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.

Its terrifying.

@MarshmallowSwede. Beautifully written- we moved to Copenhagen but may go to Stockholm as it’s a bit cheaper and easier to have a car. Great lifestyle in Scandinavia— but you have to now have very specific skills if a Brit or cash in the bank and an income source as no recourse to benefits. All this anyone who doesn’t like it can leave— it really isn’t that simple!! Brexit has made it so . Ironically those who have specialist skills and cash still have options, some of the deluded that voted for it and have neither are the ones who are stuffed. More fool them for believing Boris bullshit and as was all over twitter yesterday- he regrets supporting it

@Islamorada

If it helps Op it is not so good in other countries either. Quite a few of the same issues than here with food, services, fuel prices skyrocketing and interest rates going up.

Honestly I'm now going down a foreign paper rabbit hole now to compare just limiting myself to Europe at the mo but we do seem to be in a far worse mess ATM to be fair

@pontypridd

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

I'd love to leave. Where are we allowed to go to?

Where would you like to go? Uk citizens have visa free access to almost every attractive economy in the world- you could go to your chosen destination for a longer visit and get a sense of the lifestyle and potential job opportunities there.

Of course there are thousands of people who risk their lives and in general work hard for many years to be allowed to live in the UK, so all things considered this is definitely one of the better places in the world to live. Despite the dire situation in the country currently, I’m still very grateful to be here.

That post from @MarshmallowSwede was amazing, especially this bit:

“You don’t have any idea what it means to have a nation that works for everyone. Why do you have homeless people on the street and people living so poorly they are worried about food now? Good god.. do people in the UK not understand that there are so many nations where this is not happening.? You are the only country that is lying to its citizens saying that this is normal and ok. No it’s not. It’s unacceptable.”

No, we don’t have any idea how to build a nation that works for everyone in the U.K. because nobody wants to do that. This is a class-ridden, snobby and highly pretentious dump that delights only in sneering at what is supposed to be its own people. The French were sometimes sneered at for being a group of regions glued together by a collection of cheeses, but what exactly is now glueing together a 3rd generation immigrant in financial services in London and your average northern estate tenant who’s never been abroad, can’t even afford the bus fare to the next town, and has no hope of getting a job that pays in modern Britain?

We used to say the issues in the 3rd world in the 80s were due to a combination of a glut of cheap products on the market from elsewhere, rendering local production uneconomic, and public corruption ensuring no public infrastructure. What is the difference between that and the modern U.K.?

@moveblues completely agree! I can't shake the disappointment and anger towards all the people I can now see clearer than ever as being incredibly selfish humans. money, money, money.

I feel like I'm witnessing more anger in public spaces just generally here in London than ever before too.

But what can we actually do to help this?

And vote for whom??

I live in the EU and I have to say it is not as easy just going off to the EU anymore and looking at job opportunities. Companies have to offer a relatively high minimum salary to get a Blue Card for you and only the highest qualified people will be eligible for this. It is just not worth hiring Britons anymore. I have hired one Briton but failed miserably in my many attempts to hire another one - who didn't pass muster with the authorities.

The press here is always joking about how bad it is in the UK and frankly it makes me embarrassed and sad. It shouldn't be like this, but you reap what you sow. Friends in Greece have it better now than my friends in the UK, which for well-paid professionals in both countries, is stark.

You are not being unreasonable at all.
Project Fear has become Project Here.

None of this mess was unexpected, and most was covered in the government's own Operation Yellowhammer report for contingency planning in the event of a no deal Brexit.
I'm surprised more people aren't up in arms about it all, but then I feel the same way about our huge Covid death toll (compared to other nations) yet the Goverment seem to be very good at 'getting away with it'. 8 (

@Islamorada

If it helps Op it is not so good in other countries either. Quite a few of the same issues than here with food, services, fuel prices skyrocketing and interest rates going up.

Totally untrue. I live in the Netherlands and can assure you that supermarket supplies are plentiful. Family in France report the same.

@Alonelonelyloner

I live in the EU and I have to say it is not as easy just going off to the EU anymore and looking at job opportunities. Companies have to offer a relatively high minimum salary to get a Blue Card for you and only the highest qualified people will be eligible for this. It is just not worth hiring Britons anymore. I have hired one Briton but failed miserably in my many attempts to hire another one - who didn't pass muster with the authorities.

The press here is always joking about how bad it is in the UK and frankly it makes me embarrassed and sad. It shouldn't be like this, but you reap what you sow. Friends in Greece have it better now than my friends in the UK, which for well-paid professionals in both countries, is stark.

I’m not surprised about the press but I wonder why

We don’t really fixate on laughing at Greece, Italy or wherever

On threads or in media - yet it’s rife when it comes to U.K.

Maybe there’s an element of trying to take somewhere else a peg or two down, otherwise I don’t get why people care enough to laugh and think about it

I live in the Netherlands and can assure you that supermarket supplies are plentiful. Family in France report the same.

Why would supermarket shelves be empty in the rest of Europe? This is all totally to do with Brexit.

Also when Italy had a tough time we were pretty concerned but when U.K. does apparently it’s ok to talk about laughing stock etc .

There are people here trying to get through it. I find it odd.

My husband lives/works in London. I live overseas with our children. I left after our house was burgled, my handbag was dipped and I experienced a bomb hoax in Trafalgar Square. I don’t want to live in fear. I realise a lot of people don’t have the option to up and leave but if you do … it’s not going to get better. Think NYC in the 70s/80s…

Don’t think the UK is worse than anywhere else really. Love it here.

@PickUpAPepper I am an immigrant in financial services and I suppose my DH is a fourth generation immigrant in financial services as his great grandfather fled the Russian empire to avoid the Tsar's draft for the East End. We vote labour and other left wing parties. If you look at the voting trends of most immigrants, they tend to vote labour. We didn't vote in this government or for brexit as a whole. Neither did the Scots or the northern Irish. We might be Londoners but we do not wish to condemn the north to eternal poverty while we enjoy free public transport for children and seniors and have the option of cashing out on the expensive properties we own to fund retirement up north.london is solid labour but Tory policies affect people up north more as a higher proportion of people up north are on universal credit.

The people who voted Tory are sadly actually white people in their 50s and 60s. The UK is a Gerontocracy.

European Road Hauliers Chief stated yesterday on TV that the driver shortage was the same across Europe, so nothing to do with Brexit. More likely Covid and "horrible working conditions" as one driver put it.

Blood tests cancelled twice due to blood bottle shortage, now have an appointment next week because surgery have been told they can order more bottles😬

@FedNlanders

Yes and I think people are in denial

Yes I agree.

What's more is that many of the problems we have now (NHS staff issues, lack of HGV drivers, near empty shelves in shops, staff shortages in general) have been a long time in the making and are an accumulation of unresolved issues due to the goverments of the day (Labour and Conservative) being in denial.

In fact all of these problems have been accumulating for about 20 years and it all started with the minimum wage. This minimum wage then had to be topped up with in-work benefits so those people could afford to live. This was then exacerbated by mass immigration from the EU taking on some of these lower paid roles, many of those citizens have since returned to their own nations.
And then surprise surprise, we don't seem to have enough trained people to do some of these jobs. I don't blame Brexit really, but I do blame the companies that haven't prepared for these eventualities by training up staff to step into these roles. They had 4 years to prepare for this so why didn't they?
Now we're in a mess.😫

but Tory policies affect people up north more as a higher proportion of people up north are on universal credit.

Yeah.... those 165,000 homeless people in the capital of homelessness (London) are doing soooo well.

@thenovice

European Road Hauliers Chief stated yesterday on TV that the driver shortage was the same across Europe, so nothing to do with Brexit. More likely Covid and "horrible working conditions" as one driver put it.

Yep.

@thenovice

European Road Hauliers Chief stated yesterday on TV that the driver shortage was the same across Europe, so nothing to do with Brexit. More likely Covid and "horrible working conditions" as one driver put it.

Yeah, there is a ahortage, but out ofy family, it's me in UK who has issues... They certainly don't all have to deal with twats hording petrol. Or veg and fruit quality which went down so it all goes off super quick.

@MrsPetty

My husband lives/works in London. I live overseas with our children. I left after our house was burgled, my handbag was dipped and I experienced a bomb hoax in Trafalgar Square. I don’t want to live in fear. I realise a lot of people don’t have the option to up and leave but if you do … it’s not going to get better. Think NYC in the 70s/80s…

This is quite extreme

Didn’t you just want to use alarm system instead? And petty theft is pretty rife in many tourist countries.

Living in post-Brexit Britain is like being trapped on a sinking ship. I’m utterly ashamed of my country and I hate what it’s turning into. I’d be out of here in a heartbeat if I had the option of living anywhere else.

Glad to hear it onlychildhamster. Interesting that you think you’re representative. I had in mind one Rishi Sunak and perhaps, despite his admirable statements on women’s rights, Sajid Javid among others. 2nd generation immigrants, if it matters.