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.

Quite, and it's going to be even worse for their kids, if they ever have any (which I seriously hope they don't, but that's such a sad thing to be thinking).

@DianaBarry5, nothing. I have been a child protection social worker for nearly 20 years. The most vulnerable have been totally shafted- even before the cost of living crisis. The Tory government do not believe in the public sector and cutting benefits/funding of services that support those in needs is popular with their electorate. They have been privatising services via the back door for years (for example, finding a placement for a teenager now usually means a private placement. These can be upward of £2000 a week at the cheaper end).

Local authority funding has been massively cut, - people think about bins etc but this is also social care, social work, support for additional needs etc. This has been going on for over a decade. It has been absolute hell trying to do more for less. Add to the public sector pay freezes- I totally understand why people are beginning to strike. This government has been really good at creating a divide between public sector and private sector. The lazy narrative about us all having 'gold plated pensions' and trotting out wages in the press which most every day frontline workers will never see. Today one of my colleagues was physically assaulted doing their job- this is sadly not that uncommon. Verbal abuse and threats are pretty much every day.

I think a lot of people feel that in general, it's better to have a change in government from time to time. Not too often or things become too piecemeal, but if it's too seldom, things become stagnant.

But I think the problem here is much bigger than people continuing to vote for the same party. You have to ask, why, when people do tend to prefer change from time to time, and when it is generally harder to satisfy people as the government rather than the opposition.

The fact is none of the other parties have managed to gain people's confidence. Typically they a) think that largely they would do much the same things anyway, or b) they are totally focused on the wrong, often damaging, stuff. How can the LP in particular be so utterly unable to read what the population wants and say something useful on it? Smaller parties are often at a disadvantage in terms of attracting the best candidates but one of the major parties should be able to offer something.

There are improvements the Tories could make but you have to wonder if whatever is affecting the other parties isn't also stopping them from producing some kind of reasonable set of leaders.

I think the political system is broken. It needs a good overhaul

I don't think things will get better until we have a general election & get the Tories out. We just need to hope that Labour will get their heads out of the sand & accept they need to work with the Liberals & SNP to get high enough numbers that nothing from the Tories can ever get through Parliament. It will take a good two years to sort out the mess the Tories have left the country in before we can start to move forwards.

I remember my parents being young. They would leave school and get and average job and be able to live. Then they would meet and want to marry, buy a house and start a family. An average house deposit was 3 average salaries and a young couple could live with parents or bunk in a bedsit. They could afford the basics but save some money for deposit. It was affordable after 3 or so years.

Once they had got a deposit together they would marry, move in and have a baby because in those days a couple would only be allowed a mortgage on the mans part as a woman would be going on maternity after a few years So a mortgace would nly be allowed on a mans wage

But one person could afford a decent living for 4 ppl n a one man wage.

live is shit today

"You are not obligated to have things get better. The universe does not work that way, and having 200 years of things improving has clearly rotted everyone's brains to the point of thinking that progress is some inalienable right of every human.

It is not."

I don't think that it's any where near as simple as that. Plenty of progress in plenty of areas. Notwithstanding people have different ideas about whether things are progress or not. (The internet is: is it a good thing or not? Or something of both?)

Medical advances most people would say in most cases is progress. But then they depend on money to be fully developed, tested and put into general use.

Saying people's brains are rotted is a best melodramatic. And at worst antagonistic for the sake of it.

Getting back to normal was never supposed to be the way things used to be. It meant shifting into something new over the course of a few years. Everyone seems to have tried to skip that part so of course the economy isn’t working. Throw in an opportunistic invasion and things get even worse.

Isaac newton declared 300 years ago what goes up must come down.

some if you need to step off social media and start thinking.

it was all so very inevitable- and anyone with their eyes open could see all of this coming. Recessions, pandemics, global instability and inequality.

I notice not too many of you are championing Gina miller these days who helped drag brexit years beyond when it could’ve been dealt with under better timing. I doubt she can hear your accolades from her yacht though.

Yes that's right, blame the remainers. It's all their fault for not shutting their eyes and dreaming hard enough.

That’s quite a leap to have ignored millennia of history and instead get yourself over-excited about one thing.

Who actually said it was going to get better? It is better, the things you've listed are normal.

Not that I'm a fan on conservatives, but what do you think Labour would do? Having another party in would've changed little.

What problems do UK have that other countries don't? Covid, inflation, energy prices are affecting worldwide.

Life's ok for most, post covid now of to work, seeing friends. I'm not sure what you expected. Life is ok.

12 hour queues for ambulances and beaches full of raw sewage?

Yes but we didn't have to spend a shitload of our own money!

So you think no lockdown would have resulted in spending no money? I don't think it's that simple.

It was sold as a solution to immigration. Several people I’ve spoken to voted for Brexit because they were scared by news reports of the masses of migrants congregating at Calais, and threats from the EU that they would force us to allow a significant proportion of them into the country

Has Brexit actually reduced immigrantion? Look at the Hong Kong new visa scheme or was the issue to some the "wrong type" of immigrants?

immigration

Not being goady (I’m not British) but am genuinely wondering why things are so much worse in the UK compared to other countries in Europe.

Because we've spent the last ten years or so voting it self serving monkeys whose sole aim has been to make themselves, and their mates, richer and to trample over anything or anyone that stood in their way.

And where are our illustrious government now? No one fucking knows - they've all sodded of on their hollibibs because running a country has only ever been a power game to them.

Johnson has been the biggest, most corrupt, most selfish fucker of them all and he leaves behind a Tory party stripped of any political talent they had, left instead with the kinds of people who would serve the country best by leaving and never coming back. But they won't. They will cling on; keep changing and ignoring laws to suit them, keep finding ways to get more money out of government and into their own bank accounts and keep blocking any attempt to make the country better.

I am at the point now where I don't care who replaces them. I'll vote for anyone else. Anyone.

Several people I’ve spoken to voted for Brexit because they were scared by news reports of the masses

Well they were idiots and they’ve screwed us all. Of course Brexit isn’t mainly responsible for the global recession - but it will several impact our ability to recover from it as Brexit is going to hamper GDP according to government own forecast. And that’s Besides being a colossal waste of time when government could and should have been focused on sorting out housing, the NHS, etc etc

The fuel crisis, the cost of living crisis, food shortages are the main headlines in many other countries too (France, Germany, Spain, US). This is a global crisis.

@Oblomov22
Not that I'm a fan on conservatives, but what do you think Labour would do? Having another party in would've changed little.

tell that to the disabled people who killed themselves after having their benefits removed.

This is a global crisis.

I don't think anyone isn't aware of that more the point that it appears to be hitting us harder.

Of course it’s hitting us harder as we have a Tory government that governs purely to protect the financial interests of a small portion of the population. If your household income is below 50k they couldn’t give two shits about you beyond ensuring you’re not overclaiming benefits.