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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is the UK about to collapse?

778 replies

Penfield · 07/10/2021 14:20

Sorry - There was probably a better way to put this.

Does anyone else have a feeling that we are close to some collapse, explosion, disintegration of society ...

With gas prices, petrol shortages, inflation, Brexit fall out, Covid, gaslighting government etc

I feel like we're on the edge of something - big ...

OP posts:
scarpa · 07/10/2021 17:22

@TheChip

If you switch off the news and just focus on what's right infront of you, things can seem quite rosy.
Ah yes. I'll just tell my mum that the fact she already can't afford increasing grocery and utlities prices (never mind the impending council tax increases and any further rises), can't see a doctor for some concerning symptoms for at least a month and can't see a CAMHS worker in person despite being high risk because the team are all off with stress, exhaustion or COVID just to turn the TV off, that'll do it.
Eve · 07/10/2021 17:26

I do agree ohfourfoxache about the frog analogy.

1 big looming crisis is the boomer population hitting retirement and aging alongside a declining birth rate and restricted immigration, meaning a decreasing working population paying tax to fund health and social care of the elderly. A massive proportion of council tax goes towards social care, NI uplift was targeted at elder care, 55% of welfare spending is on pensions.

I forsee a growing resentment from a younger working population.

buttermutt · 07/10/2021 17:28

One of my concerns is the ageing population and falling birth rates. What's the demographics going to look like in 10 yrs? where will the money come from then?

TheChip · 07/10/2021 17:29

Yes @scarpa my post was aimed at everyone who is genuinely struggling and facing issues. Not to those who are fully focused on the news and making themselves ill because of itHmmConfused

buttermutt · 07/10/2021 17:29

@Eve if I was young I would advise looking at another country. The burden is going to be very high going forward.

Onedaylikethis21 · 07/10/2021 17:31

I actually think we are heading for an enormous house price crash as it goes. Very few people here will remember high inflation, rising interest rates etc and all of that is on its way.

Thecurliestwurly · 07/10/2021 17:41

At times like this it is helpful to realise that events tend to be cyclical, like a turning of a wheel there are ups and downs. We are in a shitty down phase at the moment, but the world economy is on its arse pretty much and this is causing a lot of issues which are sometimes masked by COVID. Once that is sorted it will be an up phase again.

I strangely take comfort in Strauss-Howe theory. I don't think it's bang on exact as there have been lots of crises in the past 80 years, not just in the last 20, but I think we are going through quite a sustained period of uncertainty currently and it kind of rings true.

I feel very depressed about the cost of living and that, despite myself and partner working our arses into the ground in what would have been very good jobs 20 years ago, we can't afford to buy a house and in some ways don't want to, because the market is artificially inflated and it is a bad time to buy as a FTB. Again here there is usually an 18 year housing cycle. So I just remind myself that things ultimately correct eventually (although those who benefit from high prices deny this cycle exists funnily enough).

Agree that reading the news is bad for your mental health. Give yourself 10 mins of news each morning and detach from it. One thing I have noticed is that everyone feels the same about our governments and large corporations I find it reassuring that for once, most people seem to be on the same page and realise how much we have all been royally shafted by these people. For that, it makes me more hopeful things will change.

EvilPea · 07/10/2021 17:41

And mortgage interest rates over 15%

I did the maths behind this recently and posted it on here, I can’t find it at the moment.
The interest rates are low now, but due to the house price rise people are paying the same in interest now that they were then.
The loan to wages were much more favourable than now.

I’m not trying to belittle it, it was shit. My parents barely held onto our house. It was a time of redundancies and despite being young, I remember it.

Thecurliestwurly · 07/10/2021 17:42

@Onedaylikethis21

I actually think we are heading for an enormous house price crash as it goes. Very few people here will remember high inflation, rising interest rates etc and all of that is on its way.
There are a lot of people predicting this now. You know how it is in the news and SM, they drip feed these ideas before they happen to prepare people.
EvilPea · 07/10/2021 17:43

The government were wrong to stop the house price adjustment in 2008/09. It needed to happen and wouldn’t have been as hard as it needs to be now

EvilPea · 07/10/2021 17:44

I don’t think we will see a house price drop now. There’s too many people waiting to buy. There’s too many people with multiple properties and small mortgages on them

buttermutt · 07/10/2021 17:45

I actually think we are heading for an enormous house price crash as it goes. Very few people here will remember high inflation, rising interest rates etc and all of that is on its way.

I'm not convinced, they should be adjusted but the government have done everything in their power to inflate them & they are the economy

wasthataburp · 07/10/2021 17:46

No. That's not how I feel. I feel like everything is getting back to normal now. Everyone back to work, traffic on the roads like pre Covid.

buttermutt · 07/10/2021 17:46

We will see price stagnation though, 40 yrs mortgages, part interest only etc

buttermutt · 07/10/2021 17:47

The government were wrong to stop the house price adjustment in 2008/09. It needed to happen and wouldn’t have been as hard as it needs to be now

yes & wrong to pause SD for all during pandemic.

buttermutt · 07/10/2021 17:48

One thing we can guarantee is the rich will get richer

MrsFin · 07/10/2021 17:51

@itistragic

I was thinking this the other day whilst driving. It's a horrible time to be alive.

Or an interesting time to be alive.

It's still not as bad as it was in the 70s.

mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork · 07/10/2021 17:56

Haven't RTFT but, from my point of view, No, not expecting UK to "collapse". Being an aged one, I remember in the 1960s, everyone thinking we were going to have a US-Russia war (Bay of Pigs) and the huge relief when the Russians retreated. In the 1970s, we had a lot of strikes/3-day weeks/loads of power cuts (which we also had in the 1960s) and demonstrations. Then we had more rioting in the 1980s. These things happen in a lot of one's lifetime. It is just that we have had a pretty prosperous period with no shortages of anything and good times and a lot of people younger than myself have not experienced a time of higher prices and shortages. All things pass, either sooner or later and you can manage without more things than you think.

Feelslikealot · 07/10/2021 17:57

*The environmental crisis is here, you just can't see it yet (and when you do it will be too late)

That's not catastrophising, that's reality*

Ok so if that's the case, what the hell is the point in worrying about it? If it's going to happen anyway?

Gothichouse40 · 07/10/2021 18:02

Things aren't great, but collapse- no. This reminds me very much of the 70s and some parts of the 80s. To be honest, like many on here, Ive had to stop watching the news apart from very occasional updates. You also have to remember that the media are responsible for much of the hysterical headlines, but then they've got rubbish newspapers to sell. Im not surprised folk are frightened/ worried.

Blossomtoes · 07/10/2021 18:05

@Eve

I do agree ohfourfoxache about the frog analogy.

1 big looming crisis is the boomer population hitting retirement and aging alongside a declining birth rate and restricted immigration, meaning a decreasing working population paying tax to fund health and social care of the elderly. A massive proportion of council tax goes towards social care, NI uplift was targeted at elder care, 55% of welfare spending is on pensions.

I forsee a growing resentment from a younger working population.

What makes you think retirees don’t pay income and council tax? All we get in exchange for our council tax is our bins emptied and some potholes filled in once in a blue moon. Meanwhile we’re (willingly) paying for future generations to be educated. Equally, we’ve uncomplainingly paid for the pensions of two previous generations, it’s our turn now.
idiotfacelicker · 07/10/2021 18:08

The next generation won't get a turn, but I get that's not your problem.

FindingMeno · 07/10/2021 18:11

@ohfourfoxache

It feels a bit like we’re all frogs in water that is being gradually heated

Every time something happens we just alter slightly, think “it’s not so bad” and get on with it

But there is so much at the moment that it feels overwhelming

I do wonder at what point we’re going to reach boiling point. And what will happen thereafter

This ^
Blossomtoes · 07/10/2021 18:13

@idiotfacelicker

The next generation won't get a turn, but I get that's not your problem.
My aunt, who would have been 114 now, was saying in the 1960s that she’d never see her pension. I think she got it for 20 odd years. People have been predicting the end of state pensions ever since they started - yet here we are …

And, of course there are the tens of thousands of pensioners who obligingly died of covid. That must be saving millions.

buttermutt · 07/10/2021 18:14

The next generation won't get a turn, but I get that's not your problem.

True dat!