Page 8 | To think the country is b*gg*r*d, and life as we once knew it is over?

Runnerbeansflower · 06/07/2022 19:56

DM likes to remind me that she was born during the Blitz, and I was born during the three day week.

Twas ever thus...

Joeblack066 · 06/07/2022 19:57

justfiveminutes · 06/07/2022 18:14

When you are quite old, you have seen lots of recessions, armed conflicts and dire predictions. Those times always pass, just like the good times do too. We are in for a rough ride in terms of the economy, but will come out the other side.

Spot on. It’s all cyclic.

ILikeHotWaterBottles · 06/07/2022 19:57

AffIt · 06/07/2022 18:18

I'm 43 and grew up in the West of Scotland.

I've lived through at least two (maybe three?) recessions, multiple armed conflicts (including the Troubles), terrorist attacks, inflation, changes of government, global pandemics (!), personal loss and trouble in terms of the death of family and friends, illness, redundancy... and yet we keep on keeping on.

The thing that scares me most is climate change and I don't have an answer to that, but humans are resilient. It's amazing what you can get through.

Climate change is more concerning than the rest. However we are doing bugger all to really stop it. We keep mentioning stuff and making ads to pretend we are doing something (makes people feel all warm and fuzzy) but realistically we are heading towards shit and fast.

Some humans are resilient too. Most are not.

Isitsixoclockalready · 06/07/2022 19:58

RejectedFleece · 06/07/2022 18:25

I am extremely old. I have lived through a lot. I believe that things are going to get much worse than we comprehend. Yes, others do have it much worse. But it's going to get very bad here too. Something is different this time. You can feel it.

Can you be more specific?

FemmeNatal · 06/07/2022 19:59

LadyVictoriaSponge · 06/07/2022 19:45

Don’t underestimate the skills need to be a plumber, these skilled trade’s people fit boilers and heating systems and have a massive responsibility that your house doesn’t blow up, not everyone would have the aptitude or the intelligence to do that, it’s more than putting washers on leaking taps and plumbing in washing machines. You sound clueless.

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That’s heating engineers.

Again, I know plumbing is a skilled profession, but it’s a skill that most people have the ability to learn.

YouSoundLovely · 06/07/2022 19:59

I don't see xenophobia in what Catfordthefifth said (FWIW I say this as an immigrant to the country I live in). It seems to me that FemmeNatal goaded her into her comment (by saying she despaired of having 'people like [her]' in her adopted country) and jumped on it to turn it into something it isn't. Claiming she 'told an immigrant to go home' makes a mockery, frankly, of the times exactly that has happened to me.

EightChalk · 06/07/2022 19:59

For those of you saying "if you don't read the news, you won't notice" - what about the dramatic increases in food and fuel prices? Even if you can afford them, you must still have noticed that prices are jumping up on a regular basis.

Catfordthefifth · 06/07/2022 20:01

YouSoundLovely · 06/07/2022 19:59

I don't see xenophobia in what Catfordthefifth said (FWIW I say this as an immigrant to the country I live in). It seems to me that FemmeNatal goaded her into her comment (by saying she despaired of having 'people like [her]' in her adopted country) and jumped on it to turn it into something it isn't. Claiming she 'told an immigrant to go home' makes a mockery, frankly, of the times exactly that has happened to me.

Thank you, I really didn't intend it to come across like that and I'm glad others can see why/how I said it.

Eyesopenwideawake · 06/07/2022 20:01

Climate change is a spectre over our species and will be horrific. However, before any single nation falls fully to climate change, there will be many that follow Sri Lanka's path now, where that country is basically finding out what it means to slide back along the trajectory we just climbed up.

Gobsmacked that it took to P5 before anyone mentioned the climate. The next few years/decades will make Covid and Brexit look like a minor blip.

Allthesocksintheworld · 06/07/2022 20:02

Im not worried about the ups and downs of the UK because as other posters have said that is pretty normal and we can recover. I do feel like the world as a whole is in a pretty dangerous situation at the moment, things in various ways and places are on a knife edge. There are population challenges in most western countries (we have no where near enough young people and children to support older generations) and the climate is going to be a challenge.

The UK cant survive comfortably if large parts of the rest of the world are in turmoil.

EmmaH2022 · 06/07/2022 20:02

RejectedFleece · 06/07/2022 18:25

I am extremely old. I have lived through a lot. I believe that things are going to get much worse than we comprehend. Yes, others do have it much worse. But it's going to get very bad here too. Something is different this time. You can feel it.

When I saw your first post, it didn't say much, so I wasn't sure what to think

but this is interesting. My mother is 83 and is very worried about us, her children. She also feels something is different - I suppose a lot of things are different.

Fuzzyhippo · 06/07/2022 20:04

Not sure if I feel the country is, but I'm definitely terrified for my future which in my mid 20s I definitely shouldn't be worrying about. I'm autistic and I get a very small allowance on PIP which I'm very grateful for, but it's hardly enough to feed myself now as due to my sensory needs I can only eat a very specific diet. I've also stopped driving because I can't afford the diesel for my 40 year old truck meaning I'm stuck in the same room day in day out and have started a very strong antidepressant which I also have to pay for (£25 per month). I lay in bed every night wondering where my future is heading and it doesn't look good..

bellac11 · 06/07/2022 20:04

plugee · 06/07/2022 19:54

@bellac11 my point was with have any issue with wage stagnation, you can disagree. Because of that more people are paying higher rates of tax. People have less disposable income because of high housing costs, again you can disagree.

I think its more about knowing whether thats true or not rather than disagreeing per se

Wage stagnation means peoples wages havent gone up, so how have more people entered into higher tax rates?

I would also say again that the tax take is lower than its been in modern times

Movingdecisions · 06/07/2022 20:05

The almost contempt for those who have made use of ‘cheap credit’ is palpable. What were people supposed to do, turn down a 2% mortgage and say, no thanks I’d like 15% like the ‘good old days’ please. Of course not!!

It is the change from this point that is going to really hurt people, regardless of what interest rates were 40 years ago. Who would have bought a home planning for a 150% interest rise? No one.

I despise the ‘they knew it would come to an end’ mentality. A young family in their 20’s or early 30’s will have been looking at the situation in front of them, not adult in these mythical times where people were ‘living in the real world’, with some contingency where possible, but no where near enough to account for drastic changes. The banks are at fault for facilitating, not the normal people living in the modern world.

Perhaps if all those home owners from the times of 15% interest rates had sold their properties without profit beyond inflation then the market would squeeze the life out of the young now. Any takers? Thought not.

plugee · 06/07/2022 20:06

@FemmeNatal as a fellow immigrant you were just as xenophobic with your "despair" 🙄

plugee · 06/07/2022 20:06

but it's derailing the thread

LadyVictoriaSponge · 06/07/2022 20:06

That’s heating engineers.

Most “plumbers” are usually Gas Safe and Oftec registered heating engineers, the two jobs tend to go hand in hand.

Catfordthefifth · 06/07/2022 20:06

Fuzzyhippo · 06/07/2022 20:04

Not sure if I feel the country is, but I'm definitely terrified for my future which in my mid 20s I definitely shouldn't be worrying about. I'm autistic and I get a very small allowance on PIP which I'm very grateful for, but it's hardly enough to feed myself now as due to my sensory needs I can only eat a very specific diet. I've also stopped driving because I can't afford the diesel for my 40 year old truck meaning I'm stuck in the same room day in day out and have started a very strong antidepressant which I also have to pay for (£25 per month). I lay in bed every night wondering where my future is heading and it doesn't look good..

Do you have to pay for your prescriptions when you're on PIP? If so look into a prepayment it should make it cheaper if it's a normal NHS prescription

ILikeHotWaterBottles · 06/07/2022 20:07

LadyVictoriaSponge · 06/07/2022 19:45

Don’t underestimate the skills need to be a plumber, these skilled trade’s people fit boilers and heating systems and have a massive responsibility that your house doesn’t blow up, not everyone would have the aptitude or the intelligence to do that, it’s more than putting washers on leaking taps and plumbing in washing machines. You sound clueless.

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I don't know why people bother replying to @FemmeNatal. She's proven loads of times she's an idiot. This is another example, learn plumbing or brick laying to help yourself out. 😂Its almost cringy at how clueless someone can be.

fuckboris · 06/07/2022 20:07

It's far bigger than our country and that's why we're fucked.

We've decimated the planet, supply chains are failing. This shit is going to fall like dominoes.

MrsRobinsonsHandprints · 06/07/2022 20:07

FemmeNatal · 06/07/2022 19:52

Thank you for writing this.

It’s genuinely the first time anyone has suggested to me that I leave the country if I disagree with them.

The UK is a wonderful, welcoming country that I am proud to call my home, but I do understand that there are some who’ll never view me as being “properly” resident so will say things like the above.

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I don't think it was meant like that at all. Your posts have been patronising, personal and aggressive.

Runnerbeansflower · 06/07/2022 20:08

Fuzzyhippo · 06/07/2022 20:04

Not sure if I feel the country is, but I'm definitely terrified for my future which in my mid 20s I definitely shouldn't be worrying about. I'm autistic and I get a very small allowance on PIP which I'm very grateful for, but it's hardly enough to feed myself now as due to my sensory needs I can only eat a very specific diet. I've also stopped driving because I can't afford the diesel for my 40 year old truck meaning I'm stuck in the same room day in day out and have started a very strong antidepressant which I also have to pay for (£25 per month). I lay in bed every night wondering where my future is heading and it doesn't look good..

Why do you have to pay £25 per month? Can't you get a pre payment certificate, which caps your prescriptions?

slowquickstep · 06/07/2022 20:08

bellac11 · 06/07/2022 18:54

Where were you in Spain? A few weeks ago my partner popped into a chemist in Madrid and paid the equivalent of about a quid for paracetamol, food was very cheap in the supermarkets too, and also eating out.

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Badajoz

Lightheart · 06/07/2022 20:08

I remember people at the beginning of lockdown saying it would never end and we would never be outside of household bubbles again….. catastrophising is rarely helpful

WhatsHoppening · 06/07/2022 20:09

Movingdecisions · 06/07/2022 20:05

The almost contempt for those who have made use of ‘cheap credit’ is palpable. What were people supposed to do, turn down a 2% mortgage and say, no thanks I’d like 15% like the ‘good old days’ please. Of course not!!

It is the change from this point that is going to really hurt people, regardless of what interest rates were 40 years ago. Who would have bought a home planning for a 150% interest rise? No one.

I despise the ‘they knew it would come to an end’ mentality. A young family in their 20’s or early 30’s will have been looking at the situation in front of them, not adult in these mythical times where people were ‘living in the real world’, with some contingency where possible, but no where near enough to account for drastic changes. The banks are at fault for facilitating, not the normal people living in the modern world.

Perhaps if all those home owners from the times of 15% interest rates had sold their properties without profit beyond inflation then the market would squeeze the life out of the young now. Any takers? Thought not.

This! The 15% mortgage thing drives me mad- if rates went up that high again the percentage of income would be SOOO much more than back then, and I appreciate then it was awful. Looking at young people who are doing the best in a society skewed towards the old and wealthy and making criticisms is so unhelpful. I also feel it’s cruel for older people to go on about how terrible the world will be soon. Great, you’ve had your life thank you for making us all feel terrified and dreadful for the future you won’t be forced to live through.