Page 9 | To panic about the dire state of the UK?

moveblues · 2021-09-25T19:39:01+00:00

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.

Tealightsandd · 25/09/2021 23:05

It's not going to get better as we don't have enough people to do the jobs.

We do. Whether we pay them enough, given the public health housing emergency, is another matter.

We have rising unemployment. We also have many refugees who want to work.

RugCarpet22 · 25/09/2021 23:06

I have to say I find it ridiculous when UK gets compared to countries that don't have healthcare, clean drinking water, power cuts etc. These are 3rd world countries you're talking about! Is that supposed to be an OK comparison?! Why not compare to our old mates, our actual neighbours, the Europeans?! Ireland? How they're doing? Problems with fuel? Empty shelves? I don't actually know, but I'd be surprised if they were struggling.

wellards · 25/09/2021 23:06

We've been fucked over by having low interest rates for so long & wage stagnation.

IvorHughJarrs · 25/09/2021 23:08

I am old enough to remember the 1970s with all the strikes, 3 day week, etc and today feels far more stable and affluent. While I am aware we may have lived in a certain amount of blissful ignorance back then, I am concerned that media and social media are all manipulating us to fear more than we need to now.

Evesgarden · 25/09/2021 23:09

When my daughters are not allowed to go to school, when people get executed in the the street, when 12 year olds are being married to old men, when its common practice to mutilate young girls private parts, when the police carry guns, when I can't leave my home with out a chaperone, when the politics are that bad the military organise a coup, when cartels run the country, where you get murdered for loving the wrong sex, where the police arrest you under false charges so your family have to pay an extortionate fee to them to set you free, when your whole family get put in prison because you made a minor crime - that's when I will start worrying.

Its so interesting that white English people that have never ever had to experience real hardship complain about stuff that in comparison is nothing to what other people around the world are experiencing. We live a very privileged life to others, others that desperately seek protection, safety and work here. We dont care if they drown or freeze to death trying to get here for the privileges we have had our life times and have took for granted - we just moan about Gas, having to queue for Petrol and toilet roll...

The U.K is one of the best places to live and you should absolutely check your privileges.

wellards · 25/09/2021 23:09

Long waiting lists? No, not lack of funding, covid. Can’t see a GP? Not lack of funding, immigrants. Can’t get to A&E? Not lack of funding, timewasters. It’s been a long campaign of running it into the ground while at the same time convincing us (who pay for it!) that we’re using it wrong.

This

Tealightsandd · 25/09/2021 23:09

@wellards

We've been fucked over by having low interest rates for so long & wage stagnation.

Yes.

pontypridd · 25/09/2021 23:12

I am old enough to remember the 1970s with all the strikes, 3 day week, etc and today feels far more stable and affluent.

I remember these things too. I was a child in the 1970s though - so it's difficult to know exactly what was going on then - other than what I experienced.

I would say that the stable and affluent feeling you have today is about lifestyle based on debt. There's so much more borrowed money in the system today than there was back then. And it means that things now are actually much more unstable.

Tealightsandd · 25/09/2021 23:14

Its so interesting that white English people that have never ever had to experience real hardship

White (and black and brown) English people are left to die on the streets. The average age of death for a person in the UK is mid 40s. That isn't privilege.

Like a pp said, it's ridiculous race to the bottom to compare us, a supposedly developed country, to a developing one.

wellards · 25/09/2021 23:14

I would say that the stable and affluent feeling you have today is about lifestyle based on debt. There's so much more borrowed money in the system today than there was back then. And it means that things now are actually much more unstable.

Yep, all fuelled by cheap borrowing. House prices escalating because of cheap borrowing which only inflates assets & reduces the value of your cash. But wtf can we do to get out of this mess?

Tealightsandd · 25/09/2021 23:14

*average age of death for a homeless person

Libraryghost · 25/09/2021 23:15

I am wondering though if this will end up being the making of us. It’s undeniably shit at the moment but there also opportunities. My brother who is a bus driver is now taking his HGV test and will double his wages overnight. If you want to work then the opportunities are there. Will this force the workshy to get off their arses? Will it mean wages could become an actual living wage instead of being subsidised by benefits? Don’t shoot me. I am trying to think of positives!

pontypridd · 25/09/2021 23:16

The U.K is one of the best places to live and you should absolutely check your privileges.

Yes we have been lucky and still are. I don't think anyone is denying that. We live in a wonderful country and I count my lucky stars that I was born here.

But at the moment this fortune is changing. It's a mix of a lot of stuff as people have mentioned above. A lot of these factors are affecting countries world wide. But Brexit and the choices our government is making is compounding these issues here and we are only at the start of a downward decline in this country.

I think that's what people are worried about. We have been lucky to live here - but it's not going to remain this way. Things are getting worse. You must be able to see that.

wellards · 25/09/2021 23:17

Its so interesting that white English people that have never ever had to experience real hardship complain about stuff that in comparison is nothing to what other people around the world are experiencing.

Ughh, I hate this mentality. It's ok to demand better living standards & aim higher.

pontypridd · 25/09/2021 23:18

@Libraryghost I have wondered this too.

I hope so ...

wellards · 25/09/2021 23:18

Living standards are going to decline here though & it will get worse.

GetOffThatPhone · 25/09/2021 23:18

People voted for it. Its like an ancient curse that the Tory Party will bleed the country for evermore.

Innovationstandard · 25/09/2021 23:19

Fortune is definitely changing in the UK

wellards · 25/09/2021 23:19

Will this force the workshy to get off their arses? Will it mean wages could become an actual living wage instead of being subsidised by benefits? Don’t shoot me. I am trying to think of positives!

How many actual workshy people are sitting around happy as larry on benefits? Now how many of them would you want driving a HGV?

forinborin · 25/09/2021 23:19

@Evesgarden
I am originally from one of these places, actually even mentioned a couple of times on the recent threads as a proper shithole, and be-lucky-you-are-not-there place

Believe it or not, it started small there as well.

pontypridd · 25/09/2021 23:21

Its like an ancient curse that the Tory Party will bleed the country for evermore.

I love this phrase. And yes it does feel like that because it's as if the Tory party will govern us forever. For some reason people will carry on voting for them forever. No matter what.

And if that happens - our country will be destroyed.

Libraryghost · 25/09/2021 23:22

I think there is going to be a rude awakening for a lot of people. I don’t mean the poor. The poor are used to being poor. I mean the middle classes who have an over inflated idea of their wealth and have kept borrowing based on house value and lured in by low low interest rates.The whole economy is a sham. Debt and more debt. The rich won’t suffer they never do, the poor will stay poor, it’s middle England that will feel the biggest change.

MereDintofPandiculation · 25/09/2021 23:22

This is nothing like the 70's. No it isn't. There was a lot less demonising of the poor in the 70s.

There was better accessibility to GPs in the 70s. I can't recall any food shortages. The three day week didn't last very long, The 70s were not a whole decade of misery.

Evesgarden · 25/09/2021 23:22

@Tealightsandd

Its so interesting that white English people that have never ever had to experience real hardship

White (and black and brown) English people are left to die on the streets. The average age of death for a person in the UK is mid 40s. That isn't privilege.

Like a pp said, it's ridiculous race to the bottom to compare us, a supposedly developed country, to a developing one.

Average age of death in the `uk is mid 40s?

Wtf are you talking about about its in the 80s and that didn't even change for covid deaths. I dont know whether to or at your response.

Tealightsandd · 25/09/2021 23:22

Yep, all fuelled by cheap borrowing. House prices escalating because of cheap borrowing which only inflates assets & reduces the value of your cash. But wtf can we do to get out of this mess?

We need to accept a house price correction. Not a massive crash but a slight fall - and at the very least a stagnation.

We need to stop spending taxpayer money on inflating the bubble schemes like Help to Buy. We need to ban Right to Buy in England (already banned in the rest of the UK).

We need to divert house building away from overpriced to buy new builds. The majority of new homes need to be social rented housing.

We need to take a deep breath, face the music, and accept a rise in interest rates. Living off borrowing is unsustainable. The consequences are, as we are beginning to see, terrible.

We need to think longer term and invest in people and public services. We need to return to providing proper old fashioned style with prospects apprenticeships and on the job training.