UK has gone to shit.

[Ilovegreentomatoes]

What is happening to the uk? No food on the shelves, the cost of living has become extortionate coupled with stagnating wages it seems this is a country where unless your in the higher income bracket you really can't afford to live anymore.
Poverty is going to be rife I dread to think the amount of people who will be choosing between food or heating this year.
Aibu to think this country has gone to shit of the likes we have not seen for a long time.
I am lower income and feel like I can't afford to live anymore.

And why is that a bad idea? Maybe if everyone had decent broadband so many disadvantaged kids wouldn't have fallen even further behind during the pandemic 🤔

Of course it is a bad idea. In South Korea the government paid to install broadband across the country 20 years ago and look at them now.

as is "you really can't afford to live anymore."

So all the millions of food parcels handed out at food banks was because this people COULD afford to live but chose not too?
I see....

@BoredZelda

Apparently this research indicates that public sector isn't a problem and they don't need to be part of Boris' 'high wage economy.'

Instead of asking three times for it, your time would be better spent brushing up on your comprehension skills because nothing in my post came even close to saying that.

Well what were you trying to say and where is this research?

@BoredZelda

You said "You’re right about the public sector but loads of research shows this isn’t an issue."

In response to me saying Boris' "high wage economy" doesn't stack up as there are low wages in the public sector too and pay freezes.

So how is low pay in the public sector not an issue when there are rising prices and Boris is advocating higher wages in the private sector? It makes no sense. So what did you mean by "research shows it isn't an issue"?

[quote Hulkynothunky]@BoredZelda

You said "You’re right about the public sector but loads of research shows this isn’t an issue."

In response to me saying Boris' "high wage economy" doesn't stack up as there are low wages in the public sector too and pay freezes.

So how is low pay in the public sector not an issue when there are rising prices and Boris is advocating higher wages in the private sector? It makes no sense. So what did you mean by "research shows it isn't an issue"?[/quote]
Everyone knows the public sector is bloated inefficient. That is why so much has to be spent on private consultants who have no idea what they are talking about to interfere and make things worse.

Everyone knows the public sector is bloated inefficient. That is why so much has to be spent on private consultants who have no idea what they are talking about to interfere and make things worse.

Oh yes there lots of wasted money in the public sector. I don't deny there are grossly inflated fat cat salaries either. I'm talking about people on low wages though - like teaching assistants and HCA in hospitals. I don't see how they can be left behind in this "high wage economy" whilst according to Boris those on similar wages in the private sector can start to command higher salaries from employers.

Zelda says it doesn't matter if prices rise, as long as wages do too. My point is not everyone's wages are going to rise.

And really it's not even the lowest paid public sector workers too - middle earners like teachers and some civil servants ..if their wages don't rise but prices do...and everyone in the private sector gets higher wages then these people get left behind. Logically some would leave for better pay elsewhere - which could lead to shortages in labour in the public sector. My point being I don't understand how Zelda can say "it's not an issue." I'm hoping she can elaborate on what she means.

Boris doesn't really believe in his "high wage economy" model - if he did then wouldn't these workers be getting higher wages too?

I am 100% convinced that Johnson doesn't care about having a high wage economy, it's just a nice soundbite. He would be putting much much more money into education and training. Bringing back grammar schools, which May wanted will not cut it. The UK's failing is the long tail of underachievement, not at the top end.

Sadly it's something that no Government of any persuasion seems to have got to grips with. There was the very good Tomlinson report on 14-19 education back in 2005 or thereabouts. Blair kicked it into touch by wanting to keep the Gold Standard of A levels.

you said "You’re right about the public sector but loads of research shows this isn’t an issue."

So you saw the bit where I said you were right about the public sector? My next sentence was referring to the next part of your statement, you know, the bit I quoted, saying that rises in prices are a result of higher wages and that is a problem. That's where the research is, and there is a ton of it if you just look, saying that whenever minimum wages are raised, there is also a raise in the amount of disposable income and that means companies earn more profit through more sales and are less likely to increase prices. Furthermore those who are lifted out of the debt/credit cycle find they aren't trapped by the hidden costs of poverty like higher credit and energy costs. This leads to having more disposable income. This has been demonstrated anywhere a minimum wage or living wage has been put in place.

I'm not a fan of Boris, but have long said that government supporting big business profits by topping up the wages of those who are poorly paid through income support is not sustainable for any economy.

I'm not a fan of Boris, but have long said that government supporting big business profits by topping up the wages of those who are poorly paid through income support is not sustainable for any economy.

You don't have to be a Boris fan to think this. Wasn't it put in place by Gordon Brown? I tend to agree, why should the taxpayer support businesses which are making big profits? Why should they not have an obligation to pay their staff proper wages?

I can agree that some industries might not make much profit but might have strategic value, so they need some sort of support.

I can agree that some industries might not make much profit but might have strategic value, so they need some sort of support.

The most obvious example of such an industry is venture capitalists.

@BoredZelda

you said "You’re right about the public sector but loads of research shows this isn’t an issue."

So you saw the bit where I said you were right about the public sector? My next sentence was referring to the next part of your statement, you know, the bit I quoted, saying that rises in prices are a result of higher wages and that is a problem. That's where the research is, and there is a ton of it if you just look, saying that whenever minimum wages are raised, there is also a raise in the amount of disposable income and that means companies earn more profit through more sales and are less likely to increase prices. Furthermore those who are lifted out of the debt/credit cycle find they aren't trapped by the hidden costs of poverty like higher credit and energy costs. This leads to having more disposable income. This has been demonstrated anywhere a minimum wage or living wage has been put in place.

I'm not a fan of Boris, but have long said that government supporting big business profits by topping up the wages of those who are poorly paid through income support is not sustainable for any economy.

Thank you. I did not realise your 'isn't an issue' comment was in relation to rising prices/rising wages.

I couldn't understand the logic at all of what I thought you meant!

Everyone knows the public sector is bloated inefficient. That is why so much has to be spent on private consultants who have no idea what they are talking about to interfere and make things worse.

there is so much wrong with this statement.

1. bloated inefficient. Just because something is bloated, it doesn't have to be inefficient. Not cost effective - most probably.
2. Private consultants are not hired to bring light to the dimness of the public sector, but to channel money out to friends and family.
3. not all private consultants are idiots per se. But if they are called in for stupid reasons, given a stupid brief and ultimately are fully aware that their job means that they have to pump out purple haze to keep taking home money so their boss' boss can take home even more than they will keep pumping out purple haze.
4. public sector doesn't just mean office workers in ministries, but garbage men, teachers, nurses, and so many more.

I do think that many parts of the public sector are both bloated and/or inefficient. I think the main challenge of the 21st century is to find a balance of what the government's duties are and how thy should be conducted. At the moment (imo) the scale is more towards the fact the gov is there for the sake of the government. Different levels have diff challenges, but almost all seem to forget that the idea behind is to have a governing body and to be the caretaker of all people.

At the moment 2 (again, imo): some self regulating smaller communities are doing a better job than the gov. And some are clearly worse.

Much of society has become complacent to the point that they now don't even want to think, much less act. Which in turn allows almost anything to be done to them. Sheep.... slaughterhouse comes to mind. ... This will not end well.

Especially if you take into consideration how big the gaps are between diff continents/areas of the world. Sooner or later humanity will collapse on itself. And how it is going I'd bet on sooner.

@Roussette

France, Portugal, Spain and Italy all have massive tourism industries that have been hard hit by covid. They don’t have the problems that UK is having. It’s fucking BREXIT!

Thank you!

Big connections to Spain here and there is NO PROBLEM with anything.

There haven't been any energy price protests in Spain then?

You can't compare whole of EU vs UK.
Would you conpare whole of Asia vs Malaysia? Or whole of North America vs Florida?
The U.K. is not part of the European Union.
Yes you can compare as it's a percentage of the population . A percentage of the population you can compare anywhere with anywhere. Florida IS part of North America so you would be comparing it with itself included in N America, not a big error but not. A good idea if you want to be accurate@Wazzzzzzzup

@PattiPritell

*You can't compare whole of EU vs UK. Would you conpare whole of Asia vs Malaysia? Or whole of North America vs Florida?* The U.K. is not part of the European Union. Yes you can compare as it's a percentage of the population . A percentage of the population you can compare anywhere with anywhere. Florida IS part of North America so you would be comparing it with itself included in N America, not a big error but not. A good idea if you want to be accurate@Wazzzzzzzup

You can't compare EU and UK fgs. Honestly. Mainly because the UK includes immigrants from EU while EU number includes only out of EU immigrants. So irl the numbers would be 6.3% UK vs 8.something% EU. So there. Uk doesn't have more immigrants from non eu countries.

Also. You said countries. Eu isn't a country.

Yes the UK has gone to shit

Can we close this thread now, because I'm sick of people squabbling over their US holidays. Who bloody cares about the price of car rental for your fly-drive??? 🙄

A migrant family came over on a dinghy with a newborn baby and Sky News filmed it. Shoved a microphone in their face asking why they did it. Lovely country we are.

This was over the weekend

You don't have to be a Boris fan to think this. Wasn't it put in place by Gordon Brown? I tend to agree, why should the taxpayer support businesses which are making big profits? Why should they not have an obligation to pay their staff proper wages?

Not sure it was a Labour idea per se, I got the top up when John Major was PM, can't remember exactly what it was called then.

I don't think things are that bad. The fuel crisis is just panic. Blaming things on Brexit is often just not true, like the pp above whose Dh lost 100 lorry drivers.

Breakdown for each country in eu here:

www.statista.com/statistics/549292/foreign-born-population-of-eu/

So you can see that the figure for some countries brings the eu average down.

It's actually the richest countries in the eu with the highest number. Who would have thought ey? Could immigration possibly be... a good thing?

@GreenLunchBox

Yes the UK has gone to shit

Can we close this thread now, because I'm sick of people squabbling over their US holidays. Who bloody cares about the price of car rental for your fly-drive??? 🙄

This is a very important matter to some people. The increased cost of car hire in the USA is having a massive impact on the lives of many in the UK and making the UK a much worse place to live.

@Tobchette

Breakdown for each country in eu here:

www.statista.com/statistics/549292/foreign-born-population-of-eu/

So you can see that the figure for some countries brings the eu average down.

It's actually the richest countries in the eu with the highest number. Who would have thought ey? Could immigration possibly be... a good thing?

Immigration is clearly a bad thing, we do not want foreigners coming here with their funny habits and speaking better English than I.

In 2020 Germany had the highest net migration figures in Europe at over 543 thousand people, while Romania had the lowest with negative net-migration figure of almost 74 thousand. After Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom had the second and third highest net-migration figures in that year, at 498 thousand and 260 thousand respectively.

Well this is quite amazing. UK has had over 300,000 a year for years, probaby since 2005 or whenever it started. And since about 2010 we have gone all out to reduce the figure. It was a large factor in leaving the EU in 2016 but still there are 260,000 in 2020. Just astounding imv.

The head of the EU (can't remember which one) stated a few weeks ago that free movement from outside the EU must be curbed. So there you go, can't find a link to that (probably because I can't remember which senior EU person said it - might have been one who has stepped down)

@PattiPritell

In 2020 Germany had the highest net migration figures in Europe at over 543 thousand people, while Romania had the lowest with negative net-migration figure of almost 74 thousand. After Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom had the second and third highest net-migration figures in that year, at 498 thousand and 260 thousand respectively.

Well this is quite amazing. UK has had over 300,000 a year for years, probaby since 2005 or whenever it started. And since about 2010 we have gone all out to reduce the figure. It was a large factor in leaving the EU in 2016 but still there are 260,000 in 2020. Just astounding imv.

The head of the EU (can't remember which one) stated a few weeks ago that free movement from outside the EU must be curbed. So there you go, can't find a link to that (probably because I can't remember which senior EU person said it - might have been one who has stepped down)

You didn't actually think that Theresa May and others meant they would get immigration down to the 10s of thousands when they kept saying it. Surely?