Is the UK about to collapse?

[Penfield]

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 ...

@MarshaBradyo

God you are rude Oddsocks

I can see why you are so angry about life.

And yet you are the one who has had posts deleted. 🤔

@TheReluctantPhoenix

Do 50% of this community really believe that the UK is 'on the edge of collapse'?!

We are an immensely successful first world country. Maybe a historian can put me right but has any country like the UK ever really collapsed?

We did not even collapse in the 70s, when there were regular power cuts, or during the war, while being bombed and with food rationing?

So, what do you think is worse now than at all the challenging times in history up until now?

We were pretty near collapse in the 70s when the UK asked the IMF to bail us out to the tune of £4Billion. (Looking that up, it's the equivalent of almost £18Billion today.) Althought the government didn't take out all of the loan.

@Rocaille

I don't think total collapse is imminent yet. We can limp on for a good deal longer. We've still got really good infrastructure and a civil society which, although much weaker now, remains a big advantage.

I think we're leaving one epoch and entering into another. We've been in terminal decline for many years but it's accelerating now and we're well on the way to becoming a third world country (I'm referring to the disfunction, disorder, corruption and retreating rule of law).

I think eventually there will be a crisis so bad that international agencies will step in to remodel the economy. Fourth industrial revolution and all that.

I agree with you that we'll limp on for a while.

The problem with comparing now with the past is that we're looking back at eras in their entirity, everything that happened then is over, whereas we're living through what is happening now. I think we're in the early to mid days not the latter days of a huge (mainly self inflicted) mess.

I'm not really looking forward to the next few months, particularly if the government continue on their current trajectory.

@Rocaille

I don't think total collapse is imminent yet. We can limp on for a good deal longer. We've still got really good infrastructure and a civil society which, although much weaker now, remains a big advantage.

I think we're leaving one epoch and entering into another. We've been in terminal decline for many years but it's accelerating now and we're well on the way to becoming a third world country (I'm referring to the disfunction, disorder, corruption and retreating rule of law).

I think eventually there will be a crisis so bad that international agencies will step in to remodel the economy. Fourth industrial revolution and all that.

We're nowhere near a third world country even by your definition. Dysfunction? - I have no idea what is not operating normally. Disorder. - where is the disorder? We've just had all sorts of rules inflicted on us and the vast majority agreed and just got on with it. There were some protests but any violence was minimal. Posters on MN say there was no food on shelves and no petrol. Any disorder? No. Just a bit of tutting. Corruption - I guess you mean in politics. The UK, by any standard, has one of the least corrupt governances. Is it perfect? No. But to say we're third world country corrupt is beyond laughable. Retreating rule of law - laws are still upheld, the legal process is obeyed and intact. Its open, fair and subject to scrutiny.

I don't know which part of the country you're living in, but it bears no similarity to mine.

I have lived though the 3 day week, planned powercuts, rampant inflation, public sector strikes, bloody Thatcher, the Miners strike, blatant racism (No Blacks, No Irish), blatant sexism being the norm, wage inequalities, AIDS, two major economic depressions, mass unemployment (3Million plus).

Probably a whole lot more.

What we are going through is difficult & uncertain, but all is not lost.
Covid has ripped through the global economies & it will take time to adjustments to settle.

The end of the world is not yet nigh.

at the UK being like a 3rd world country. I worked in the 3rd world...nowhere near. Having said that...yes its shite!

What UniversalAunt said

Having lived in developing countries, I think the UK is a long way from either joining their ranks or collapsing. It could be a LOT worse

I managed to get petrol without queuing yesterday in fact there was no-one else there. I paid £1.39 per litre but still I got some.

I think it will be fine if we are all just a bit nicer, kinder, more patient and less aggressive with each other. Some sort of nasty set of panic buying and aggression/insecurity has crept into our society like a disease - that is the issue here.

The constant Covid and Brexit fear mongering has affected the national psyche and the media doesn’t help. I really don’t care if I have turkey, chicken or lentils for Christmas dinner as long as I have my family and friends around me.
I hate Brexit, Boris Johnson etc but I am not going to let any of it affect my own limited and precious time on earth. If you are worried, go out and volunteer in a homeless shelter or a food bank or reading and chatting with elderly in a care home - it does wonders. Switch of the news.

I'm not remotely angry about life

Most people can answer a simple question re a metric without resorting to angry sarcasm (disagreement of course is fine but you didn’t even back up claim). But anyway you carry on, hope things improve for you.

I cannot shake the feeling that, to an extent, the Conservatives are “letting” this happen as a punishment for Brexit. That we were warned what would happen and now they are not intervening to stop it. (See Boris’s “It’s not my job” speech)

@julieca

National Grid has just warned there will be blackouts this winter.

No it has not, it has said that there will be less than 4% capacity and that there may be blackouts, not that there will be blackouts. People like you are a huge part of the problem!

[quote madisonbridges]@Sarahlou63
The UK is now a third world country

How do you even come up with that idea? 😂😂😂 I just wonder if you have any concept what a third world country is really like?[/quote]
My apologies - third country status.

Don't forget Brexit 'proper' is less than 12 months old and the UK still has yet to impose export checks and tariffs...

madisonbridges

Dysfunction? - I have no idea what is not operating normally. do you think the universal, free national health service is operating as it should? Don't enter into the reasons why, just answer. Are you denying there have been fuel and food shortages from the point of view of consumers?

Disorder . Did you miss the punch ups on petrol stations? The police who are meant to protect us are structurally misogynistic so half the population have been advised to challenge and resist should they be approached by a police officer. Hell we have senior politicians who don't know the word let alone understand the concept.

Corruption this has been going on for ages but this government is totally open about it. It's called corporate gifts, party donations, lobbying, peerages and honours, cronyism etc. Are you happy with the way the track and trace contract was awarded and how much it cost, especially compared with other developed countries?

Retreating rule of law see above.... also this government has several times refused to fulfil international agreements.

Actually I thought things weren't so bad but I am changing my mind reading this thread...

Economically we are in for a tough ride. Too much easy lending and money printing have finally caught up and inflation looks to be getting out of control. There is denial but I feel that is trying to keep the geenie in the bottle and people spending.

So they can either let it keep rising then food and heating will rise and the poorest struggle.

Or they can rise interest rates so people with excessive mortgages struggle.

Rock meet hard place. All I do know is the longer they keep the house of cards standing the harder it will crash when it does.

We live under the weight of the big brexit lie that the EU was causing the UK's problems and we'd be a great nation of only we could get away.

That weight will either fall, and we will have a national reckoning about our place in the world and purge a bit of imperial arrogance, realise we're not a great powerful nation any more.

Or, more likely, the weight of the big lie will be kept up in the air by the Tories spinning a series of other lies about whose fault it is that the glorious brexit dividends are not being realised.

I can't see how else things will turn out, the nation bought into a lie, you can't get past that without anger and possibly unrest.

Well we did collapse in 2008 didn't we. Run on the banks, repossession everywhere

And the BOE were able to mitigate against economic disaster by crashing the interest rates to stimulate the economy.

The base rate was 5.25% in March 2008 but by March 2009 it was 0.5% and now it is even lower. The method they used to avoid severe recession in 2008 is no longer available.

Don't forget Brexit 'proper' is less than 12 months old and the UK still has yet to impose export checks and tariffs...

Gah! Import, not export. January 2022, unless they postpone it. Again.

I cannot shake the feeling that, to an extent, the Conservatives are “letting” this happen as a punishment for Brexit. That we were warned what would happen and now they are not intervening to stop it. (See Boris’s “It’s not my job” speech)
I don't think they are "letting" it happen. I think this was all entirely predictable consequences ("project fear") and there is actually very little they can do to mitigate it. It's our chickens coming home to roost.

I have to not think about it too much because I get so angry. I didn't vote for ANY of this, in fact I actively campaigned against this current government. And its sad this is where we are. However we are a democracy and the majority were clear that "sovereignty" and a long period of hardship were worth leaving the EU for.

Quentin I didn’t vote for it either. I feel there were so many chances to turn it around too- such as a second referendum and those chances were wasted. Even Brexiteers were surprised as they never expected their protest vote to be taken seriously.

I guess at least those labelled remoaners can now take potshots at Bremoaners. A bit of a hollow victory though.

Oh, how could I forget the IRA bombings, Chernobyl, the Falklands war, Kings Cross fire, 7/7 bombings, Brixton riots, Tottenham riots. All of these on my ‘doorstep’ or directly affected people close to me.

Life goes on.

Also Black Wednesday when interest rates hiked, house prices tumbled, widespread negative equity, house keys being posted through building society letterboxes.

It hurts, but life goes on.

Several times, waking up the day after an election & realising that my vote did not make the essential difference, that a government that I fundamentally opposed would be in power.