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.

@Hdhdjejdj

Oh, and the French are revolting in the streets.

??????

I must have missed everybody revolting when I’ve been out and about recently….including some time in the center of our nearest big city in the last week.

[quote RugCarpet22]@Tealightsandd Exactly! There was no need to leave the EU at all to 'gain control of borders' and all that rubbish. They could have just tightened the criteria of eligibility.

Yes, it was started by Blair (Labour) and carried on by the tories. Makes you wonder why the tories never mentioned that the implementation of the policy started by Labour was the problem, and not EU itself? Could it be that they were looking after their own interests first and foremost and the whole thing played so neatly in this false narrative.[/quote]
Problem is there was many loud voices in Tory parliamentary party who were pathological about the EU, the Tory press (Mail/Express/Telegraph et al) hated the EU, Murdoch hated the EU and the Tories elderly members hated the EU.

Major was ousted by these factions and then they appointed a bunch of Eurosceptic leaders which proved a disaster. Then Cameron came in which coincided with the rise of Farage and UKIP and Cameron panicked promising a referendum.

@notimagain It was supposed to be a light-hearted comment on the French protesting over the past few months, rather than a reportage of what happened on your street yesterday.

MarshaBradyo, we’re in Melbourne. It’s been very tough, but our healthcare hasn’t been rationed, thankfully. I’ve had Ct scans, X-rays, blood tests, normal screening tests, physio etc etc all at times to suit me.
My youngest DD has just had an ADHD diagnosis. She had to wait two weeks to see a psychiatrist and has been followed up weekly while she gets used to her meds. She’s also getting input from psychology and peers to help her find strategies to deal with her difficulties. This is in comparison with a friend in the UK whose son has waited 2 1/2 years for the same diagnosis. He now has to wait another 4 months until the nurse can see him to give him meds and titrate the dose as needed. Things here aren’t perfect and 20 years ago I would have preferred the UK, but it’s changed there too much now.
It’s also good working in better (again, not perfect) funded services
There are no empty shelves in supermarkets and although deliveries are taking longer than normal, that’s a worldwide issue at the moment.
I’d rather live through this lockdown, which will end soon now we actually have the vaccines and we’re heading towards 70-80% cover, than go back to working in the NHS and the mess in the UK right now.

I have A level History and we didn't study the British Empire either.

@Eaglesqueak

MarshaBradyo, we’re in Melbourne. It’s been very tough, but our healthcare hasn’t been rationed, thankfully. I’ve had Ct scans, X-rays, blood tests, normal screening tests, physio etc etc all at times to suit me. My youngest DD has just had an ADHD diagnosis. She had to wait two weeks to see a psychiatrist and has been followed up weekly while she gets used to her meds. She’s also getting input from psychology and peers to help her find strategies to deal with her difficulties. This is in comparison with a friend in the UK whose son has waited 2 1/2 years for the same diagnosis. He now has to wait another 4 months until the nurse can see him to give him meds and titrate the dose as needed. Things here aren’t perfect and 20 years ago I would have preferred the UK, but it’s changed there too much now. It’s also good working in better (again, not perfect) funded services There are no empty shelves in supermarkets and although deliveries are taking longer than normal, that’s a worldwide issue at the moment. I’d rather live through this lockdown, which will end soon now we actually have the vaccines and we’re heading towards 70-80% cover, than go back to working in the NHS and the mess in the UK right now.

Yes you should. I admit your healthcare requirements sound higher than mine. I’ve used NHS for births (very good expertise) and not much else. Plus work pays for private healthcare for the family.

I love Melbourne I lived there for university years. You sound more positive than friends who are sick of lockdowns now the longest.

Anyway great people are happy with where they live. I am too but I find the constant threads on here attracting people from o/s saying how shit it is full on but I wonder why people need to do it so much.

That was @Pumperthepumper and @Hdhdjejdj

Should stay there that is..

First lockdown for a few months maybe, but the minute the sun came out all bets were off.

Late March and April 2020 were unseasonably hot and sunny.

[quote Hdhdjejdj]@notimagain It was supposed to be a light-hearted comment on the French protesting over the past few months, rather than a reportage of what happened on your street yesterday.[/quote]
The French are professional protesters though at the best of times.

[quote Hdhdjejdj]@notimagain It was supposed to be a light-hearted comment on the French protesting over the past few months, rather than a reportage of what happened on your street yesterday.[/quote]
Ah OK, I’m on the right wavelength now..

It’s true there have been some protests (mainly anti vax) has gone on in the last few months or so but sadly I think a few around here would read that comment verbatim and believe it.

@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!!!

Oh come on, a dog would have made better decisions than boris. Would be nicer to look at too.

I'm waiting for the first rich people on mumsnet to start complaining that they can't afford their favourite perfume that costs £300 and needs shipped in from France because of other things costing more. Then you know the actual poor people are really struggling.

The perils of social media. I admit that sometimes I fail to get the nuance of what I mean to say across.

Why don't you believe me? Sorry I don't actually care enough to post links to my doctors and hospital for a random on the Internet. Jesus, what a vile place this can be. No wonder we all fled the place

@marshabraydo that's to you in case you are still that invested in suspecting people on the internet of lying about nothing

@Draggondragon

Why don't you believe me? Sorry I don't actually care enough to post links to my doctors and hospital for a random on the Internet. Jesus, what a vile place this can be. No wonder we all fled the place

Vile? For asking fir a link to a new British hospital?

You are touchy

Yes probably best you left good for us too.

OK then. Why do you need a link? We all know it's so that wherever I live you can then go all Guardian about the middle east. Borrrrrrringgggh

@Draggondragon

OK then. Why do you need a link? We all know it's so that wherever I live you can then go all Guardian about the middle east. Borrrrrrringgggh

Yeh you might assume but no that is not why. The Guardian doesn’t rank highly for me as a paper as it goes. Especially over last 18 months.

I wouldn’t care to live in the Middle East as a female.
I also have a friend in Melbourne and it is really grim over there. My experience of friends who have emigrated is that they love to talk about how bad the UK is and never complain about their new country. It was a surprise therefore that she was so honest about how bad things are in Australia.

[quote Pumperthepumper]@DdraigGoch I’m not judging you. I do pity you, working 70 hour weeks should not be what you need to reach the basics of human comfort. And I definitely pity you for thinking that’s absolutely normal and fine, and some kind of weird ‘that’s what makes Britain great!’ mentality. I think we can do better.[/quote]
Pity is worse. It's demeaning. It implies that I had no agency of my own.

Lots of people worked long hours when they were young. Particularly when there was a massive surplus of labour (when I came of age we had not long since had the recession). The employment market is now a far better place for unskilled workers than it was then. Funny how a Conservative government did something which improved the lot of the low paid at the expense of exploitative employers - straight out of the Tony Benn school.

Do I think that those zero hour, seasonal contracts made Britain a great place? No, I never said that. Do I think that Britain is the worst place in the developed world to live? No, far from it. We're not Switzerland or Scandinavia but we sit just below them, alongside the rest of Western Europe.

Anyway, after a few years of working long hours in peak season and almost nothing in the winter, I'm now in secure, well paid, skilled employment which I enjoy doing (though I also enjoyed most of the jobs I worked before this, I worked with some great people and saw some amazing things.

@Lovinghannah

That was *@Pumperthepumper and @Hdhdjejdj*

What was?

09:22Hdhdjejdj

I wouldn’t care to live in the Middle East as a female.

Yes it is dreadful. As I just said in a brief with my 32 Arabic make subordinates. Awful indeed to have access to law enforcement and medical services. So boring and petty and I don't know why I bother to react. But if you need to believe being a woman in the middle east is worse than the UK, that's down to your lack of worldliness, education and general intelligence.

I've got a theory that you can assess the state of the nation by just how very 'soothing' Mellow Magic is. It's practically somnulent today. . . .

PANIC!!!!!

(Lighthearted).

Hdjejdj, it’s definitely not fun in Melbourne right now and we have some real numpties in charge of the country, so like everywhere Australia has it’s issues. I have friends from the uk here who are going back, so it’s not for everyone, but even they would say it’s far from grim.
A lot is about mindset wherever you live, I suppose and the feeling of fitting in or displacement as well as a feeling of well-being.
MarshaBradyo, I had my dcs in the UK too and DD1 had a spell in paediatric icu and we had fabulous treatment, but there’s no doubt that healthcare is not so easy to access anymore. It’s very sad, but absolutely a choice the government has made. Having lived through the Thatcher years we decided we didn’t want to live with anything similar again - it was too depressing to think about.

Just possibly as well as the fucked up housing situation it is time to reconsider the ‘known truth’ that education and training is only of value to those that get jobs, and so they alone should cop huge debts for it? Rather than that training being necessary for the jobs that provide services we all need, and so is worth having a funded pot for?

Every single step along this path carried warnings and complaints at the time, and people chose to swallow the lies instead.