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.

This country is becoming a failed state, because the posh boys thought it would be a laugh to smash up our delicately balanced supply chains, and their paymasters saw megabucks to be made in the resulting chaos. And they persuaded the ignorant, the stupid and the racists to vote for it.

What is or is not happening in Sweden or Sudan is totally irrelevant to this.

There is a interesting book novel called last light by Alex scarrow. And it's about peak oil and how fast the country would deteriorate when the oil stops.

Having witnessed panic buying ect, it's really accurate.

YADNBU.

The country is a massive car crash. And for the posters who say but we have an NHS... well, where I live it's almost entirely collapsed. Chronic staff shortages, horrendous backlogs, burnt out staff trying to firefight. No NHS treatment for me despite severe, disabiling injury last year. Neighbour 81, caring for husband 89 with severe dementia getting Zero help from any public service has now collapsed. Camhs waiting lists here now 18 months. All decent private children's psych services now have 4 month plus waiting list.

My Dd with ASD catches bits of the news and asks if I'm worried to which I lie and say no as otherwise she'll end up self-harming.

I see no way any of this will improve in the next few years at least.

11 years of Conservative government have taken us to a place where our children will be worse off than their parents, that is inexcusable.

To be fair though, that improvement generation in generation could never have been infinite, it was bound to slow or stop eventually. One can question whether it came sooner than it should, but just like with Labour and the global crash in 2009, it would have happened no matter who was in power.

Oh and the posters saying "well I / my dd / my parent had good NHS treatment" ?

You are LUCKY.

A friend of mine is dying because lack of access to cancer testing and treatment last year means she's now terminally ill. She's not even 60. Her death was entirely avoidable.

I thought Germany had more homeless people than the UK, and France isn't far behind. Also lots of EU countries have food banks.

There are a few inaccuracies (!) floating about on here that need calling out.

Way up thread someone, can't recall who, was speculating whether the countries we'd helped in the past would help us now we may need it, citing the bailouts of Spain and Greece as examples.

Except the UK did not contribute to those bailouts! Since 2011 non-Eurozone (thanks Gordon!) countries have not been liable for bailout contributions. Another example of the quite favourable position we occupied within the EU.

Hmmm I agree with @wewereliars. Unfortunately money is to be made from crises by select groups of people. Ordinary people with no influence are cannon fodder.

I’m pretty scared at the way things are going in this country. Shortages of fuel, empty shelves at my local supermarket, financial hardship looming for millions as energy prices become eye-watering lily expensive. I don’t see a good outcome I’m afraid

@Gwenhwyfar

"Uniquely so? Nah, flooding happens all over, the continent was badly hit recently."

With many people dead, something I don't remember hearing about in the UK at all.

There were serious failures in some flood defenses but given the massive differences in topography between parts of Europe vs. the UK, plus subtle differences in how weather systems may behave I’m not sure flooding is a meaningful metric in the context of this debate.

I wish people would put the energy into trying to do something about it that they do starting more and more MN threads though.

Re the Corbyn would be worse...

Don't be so utterly bloody ridiculous. What other government has spaffed 37 billion on a Track and Trace system that never worked, presided over by Dido Harding, a woman with no relevant experience? We have one of the worst death rates from Covid and one of the worst economic recoveries and all you can do is feebly claim that Corbyn would have been worse.
It really is time that Tory voters began to take responsibility for the shitshow that they have visited upon us all.

THIS

@Gwenhwyfar

"Uniquely so? Nah, flooding happens all over, the continent was badly hit recently."

With many people dead, something I don't remember hearing about in the UK at all.

I don't know why we are comparing floods (= act of God) with supply chain issues (= deliberate act of stupidity). But if you want to go down that route - most of the floods in my Cambridgeshire town last Christmas were caused by the council not cleaning the drains for over 5 years.

@LukeEvansWife

I wish people would put the energy into trying to do something about it that they do starting more and more MN threads though.

What do you suggest?

Another poster complaining on mumsnet that people spend too much time on mumsnet, complaining.

There is a disconnect where people can't see the connection between those higher taxes and higher standards.

I think a lot of people don't trust the government not to waste their money.

I'll never forget a poster on here talking about their job in EU finance. They mentioned how politicians would unnecessarily fly to meetings which could've been done remotely, and would being an entourage of 20 staff, who would all be put up in 5-star hotels with front row trips to the opera, chauffeurs, and £300 a day spending money, all funded by the taxpayer.

Surprisingly, they weren't that keen on the EU having seen it from within.

@Mamamia7962

I thought Germany had more homeless people than the UK, and France isn't far behind. Also lots of EU countries have food banks.

Source please?

@ColorMagicBarbie

There is a disconnect where people can't see the connection between those higher taxes and higher standards.

I think a lot of people don't trust the government not to waste their money.

I'll never forget a poster on here talking about their job in EU finance. They mentioned how politicians would unnecessarily fly to meetings which could've been done remotely, and would being an entourage of 20 staff, who would all be put up in 5-star hotels with front row trips to the opera, chauffeurs, and £300 a day spending money, all funded by the taxpayer.

Surprisingly, they weren't that keen on the EU having seen it from within.

I can’t see why they thought the UK was any better, remember when our actual prime minister gave public money to a woman he was shagging behind his wife’s back?

@Tealightsandd

Smoking is the answer. Stress relief (much needed for so many) and economy boosting (massive tax income + huge savings on pensions and social care). Add in cake and booze, and we'll getting there.

Good ideas here. I'll implement them immediately

@Mamamia7962 I did check it up and Germany does have more homeless people - 670,000 compareed to UK's 381,400 (2019 stats). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_population

However, it has only been 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The inequality between the East and the West is still there, i used to live in Berlin and the poverty there is very high, much higher than london IMHO (not looked at any stats, but I have lived in both, and Berlin is much harder even if the healthcare/public transport is better in Germany). It is worlds apart from the wealthy Bavarian city that DH's family is from. On the other hand, Bavaria as a whole is much wealthier than even London and the South.

Also as Germany is part of the Schengen area, it has a much larger Roma population who find it harder to get to the UK which contributes to the homeless stats.

@MarshmallowSwede.

Outstanding post. Thank you.

Ichundich - I can't do links but onlychildhamster has provided a link for homelessness figures in other countries. If you google foodbanks in EU countries various articles will come up.

Yes there are "homeless" everywhere. But here, they are on the streets. Everywhere. Many can be "homeless" on paper yet be receiving some kind of support and still have a roof over their heads.

@Mamamia7962

Ichundich - I can't do links but onlychildhamster has provided a link for homelessness figures in other countries. If you google foodbanks in EU countries various articles will come up.

Nobody is saying other countries don't have problems but what no other country has is the problems caused by brexit in top of pre existing problems. There are food banks in Spain and homelessness but we do not have fuel shortages or empty shelves anywhere. We have price rises on electricity but not to the extent the uk does. Our health service is not on its knees with no routine blood tests and massive shortages of Healthcare workers

@Greytminds

Completely agree *@moveblues*. The UK is an embarrassment and the current situation is absolutely dire. It isn’t about panicking, it’s about recognising the failures of our government as a start point. The mainstream media are not doing so, the main opposition party is not doing so. These things are all just happening without anyone challenging or asking why.

I don't blame labour at all.

Yes, obviously they could do better, but the facts are that the moment they go even slightly left they are absolutely ripped apart by a lying press and media. The moment they stay centre right (as they were under Blair) then there is only so much good they can do and they disappoint their core voters and supporters.

They literally cannot win unless we have an honest media, or unless half the country up their intelligence levels and critical thinking skills massively.

As a fairly intelligent person with a degree in economics I genuinely don't believe that anyone should vote tory unless they -

Hate democracy, hate foreigners, hate ordinary people, want the rich to get richer, hate the environment.

or

They are in the top 0.1%, maybe 1% by income and wealth and literally don't give a fuck beyond that.

I am close to telling certain friends that I cannot reconcile their apparent intelligence and their claimed support for the tories, and that they need to 'fess up that they've been trolling me or they need to take their corrupt, anti-democratic, quasi-fascist, population hating bullshit out of my life.

@MarshmallowSwede please don’t call other people scum, they are just living their lives. It’s ok for you to say that - you’re clearing off back to Sweden. Don’t YOU care about your fellow man? Why don’t you stick around to help tackle the politicians.

There is a lot of hypocrisy in your post.

@Mamamia7962 But the thing with Germany is that I still think its somewhat better for the average person, assuming you have a job and can pay rent. It is perfectly feasible to rent all your life- tenancies are lifetime tenancies , the rent is controlled and you can decorate as you wish. My problem is that neither DH or I were locals so we needed a guarantor and a huge deposit as we couldn't show 3 months payslips. But once you get a rental, its much better than the UK. Childcare is cheap but its not for that many hours. state pension is also way better.

You don't have the problem of being a middle income family and being forced to sink all your savings into a housing deposit because you are worried that one day, you wouldn't be able to afford the rent. There were probably better things that I could do with £70k but I knew that if I didn't buy a property in London, I might be priced out of my own job in future because there is no knowing when the landlord would raise the rent.