Weren't things meant to get better?

[BeachTree]

2 years of pandemic - restrictions, rules, missing out, illness, misery

We're emerging from this slowly and now we are facing
*Inflation
*Incredibly high petrol and diesel prices
*Ukraine War
*Blooming Brexit ( clearly was going on pre-pandemic)
*Refuse collection strikes
*Train Strikes
*Cost of living crisis - huge increases to food and electricity
*insert various other crappy things going on right now

Weren't we meant come out of this and start living and enjoying things again.

Sunlit uplands. And the ageing demographic that the Tories hoodwinked still don’t realise where their woes ACTUALLY come from.

’yes, but Corbyn/Starmer/Abbott etc etc….’

Things have got better. I'm back at the gym, seeing friends whenever I want, going to pubs/restaurants/gigs. Not just stuck inside.

I think some people were just indulged with the ultimate opportunity to whinge and are finding it hard to move on from that mindset.

Goldern Years? The years of September 11th, July 7th, and the Iraq/Afghan invasions?

^ Golden

Good question. I haven't read much about how things are in other countries and I'd be interested to know more.

I read that half of electricity in England is generated through burning gas so that could be a factor? I assume extra costs for businesses due to Brexit are being passed on to consumers too.

Yanbu. My family came to visit recently and we all went out for fish and chips. £80 it bloody came too! (6 adults and 4 young children who could pick at bits). £80!!!!

I'm concerned about the lack of a plan for winter. People just won't be able to afford rent and energy costs so are they just going to let people freeze and starve? The impact on people's health and wellbeing will be dire and adding this to an already overloaded NHS will be grim. I dread to think what the excess deaths stats will be like 12 months from now.

This!
My life is now so much better than when we were 'locked up' at home. I think covid has made me appreciate doing things even more than before. As someone who hates being indoors for long period of time covid was awful.

Unless you had close connections in the military, they didn't have much day to day impact in the UK/ Europe/ USA. Most people could turn off the news and ignore.

We've got a shitty combination of Russia/ Ukraine majorly disrupting essential commodities. Supply chains of other products still impacted by lockdowns in China and lags from elsewhere. Catching up with Brexit issues that came into play during Covid restrictions. Staff shortages. Plus everything since 2020 tag teaming on the back of the austerity decade just as things were looking up.

Most of Europe is feeling the same pinch.

Fish and chips are a luxury item these days.
We have stopped having take outs now
Just buy a 'fake away' out the supermarket and heat that up instead.

Things have got better. I'm back at the gym, seeing friends whenever I want, going to pubs/restaurants/gigs.

A lot of the people I work with who were also relieved to get out again and do all the things you have mentioned, are now stopping doing those things because of inflation, the cost of living and the impending hike in energy bills and interest rates.

I think part of it was that things like public transport, housing and fuel was already very high as we pay 50% fuel duty. Add to that another huge jump in price and things are getting insanely expensive without wages going up. It’s becoming very difficult to live basically.

And not even the majority. 43% of votes.

10+ years of Tory power and the chickens are finally coming home to roost. The rise of social media influencers and relentless consumerism leading to a notion of individuals rather than society has created massive inequality. Now when times are tough economically due to the pandemic and Ukraine war its much more obvious that the "haves" i.e. most Tory MPs don't care about anyone other than themselves and their cronies.

I lived in Spain in 2006 and life was pretty decent then. By 2012 25% of the workforce was unemployed. Our 2008 recession was 5 quarters - theirs was 5 years. It's just a perfect storm here at the moment.

Another oldie here. I can't ever remember a time when people in full time work - even some homes with two salaries - won't be able to afford to heat their homes in winter.

This really is the worst it's ever been in my lifetime.

And the fact that other, earlier generations had it worse isn't really relevant - things are meant to progress and get better, not regress to the point where people will die of cold in their own homes again.

Terrorism has happened forever - it didn't start with 9/11. The IRA did plenty in NI and mainland UK. War in Europe - there was genocide in what used to be Yugoslavia and plenty of war related immigration at that point too. We had strikes and the 3 day week and the decimation of the mining community. The Falklands. We had the poll tax. Cold War. Elvis died. AIDS. But these things were spread out. Now we seem to have everything all at once.

We had the poll tax.

I liked the poll tax. It saved me money.

Sorry @BeachTree but you forgot the sewage-enriched UK beach resorts...

Yup 🙄

I'm in my fifties too.Never been so fearful of the future or had so little trust in government. Thatcher was appalling but she was hardworking and competent. The slack cynicism of Cameron onwards is deeply shocking to me. And the power of rightwing media plus the erosion of real news is very significant

So? The seeds of the current situation were sown before covid.

Putin deliberately timed his Ukraine invasion to hit when he knew Western economies were at their weakest following Covid. I'm no Boris Johnson fan, but ousting him just played into Putin's hands. So do all the strikes. We are at economic war, and our democracy is being destabilised when we need it to be at its strongest.

I lived in Spain in 2006 and life was pretty decent then. By 2012 25% of the workforce was unemployed. Our 2008 recession was 5 quarters - theirs was 5 years. It's just a perfect storm here at the moment.

I'm in Spain, I don't think Spain has even now fully recovered from the 2008 crash and now this. The lockdown here was brutal far tougher than in the UK, a friend who is self employed waited 18 months for the promised financial help. The prices here are rising week on week, food inflation is at 13.53%, overall inflation at 12.70% fuel is high and electricity charges (which were always high) are even higher and the Government here doesn't appear minded to do anything about it.

The 25% unemployment rate was horrendous and a huge swathe of that was young people and that situation has not been addressed.

To add a bit of humour, you've mentioned serious wars, bombings, poll tax and randomly thrown in Elvis died 😁 Sorry that tickled me 😋