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 ...

I don’t think we’re on collapse, just hardships

DVLA lost 150 staff over the last few years. Union reps and local mps said at the time it would cause wider issues. Well here's your issue, one reason for the delays....

@itistragic

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

There have been worse times that I can think of.

Early 80s when we received advice via pamphelts from the Government on how to keep safe in the event of a nuclear war.

Especially as I was pregnant with my first baby !

pamphlets

Totally agree willstarttomorrow

Day at a time 😊

No, of course not.

We have a frenzied rolling 24 hour media. That's the problem and it's fed by sales and clicks and advertising and share prices, all so that people can make money in one way or another.

'They' cannot make money if everyone is content, pulling together, helping one another.

I'd quote Billy Joel but I'm tired.

@Merrylegs87

Stop looking at the news

Oh because that will make all the nastiness go away, the sun will come out and we can all skip around in ignorance.

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.

Not get back as such as a large part of the problem seems to have been large amount of staff being in office thoughout feeling they could easily work at home but management saying no - and then big covid outbreak and few walk outs around covid saftey earlier in the year.

I think it's a local management staff issue - that has wider implications due to it being DVLA - and as Thekolschisonme suggests it's been building up for a while.

It doesn't really say anything about state of rest of UK - or indicate some massive collapse.

I do think the 24/7 media outlets cause alot of fear and unnecessary anxiety for the public. Imagine if the same 24/7 media was around in the 70s and 80s with all that was going on back then? What would that look like?

@Rosewaterblossom

I do think the 24/7 media outlets cause alot of fear and unnecessary anxiety for the public. Imagine if the same 24/7 media was around in the 70s and 80s with all that was going on back then? What would that look like?

Armageddon. It was bad enough with the media we had then.

The UK has finally destroyed itself. And considering that Churchill killed millions of Indians with a manufactured famine so he could profit, Johnson seems to try and follow suit!

Actually surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. The Pandemic masked a lot of the Brexshit effects until now. And we can all be fairly certain that most if not all Cons are in that Pandora paper for some sort of tax evasion.

Did you know the Spanish Flu is so called because even so UK and other Countries worldwide were affected is the only Country that didn’t blot it out of the News and other countries and in particular the UK was happy for their citizens to die and even back then threatened the Medical Profession not to tell people. So yes if you’d rather read hunky dory all is fine Propaganda while you die go ahead stick your head in the sand.

@Iseestupidpeople

The UK has finally destroyed itself. And considering that Churchill killed millions of Indians with a manufactured famine so he could profit, Johnson seems to try and follow suit!

Actually surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. The Pandemic masked a lot of the Brexshit effects until now. And we can all be fairly certain that most if not all Cons are in that Pandora paper for some sort of tax evasion.

Let’s go back another 100 years and invoke the Potato Famine as well. MN’s ability to come up with red herrings never fails to amaze me.

On the edge of something? We are slap, bang in the middle of it. We have an established liar and philanderer for a prime minister, a government so openly corrupt it would make a tin-pot African dictatorship blush, a population whose wit is so dulled by superficiality that they are led by the nose by right wing billionaire press owners, 31% of children are living on or below the poverty line, our NHS has been cripplingly and quite deliberately underfunded, social care is in crisis as is mental health care, life expectancy is actually going down for the first time since records began and in we are currently year 2 of a pandemic having just thrown away our seat at the top table of the biggest trading bloc in the world . How bad do you want it to be?

Oh...and then there's climate change

SpeedRunParent you have summed it up nicely.

Its not just us, France is short of doctors and dentists in Normandy and 30K hgv drivers. Our press and tv are busting themselves trying to bring down the government and cause unrest. More fool us for falling for it. If people just got on with things this panic would subside.

Yup Brexsh?t and Covid19 added to the bake is the perfect storm

@Roxy69

Its not just us, France is short of doctors and dentists in Normandy and 30K hgv drivers. Our press and tv are busting themselves trying to bring down the government and cause unrest. More fool us for falling for it. If people just got on with things this panic would subside.

Yes they have shortages of drivers in Europe however they don't have empty shelves and so on. Brexit with Covid19 on top has made matters worse.

Twenty thousand drivers have gone home in the past 18 months and won't be returning.hasnt exactely helped matters. Plus qlor of drivers in the E.U are refusing to deliver here because if all the additional hassle with red tape, paperwork and so on

Succinctly put SpeedRun

@SpeedRunParent

On the edge of something? We are slap, bang in the middle of it. We have an established liar and philanderer for a prime minister, a government so openly corrupt it would make a tin-pot African dictatorship blush, a population whose wit is so dulled by superficiality that they are led by the nose by right wing billionaire press owners, 31% of children are living on or below the poverty line, our NHS has been cripplingly and quite deliberately underfunded, social care is in crisis as is mental health care, life expectancy is actually going down for the first time since records began and in we are currently year 2 of a pandemic having just thrown away our seat at the top table of the biggest trading bloc in the world . How bad do you want it to be?

Absolutely this!

@Roxy69

Its not just us, France is short of doctors and dentists in Normandy and 30K hgv drivers. Our press and tv are busting themselves trying to bring down the government and cause unrest. More fool us for falling for it. If people just got on with things this panic would subside.

I'm in France and tbh it's totally fine here. Don't kid yourselves that the U.K. is just as bad as everywhere else, that isn't true. Our friends and family in the U.K. are pretty uncomfortable right now, it's a shit show

I think that saying 'stop reading the papers' is totally unhelpful unless applied to the whole population. I think it's fairly widely agreed that the media is just fuelling the flames just to increase reader numbers and we've seen the effect that has had. Also comparisons to previous periods in history.... it's not as bad as WW2 - how comforting is that to a single parent living away from friends/relatives who faces a huge increase in the cost of daily living? - Food and gas/electricity alone appears to be rising dramatically. I don't particularly read or watch the news, didn't panic buy fuel or loo roll (although define panic -I was lucky enough not to need it or think that I might need it). As a family we came through lockdown barely scathed. I feel hugely privileged with this but agree with the OP that we are on the edge of something pretty big. I would say something similar to the 70s so it will be interesting to see how those who make these comparisons are happy to cope with that. I hope I'm wrong but we have supply issues - it hardly matters whether they are real or panic fuelled because the effect is the same - we don't have produce and then prices rise. Put that with an increase in fuel and energy prices, a real price reduction in public service salaries, and a very real terrorist threat and it's a perfect storm. Which reminds me of the environmental issues. Floods followed by a scorching spring/summer when there will be riots at any given excuse. We've seen most of that in recent previous years so tell me I'm wrong (I'm sure people will). I do, however, agree with people who say look to what is in front of you and appreciate that. But I say that from a privileged position of a house with a garden and no immediate risk of having to choose to feed/cloth my children over feeding myself.

Under a "normal" government - even under David Cameron though I detested him - I would say that I'm sure everything will be alright.

Unfortunately the closest association my brain comes up with for the current lot are the bored millionaires on Squid Game who are mildly interested in watching desperate poor people trying to avoid death. Boris doesn't even try to hide out of touch with reality he is. Imagine anyone thinking that poor people's matters are anything to do with him, how distasteful...

I have no idea how things will work out, but we have an arrogant government whose trump card for the French threatening to cut our power is "we shall be very disappointed in you and probably never trust you again". Like anyone cares for our good opinion these days!

Generally YANBU. I was a child of the 80s and lately I can see parallels.