The government have completely trashed the nation's wellbeing.

[flashbac]

People are struggling, prices of everyday items climbing every week (more so than in other developed countries). Everyone's spirit appears to be low. The jubilee weekend raised spirits a little but only temporarily.
Yes, post pandemic fatigue is probably a factor but I can't think of a single thing this government has done that has improved the lives of ordinary working people. In fact, quite the opposite.

(Come at me Tory troll farms)

Given the fact that Labour, the main opposition party seem to have no actual policies, and instead of working alongside the government to help us through covid, spent most of their time trying to discredit every move by the government, while giving no alternative strategy,
Who do you think should be in charge of the country? Keith Starmer and his women have penises and men have cervixes brigade?

What do you think the government should do. And how much more tax are you prepared to pay to fund it?

Putin had trashed a lot of things too ; this war so soon after restrictions were being lifted was a blow to everyone. The money being pumped into this situation isn't going to be enough really. I've heard it'll drag on for ages too and affect prices everywhere on everything : possibly his main aim all along ? Who knows ?
None of it is good , it's all so tragic and more people will lose their lives too :(

@Provenceinthesummer I don't think labour with Lib Dem support could do a much worse job than the government is doing. It's not just the fact of Ukraine, it's a general vibe of 'I'm all right Jack' - I'm in Palma today- immigration a total and absolute horrendous queue for Brits- EU citizens just strolling to the egates- no waits. No forward thinking policies by UK government, no actual governing , just pandering to the faithful and saving their arse, fighting off sleaze etc. I'm very much a centreist, have lots of friends who are soft Tory's- to a man they think the gvt are useless, full of overpromoted ukippers with zero commercial sense. Personally I'm not into obsessing about the gender thing- I think transsexuals are still blokes who choose to live as a woman- I'm not going to argue about it or get into a sweat about it- it's such a minority issue that takes up far too much webspace and is hyped up by far too many - I don't care how they want to live, I don't believe in discriminating against but I do object to the cause constantly being in the media eye as opposed to say disabled or mental health or housing . I'm certainly not voting for this bunch of arses just because their views are a bit more traditional on gender

Disaster Capitalism is the Government’s aim, this is just the start of the big collapse 🤬

How is brexit to blame for rising prices not only globally but also in the most “financially stable/powerful” EU countries?

The great reset ?
I've heard about it and feel that it might be a thing and not just a conspiracy theory ?
The rich won't feel it too much though.

Calling bullshit on "it's not Brexit". It is. Yes, the war in Ukraine is

Because the uk is only above Russia in the OECDs 2023 forecast for the worse performing economies…
No, don’t mention Brexit.

Jesus. Ridiculous post.

The government paid a big chunk of the population to stay at home during pandemic, rolled out the vaccine schedule quite quickly so we could open up quicker than many other countries. We have a well established welfare system. Where I’m from we have limited public transportation, and the student loan system is harsher. I could go on.
And I’m really not a Tory supporter.

Honestly though, what else do you want? I love this country, but one thing I hate is that so many people wring their hands waiting for the government/ council to sort everything out for them.

Rant over

Ugh, posted too soon.

The war in Ukraine is pushing up prices globally and certainly the pandemic has made a lot of businesses need to raise the bottom line. That said, Brexit has put delays on shipping, added fees onto European products, removed substantial amounts of labour in working class jobs, and has therefore bumped up prices beyond what the rest of the world are feeling.

No other country is seeing a 50% increase in energy prices. Their governments are capping and subsidizing so that it isn't pushed onto the entire population.

Brexit isn't to blame for part of price rises caused by short supply due to Ukraine (who farm a huge amount of products that are used in goods ) - it is to blame though for increased costs of goods arriving here, taxes and tariffs and the fact that we are having to pay far higher rates for HGV/ warehouse/airport workers etc due to huge shortages- now im sure these workers- aren't moaning , but how does that benefit the average teacher or nurse? They just get higher prices!

"Honestly though, what else do you want?"

Well not day to day reports of corruption and sleaze and lying would be a nice start.

When did we shut everything down for two years ?
Everything has been fully open for over a year ,and whilstvl 2020-2021 was certainly rocky ,everything only shut for a few months ,restrictions eased and tightened as covid levels went up and down

This.

YANBU. Being a frequent traveller to Europe I don’t agree that this is happening to the same extent everywhere either. People were effected by lockdowns but didn’t experience the same show of utter contempt and lawlessness we have seen from our government.

What else do you want?

A non-corrupt government who follows the rule of law would be a start.

It is governments job to make it clear that we have two broad choices in terms of capitalism -

(1) A neo-liberal form of capitalism where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, as practiced for 40 years under (mainly) the Tories, but also neo-lieralism-lite under labour.

or

(2) A more social democratic form of capitalism where government acknowledges that markets need to be nudged and influenced in order to ensure that the poor don't continue to get poorer.

If you practice the (1) the end result is inevitably some form of authoritiarianism (fascist or communist) or it is simple poverty and misery for the country.

How the tory have the front to claim to be proud of the uk whilst letting all public services fall apart is outrageous. Worse is the ignorance of people other than the selfish mega rich supporting them. The tories don't even represent the upper middle class professional any more, let alone ordinary lawyers or surgeons or ordinary business people.

I'm sure that will be a lot of comfort for the people using food banks, are scared to switch their heating on or can barely afford to put fuel in their car to get to work.

It’s not their job to fix everything but it is their job to ensure that we have a society which meets the needs of its members (not just the rich ones).

It's not entirely the government or Brexit, but the problems from the war and the pandemic are massively exacerbated because of those two factors. Of course they are. You don't impose sanctions on yourself and withdraw from your largest trade market unscathed. And this government is doing its best to make the divorce as painful as possible.

I don’t think the government have deliberately gone out of their way to ruin our economy, create a global pandemic and caused the invasion of Ukraine but I do think there’s a bit more they could be doing in response. For example why not cap fuel duty\vat at a set amount and if prices rise then the amount of tax automatically drops in response?
The bigger issue with the government is that really they need a stronger opposition to keep them on their toes

Who else's job is it?

They need to inflate away the Covid debt. Don't expect things to get easier for those earning below average wage, any time soon.

And of course the government should do its best to safeguard the nation's wellbeing, otherwise what the hell is the point of them? They are supposed to work for us by working in our best interests when they decide how to spend our taxes. They've done an abysmal job so far - the absolute waste of billions on PPE for instance.