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 ...

@UniversalAunt

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.

Luckily we had enough council houses to house the families.

@ChaoBella

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.

I’d argue that move and the governments housing market protection is what’s compounded our situation now

Universial Aunt: That's called Democracy ! You cannot want the franchise to vote, then moan when the vote goes the other way to what you want..

I think it is not just the U.K who are teetering on the brink of carnage, but Europe, Australia and the U.S.A have all got Economic and/or serious social problems. A situation where Western countries are no longer able to provide continued growth security and prosperity to their citizens.

Well Nigel Farage did say "perhaps we shouldn't expect economic growth"

We have spent 40 years deliberately enriching the super rich at the expense of the poor and ordinary people (and even at the expense of the upper middle classes). The end result is going to be fascism or hard left.

@peewitsandy

Universial Aunt: That's called Democracy ! You cannot want the franchise to vote, then moan when the vote goes the other way to what you want..

It's only called democracy if you have a reasonably honest political class and a media and a reasonably intelligent population. What we have is idiocracy.

The cycle continues…. It’s all fate which time you end up in.

This time reminds me of the 70's with the different shortages (then fuel, bread, sugar; now fuel, flour, loo roll) and the same feeling of being in little England (then because many services weren't available on Sundays or early closing day; now because services are sometimes unavailable because of staff shortages).
So ignoring the environment situation things in the UK could be a lot worse and ARE a lot worse for people in other countries and were worse for people in other decades. We'll get through it.
The state of the environment does worry me though.

Cornet good picture. Agree

@LaetitiaASD

We have spent 40 years deliberately enriching the super rich at the expense of the poor and ordinary people (and even at the expense of the upper middle classes). The end result is going to be fascism or hard left.

I agree about the last 40 years, but due to our wank electoral system I expect another 40 years of the exact same shite.

I find it absolutely extraordinary that we are seriously tolerating a situation in which our daily covid rates are still the highest in the world, way above countries with much larger populations and much less sophisticated public health systems. What on earth is going on?

I’d argue that move and the governments housing market protection is what’s compounded our situation now

To an extent yes. Not reversing the move has caused the situation we are now but at the time it needed to be done.

@2Two

I find it absolutely extraordinary that we are seriously tolerating a situation in which our daily covid rates are still the highest in the world, way above countries with much larger populations and much less sophisticated public health systems. What on earth is going on?

There’s going to be more deaths from flu this winter than covid they recon.

If you stop looking at the media, things suddenly seem a lot better.

@2Two

I find it absolutely extraordinary that we are seriously tolerating a situation in which our daily covid rates are still the highest in the world, way above countries with much larger populations and much less sophisticated public health systems. What on earth is going on?

We cannot stay locked up indefinitely, self-isolation, social distancing, school closures and bubbles, even masks all have wider consequences. The vast majority of adults are now vaccinated, children are being vaccinated and are at little risk anyway, deaths from Covid are very low.

Also, we are doing more testing than any other country in the world, that does have an impact on the figures, our positivity rate on tests is currently around 3.9%, in Germany and France is is close to 7%, although they are doing only around 14% of the tests we are doing.

The "what on earth is going on", is that a virus that most people have been immunised against is circulating in the population, it will always be in circulation, for the rest of the lives of everyone born now and probably everyone ever born on this planet. If you wish to hide at home in isolation for the rest of your life you can do so, but don't expect society to shut.

**We cannot stay locked up indefinitely, self-isolation, social distancing, school closures and bubbles, even masks all have wider consequences. The vast majority of adults are now vaccinated, children are being vaccinated and are at little risk anyway, deaths from Covid are very low.

Also, we are doing more testing than any other country in the world, that does have an impact on the figures, our positivity rate on tests is currently around 3.9%, in Germany and France is is close to 7%, although they are doing only around 14% of the tests we are doing.

The "what on earth is going on", is that a virus that most people have been immunised against is circulating in the population, it will always be in circulation, for the rest of the lives of everyone born now and probably everyone ever born on this planet. If you wish to hide at home in isolation for the rest of your life you can do so, but don't expect society to shut**

@MatildaIThink this emus exactly what I wanted to reply to @2Twobuy I didn’t have the energy!

Spot on!

is exactly I mean lol

our positivity rate on tests is currently around 3.9%, in Germany and France is is close to 7%

Wow. Positivity rate is around 18% in my area of Wales (not one of the top affected areas BTW), finally going down after being over 20% through the Summer.

@Ifailed

Ah yes - we weren't sure whether we were going to die of AIDS or a nuclear war. Honestly, compared to that, COVID is a piece of piss

Add to that IRA bombs (in London), Thatcher was denying the existence of society, Ronald Reagan was launching 'star wars' and Chernobyl blew up. The 1980s were certainly more scary than the 2020s are.

Yet the 80s were my favorite decade😁

@MythicalBiologicalFennel

our positivity rate on tests is currently around 3.9%, in Germany and France is is close to 7%

Wow. Positivity rate is around 18% in my area of Wales (not one of the top affected areas BTW), finally going down after being over 20% through the Summer.

Interesting. I can't actually find the test positivity rate for my area, but the current infection rate is 3.9%, vs 3.3% nationally (although in line with other suburban/small town areas). Our death rate is below average though, only around 14 per 100k population, with overall deaths only slightly above the historical average.

@LaetitiaASD

We have spent 40 years deliberately enriching the super rich at the expense of the poor and ordinary people (and even at the expense of the upper middle classes). The end result is going to be fascism or hard left.

I agree, its disturbingly close and whats worse is how many people don't see it.

What do you mean by "Upper Middle Class" there are plenty of Upper Middle Class people that are in positions of holding huge amounts of wealth.

Upper Middle Class is a description that includes "Posh People" with more money than the Upper Class, but not the Aristocratic lineage.

If you are talking it in terms of the American understanding, you probably those with family incomes up to about $200,000 a year.

AIDS did devastate the gay community in the 80s. If you were straight it was an era of scary TV adverts and dire warnings of using condoms. If you were gay it was hoping you were not positive, and watching many friends die very young.

Oh well.

I should just be resigned to our fate then.

Stop reading the news.

The way the Tories like things is the way it’s always been and will be forever now since we’re all
Ok with it. Look at a few history books.

It’s fine. I’ll just get on with life and accept my children’s lot.