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.

@Susannahmoody

I really don't know how the poorest are going to survive

^.
Revolt?

Peasant’s revolt

@rocklamp I'm from a "sorry eastern bloc country", but we're not that sorry anymore...living standards have steadily been rising and the economy improving since the 00s, while in the Uk it's been the complete opposite. Brexit was the final nail in the coffin. So lots of people have left and gone home, hence the farm worker and lorry driver shortages. I'd be gone too, if I wasn't married to a local. I do like the Uk generally but it's been such a shit show recently. My relatives in my country, who were previously envious of me living in the UK, are now concerned about me.

@Pumperthepumper

Panic’s a little strong... just be glad you’re not in Afghanistan atm

Aaaaand here we go: the race to the bottom.

It’s true though. I see the issues, and it is worrying. But again.... panic is a little strong! I will start panicking when tory militants start banging on my door

At the moment I'm in the EU too.. No shortages, healthcare OK, shelves full of produce, fuel price fluctuations at a normal level.. The only thing that's different from before is wearing masks everywhere. People are optimistic, looking into the future, caring about climate change and the environment.. No doom and gloom.. Not looking forward to coming back to the UK in a few years time.

@AlexaShutUp

People talk a lot about the availability of cheap labour suppressing wages. What they seem not to realise is that, if wages are pushed up, we will all pay for it anyway. Companies will pass on their extra costs to consumers, so we won't actually be any better off.

Those earning higher wages have more to spend which and pay more tax. Plus those on poverty wages cost money to the tax payer as they get benefits.

I notice we have gone from sunlit uplands to ‘be grateful you don’t live in Afghanistan’ in the mere blink of an eye.

It's unbelievable that such an irresponsible and incompetent set of jackasses got voted in.

Well stubborn pigheaded refusal to acknowledge the reasons will ensure that nothing gets better.

Insistence that it's the Conservatives only who have caused the problems today guarantees that nothing will change and may even get worse.

The problems are the legacy of at least 40 years of poor government. Tony Blair (and Gordon Brown) contributed in no small part.

Boris Johnson is to blame for a lot of this mess.
I'm a truck driver and yes I work long hours but I would happily do extra if I was allowed but the government won't relax the drivers hours restrictions.
I understand safety and rest but the country is struggling and the government won't let people like myself work extra and do our bit in a crisis.

It’s true though. I see the issues, and it is worrying. But again.... panic is a little strong! I will start panicking when tory militants start banging on my door

Would it not be better to stop it before it gets to that stage?

@Eealoty

To anyone thinking other countries have it worse in Europe. There are indeed deeper issues at hand here in the UK. It's a rotten mentality we have. Have you visited an Eastern European country in recent years (I'm not even talking about Nordic). Romania, Poland? It was beautiful. Well kept little towns on cobbled streets with civilised restaurants.. filled with locals. No drunks falling around everywhere. NO homeless. No crass behaviour around. That was my experience of a visit - off the beaten track - in an "eastern bloc" country. However, . .. Keep believing the British exceptionalism is real. It's what everyone goes back to when the media leaves out any other narrative.

What sheer ignorance.

No homeless people, eh? No drunks...

Thanks for your insight based on your tourist visit, from the depths of my Eastern European heart.

@whoopsnomore of course people can can still go to Europe countries. You just have to satisfy their immigration rules to live and work there just like the rest of the world do.

Those earning higher wages have more to spend which and pay more tax. Plus those on poverty wages cost money to the tax payer as they get benefits.

Yes, higher wages mean fewer people claiming benefits and more people paying tax. However, if the price of essential items like food and fuel goes up, people won't necessarily have increased purchasing power.

European *

@Teflondreams

I notice we have gone from sunlit uplands to ‘be grateful you don’t live in Afghanistan’ in the mere blink of an eye.

Incredible isn’t it? The only benefit of Brexit is ‘at least we’re not as bad as those guys’, it’s absolutely mortifying.

Sadly the UK has been completely and utterly stitched up by a small cabal of the ultra rich who - a bit like the Richard Gere character in Pretty Woman - see the country as more valuable as its constituent parts (banking/expensive private health services) than as a whole.

The owners of the Mail, the Express, the Telegraph, the Sun/The Times all stand to gain massively by cherry picking the best bits and transforming the UK into an offshore tax haven.

You've been had. Sorry.

• French resident here and it’s the same for us - energy prices are up a bit but otherwise no obvious shortfalls in places such as supermarkets, DIY stores, etc.

There’s certainly nothing similar to what is being reported/rumoured to be going on in the UK by UK MSM - which I accept may well be an exaggeration.*

We do not have fuel or food shortages. There is a lack of lorry drivers and the panic set in and blow up out of proportion with the media stirring as usual.

The NHS is on its knees. Covid made it much worse and also a lack of items like for example blood testing containers due to supply shortage.

Services have gone up like in others countries along with a national insurance tax for social care/ nhs which send people mental.

What has always fascinated me, is that companies can pay poor wages to their employees and the country pays for an uplift to those employees incomes via benefits. Would it not be more beneficial to the country as a whole if the companies paid a decent living wage in the first place ? Or is it better economically to support the companies and their shareholders ?

it reminds me of the 1970's

@AlexaShutUp

Those earning higher wages have more to spend which and pay more tax. Plus those on poverty wages cost money to the tax payer as they get benefits.

Yes, higher wages mean fewer people claiming benefits and more people paying tax. However, if the price of essential items like food and fuel goes up, people won't necessarily have increased purchasing power.

So your answer is to keep poverty wages, and either leave people to starve or use taxpayer money to prop up exploitative employers?

What we actually need to do is invest in social housing. Wages aren't keeping up with the cost of housing. Providing affordable secure housing would go a long way towards solving a lot of the problems.

Increasing demand for jobs and housing with an ongoing Ponzi scheme isn't the answer.

Good things:

Lockdown ended
Pandemic - infections lower and not so serious
Vaccination roll out
So far no toilet roll shortage
no egg shortage
no bread shortage
The milkman still arrives
Deliveries from supermarkets still arrive
Boris is going to re-employ heavy goods vehicle drivers from overseas which will mean fuel and food available
Concerts going ahead.

We are still alive.

All things pass. This will.

It must have been worse, for years, during and after the second world war.

@Davros I think you may be speaking for yourself there. I was highly flammable in the 70's, including nylon bedsheets.
Musically, I had a Keep on Wombling LP, Manhattan Transfer and a variety of disco & glam rock!

@frumpety

What has always fascinated me, is that companies can pay poor wages to their employees and the country pays for an uplift to those employees incomes via benefits. Would it not be more beneficial to the country as a whole if the companies paid a decent living wage in the first place ? Or is it better economically to support the companies and their shareholders ?

Yes you're right it would be better.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's swizz - supporting poverty wage employers with taxpayer funded top-ups was always a bad idea that was never going to end well. Unfortunately the self described heir to Blair, Cameron, and those who followed him have continued down that road.

@MyPatronusIsACat , @IndiaMay just imagine Ernst Thälmann had won the relevant election and offer a silent prayer.

RugCarpet22
People are optimistic, looking into the future

You are describing almost everyone I know in real life - here in the UK.

@Tealightsandd, I don't know what the answer is, but I am just saying that I don't think the poorest people are actually going to experience much benefit of their wages being pushed up because the price of essential goods will be pushed up too.

I do think we need better state support for low earners. If the taxpayer has to contribute to that, then so be it, but I would also like us to tax those exploitative employers more in order to fund this because there is little evidence to show that they will suck up the additional costs themselves.

I agree about investing in affordable housing. That would be a good start.