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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:
Marmelace · 07/10/2021 14:44

No, we are too resilient. Generations gone by have survived worse as will we.

EvilPea · 07/10/2021 14:44

[quote takenforgrantednana]if you read about the great depression back in 929-1939, there are far more similarities in what we re all going through now than you would first think have a read if you dont know your history - www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Great-Depression/[/quote]
We just missed the fun bit first

StoatMilk · 07/10/2021 14:44

@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.
Oh do behave Hmm
hashbrownsandwich · 07/10/2021 14:45

I'm wondering if I'd be better as a handmaid or a Martha?

fruckkkit · 07/10/2021 14:45

I agree with @Wiredforsound

I don't know about collapse as such, but this feels like the bleakest period in my adult lifetime - I was a child in the 70/80s so whilst I remember some of what went on I was largely oblivious.

I can't see things improving under this shitshow of a Tory government sadly. And people just seem to be accepting that this is how it is now, we should be rioting in the streets and we are all queuing for petrol instead.

My heart goes out to all the low income families worrying about spiralling costs and reduced incomes this winter. There shouldn't be any need in what is supposed to be a developed country with a benefits system.

antoniawhite · 07/10/2021 14:45

I think we are on a slippery slope, and because decline has been gradual and increasing corruption has been more gradual, people are far less aware of what is going on than we should be.
We are at the start of very hard times indeed. The harder they get, the more we can expect to be lied to by the government and the media.

As a side note I see the polling is 52/48. God I hate that statistic.

BrendaBubbles · 07/10/2021 14:46

Total collapse, no. Riots and people fist fighting for food in supermarkets when we have more shortages or panics in future, absolutely. I think we will see some grim days in the years ahead but will we pretty much all get through it without the entire country going down the pan, yes.

Original poster
Penfield · 07/10/2021 14:46

I'm not going on headlines. I don't read the headlines.

I listen to the Today programme and watch Newsnight. I watch the government speaking. I listen to their actual words. I look at what is actually happening to our family. Now. Today. This week.

I don't read any headlines because I'm very aware the MSM makes things up, exaggerates. It's mostly all bullshit. Yes, Today programme and Newsnight are MSM but I sift out the opinion, listen to our politicians and make my own mind up.

Friends, work colleagues, others on here and different threads are feeling the same. It's not just me. But it's interesting to see that there are some that think we'll be OK.

It seems that the ones that think we'll be OK may be sticking their heads in the sand. Is it better to do that? Is that a more accurate way of gaging what's going on?

OP posts:
Staffy1 · 07/10/2021 14:47

Stopping watching the news isn’t really the answer. I’ve always watched the news and have never had this feeling of things not be at all right before now. If more people watched the news throughout history and protested about things that weren’t right, perhaps there would be change for the better.

TheReluctantPhoenix · 07/10/2021 14:48

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?

Gimlisaxe · 07/10/2021 14:49

No, but I do think the government is hiding a massive story, so by the end of the year it will be a relief, that things have righted themselves and Johnson turns out to be a babyeater, wont seem as bad.

@Naaaaah

The zombies better be coming, its the one thing I have planned for and am ready for it.

Jasper2005 · 07/10/2021 14:49

Oh ffs. Look at some other countries out there. Look at history. No things aren’t amazing at the moment but they really aren’t that bad.

EatSleepRantRepeat · 07/10/2021 14:50

Nope. We are headed for a shrinkage in consumption though, which we've needed for a while if we're not going to kill the planet. We're still fed, have fresh water, there are jobs available. We've become utterly spoilt consumers in this country who want everything as soon as we snap our fingers on cheap credit, and the consequences of that are affecting everyone. Our local discount supermarket car park is full of expensive 4x4s with large families whilst the people working there are kept on low wages to keep their food prices cheap.

mikedyson · 07/10/2021 14:50

seems that the ones that think we'll be OK may be sticking their heads in the sand. Is it better to do that? Is that a more accurate way of gaging[sic] what's going on?

Who is sticking their heads in the sand? No-one is denying some grim things are going on - just pointing out that we've survived much worse in the past.

waybill · 07/10/2021 14:51

No, of course not.

By the way, life is much nicer all round if you don't watch the news & current affairs on tv, and stop buying a newspaper. I've been doing that for about three years now, and it's very restful. Smile

Original poster
Penfield · 07/10/2021 14:51

@Staffy1

Stopping watching the news isn’t really the answer. I’ve always watched the news and have never had this feeling of things not be at all right before now. If more people watched the news throughout history and protested about things that weren’t right, perhaps there would be change for the better.
That is it @Staffy1

We need more people to watch the news. Not less.

Things are getting more than a bit sticky. Those of us who are awake can feel and see it now. Others will feel and see it later - when it's too late.

It will affect all of us. Bar the very privileged.

OP posts:
PingoPingoPingoPingoPingoPong · 07/10/2021 14:51

We will be fine. Let's not feed into the media frenzy. It may be hard but others have and will have it harder.
Scare mongering doesn't help anyone

mikedyson · 07/10/2021 14:51

@Gimlisaxe

No, but I do think the government is hiding a massive story, so by the end of the year it will be a relief, that things have righted themselves and Johnson turns out to be a babyeater, wont seem as bad.

@Naaaaah

The zombies better be coming, its the one thing I have planned for and am ready for it.

What kind of "massive story"?
Flup · 07/10/2021 14:51

It was far worse in the 70s.
We were told nuclear war was a distinct possibility and there were tv broadcasts and leaflets about what to do if a nuclear bomb was dropped on the UK.
I vowed not to bring children into the world then, only changed my mind 20 years later.
On top of that we had scheduled power cuts several times a week.
There was no internet then of course.

TableFlowerss · 07/10/2021 14:52

Nah. I think everything is circumstantial. Every other country will have increased in their gas prices too.

There wasn’t actually a shortage of petrol though was there, it was a lack of drivers to get the petrol to the pumps.

We’ve relied on cheap labour from EU countries for years and that’s kept the the wages low for years and people were reliant on too ups.

I think it’s just a catalogue of errors of years that are all coming to a head now, soured in by Brexit and covid.

Take for example house prices in London. They’ve just increased Year in year to the point the average jo could all but dream of owning one. How has something never been done to stop foreign people buying second homes that they never in…

They’ve barely built any social housing, none of the government’s. Again just a catalogue of errors that are coming to a head now.

I’m sure things will calm down but it’s not ideal, particularly for the working classes.

Innovationstandard · 07/10/2021 14:52

I think you're being utterly ridiculous. The 80's were pretty awful as others have pointed out and the UK didn't collapse then. Nuclear war, HIV and the IRA were totally grim. Hth

bubbletrumps · 07/10/2021 14:52

We had Protect & Survive (what to do in the event of a nuclear bomb being dropped on us) leaflets delivered through our doors in the 80s because we were at imminent threat of a nuclear war. Watch 'Threads' on YouTube.

Compared to that, this is a walk in the park.

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 07/10/2021 14:53

I hope so. Because out of the ruins we might get something modern, democratic, forward thinking. It might take a foreign power liberating us to get there though.

mikedyson · 07/10/2021 14:53

Things are getting more than a bit sticky. Those of us who are awake can feel and see it now. Others will feel and see it later - when it's too late.

What? What is it that only your truly special powers of sight can see that those of us who fell asleep watching Newsnight have missed? What?

OhWhyNot · 07/10/2021 14:54

MN has always aired on the dramatic side

The predicted riots after Brexit, after we actually left the EU, during the marches and demonstrations of last year non of happened
which I believe has been disappointing to some

We are mostly too comfortable