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)

I'm just about to read this book it seems topical:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1786499878/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is called

'How capitalism created the mental health crisis'.

Basically saying that the relevant industries needed a market for their products psychopharmaca etc. and therefore created the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) to classify perfectly normal human emotions (like grief) - in order that commercial treatments be applied more widely so that said industries could profit from it.

Makes sense and it is NOT a conspiracy theory.

Note that all the free things one can do for self-care - i.e rest, go for a walk, talk to your mates - are not things that industries can make money out of...

No conincidence.

The lives of working people have grown considerably worse over the last twelve years. I don't think they are all the same, but it's a godsend to those in power when people conflate them all. I'd almost give my right arm for Gordon Brown to be in charge right now. I know he made mistakes but he's in a different league to the current crop of Tories. I'd also be bloody delighted to have Keir Starmer in charge, perhaps alongside Ed Davey.

I think lockdown trashed wellbeing
but I think it might have been worse under Labour

they often indicated they would have been more restrictive but are now trying to row back on that

blessed are the receipt keepers!

business continuity planning has never been based on stoppage

that said, farmers can't keep producing food at low prices whatever has preceded it
this period of inflation was a long time coming

one thing I will never understand is why people with Covid were told not to ask for help before their lips turned blue

we had anti virals and other things we could have tried to help them - people I know who did go to hospital got treated but they were told not to go.

it is a very odd period

also many people tested positive with no symptoms, couldn't go to work
i'm sure I had it - but tested negative (stayed in for ten days).

this government certainly haven't helped people who were ill
I suppose we have no way of knowing what Labour would have done there. I don't know what other countries did.

No, I'm in the UK which is why I can comment on this fraudulent corrupt and pathetic excuse for a government

No, I think you need to work through your logical reasoning a bit more tbh as it's quite possible for some non tories to be better off under a tory government.

For example, the tories have quite happily lined the pockets of their friends with the completely corrupt awarding of PPE contracts. Some of those companies will have non-tory voting staff who may well have benefited from the cash injection and are now in a better place financially themselves. Similarly, the decision to simply write off billions in covid fraud will have benefited tory and non tory fraudsters alike.

That doesn't change the fact that a Tory's primary concern is their own betterment. As I said as long as the net result of an action is that they end up in a better financial position they'll act upon it regardless of who it hurts/benefit.

Incidentally I was going to reply to your "you know the top 5% pay most tax" comment separately but while we're here you also might want to read up a bit more in that particular fallacy too. LSE did a wealth tax piece in 2020 and there's a wealth (pardon the pun) of other research and information about how the rich still don't pay their fair share.

You think it would have been worse under Labour? Yea gods.

COVID hasn’t helped with national well-being but I totally agree that the current government have done a terrible job. The corruption is awful. There is no strategic direction. They don’t care about anyone but their mates, they are asset strippers. They have thrown away entire industries. Whoever voted them in should be ashamed.

I’ve been working in the EU recently, and when I returned to the UK I noticed the potholed and dirty streets, the low morale, low aspiration and our run down public services. I’m fairly comfortable financially and should be a natural Tory voter but I’d rather live in a place where general well-being is high - good quality affordable public services, good safety net - no food banks, strong environmental protection and a well kept public realm. My prediction is that the brain drain will accelerate, more companies will either go bust or move operations out of the UK. There will be more widespread shortages and a massive recession. It’s not good.

Certainly this government has made a bad situation worse. Every decision is from the viewpoint of exceptionally privileged white men who have literally no clue how most of the population live, so not surprisingly this results in policies detrimental to most of them, and especially hard on the most vulnerable.

Indeed.
I don't think Labour would have spent billions on a Test and Trace programme run by somebody who had absolutely no experience: www.itv.com/news/2021-03-10/covid-seven-damning-criticisms-of-dido-hardings-nhs-test-and-trace-programme

Don’t be so dramatic. They only have that power if you let them.

A brilliant,factual comment!! Think some of their mates are on this thread !
@Georgeskitchen …my daughter is doing everything possible to improve her future with her child and is doing her MA to qualify as a SW ,unfortunately high rents and picky choosy landlords are making it impossible for her to live close to us to help with childcare!
The government could do a lot more to help her actually have a roof over her head
ie Cap on rents
Affordable housing everywhere
Sort out the ridiculous fuel prices,and so I could go on !
What do you suggest my daughter can do to continue with her ‘self improvement’ would really welcome your ideas !

@liliainterfrutices I agree. David Cameron's whole shitck that "We're all in it together" was such a lie. Through crisis after crisis, the average person has flatlined, the poor have got much poorer and the rich have got mega rich. The last Labour government had a goal of eradicating child poverty, and they made decent strides towards that goal. The Tories don't even pretend to give two hoots about increasing child poverty. Their policies have plunged millions into poverty, yet pointing at some people arriving on boats every now and again seems to distract the masses from caring too much about that.

You think it would have been worse under Labour? Yea gods

But...but can you not imagine how bad it would have been if Corbyn had been in charge. And what about Keir's beer? And the super injunction to gag the MSM about Labour FPNs?* Etc.

*Well that's what the Tory bots are saying on Twitter.

Because that's their actual job maybe?

When have Tories every done anything for the working 'ordinary' people? Rhetorical question. We all know the answer is no. Yet, 'ordinary' people continue to vote for them.

Oh and the self improvement would be an awful lot easier for ordinary people if they hadn't closed so many FE colleges or defunded others!!

People are struggling, prices of everyday items climbing every week (more so than in other developed countries)

A quick google says UK inflation 9%, Euro area 8.1%, USA 8.6%. No significant difference between the three. I think you're just making a up facts so you can have a rant.

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

The job of any Tory government is to keep delivering economic gains for the top 10% no matter the cost to the wider economy (that’s 5 million votes there), while deceiving enough ordinary working people (another 7/8 million or so will do) that they also have their interests at heart.

It's certainly the government's job not to fucking break everything, which it's done a marvellous job of. You can count on this government to come up with all the wrong solutions to all the wrong problem, because they're not even trying to listen to people other than the editorial of the Daily Mail, and they spend more time on policies aimed at making the lives of people the DM doesn't like worse than they actually do ones that make things better for anyone. Because the fact is, doing that is much easier than making policies that improve people's lives.

The government were already on a fast track to screwing people over pre-covid and brexit.
I'm a lone parent and they have managed to make life harder on a regular basis since 2010. I'm just waiting for universal credit to shaft me, the pandemic delayed it but it's on it's way now.

Hello to any of the Frothers who predicted this all those years ago.

@megletthesecond Frother here <waves despondently>

YABU but only because it’s not just well-being they’ve trashed. It’s everything.

This. How many more times are people going to allow themselves to be taken in by that lying weasel of a man.

Yes we have had a pandemic
Yes we have had Brexit fuelled by lies.
Yes there is a war in Ukraine.

So what we need is a strong, decisive, HONEST government with integrity and a plan..

Instead what we have got is the most embarrassing, lazy, corrupt bunch of nest-feathering charlatans who will literally come on TV to defend the completely indefensible.. in order to protect their ministerial salaries and the job of their narcissist -general .. in order to keep them there.

I really don't care which party is in power as long as they are decent, honest .

As for no one else can do better ?? My god those whi really think this have a v v low moral bar. The vast majority of people who go into public life do it to try and make things better .. not to line their own pockets !

We have a government who don't give a shit about the man or woman in the street, just themselves, lining their own pockets & making the rich richer still. Any government worth their salt would be helping the NHS, creating housing, jobs, helping the worst off, the vulnerable disabled & elderly. They would be building a social care system that would care for everyone no matter rich or poor, they would be building schools & ensuring that every child got the best education whether they were at a private school or not. Nobody should be waiting years for a referral to hospital, weeks to see a GP or be having to pull their own teeth out. because they can't find an NHS dentist, nobody should be waiting hours for an ambulance or be stuck on the floor waiting hours for someone to come to pick them up after a fall. Care should be the best you can get instead of the cheapest, anyone receiving care should be able to lead the life they want to, nobody should be getting taken out of bed at lunchtime to be put back at 6.00pm. Social housing should be built so that there aren't the massive waiting lists there are now, nobody in the 21st century should be homeless or sleeping on the streets. These are basics that any government should do first before anything else, they are employed by the people, they should serve the people first.