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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To panic about the dire state of the UK?

999 replies

moveblues · 25/09/2021 20:39

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.

OP posts:
lannistunut · 26/09/2021 21:37

@Allusernamesalreadyused

Where is Nigel Farage now
Angry
BoredZelda · 26/09/2021 21:41

I think the issue is British exceptionalism. It totally peaked before covid;
- it won't happen here, we're a lot less crowded than China.
- it won't happen here, we have a much younger population than Italy.
- it won't happen here, we're much less tactile than the Spanish.

I said exactly this a few months back. We are constantly coming up with reasons why stuff won’t happen here. This was particularly bad around Covid where we thought we would be better than everywhere else in dealing with it, better heaved during lockdowns, that we would all come together with our “blitz spirit” and look after each other. Apart from a bunch of people banging pots and pans in their garden, nothing could be further from the truth.

The reality is, Britain has been broken for a long time and thing ps like Brexit and Covid have only served to highlight that.

MarshaBradyo · 26/09/2021 21:43

that we would all come together with our “blitz spirit” and look after each other. Apart from a bunch of people banging pots and pans in their garden, nothing could be further from the truth.

I really don’t get this. People made huge sacrifices and compliance was high.

Tealightsandd · 26/09/2021 21:43

These things don't happen overnight.

This is all started long before Brexit and Covid.

It's the cumulative consequences of shortsighted and bad government (all sides) going back a minimum of 40 years.

ColorMagicBarbie · 26/09/2021 21:45

I work “office hours” I see plenty daylight hours in the winter.

How is this possible on a 9-5?

I can understand if you regularly finish at 11:30am like I do but otherwise you must mean through a window.

Pumperthepumper · 26/09/2021 21:55

@ColorMagicBarbie

I work “office hours” I see plenty daylight hours in the winter.

How is this possible on a 9-5?

I can understand if you regularly finish at 11:30am like I do but otherwise you must mean through a window.

You finish at 11:30am after having worked how many hours?
Kendodd · 26/09/2021 21:55

Where is Nigel Farage now

Wasn't he last seen on a Kent beach singlehandedly protecting the country from a few migrants in dinghys by throwing stones drumming up racism.

User135644 · 26/09/2021 21:59

Why do people say 'the 70's' in the context of some dystopian time period of hell? It wasn't that bad. Yeah, the 3 day week was a bit crazy (nowhere near as crazy as the year we've just lived through) and the winter of discontent was bad enough to get Thatcher elected (now that was a disaster) and the unions went too far. Bearing in mind there's plenty of upheaval in any decade in history.

However, there was plenty of positives as well in terms of housing, lack of homelessness and beggars, drug addicts (pre-heroin flooding in in the 80s and then ecstasy and cocaine), no big benefits culture. Great music etc. Just a much simpler time.

MarshaBradyo · 26/09/2021 21:59

I don’t get how huge sacrifices over a year and a half, dc learning at home for two terms, businesses suffering, people isolating from each other comes down to sarcasm over pot bashing. Or about exceptionalism

It’s a bit sad.

It’s not the right story for what we’ve been through.

Tealightsandd · 26/09/2021 21:59

@MarshaBradyo

that we would all come together with our “blitz spirit” and look after each other. Apart from a bunch of people banging pots and pans in their garden, nothing could be further from the truth.

I really don’t get this. People made huge sacrifices and compliance was high.

Just the word 'sacrifice' sums up the problems. Says it all. Why the UK fucked up so very badly with Covid.

We currently have 100-200 people a day being killed by it. Many more (all ages) developing Long Covid. The Others. There's rather a lot of them.

The nonsensical idea that people 'sacificed'. As if ignoring a novel disease would work. A disease that is very possibly the result of a leak from a lab (that was doing bioweapon research).

No 'sacifices' - just ignoring reality - would have made the current shortages seem like utopia.

The UK response (unlike other countries) was never about protecting the vulnerable. They're The Others who were killed by it. Who are still being killed by it.

It was about trying to keep the country running.

Many might not die from Covid (at least, not straight away - afterall, we don't yet know to what extent long Covid, including potential organ damage), will affect people. But - lots can and do get ill enough to be out of action for several weeks. Sometimes longer.

I mean, come on. Sacrifice? People had tantrums over wearing a mask. Many other countries still have a mask mandate for public spaces - including schools and public transport.

Strangely enough the countries who valued life and who realised health is wealth, all have healthier economies than us. Who'd have thought that taking mitigation measures against a deadly novel potentially human modified in a lab disease would've aided the economy...

MarshaBradyo · 26/09/2021 22:01

No Tea I disagree.

Look at what lockdown is doing to Melbourne.

People need to stop minimising,

Pumperthepumper · 26/09/2021 22:02

People did make sacrifices though - they sacrificed being with their dying relatives. They sacrificed friendships, education, mental health. It’s not fair to say it was ‘tantrums over wearing a mask’, it was much more than that. It was for the good of the community but it was still a sacrifice.

Hdhdjejdj · 26/09/2021 22:08

It’s pretty obvious reading twitter accounts from around the world that the UK does not have a monopoly on selfish people.

Tealightsandd · 26/09/2021 22:09

We need to bear in mind - when it comes to the driver shortage, that some of them are now dead. Killed by Covid. Others will be too unwell (with Long Covid) to work.

I seem to recall that delivery drivers were one of the occupations with a rather high Covid death rate.

MarshaBradyo · 26/09/2021 22:10

@Pumperthepumper

People did make sacrifices though - they sacrificed being with their dying relatives. They sacrificed friendships, education, mental health. It’s not fair to say it was ‘tantrums over wearing a mask’, it was much more than that. It was for the good of the community but it was still a sacrifice.
Yes exactly

I wish this common theme on mn would end.

Tealightsandd · 26/09/2021 22:11

@Pumperthepumper

People did make sacrifices though - they sacrificed being with their dying relatives. They sacrificed friendships, education, mental health. It’s not fair to say it was ‘tantrums over wearing a mask’, it was much more than that. It was for the good of the community but it was still a sacrifice.
Thing is, Covid doesn't care about 'sacifices'.

It creates a lot of dying relatives though.

Pumperthepumper · 26/09/2021 22:12

@Tealightsandd I said, ‘it was for the good of the community’. But to ignore the sacrifices people made for that good is ridiculous.

MarshaBradyo · 26/09/2021 22:14

It doesn’t matter what Covid ‘cares about’.

People shouldn’t dismiss what people have done and reduce it to crying over masks or pot banging. And ‘sacrifices’ doesn’t need air quotes.

People lack empathy but shouldn’t show it so easily.

Tealightsandd · 26/09/2021 22:15

With the volcano in La Palma. People 'sacificed' their homes. Ignoring the volcano wouldn't have made it all go away.

Likewise with Covid.

Delivery drivers are one of the occupations with the highest Covid death rates.

Their lives and health weren't valued. Thing is, though. They can't drive when they're dead or long term sick.

Hdhdjejdj · 26/09/2021 22:15

The sacrifices people made meant Covid was better controlled. I’m thinking of the carers, nurses, doctors and other key workers who continued to do their jobs despite the risks.

Tealightsandd · 26/09/2021 22:17

@Hdhdjejdj

The sacrifices people made meant Covid was better controlled. I’m thinking of the carers, nurses, doctors and other key workers who continued to do their jobs despite the risks.
Now that I agree with. Delivery drivers too.
Tealightsandd · 26/09/2021 22:19

Many delivery drivers sacrificed their lives (or long term health) to get fuel and food and medicine and other essential supplies delivered.

Pumperthepumper · 26/09/2021 22:19

@Tealightsandd

With the volcano in La Palma. People 'sacificed' their homes. Ignoring the volcano wouldn't have made it all go away.

Likewise with Covid.

Delivery drivers are one of the occupations with the highest Covid death rates.

Their lives and health weren't valued. Thing is, though. They can't drive when they're dead or long term sick.

I don’t understand this at all. The volcano would have ruined their houses regardless, it wouldn’t have mattered if the Las Palma community had clubbed together to fight it.

Pretending it shouldn’t matter to people that they couldn’t be with their dying, scared loved ones because it was for the greater good is pretty poor show. Of course it was a sacrifice.

QueenZoopla · 26/09/2021 22:22

It's horrendous. The Tories & their fucked up brexit agenda have wrecked a country that wasn't perfect but was doing pretty well in lots of ways. I'm heartbroken for my kids. I would actually love them to escape, emigrate because they would have a better future elsewhere. Can't believe I would ever say that in relation to Britain.

Tealightsandd · 26/09/2021 22:23

Erm the point is that completely unsuppressed Covid would've (and did) stop many people being with their dying relatives. By killing them (or at very least making them too sick to travel).

How many dead delivery drivers do you want? Haven't we had more than enough?

Talk about King Canute!