To panic about the dire state of the UK?

[moveblues]

So... all things considered... aren't we up sh-t creek?
-gas and electricity prices
-covid (masks? Pfft completed Covid mate (in England))
-council tax hikes
-inflation
-food shortages
-Brexit
-petrol

Sounds like something out of a dystopian nightmare. I'm worried dear reader, and 'keep calm and carry on' doesn't help.

@moveblues

So... all things considered... aren't we up sh-t creek? -gas and electricity prices -covid (masks? Pfft completed Covid mate (in England)) -council tax hikes -inflation -food shortages -Brexit -petrol

Sounds like something out of a dystopian nightmare. I'm worried dear reader, and 'keep calm and carry on' doesn't help.

Most of it is everywhere tbf. My family abroad has it even worse because it appears the inflation is worse in EE states. The one thing they really don't have are food aupply issues....

Pumperthepumper

Livelovebehappy
Let’s be honest. It could have all turned out a whole lot worse. Imagine Corbyn in charge, with the likes of Abbott and Rayner on the front benches. The government aren’t performing great atm, but I can’t even begin to think how the alternative would have pulled us through.
Help me imagine it, what would have happened?'

Yeah; they seldom want to answer that part of the question, do they? Just like they can never quite explain what they mean by 'Labour needs to pull its socks up'. It's quite sweet when they have a bash, though, because they cast around hopelessly and finally manage some gem like 'He might have listened to his brother'. Bless.

This was my shopping shelf yesterday. Could get some petrol if you needed it but it was v v expensive.

Those who say go somewhere else - brexit made that much harder.

We are a mess but maybe we have to get to rock bottom to get over ourselves and start building a better country without the people that brought us brexit.

There aren't really any fuel shortages - BP had to close five (yes, just five) petrol stations and some idiots went beserk with Jerry cans.

The first post on my local Facebook that I noticed about people being unable to get fuel here and asking where they could as they had tried three different ones and were all empty, was Friday 17th , I screen shot it and sent to a friend who lives elsewhere who was 😮

@LetHimHaveIt

Pumperthepumper

Livelovebehappy
Let’s be honest. It could have all turned out a whole lot worse. Imagine Corbyn in charge, with the likes of Abbott and Rayner on the front benches. The government aren’t performing great atm, but I can’t even begin to think how the alternative would have pulled us through.
Help me imagine it, what would have happened?'

Yeah; they seldom want to answer that part of the question, do they? Just like they can never quite explain what they mean by 'Labour needs to pull its socks up'. It's quite sweet when they have a bash, though, because they cast around hopelessly and finally manage some gem like 'He might have listened to his brother'. Bless.

‘Corbyn considers options before making decisions, where Boris Johnson just bashes out any old shit and that’s a much better tactic, even though it means he has to u-turn every half hour’.

@nosyupnorth

The energy prices, tax rises, and inflatition are a sting, though they were bound to happen sooner or later it's just a shame they're all hitting at once because of goverment mismanagement, but the rest of it is fear for fear's sake.

-covid - the majority of the population are vaccinated and it's no longer an unknown disease we have systems to manage and treat it

-food shortages - what food shortages? There are certain products in low supply but there's still plenty of food available. Out of season imported fresh fruits etc are a luxury 99% of the world lived without up until a few decades ago and large parts of the world have never had.

-Brexit - what about it? I'm not a fan but it's hardly dire. The EU had advantages but it's not a necessity.

-petrol - the current state of affairs is a byproduct of media clickbait fearmongering and people panic buying, a handful of petrol stations had run out (which happens sometimes even in normal circumstances) but the real problems only started when people with daft apocolyptic notions like yours started hoarding. it's the toilet paper nonsense of last year all over again

Thank f. For you @nosyupnorth sanity reigns - I was panicking at this madness of this thread for a bit

All- this is how hysteria and conspiracy start. We must get a grip. Make good choices. Contribute to better ( entirely possible) calm the fuck down.

We do need a new government

This one is shit at everything

On their watch

BTW whaabouttery doesn't count. Who cares what Corbyn would have done (I didn't vote for him and I doubt it could be worse) because he's not in power or even the leader of the opposition.

Look over there might make you feel better but is irrelevant to the situation.
Let's hope people remember this when the next election rolls by.

@Eealoty

To anyone thinking other countries have it worse in Europe. There are indeed deeper issues at hand here in the UK. It's a rotten mentality we have. Have you visited an Eastern European country in recent years (I'm not even talking about Nordic). Romania, Poland? It was beautiful. Well kept little towns on cobbled streets with civilised restaurants.. filled with locals. No drunks falling around everywhere. NO homeless. No crass behaviour around. That was my experience of a visit - off the beaten track - in an "eastern bloc" country. However, . .. Keep believing the British exceptionalism is real. It's what everyone goes back to when the media leaves out any other narrative.

Yes. If you come on here and complain about homeless people,dirty streets, drug addicts or drinks you are jumped upon for being over privileged.

These ARE problems. They should and can be addressed. They are not because on one instance they are a handy blame object and in another a promotion point to show the other side don't care. And it's all about money that needs to be spent but no-one wants to raise taxes to pay for it.

@pontypridd

My point being that some people are evidently still doing ok.

They're doing Ok on cheap borrowed money. This cannot last. With inflation will come interest rises (am I right people with better knowledge than me?)

and with interest rises all that cheap borrowed money suddenly grows and needs to be paid off.

Yes there are loads of seemingly wealthy 'ordinary' people at the moment - but their wealth is based on debt. This is very precarious. It has to end at some point and we're hurtling towards that end point. I believe anyway.

Interest rate rises are a means of controlling inflation, yes. But other means include increasing taxes and, traditionally, cutting public spending (hard to see how this would reduce demand sufficiently to impact inflation, now that the public sector is so small, but in an economy with a big state sector, it would probably work).

But they all work by reducing demand. Imo, what we're seeing is supply-side inflation caused both by local issues (like shortage of lorry drivers) and global ones (like the rise in the wholesale price of gas). They're harder to sort out.

And this government is bound to choose raising interest rates, as that is the one that is least damaging for rich people. Thankfully, most people have fixed-rate mortgages these days, so will be protected for a while, but anyone with significant credit card debt would be well advised to move it to zero or low-interest cards asap and pay it down as soon as they can.

I can't imagine for a minute that we'll see the sort of interest rates we had in the late 80/early 90s though. I remember remortgaging and getting 13.5% and it being a good deal! (Which it was, when base rates went up to 15% and some people were paying 3% above base rate )

@moveblues

So... all things considered... aren't we up sh-t creek? -gas and electricity prices -covid (masks? Pfft completed Covid mate (in England)) -council tax hikes -inflation -food shortages -Brexit -petrol

Sounds like something out of a dystopian nightmare. I'm worried dear reader, and 'keep calm and carry on' doesn't help.

Will the lava from the volcano up the hill destroy your house? LAS Palma

Will you be made to stay in your house, beaten if you go our and if you want to work being a woman you will be beaten? Afghanistan

Will you be kicked off your property which you have owned and worked for decades if you are the wrong race? Zimbabwe and South Africa

Will you be hunted like prey if you are gay? Russia

Will you be executed for being in law enforcement? Mexico

Honestly, I don't recognise any of this doom and gloom.
I got petrol last night one person in front of me at the pump, no queue at all.
Sat outside a lovely coffee shop in a northern market town in the sun after shopping, no empty shelves that I noticed. The NHS is alive and well up here I can assure you, I recently had excellent treatment at my local hospital.
My sister lives in the USA you wouldn't want to be disabled and on benefits there I assure you.

@LakieLady do you think they will raise interest rates? surely that will hit property prices a bit & that will cause serious panic!

@IsleofRum so you want to wait until it’s that bad before complaining?

The army of reason and reality have arrived :) @stonebrambleboy @IsleofRum you have cheered up my sunday aswell. Fabulous and tragic points we really must consider when bemoaning.
THANKS

Yes, ‘at least we’re not Afghanistan’ really epitomising they spirit of the brave and bold new post-Brexit Britain.

Will the lava from the volcano up the hill destroy your house? LAS Palma

Will you be made to stay in your house, beaten if you go our and if you want to work being a woman you will be beaten? Afghanistan

Will you be kicked off your property which you have owned and worked for decades if you are the wrong race? Zimbabwe and South Africa

Will you be hunted like prey if you are gay? Russia

Will you be executed for being in law enforcement? Mexico

No because I live in the UK

Mumsnet is an echo chamber when it comes to Brexit, Covid,, The Government,etc People need, to look outside their own little bubble and see whats going on, in the rest of the world.

plus I don't think we have volcanoes here but flooding is a problem.

[quote Evesgarden]**@Lovinghannah* - A lot of us do have to stay actually, if we are disabled and dependent on benefits*

Oh the irony..[/quote]
Sorry, what do you mean?
@Evesgarden

@Pumperthepumper what are you on about ? That’s not the tone. Well maybe it is. Whilst we are sat accessing the Internet with the freedom to be aghast at the U.K. to make public comment.
Not so fortunate in Afghanistan are they?

Though I’d rather be thinking what can I do to be useful to those that I have capacity to make a difference for. Rather than stir up a whole load of drama.

@wellards

plus I don't think we have volcanoes here but flooding is a problem.

As it is in many parts of Europe too.

and?

[quote Topsyturvyloo]@Pumperthepumper what are you on about ? That’s not the tone. Well maybe it is. Whilst we are sat accessing the Internet with the freedom to be aghast at the U.K. to make public comment.
Not so fortunate in Afghanistan are they?

Though I’d rather be thinking what can I do to be useful to those that I have capacity to make a difference for. Rather than stir up a whole load of drama.[/quote]
Though I’d rather be thinking what can I do to be useful to those that I have capacity to make a difference for. Rather than stir up a whole load of drama.

What do you suggest?

Theworldisfullofgs
This was my shopping shelf yesterday

I don't think much of your photography skills - you have mostly taken a photograph of the floor.