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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:
Sparkle5 · 08/10/2021 18:29

…. and here we have the problem. Along with the media causing hype and scaremongering its people like yourselves who add fuel to the fire. Fine yourself a hobby and stop obsessing.

crossstitchingnana · 08/10/2021 18:32

Reminds me of the latter half of the 70s. Power cuts, strikes, 3 day week, galloping inflation. I was only a kid but I remember it well. Terrifying.

stoppedlurking · 08/10/2021 18:36

No it feels great but I stay away from news outlets.

AuroraSophia · 08/10/2021 18:39

If you watch mainstream media and buy into the fear yes.
If you live in a happy bubble with your family and friends, eat well, enjoy nature and do things you love then no.

Mymapuddlington · 08/10/2021 18:42

The media hypes everything up which makes people panic which feeds the hype.

caspersmagicaljourney · 08/10/2021 18:47

@vivainsomnia

Only of you read the media every day. That's what they want people to read. It sells.
I agree. Take no notice of MSM headlines. They are hyped anyway.
Thekolschisonme · 08/10/2021 18:49

Feels like conservative home Grin

longwayoff · 08/10/2021 18:50

All got petrol now? Good. Enjoy it while you can. No problems at all, just media hype

MarshaBradyo · 08/10/2021 18:54

Petrol was one where it did impact - demand up 500% in one weekend

madisonbridges · 08/10/2021 18:58

@Blossomtoes

And don't think MN is representative of what the general public are thinking.

I think it increasingly is. Even The Telegraph’s turned against them. Allison Pearson, of all people, says they’re not Tories any more and she won’t vote for them.

I don't read the Telegraph so can't comment on her columns but I have seen her on TV. I think Allison Pearsons objections about Boris Johnson are more to do with lockdowns that she's very much against. Her stance is against covid mitigations such as masks and she has made a few covid sceptic remarks. BJ has a reputation for being a libertarian so lockdowns etc all go against what she would expect him to do. In an election there isn't an alternative party for her to vote for...unless Labour move decidedly more right. So that would mean she'd abstain. I can't see her doing that really.
Blossomtoes · 08/10/2021 19:02

In an election there isn't an alternative party for her to vote for...unless Labour move decidedly more right. So that would mean she'd abstain. I can't see her doing that really

She was considering LibDem in her column this week. They came a very close second in South Cambs where she lives in 2019.

madisonbridges · 08/10/2021 19:08

@crossstitchingnana

Reminds me of the latter half of the 70s. Power cuts, strikes, 3 day week, galloping inflation. I was only a kid but I remember it well. Terrifying.
Except that... the National Grid has said there'll be no power cuts; strikes are on Scotrail - railway workers striking, surely that never happened before!....oh and at the DVLA because they didn't want to go back to the office; where are 3 day weeks happening? I thought they were trialling 4 days in Scotland at the workers request. Galloping inflation is at 3%, forecast to hit 4% next year.

Yes, it's very terrifying.

riceuten · 08/10/2021 19:09

No, although the situation will continue to deteriorate until something happens. And for certain people, it will be worse than for others. The real risk is how the government will react if there is unrest - clamping down, or, as I suspect, scapegoating part of the population.

Or both

Tigger1895 · 08/10/2021 19:09

@Feelslikealot

No, we are not and stupid posts like this just encourages peoples anxiety and causes panic. But no doubt you'll get a thread full of people agreeing with you.
Your post indicates you are already anxious.
inferiorCatSlave · 08/10/2021 19:16

oh and at the DVLA because they didn't want to go back to the office;

They kept being hit with covid out breaks in last 18 months in their offices and reporting said they felt unsupported by management - so perhaps not a huge surprise there's some reluctance and fear there to work through.

madisonbridges · 08/10/2021 19:19

@Blossomtoes

In an election there isn't an alternative party for her to vote for...unless Labour move decidedly more right. So that would mean she'd abstain. I can't see her doing that really

She was considering LibDem in her column this week. They came a very close second in South Cambs where she lives in 2019.

The LibDems and The Tories are nowhere near each other politically. Didn't she famously call the Libdem party a Banana Republic? She'd have to have ideological changes (can't see that happening) or protest vote. Anything is possible in politics but I bet you once covid is no longer a topic, she'll be back supporting the Tories. IIRC, she's a big Brexit supporter. I think its the same with most critics of any party, when push comes to shove, they'll hold their nose and vote for what they know.
SpiderinaWingMirror · 08/10/2021 19:20

Yep, things are shit.
But no worse than the 1970s with strikes and rolling blackouts.
Or the 2 recessions. Or indeed the 2 world wars.
Society didn't collapse then.

madisonbridges · 08/10/2021 19:23

@inferiorCatSlave

oh and at the DVLA because they didn't want to go back to the office;

They kept being hit with covid out breaks in last 18 months in their offices and reporting said they felt unsupported by management - so perhaps not a huge surprise there's some reluctance and fear there to work through.

As I said, they didn't want to go back to the office. What you've said underlines there's isn't really a big appetite for striking like there was in the 70s.
Clusterfckintolerant · 08/10/2021 19:25

Perhaps everything feels worse because the Gov are morally bankrupt and the opposition completely toothless? Hopelessness or powerlessness opens the door to all sorts.

I think the energy problem and Russia are worth watching closely.

Blossomtoes · 08/10/2021 19:26

You may be right @madisonbridges but she’s still trashing the Tories in their most influential paper. Regardless of how she decides to vote in future, her current antipathy to the party she previously worshipped must tell you something. She refused at attend this year’s conference and she says

It’s oddly painful, this sense of alienation from the party you believe in, but which no longer seems to believe in what you both once believed. Like sitting in another room after a row and longing to rejoin your family next door, but pride and principle hold you back.

madisonbridges · 08/10/2021 19:34

@Blossomtoes. I'm so sorry but I can't really engage with you on this because I can't read the Telegraph so have no knowledge of why she's feels alienated from the Tories. I did see the subheading that she will vote for Boris when Boris is Boris again. Is this to do with lockdowns etc? I don't know. Sorry.

willstarttomorrow · 08/10/2021 19:36

No the UK is not going to collapse but things are going to get much harder for the majority. I did not vote for Brexit and have never voted Tory, I have never been so bloody angry and felt so powerless. I am not allowed to comment on the state we are in because apparently 'the brexit vote was ages ago and the remoaners just need to get over it'. The fact that the country has never been so divided is a non-issue. People who were born in the 1980s bang on about winning 2 world wars and an Empire without any sense of irony or understanding of how reliant we were as a nation on immigration.

We left the biggest free trade block in the world. Our tiny little island with no real industry, a once global hub for finance, and with industries totally reliant on freedom of movement.

MarshaBradyo · 08/10/2021 19:37

I don’t usually read her articles but scanning it quickly it seems the biggest bugbear is restrictions

‘Surely, Tories exist to cut red tape, not give those tedious jobsworths ever greater licence to push us around. Ours is the party of freedom, not of draconian rules and restrictions.’

‘We agree with Boris. But does Boris agree with Boris? Who is this imposter who hems and haws about introducing vaccine passports to get into nightclubs and football matches?’

Also agree with this

‘ The things I care about right now are all collateral damage from lockdown – so many people with mental health problems; the thousands of “ghost children” who have disappeared from school registers; pupils more than a year behind; students paying full fees for a remote university education; 12,000 women with undiagnosed breast cancer; horrifying hospital waiting lists; small businesses struggling to get back on their feet; elderly residents of care homes still being treated like diseased livestock and denied basic human rights.’

And the ‘stop talking’ on R4. Which was a nuts way to interview.

MarshaBradyo · 08/10/2021 19:38

[quote madisonbridges]@Blossomtoes. I'm so sorry but I can't really engage with you on this because I can't read the Telegraph so have no knowledge of why she's feels alienated from the Tories. I did see the subheading that she will vote for Boris when Boris is Boris again. Is this to do with lockdowns etc? I don't know. Sorry.[/quote]
Yes ending restrictions fully and granting freedom

Barney60 · 08/10/2021 19:39

I think it’s going to be a tricky few years with an increase in poverty but we’re coming out the other side of a pandemic so those expecting a continuation of what was before are naive. Most of the issues we face get blamed on Brexit yet it seems similar in a Canada and they haven’t gone through Brexit. Globally, there’s a big impact and it’ll play out as these things do. Media also over play everything so basically, most of us will just ride it out.

 Totally agree, i think once out the other side though i think will benefit.

Ive been around long enough to remember the gas /electric shortages in the 70s with a 3 day working week. Now that was REALLY bad, no buses trains strikes people really were starving.
Also banks collapse in 80s which caused a massive tax increases i had just purchased my 1st home when bank rates went up to 14.5%, we seem to go through these situations or something every 10 years or so.