on in all the developed economies for decades.

How did John Major get to be so rich? Or Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson for that matter?

Completely agree.

The question is - where would you move to? Where is better?

It is a problem with politicians more generally. There is an Isabel Hardman book 'why do we get the wrong politicians' which deals with some of the issues.

Part of it is that there is no good way of selecting a potential MP - with it is a local party selection in which it is a local activist or someone who appeals to a very narrow group of hardcore party members (ERG types). Then there is lack of financial support for aspiring MPs which makes the job incredibly expensive to apply for unless you have a private income or union funding - you can't just abandon your normal job to campaign and you have to be involved and visible in your constituency before you start actually campaigning. Then the press etc.

So you end up with a group of people who largely have similar backgrounds, lots of confidence and self belief (whether deserved or not) and plenty of money before they start.

Yes, I feel hopeless and helpless. I want to leave the country and will try and do so, but first I have elderly parents and FIL to stay for. Maybe the next country won't be better, but I've got to try.

YANBU. At all

It's no better in Scotland look at the Sturgeon v Salmond case said they would be less sleazy than Westminster no way apart from that there was Derek Mackay who had to resign in a hurry , Margaret Ferrier that makes Dominic Cummings look like a careful man etc etc etc they are hiding education repro till after election I just hope it's leaked earlier as education was going backwards in Scotland long before covid

100% agree with all you say...I can hardly believe the level our government has dropped to, both domestically and our reputation internationally; from being a respected bastion of democracy to this?

Boris is systemically dismantling everything the UK stands for, in the name of self-aggrandizement and feathering his cronies' nests...and yet a significant proportion of the public feel he is doing a good job.

I despair

YANBU. It’s depressing and embarrassing in equal measures. I’m married to an Aussie. When they first moved here they did so in part because of how much better our politics, rights, equality etc were than at home. Now desperate to go back to Oz because it’s better there. We have fallen a long way as a country in a very short space of time. And a lot of people seem delighted with it!

Yes, I am in Scotland wondering if it could be better here. I don't think the Sturgeon/Salmond row is in the same ballpark at all. ScotGov clearly messed up the process for looking into harassment complaints badly, and have really let down the two women concerned. That's it - no law breaking, no breaking of ministerial codes, no nepotism or greed. The sight of two such senior politicians knocking chunks out of each other is not edifying and needs to stop. But not in the same ballpark at all, in my eyes.

Would like a ban on career politicians no more politics at uni the a local councillor or union rep then MP or MSP all should have worked in a non politics job for 3 years it doesn't matter whether public or private sector or self employed just not politics or the political side of a job I have no problem if they are rich or poor or what school their parents sent them to ( it is high unlikely they had a choice really) just some experience of world outside political bubble so they understand folks whether in stock exchange or greggs really don't care how many points you score in PMQ or your debating skills they want stuff done at the end of the day most people's priorities are a decent job suitable housing education for their kids a working health service and justice if things go pear shaped

Yup. I chose to move to the UK and make a life here, sacrificing a lot to do so, because I believed in this country and its values. I still think (rightly or wrongly) that the average Briton is meritocratic and outward-looking, but I despair at what I'm seeing in government.

Yanbu. It is very depressing because most don't seem to care and even applaud poor old fallen in the dressing up box again Boris (such a laugh, so much positivity, it's what we need, he's done his best, he's just had a baby poor bloke, hasn't he done a great job with the vaccines?). It's just unrelentingly shit. I despise the tabloid press of this country for what they have done.

I think it was like this but we didn't know

I saw an interview with Tony Blair where he said he really regretted bringing in the Freedom of Information Act.

I shouldn't have clicked because I'm meabt to be doing low media and no politics

It does improve life!

Yanbu