To think Britain is heading towards economical and social collapse

[Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase]

It feels like we are living in strange times, having come out of a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine and now the cost of living crisis and the added pressure from Brexit.

Ive barely slept tonight, worrying about what might happen with energy prices. I’ve heard the energy price cap is expected to rise to £3,850 in October. A few months ago I’m sure they predicting it would be £2,400 and that was horrifying enough.
Now I’m seeing people on the energy support Facebook group talking about monthly energy costs of £900 per month. It feels like this is escalating out of control very quickly and the Government are allowing us to sleepwalk into a disaster.

I realised tonight that if the price cap does keep increasing at the rate it has then what will happen to all the businesses once people can’t afford their energy bills anymore? They will probably increase their prices to try and cover their costs but that will drive down sales even more as people won’t have as much money to spend anymore. Eventually it will only be the essentials that we can afford so that surely means that all the other businesses won’t be able to afford to keep going?

Then what? Unless our government actually get their heads together about this then the whole country will end up in financial ruin and we will see the breakdown of society. Why so much focus on the leadership contest, surely that must take a back step.

Ive just checked the parliament website and the House of Commons has now gone into summer recess so they won’t meet again until September! I think this is an emergency situation and that they should be called back to focus on this. They get paid enough.

I think it’s outrageous that they can claim for utility bills on their expenses when there are people out there with young children who are worried about being cut off and put onto a prepayment meter.

Most of all I think they to put to renationalise energy companies - The current situation is unsustainable. There is no competition in the market anymore so renationalisation is the only option. Prices will continue to climb otherwise. If that means introducing legislation to do so then so be it.
Not RTFT yet but 100% agree

Try 50 years. My father was an engineer and he was working in renewables in the late 1960s. We could have been investing in green energy at a massive scale for half a century, and with the partial exception of Scotland, we haven’t.

Part of the issue with renewables is that they come under pressure from both right and left. The Tory NIMBYs don’t want wind farms or tidal paddles in their bucolic countryside (and many of them don’t believe in climate change anyway). And the unions were also unsupportive of green energy, certainly back in the 70s and 80s, because it would have meant the loss of lots of jobs on coal and gas.

My energy bill for the hottest month for a long time is nearly double my bill for the coldest month! How the hell can that be justified? I’m not going to have sleepless nights over it though because, apart from rich people, we’re all in the same boat so I won’t be drowning alone 😕

Utter nonsense.

They also got a working from home allowance during the pandemic. Shouldn't be able to have it both ways.

Hmm, somehow quoted the wrong post...

There are some people on here who are desperate to whip up a riot, and there are also some people on here who are gullible enough to believe the people on here who are desperate to whip up a riot.

We need to stop thinking about individuals in this country and more about the collective.

What exactly do you mean? Can you give examples? Who do you mean by 'we'? It sounds like empty soundbites.

We have become such a consumerist society, people go shopping as a fun activity, even those who don't have much disposable income. It's all about spending money on hair, nails, fast fashion and branded items. People are happily ignorant and consuming without considering fair trade or our eco system.

The best way to improve social mobility is to improve education. Money spent on children's facilities and school, supporting new families and vastly improving funding for evidence-based mental health care would be great. I believe that we have to start paying towards our health care though.

You make a good point re pressure from both sides

There is the same in Suffolk re new nuclear station but I think greens are spokespeople

@LivingOnAnIsland And there ate many more on here desperate to make it through this winter reasonably warm and fed.

It’s mostly keyboard stuff - people suggesting riots on mn are probably in a group least likely to do it

I do believe that society will collapse but not for another 20+ years. We have used fossil fuels to far exceed the earth's carrying capacity. Most will remember food chain and environments from school biology, if you take away food from lower levels then the number of predators at the top will reduce. We are facing multiple issues that will cause issues with food production, soil erosion, pollution, climate change, fertiliser supply (they come from fossil fuels),...

There is a brilliant podcast called "breaking down: collapse" if anyone is interested. The first episodes go over the very basics so I would recommend them first.

Things are going to get really tight for most of us.

Highly doubt there will be riots however crime rates will soar… which will impact On the every day folk.

I don't think many people are aware of the issues people face.

25% of people could not pay their bills for a month if they lost their job.
Step Change is seeing more people asking for advice with energy debt and arrears

40% of people have less than a months salary in savings

Other countries may be suffering as well - but the average person in Germany for example earns more than in the UK.

www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/arrears-fears/

Many people are cushioned from this. They don't see it and don't know people in similar situations.

It could just take a shock to really affect a lot of people.

@MarshaBradyo it would probably descend into an actual bun fight.

Newspaper headline “Mum Mob Break Into Bakery and Steal Buns for RIOT”

🤣

There are two sides to this. Yes it could be seen as delusional -especially if you are working 50 hour weeks with kids.

But- there are lots of jobs which are way above minimum wage which are available but people don’t know how to access them.

Rg. SIA licence costs a couple of hundred pounds and finding is available and immediately you have that you are looking at 10-12ph basic even without experience.

Or mums can do lots of remote work online -again higher than minimum wage- often with flexibility- if they knew it existed.

There are lots of jobs not filled because people don’t know what they are and don’t think they could do them.

Funding not finding

Be confident that house prices will continue to rise.
The economy has been broken for a long time.

At least Greta will be happy when we're all using less gas.

User639921 · Today 08:26
There are a certain section on here that are hoping for riots as they keep coming up every so often, there were some with Covid

Yes. Posters hope for riots, or guillotines, tumbrils etc but when questioned further about what exactly they plan to do during these riots, or whether they will be manning the guillotine, answer comes there none.

Fundamentally disagree with this.

The UK economy rests significantly on financial services and the movement of money. Actual production and productivity is of little relevance - as long as the relative value of companies and shares changes daily, and as long as there is debt and a constant flow of financial transaction, the economy appears to make money.

If we switched to a high sustainability model with much slower and more even cash flow, there'd be a lot of bankers out of jobs.

We're too used to disposable purchases an IKEA table for a £100 that lasts 5 years instead of a £1000 solid wood crafted one that lasts for 200. You can apply that principle to almost anything. Scenario 1 generates £20 of money movement a year, scenario only £5.

The Falklands saved Thatcher, If that hadn't happened, would Thatcher have stayed in?

The Tories will never do it but Labour would win an election off the back of that promise. Starmer won't have the balls himself though.

This is already happening. I had one of those scam texts yesterday and when I called my bank to check it out/report it, the guy said there’s been a huge increase in scam activity over the last few weeks. Apparently a big proportion of this is driven by desperate people slipping into poverty, and making the choice to get involved in financial/banking crime.

Some of the messages on this thread are quite unbelievable.

• The UK is sleepwalking into a cost of living crisis and politicians are choosing to ignore this
• And no, it is not '' the same thing everywhere''. Other EU countries don't have such ridiculous increases: energy increases are capped at 4% in France for example
• Add to that a collapsing NHS, strikes and no real policy to combat climate change and it does not make for a happy country
• The UK is also in a bad position because of the Brexit madness and a corrupt, self-serving and useless government. It seems we also have a fair number of people who are in complete denial...

The wealthy will be insulated from most of the turmoil but for ''regular'' people which is not a good situation. The longer we pretend this is not happening the worse it will be.

What saved Thatcher was the state of the Labour Party in 1981. Some of its MPs split off and formed the SDP which split the Labour vote, then the Falklands factor helped for 1983 election. Foot was the wrong leader as well.

Labour/SDP combined got over 50% of the vote but with FPTP Thatcher got a landslide.