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?

As a limited company director who's been shafted by this government I 100% agree with you.

I'm sick to the back teeth of being rules but these pathetic excuse for men, they have made it bloody obvious they are simply working on their careers and not for us.

Don't get me started on Riski and his PR machine.

@smellyolddog

As a limited company director who's been shafted by this government I 100% agree with you.

I'm sick to the back teeth of being rules but these pathetic excuse for men, they have made it bloody obvious they are simply working on their careers and not for us.

Don't get me started on Riski and his PR machine.

Me too smelly it's utterly discriminatory. Sunak is absolutely gunning for small businesses like ours. Also the separate issue of IR35. Its been in the pipeline for years but by happy coincidence it neatly rewards his FIL when consulting firms sweep up all the contract work.

I have been a life long Tory voter. I know, shoot me now but I honestly believed they were the party to support small business. Won't be voting for them again that's for sure.

The biggest shit storm coming is going to be social care in 20-30 years. Nobody can afford houses anymore. When the people who are in their 20’s and 30’s now get to retirement age, only probably about half will own their own house, if that. Nobody will have any houses or assets or savings to sell pay for their social care. The state will have to fund it. The cost is going to be utterly astronomical.

For once I am happy with government & really pleased the way things are goingi got my covid jab, schools open for ALL tomorrow & finally I can start work in the not too distant future so I am sooo proud to be British the way we have managed this pandemic makes me feel full of pride!

Hi Carrie waves how's Dylan? Chewed any more books lately?

I've been reading through the replies. So many excellent points. I have been incredibly disappointed with politicians for a long time but this particularly government and the last year has made me so angry and worried for the least fortunate in particular.

@Eleganz- I disagree that we get the government we deserve. For a start, many of us, (me included), didn't vote Tory. Secondly, we have been so brain washed by the media for so long that most people start to believe what they keep seeing in front of them even if the facts don't fit. There is a serious lack of education and critical thinking but this behaviour has always been the way with humans. We are easily led.
I'm sure people who did vote Tory did so for a number of reasons. I'm guessing but- traditionally the party of lower tax and supporter of business, they like to portray themselves as a safer hand with the economy, it seems those in the red wall seats may have voted for them mainly based on Brexit.

I deliberately didn't comment on the Labour party in the OP. They haven't been much better, particularly Blair. I have yet to see them communicate a clear, different vision for the future of this country and that is surely what most people want to see. While GDP increasing is supposed to theoretically demonstrate an increase in standards of living, this is quite clearly not the case for the majority nor has it been for a long time.

Thank you to whoever posted Matthew Syed's article in The Times.

I totally agree with @Morgoth's point about the funding of social care in the future. It's very worrying. Of course, the present pack don't care because they will be long gone and jolly comfortable.

@Sapho47- 'Or more importantly, it's preventing a lot of people, who may be struggling with their mortgage after covid, from being in negative equity.'
That isn't true at all. Home owners are not in negative equity. That is, in any case, a separate issue to being unable to pay their mortgages (there has been a mortgage holiday for those people, remember). In addition, the housing market was already extremely buouyant with pent up demand, people moving out of London/ SE for more space. If it had fallen 20% you might have a point. Thirdly, even if you were correct, they are improving the lot of one section of society at the expense of another. I won't dignify your second post with a response.

@tallulahwullah- surely you can't be serious about how well this country have dealt with the pandemic. I'm hoping your post is a joke!

People really need to start complaining loudly to produce some change. I'm not sure how to start.

No, I'm not negative about life in the UK and I think the government have done well considering the challenges we've had to face last year

Yes I agree with everything you've said.

I have yet to see them communicate a clear, different vision for the future of this country and that is surely what most people want to see

People really need to start complaining loudly to produce some change

You are obviously entitled to your own opinion, but your rhetoric indicates that you believe everyone agrees with you. A vast number of people don't, so please bear this in mind before getting too carried away - just saying...

Yes because it was so much better years ago , nobody went hungry , nobody needed free school dinners
There is no country in the world who doesn't have rich and poor

Also I never get people who say they only surround themselves with like minded people? Can't you just judge a person by wether you like them rather than their political view , strikes me very much of I am right everyone else is wrong and if you don't agree with everything I do then I don't like you
Bit like kids playing and the kid whose ball it is , saying my ball my rules

I broadly agree with you OP and there have been some good suggestions made here about what could help, e.g., how we fund people to become MPs, limiting their time / background.

I also think our voting system (First Past the Post) is a problem because it locks us into the 2 party system, meaning a lack of options for voters. I'm not claiming other voting systems create democratic bliss, but our 2 party system seems increasingly unable to actually represent people. ( I know we had a referendum on it not long ago)

There is also a lot of general apathy and ignorance among people (yes, better political education in schools could help - but we expect them to fix everything!) Teaching adults I quite often met people in their 20's who didn't know who / which party was in government / who stood for what. How can you have a democracy like that?
I feel like others have said, quite powerless.

How have they shafted small business ?

I vote tories, they are shit, but less shit than labour in my opinion.

If I’m honest I’d rather not vote for any shit but when shit is your only two options what are you going to do?

@ILoveAllRainbowsx 'I am hoping that we will have voluntary euthanasia by then. Most people want it, it's just the politicians who vote against it.'
This seems almost to read as if you are advocating voluntary euthanasia for those who can't afford to pay for their care in older age which was @Morgoth's point. Is that what you are suggesting?

@turquoisewaters- I'm interested to know what the things are that you think the government has done well. I think the vaccination programme, delivered by the NHS staff with help from councils, police, the army and volunteers has gone well. I'm struggling to think of other things and can think of many terrrible decisions they have made with terrible consequences.

'I have yet to see them communicate a clear, different vision for the future of this country and that is surely what most people want to see'. I was referring to the Labour Party. Of course, I am well aware that not everyone disagrees with me. We wouldn't be here is everyone agreed with me. I do think a significant percentage of the population, some of those who voted Tory in the last election, are dissatisfied and would like a better vision of the future as well as those who voted against this government.

@donewithitalltodayandxmas- the point I was making is that the wealth gap has hugely increased in more recent times, policies support this. You can easily google this information.

@emmylousings- totally agree with you about politics being taught in schools.

YANBU to think the government are a disgrace but YABVU to think that the current one is worse than any from the past five decades (at least).

Boris Johnson has got things done, something that can't be said for May. Cameron fucked up by allowing the Brexit referendum (even as someone who voted for it, it was clearly a miscalculation on his part, he wouldn't have called it otherwise). To be fair, Cameron was a damn sight better than his coalition partner "Spineless" Nick Clegg.

Then you get to the Blair and Brown years. Fucking hell. The most dishonest and corrupt bunch I've ever come across. They were the point where style became more important than substance and the post-truth era was ushered in. It didn't matter what they did, they could say they were doing the exact opposite and the population swallowed it up. They were the original populists (Nicola Sturgeon learned a great deal from them).

Before that, the Major years. A weak leader presiding over a declining government full of bullshitters and cheats. Barely a week went by without a new scandal, I remember you could see their majority declining in front of your very eyes.

Then there was Thatcher - probably the most universally unpopular leader of the lot. A large part of the reason she got in though was the absolute shambles Labour were in at the time (sounds familiar) and the memory of the disastrous Labour governments of the 70s.

My point (if there is one) is that politicians have been self-serving liars since politics was invented. It's a thread that has wound its way down to now all the way from (the cunt) Kleon in 5th century BC Athens. The names of the politicians changes, but their nature never does.

Indeed!

Yanbu...I hate these cunts 😡

@donewithitalltodayandxmas They have excluded c 3 million people from any kind of govt support. People now on their knees , people have taken their lives. It's utter shit.

Totally agree

I feel extremely jaded and increasingly angry about it all. Can’t see an end in sight either

Yanbu.

Major was right about the bastards. Problem is the bastards eventually won.

@donewithitalltodayandxmas @TheDogsMother- and presumably the fact that they have forced many businesses to close altogether for nearly half of the past 12 months which will obviously impact smaller businesses more.

@donewithitalltodayandxmas

Also I never get people who say they only surround themselves with like minded people? Can't you just judge a person by wether you like them rather than their political view , strikes me very much of I am right everyone else is wrong and if you don't agree with everything I do then I don't like you Bit like kids playing and the kid whose ball it is , saying my ball my rules

I explained the reason in my post. And largely, because I can. It's a lost cause with people who would STILL vote the same way. It says a lot about character if someone just chooses to blindly ignore the reality of awful things happening by our government when the facts are all out there to read and digest.

@TheDogsMother it's infuriating isn't it.

I'm the same I honestly thought they would support us, but no.

They expect us to rebuild the country on what? Bounce back loans..

I'm not.. they can shove their corporation taxes, NI, VAT collection equating to millions, the fact I've employed 7 people and had a thriving business, I'm done.

I don't expect handouts I expect to treated equally and fairly.

@donewithitalltodayandxmas they have excluded over 3 million businesses from any support, a big fat zero.

Through poorly rushed schemes, the ones who have fallen though gaps are desperate for help. But it's falling on deaf ears, so approx 10% of people have been left with nothing.

The other day Boris was again told about their plight to be see muttering "utter nonsense"

There is a Facebook group called excludeduk and the stories on there are utterly heartbreaking.

After saying "no one will be left behind" they have done precisely that.