To think that the Country is dysfunctional

[strugglin101]

AIBU to be angry about it?

I honestly can't understand how the cost housing has gone up so much without being unchecked, there's a shortage of rental accommodation, the health service seems to be falling apart, and the cost of living has gone up so much. Almost everything seems to be slower and more difficult to get done these days.

Someone was saying oh it's not that bad because we're so privileged we have food water and it can't be that bad if you're able to post on a forum. So it got me wondering whether my anger is healthy and the other person was minimising, or I'm being unreasonable.

Getting angry is pointless. We don't live in isolation , many these things are affecting the world.
And how do you propose they 'check' the cost of housing? Raising interest rates is one way, and that has been done.
Some countries that have better health care also have much higher taxes.
Instead of getting angry, see what YOU can do to make things better.

@mondaytosunday

A few questions

1. are anger and taking action mutually exclusive?
2. what makes you think i haven't done anything?
3. what do you propose people do about it?
4. why did the country get into to this situation if the cost of housing wasn't checked and interest rates raised sooner?

I think you raise fair points. In my view, the real issue is our political system which prioritises four-year decision-making that follows our electoral cycle.

The desperate shortage of housing in this country has been a brewing problem for decades under both Labour and the Tories. Neither has done anything about it, and we are all in a hole as a result. Until we get a government that will make unpopular decisions that are good for the long term, we are going to keep having these problems.

I think YABU because living standards have risen and fallen throughout history. We've been through a long period of growth and improving standards but this can't last forever. I think we're experiencing the beginnings of a prolonged decline and realistically for most of us it will continue for the rest of our lives, another 70 to 100 years most likely.

It won't be a constant decline - there will be periods where it looks like things are recovering, that maybe last a few years or even a decade - but long term the progression will be downward.

The decline could be arrested but would require measures that are unpalatable to many. Decisions would need to be made for the benefit of the country as a whole and not the world at large.

For example, we'd need to significantly cut our population. Clearly this can't be done through reduced birth rates because we need young people to support older people, therefore it could only be done through switching net immigration to net emmigration - and we'd need the "right" people to leave, older people. This idea is politically toxic.

Another example would be to give up on climate change and do what's necessary to secure our energy supply in the short and medium term. This means a return to coal-fired power. We still have an enormous amount of coal in this country that will last for centuries. By the time it runs out other natural resources like wind or fusion energy will be viable. But again, giving up on climate change is politically unacceptable.

We have to accept that we cannot have everything we want. Either the prime focus needs to be on living standards or it needs to be on doing what is "right" for the planet. Come down on one side or the other, you can't have both.

@Dotjones

You say we've had a long period of growth where living standards have been improving, so surely we could have reinvested that growth in things like housing and healthcare

Governments have known we have these issues for a long time but seem to have kept kicking the can down the road instead of addressing it.

The decades of improved living conditions was an unsustainable blip unfortunately.

I knew this was coming, globalisation via technology was always going to mean that more jobs went abroad etc.

What is annoying is that the governments could have done more so that the drop in the standard of living wasn't so huge for the poorest. Instead they have been too busy prioritising the wealthiest.

We are comfortable because we are older, bought first house in the late 90s and mortgage paid off. Sure we lived frugally for decades, no holidays but we could afford to eat, be warm, gifts for the DC, run a cheap car.

The cost of housing whether renting or buying is astronomical to wages now plus for decades people have had the expectation that they could afford to live on their own or as a couple without needing to live with parents, have no car, no life and saving bloody hard.

It seems pretty bleak for my kids tbh.

Housing could be sorted out (at least availability, not sure about prices) by stopping people from overseas buying up so much of it, stopping second home/holiday home ownership when a house could be used for residential use and get all the empty homes back into use. Also encourage single people and couples to live in smaller properties and sell family homes to families.

We do not need to "invest" in housing, or concrete over the countryside. There are enough flats and houses, but their ownership and occupancy is inequitable.

I also disagree that we can't reduce birth rates because we need to look after older people. That is not a reason to have kids. I would provide tax-deductible childcare for the first child in a family (or twins/multiples) but not beyond that.

and we'd need the "right" people to leave, older people. This idea is politically toxic
Chucking older people out of the country is only 'potentially' toxic? @Dotjones

Ah ignore that I misread!!
So, yes the demographic problem is very difficult!

I also disagree that we can't reduce birth rates because we need to look after older people. That is not a reason to have kids. I would provide tax-deductible childcare for the first child in a family (or twins/multiples) but not beyond that
The birth rate has already fallen too low, all governments know that this is a problem, you are arguing that we need to incentivise even lower birth rates? Have I got that right?

Yes we need to stop overseas investors buying property as an investment - and forcing them to sell properties that they are not actively living in or renting out but do also need to build lots and quickly. Things are that dire. A mere rejig of our current housing stock won’t fix things.

Extended families in one home will need to become the norm again.

We all have this expectation that each child should have their own bedroom, that a couple can live on their own.

It's not sustainable, never was.

It wouldn't matter how much money was ploughed into the NHS, it would never be enough. We are living longer which puts more strain on the NHS, look at the amount of medical procedures that are carried out now, all at a considerable cost. One in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime, it used to be one in three/four. We don't look after our health, look at how much junk and processed food we eat.

Something has to change. There are far too many people in this country, too many people in the world. We live in a throw away society where it's cheaper to replace than to repair. We have had our time of cheap food, cheap fuel, cheap clothes etc. It was never going to be sustainable. We need to rethink how we live and prioritise what's important to us and stop expecting the government ie the taxpayer to bail people out because of their lifestyle choices

Extended families all-in-one home means you're forced to live and work in the same area your parents live and work, surely incompatible with modern Life ...we will go even further backwards?

We don't look after our health, look at how much junk and processed food we eat
How can we change that?
how can we incentivise people to exercise and eat healthily? You might think 'just do it' but the truth is people don't ...most of us are overweight and do not eat a healthy diet, most of us are unable to resist the lure of processed food and unable to overcome our dislike of physical exertion

It's by design. The Conservative government have spent the last 12 years privatising services and cutting budgets while their rich donor friends get increasingly fat profits out of the country. It doesn't have to be like this, but it will until we have a government that enacts progressive taxation.

Over 20 years ago properties were being sold overseas buy agents who would take details of whole blocks of luxury apartments in London to be sold to investors. Unfortunately most of these investors choose not to rent them out and keep them for occasional use and capital gain. It would be so easy to force the owners to either sell or rent but there is not the will. It’s much easier to keep the pretence that there is a property shortage. We believe the crap our media tells us, but who tells the media?

Developers pay millions in order to build anything more than 9 single dwellings. So in turn the houses/flats are tiny and built cheaply so they can break even.

Landlords loose years of rent on technicalities such as failing to use a deposit protection scheme to protect rent.

It costs thousands to evict a tenant even when they're in arrears.

LLs can't claim back on interest and interest rates are even higher now so many have left leaving even fewer properties available for rent.

The green agenda is pushing for sticter green policies eg banning all single use plastic sales to consumers. Ofcourse businesses are excluded. The average supermarket has their frozen section open with heat blasting as you within 1.5meters of the main entrance. Etc.

Sometimes I'm convinced there's an enemy country funding these activists then I see that Carrie Johnson is one of the founders of Conservative Friends of Russia but Megan is worse than a paedophile royal.

I contacted my GP on Monday at 9 saw him at 11
I am bored with people saying how bad the NHS is in my experience it is wonderful
Interest rates were at an historic low - they were never ever going to stay at that level
Mass immigration has resulted in pressure on housing - that is simple supply and demand

there's a shortage of rental accommodation,

That's because the evil landlords did what people wanted them to do and started selling up. Based on MN most renters had magical ways to conjure up deposits to buy from the evil landlords...

It wouldn't matter how much money was ploughed into the NHS, it would never be enough. We are living longer which puts more strain on the NHS, look at the amount of medical procedures that are carried out now, all at a considerable cost. One in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime, it used to be one in three/four. We don't look after our health, look at how much junk and processed food we eat.

It needs rehaul. Healthcare system manage to function in other countries and adapt to changes.

Our housing crises is also due to the fact we started building our economy on housing and ownership.

The government has continually propped up the bottom end of the housing market rather than let prices fall. Stop and think why are they doing that, who is it benefiting?

Certainly not the majority of residential home owners that live and work in the UK. The people that the government is supposed to represent and work for.

Given 1/3rd of the country are perfectly happy with the situation, it's hard to see what can be done.