to wonder if people expect the government to solve all their problems?

[LadyHarmby]

Just listening to the news, interviewing people in the street.

No government can change the fact that some people are rich and some are not. Or that wars in other countries and/or pandemics will affect the price of things.

Inappropriate content on social media. Unsafe cladding on blocks of flats put there by private developers. Being housed outside of your area by the council. Zero hours contracts. All issues that the government seem to be expected to sort out? Is it reasonable?

BTW I’m a Labour voter so this is not about the Tories, more government in general.

Oops quote fail there.

Inappropriate content on social media. Unsafe cladding on blocks of flats put there by private developers. Being housed outside of your area by the council. Zero hours contracts. All issues that the government seem to be expected to sort out? Is it reasonable?

The examples you give are ABSOLUTELY issues that a government should be sorting out.

But that's the kind of think the OP may be talking about, i.e. relying on the government to fund public services to treat/resolve issues that people cause themselves. I'm thinking of things like obesity where people stuff themselves and don't exercise enough on the belief/assumption that the NHS will treat/cure whatever illnesses they've caused themselves! What is so wrong about people taking responsibility for themselves and stopping themselves getting into the position where the NHS/Govt/Taxpayer digs them out of the hole they've dug themselves?

No, but everyone who is working a full time job should have enough money to be able to afford a safe warm home that is of adequate size and enough food for themselves and their family. Right now that isn't happening. People who cannot work should be supported financially so that they can afford those things too. The UK is a wealthy country, but that wealth is disgustingly concentrated in a handful of individuals while many struggle.

I expect the government to serve the people, whether we voted for them or not.
To work for us, the people that pay their salary, to make our lives better.
To share the wealth of our country for the common good.

Highly unlikely when you consider that he couldn't work out a fair way to allocate support during covid, leaving 3+ million self employed/freelancers and casual workers excluded from his support schemes.

Help to solve some of the large scale and/or most serious problems people face, yes. Help to solve every single minor whinge, no. Otherwise what is the point in being a functioning adult if you can't sort out the majority of your OWN life without input from 'the government' or 'the council.'

It's worse when referring to money - people refer to government spending as those it comes from some sort of magic money tree rather than the vast majority of it coming from either themselves or the rest of their community - e.g 'THEY should give the NHS more money,' 'THEY should increase pension/benefit/nurses pay' etc. Right, so are you willing to pay more tax then to pay for it? Of course not! But THEY should. Who is this mysterious THEY?

Not to say that most governments have a great track record of allocating they money they do have in the most effective or appropriate way....

Pretty sure nobody expects any government to sort of the minutiae and intricacies of individuals daily lives. What I do expect, however is for a government to not oversee widening wealth inequality and provide tax cuts for the super wealthy. Yet here we are. This current government is a joke though, think resolving anything is beyond their abilities, tbh.

I honestly don't think you can describe yourself as a labour voter OP...

This thinking has definitely peaked since COVID. People think the government will be able to bail them out of high energy bills , inflation and high mortgage payments. It's not going to happen.

The reality is that the Government's main priority of "The Top 5 Things" vary depending on who you ask.

Agreed, people definitely have very unrealistic expectations.

They think the government will fix everything that's wrong in each individual person's life. Completely unaffordable and unachieveable.

that's why there is so much anger when the government of the day fails to please all of the people, all of the time. They just won't.

and meanwhile you've got people saying they're going to travel to London to protest against the government not calling a GE, when it's surely going to cost them travel expenses, leave etc in a cost of living crisis?? - what's the point. People make weird decisions that adversely affect their life and then blame the Government for that too.

No, I don't expect them to solve all problems, but I expect them not to massively damage business and the economy by bungling out of the single market, squandering millions on brexit, meanwhile running the nhs and state education into the ground, freezing teacher pay for years on end, while lining their mates' pockets.

Oh and.. what are the government meant to do if not govern..?
Have parties that break their own rules?
Endanger the elderly by releasing covid positive patients into care homes?
Not provide adequate PPE?
Build large “nightingale “ hospitals but not use them?
State They’ll build new hospitals (40) and not do it?
Lie about Brexit benefits for the NHS?
Sexually assault people and get away with it?
Punch each other in the bar?
Spend taxpayers money doing up their flats and lying about expenses?
Because that’s what they ARE doing.
I doubt they are losing sleep about what they SHOULD be doing

This.

Alot of people expect the government to help them, house them and give them money etc.

Well, since the government have caused a lot of the problems then yes, I do expect them to now solve them.

I think the Government would be better off clearing up the fiscal mess of its own making before blaming the electorate for their individual fiscal decisions.

The reality is that the Government's main priority of "The Top 5 Things" vary depending on who you ask

Maybe this is the crux of it.

There’s a limited pot of money, right?

We want a functioning NHS where you can get a GP appointment. With short waiting lists for operations. And decent mental health provision. And properly funded care homes. And have nurses’ paid properly. And more NHS dentists. And….and…

Then there’s education. Decent state schools for ALL children. Better salaries for teachers. More TAs and SENCOs. And…and…

The list is endless.

So when it comes to cladding or zero hours contracts or whatever, while these are big issues to the people they affect, shouldn’t there an understanding that the government simply can’t solve everything? It’s just not possible so they have to pick and choose.

How effectively they do that and whether you agree with they choose is a separate political issue.

(Actually, I’ve just remembered I voted Lib Dem once or twice. But I’ve never voted Tory, promise.)

OP, I don't think you can consider zero hours contracts a matter of low priority. This form of exploitation prevents people from having a secure and steady income from one month to the next. That means people on a ZHC will spend less - which is a disbenefit in economical terms. People who know how much they have coming in are better able to budget and better able to support themselves. Ending ZHC should absolutely be a top priority in economic terms. Cladding is also not a nice to have - the right to life is an absolute. The people of Grenfell had that taken away from them. Houses are an essential. They should be fit for purpose and not built as fire hazards by building companies operating on the cheap. A government that fails to address this is a government that is failing to protect the lives of its people.

Some problems are personal, some are political. I expect the government to have a stab at making policies to sort out problems in the political sphere, yes.
Policies that mean there are safety standards on building materials are well within the government's capabilities.
Policies that reduce the disparity between rich and poor are too, getting rid of exploitative zero hours contracts, absolutely the realm of policy.
As for the 'nowadays people want to government to do everything' narrative - there has been a range of opinions on how big or small government should be over the lifespan of democratic governments. Read a range of historical political writings and you will see this.

The least I'd expect is not to make them worse, which this government has.

I'd expect them to solve some of societies problems (which might overlap with mine personally) otherwise what's the point in them.

Why do you think we discuss politics op? Why do you think things are different in other countries?

Yes they do and yes it’s completely unreasonable and unrealistic. Unfortunately it’s a result of the huge number of people with a victim mentality in this country who seem unable to do anything for themselves or take personal responsibility. A result of being mollycoddled by their parents perhaps? Or just being brought up by moaning, dissatisfied ones? My dm is very much a “happy with her lot” kind of person who took responsibility for her own life and taught me that actions have consequences. Dh comes from a similar background and his parents are very hardworking and mainly positive people. If we want something we go out and get it and don’t think anybody owes us a living. We’re trying v hard to bring up the dcs with this mentality.

The high energy bills are the governments fault though. The energy companies should never have been privatised. Essential services should not be "for profit of shareholders"

Pretty much everything in the OP can be sorted out by government and yes, I expect my government to do something to earn their money. Otherwise they're just sitting there getting paid and eating lunch subsidised by me.