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)

Serious issues are developing with China - this is larger than what we see on the surface.

What do you think is happening in China? I have some ideas of my own but I'd be interested in your thoughts too.

Spot on. I’m married to a life long Tory who won’t vote for this lot. The mendacity, dishonesty and corruption is mind blowing. You appear to have drawn Tory supporters to your thread @flashbac as inexorably as flies are attracted to shit. This is going to be interesting.

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

Tax the rich

@Charles11
Good post people need to start taking some personal responsibility. Any problems first question should be what can I do about it? Not sit wailing like a baby expecting someone else to sort it out.

The problem is that Labour are such a mess that even duplicitous yahoos seem like the only option.

There are global factors hitting everyone but both the IMF and the OECD have predicted that the UK will have the lowest growth out of all G7 countries next year. Therefore it's not just the Ukraine war or the pandemic as those affect other economies too.

BJ must be glad that there are seemingly so many people who have bought his BS though. How long can his luck hold out that there continue to be external factors that be can blame?

Yes everyone is struggling with effects of war and the pandemic, but the UK alone are dealing with it following the massive State self harm of Austerity and Brexit.

The Tory government have shown themselves to be incompetent at best and corrupt, sleazy liars who destroyed the wellbeing and trustworthy status of the UK at worst.

YANBU OP.

People seem to think improving yourself to earn an average or higher than average wage is a magic answer. For the average wage to be average that means a great deal of people have to earn less than average. There quite simple aren't enough average and above paying jobs for everyone to get even if they do an evening course or two. Society needs it to be affordable for the lower income households to be able to meet basic needs or it just doesn't work. The government are meant to run the economy. It's not expecting them to nanny you, it's expecting them to manage the economy so nurses don't need food banks.

The way in which they handled the pandemic, especially in 2020, harmed wellbeing more than would have been the case if they had responded promptly in March 2020 and September 2020. Shorter periods of the greatest restrictions, for example, even before the impact of those in Downing Street not adhering to them, and Dominic Cummings appearance in the rose garden.

@Blossomtoes my father in law is 83- voted Tory , voted Brexit , thinks they are doing absolutely Jack shit apart from lying and feeding the narrative labour are useless. His own view now is that the country was at its best under Tony Blair and he should have gone further re PR etc and that their never should have been a referendum at all.

They aren't just 'duplicitous yahoos' though, are they.
The number of sex scandals is testimony to that. Two Tory MPs have been jailed in recent years; we've got the tractor porn guy and the deputy chief whip getting themselves into trouble. Another Tory MP is banned from Westminster while he's on bail for rape. On and on it goes. I find it hard to believe that anybody couldn't do better than this lot, but, as it happens, they've got some bloody good MPs in Labour, which I don't think can be said anymore of the Tories. Johnson booted the more sensible ones when they wanted Parliament to be able to scrutinise the deal that he is now so desperate to tear up.

Hardly unique to the UK. Power corrupts.

Some truly brain-washed responses here...

Of course we are doing worse than many other EU countries because of Brexit and because we have a lying, corrupt government.

Unless you are working for the Conservative party I fail to see how you could think that they are doing a decent job.

A government's responsibility is to keep things like the economy, health, housing, social care and so on working well so that we can have a decent standard of living. it is not to make sure that bankers get ever higher bonuses or that their mates can get Covid contracts and make millions out of producing useless equipment.

What do people think we elect a government for if their job is not to help improve people's lives?

What exactly do I pay my taxes for then?

I am pretty sure the point of the government is not so that Johnson can go on holiday all the time and keep his wife in expensive wall paper and champagne while everyone else is struggling.

People forget Johnson was pro EU, he suddenly wasn't when he saw an opportunity for himself

How many male bodied folk were in women's jails, hospital wards Girl Guides and other single sex spaces were there when the Conservatives came to power? How many are there now?

How many teenagers were presenting as Trans when the Conservatives came to power? What are the numbers now?

This shit show happened under their watch. Penny Mordaunt is being tipped as a candidate for leader. They are no friend of women.

you know the top 5% earners pay the vast majority of the tax take don’t you?

@roarfeckingroarr why is it their job to fix everything? Because they've fucked everything, have you not noticed? Then least they could do, frankly, is leave things a bit tidier than when they arrived. Won't hold my breath.

Does that pay the huge energy bills? No. A sane government could have put some policies in place to lessen the blow though.
Does that stop the problem of the NHS rationing services? No. But a decent government could at least write some sane policies to stop us getting sicker and sicker (e.g limiting pollution, dumping shit rivers etc), sort out (privatised) social care etc.
How the feck can people eat well and be healthy if they can't afford food or fuel?

I could go on.

The government's JOB is to think of and put in place policies to create environments in which the population can be healthy and can thrive. Is this happening? NO

It seems to be corrupting substantially more now than it has in the previous half century that I’ve been a politically aware adult.

How can I put this politely - it IS the Government’s job to organise things and make policies and direct our taxes. So maybe at the very least they could have maintained the advances that the previous Labour government put in place that we’d already paid for in taxes rather than trashing them via austerity and leaving us poorer as a nation.

You have to laugh at their cheerleaders on this thread. This Government don’t care about you, they’ll come for your rights, waste your taxes and they’ll definitely be putting their hand in your pocket again before too long.

As for the ‘organise yourselves and stop whining’ whataboutery, we can probably do things within a limited range (the people suggesting this won’t though). But that’s what the government is supposed to do, so one would ask what’s the pissing point of electing representatives if we have to organise things on our behalf.

I agree with @NotQuiteUsual
I also feel 10 years of austerity ran all our public services to the point that there was so resilience in the system so when a pandemic, war and brexit hit there was nothing left to give. I work in school finance and each year its been cut, cut, cut fir a decade. There us nothing left to cut and the gas bill went up 189%. Other countries didnt do austerity so had more resilience and also didnt do brexit just to compound it. The same for many individuals - austerity left so many on the edge there was no buffer for hard times.

Stop being corrupt pieces of sh*t. 0 tax, if anything I want some back! There is plenty of money to go around for everyone, the problem is a few a-holes are hogging it all. And the government is acting on their behalf to facilitate said hogging...

And why would the state bring about the collapse of capitalism?
It's spent the last 250 years holding it up!

I pay my tax

It's their job to sort out messes they create. So they need to pull their fingers out.