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.

@DesdemonaDryEyes

And what are you doing to help?

Not enough probably? I work clinically for the nhs and didn't vote these bastards in. I guess that's about it.

None of it is surprising. We have elected an incompetent government and a PM who cares more about his own ego than the country. Brexit was always going to be a disaster, and calling the predictions Project Fear was never going to change that reality. Then covid came along, and there was no effective leadership that could steer us through the crisis. Now they're hellbent on making things even worse by taking £20 per week from the poorest in our society at a time when the cost of living is rocketing, presumably for ideological reasons, which will almost certainly push tens of thousands into debt while taking millions of pounds out of local economies.

All that on top of years of austerity and chronic underinvestment in public services and an apparent inability to plan ahead or anticipate the consequences of their decisions. Sadly, I think it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better.

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

One thing I've been moaning about for ages, this actually pre-dates Brexit, but is part of austerity Britain, is how poor everything looks- there are pot-holes in the road, roads aren't cleaned properly, parks are no longer properly cared for (no budget for them, rely on volunteers), buildings dirty, the whole place looks unkempt and horrible. In fact, it does remind me of my husband's Eastern European country when I first went there twenty odd years ago, that had pot holes and public buildings were dirty- now the fabric of their country is much better and there are fewer people living on the streets and the streets are cleaner there.

Yeah we are and 75 per cent of it is brexit related. Project Fear was just Project Facts That People Didn't Want to Hear

The really frightening thing, in my view, is that we are relying on the very same incompetent self-serving losers to get us through the climate crisis. Now that really is something to worry about.

Apart from idiots panic buying petrol which will right itself in a week or two, my life is really good thanks. Everything feels pretty back to normal after covid and in Chester today everyone was out enjoying themselves, there was a great atmosphere. The only thing I've noticed is low in shops is soda water but I just bought the supermarket brand sparkling water that was available. Hardly eastern bloc food shortages.

Those comparing life now to the 70's are having a laugh.

Lots of doom-mongers on MN who relish a good old moan about nowt.

No other Government would have done any better. Just thank your lucky stars that Jeremy Corbyn lost the election, or you'd have had HIM running the show. shock THEN you'd have good reason to panic!!!

And you know this how?

Let's draw attention away from what IS happening to fantasy land.

Blimey, you’ve read some boring dystopian fiction. It’s a few empty shelves, some knobs panicking over petrol and a not unprecedented hike in gas prices.
Not exactly “The Hunger Games” and actually not as bad as it might have been considering we voted for Brexit!

@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.

You forgot to mention your country’s leader quoting Kermit the Frog in a speech to the UN. 🙄

Islamadora the rest of Europe is not experincing food shortages, or fuel shortges, as a glance at de Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El Pais or any European newspaper would tell you.

Margaurite2000

People have agreed with me on this thread though. How is it different?

Energy crisis
Constant rising prices
Huge cost of living squeeze
Lurching from one crisis to the next
Divided nation.

The causes may be different, but the effects feel the same.

Oh 😞I’m abroad and was wanting to return to live in the U.K. in the next couple of years

@OnwardsAndSideways1

One thing I've been moaning about for ages, this actually pre-dates Brexit, but is part of austerity Britain, is how poor everything looks- there are pot-holes in the road, roads aren't cleaned properly, parks are no longer properly cared for (no budget for them, rely on volunteers), buildings dirty, the whole place looks unkempt and horrible. In fact, it does remind me of my husband's Eastern European country when I first went there twenty odd years ago, that had pot holes and public buildings were dirty- now the fabric of their country is much better and there are fewer people living on the streets and the streets are cleaner there.

I agree with you.

I went to York recently, and one thing I loved about it was how well kept it looked.

Oh ffs this situation isn’t straight a dystopian novel. It’s actually pissing off how little people know about modern history.

Ginger ale. Can’t get it anywhere.

Fortuna. The wheel goes round.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Feels like the 1970’s to me.

I was only young but remember power cuts, having no money, everything costing too much.

This feels worse to me, because so many things seem to be falling apart at the same time. (I started work in '72 and left home in '75, so remember it pretty well).

Inflation was a constant, but most workers got regular pay rises and state pensions and benefits went up, so it kind of kept pace. The inconvenience of the planned power cuts was balanced by the fact that we all got sent home from work early, and it was quite a novelty (we huddled round the gas fire playing board games, mostly). There were a lot of strikes, but it was only when all the public sector manual workers were on strike for a few weeks in the latter part of the decade that it made a big difference. There were occasional shortages of some stuff (eg, sugar because of a dock strike), but it was no biggie.

Empty shelves in shops, difficulties getting fuel and the cost of it shooting up, massive energy price rises, food going up and, for a lot of people, a drop in income because of the loss of the UC uplift and a lot of people on much reduced incomes because of Covid-related job losses is just too much all at once.

At work, we had a presentation from a DWP bod the other day. Since Covid, one job centre in the county has had a 70% increase in the number of people claiming Universal Credit, the other 2 had increases of 54% and 48%.

If it's similar across the country (this was in the SE), that's a huge rise in the number of households struggling. The homelessness prevention project I used to work on has had 3 times the number of referrals this quarter than it had for the same quarter last year, and the the quarter isn't over yet. It the pattern is the same elsewhere, homelessness is bound to rise.

I don’t understand the bashing of Jeremy Corbyn here, reality is even if he tried he couldn’t have done a worse job of navigating brexit and a pandemic than Boris.

At least Jeremy for all his faults would have worked to make sure no one was left behind.

Our healthcare system is an utter shambles through a systematic and strategic starvation of resource. Mental health services, social care, maternity services barely hanging on by a thread, yet we know there will be more cuts. These cuts cost lives.

I’ll probably be ok, of course l’ll feel the pinch or the squeeze. But it’s not about me. What about the less fortunate? We’re a developed nation and yet in the winter people are dying on our streets, people are waiting for ambulances that may or may not come, dying whilst on waiting lists to see specialist- it’s a fucking disgrace. Yet the narrative of this government and the right wing is to blame it on immigration and the EU.

Please never vote Tori

Very odd situation.

A Tory government who are weirdly far too tolerant on those who take the piss (in so many ways) yet zero support for those who just genuinely work hard in normal paying jobs and trying to raise children in a decent way. Those same people who stop at 2-3 children as they can’t afford more. A government who seems to go after those who are very clearly disabled or ill constantly and leave the clearly workshy con artists alone.

A totally weak, pathetic shambles of an opposition government who don’t seem to have a clear policy in them. Or they focus on things that just seem ridiculous in the current climate.

Trying to be a big dog as a country when we need to accept that these days- we are a little chihuahua. We aren’t a world leader anymore and haven’t been for decades. It’s not up to us to save the world or try and parade money we don’t have.

A NHS system that is totally set up wrong and leaks money. This was pre-Tory. Yet we all pay for it and are expected to behave like it’s a wonderful charity we should all be grateful for.

Nothing like a gloom and doom thread to cheer everyone up isn't it.No-one has to stay in uk you know, if it's not good then I am sure there are plenty flights out to greener pastures.

It does cross my mind whether in countries where things have actually gone tits up the public believed it would all be OK until it wasn't iyswim.

I am more worry about safety and criminal activities. So many murders and violence.

@MyPatronusIsACat

Anyone who thinks any other Government would have done better, with Brexit, Covid, lack of lorry drivers, NHS crisis, food shortages, and petrol issues blah blah blah, is utterly deluded.

No other Government would have done any better. Just thank your lucky stars that Jeremy Corbyn lost the election, or you'd have had HIM running the show. THEN you'd have good reason to panic!!!

Corbyn stepped down two years ago and your government has done fuck all to improve anything. How are you not embarrassed to keep peddling this old shit?

Of course we have a health service. Two months ago I took my daughter to our local hospital for a check up, her consultant was worried about her condition and we were told to come back the next day as well even though the consultant didn't have appointments but was in surgery all day, just so she could keep an eye on her. The consultant came up in between surgeries to see my daughter. It turned out she needed an emergency operation that day. We were a bit shocked as it was completely unexpected, but I couldn't fault the care she received.

People just like to have something to moan about on here, and I'm sure thrive on the drama of it all.

At work, we had a presentation from a DWP bod the other day. Since Covid, one job centre in the county has had a 70% increase in the number of people claiming Universal Credit, the other 2 had increases of 54% and 48%.

I attended a similar presentation in work the other day. In the city where I work, which already had a lot of deprivation pre-covid, the number of UC claimants has almost doubled since covid. The hike in fuel prices and the removal of the UC uplift are going to hit people very, very hard.