To think the uk is on its knees

[Ilovemycatalot]

Just this. Every day negativity. No one is happy with life or working conditions. The country is at an all time low. Living standards getting worse by the day people getting poorer. I know we are not in poverty like some countries but honestly can’t see us ever returning to decent living standards unless you’re the few top percent earners. Tell me I’m being dramatic perhaps I am but can’t see much of a way back from this .

I wish we had moved to beautiful Ireland years ago when we had the chance. Now all our children are in employment in the uk but still living at home as can't afford property.

You can move to Ireland. The common travel area that predates Freedom of Movement in the EU is still in place.

The government doesn't fund foodbanks...of course they don't. They're run by charities and local communities. MPs (and royalty) only go there for photo ops.
Ten years ago the NHS was at a record high for ratings and customer satisfaction.. now it's falling apart.

Who shall fund food banks? This please sir can I have some more is still within some people. Grasping, cruel people.

No one. I did not grow up with food banks. The kind of poverty that this Government has decided to inflict on the most vulnerable is a real cruelty.

Before we had a welfare state in this country we had poor laws and areas where the very impoverished could beg the great and good for charity as a discretion. This was an exploitative system designed to appeal to the ego and vanity of those who had more than enough. It salved their conscious because they could say there was something.

Hungry people are a bad idea for a stable society. And that was recognized after the war. Grubby people who do not know that there is a value in that will take us all down.

I don’t think Sweden is a utopia, but this is a really bizarre comparison - we have lots of people needing to use foodbanks in the UK, but Sweden has it worse because a specific brand of HRT is out of stock?

Assuming there really are significantly more people using food banks in the UK (which you seem to agree is the case), don’t you think this is a weird juxtaposition? “You can’t feed your children, but I’ve had to change HRT brands. Who’s really suffering here?”

Plenty of drugs out of stock in the UK too, that is the nature of the pharmaceutical industry unfortunately - if one manufacturing line fails, there is a very long lead time until another comes on line:

www.mims.co.uk/drug-shortages

@beautifulpaintings what country are you living in? I want to change my Co Op job and go and live out there where I can afford a detached house in a country where they give me lots of handouts with scant contribution from me. Where is this please?

Yes, it's its knees but its not down and out. It can come right again. It jut needs people to pull together, better leadership, a shift in mindset, and a bit of hard work. It will take time and be much harder than it sounds, but I genuinely believe that's what all it would take.

It's being dragged about by a bunch of lying grifters. They have no intention of being constructive or looking to the future.

Obviously we need a leadership with a sense of national purpose. What does the UK want for its people? How do we get there, what do we, the voters, want our country to look like?

I know I don't want it to look like this. A tatty, scruffy mess which is full of political lightweights who spend each day with their comms people writing excuses as to why they can do nothing.

We moved back to Ireland in late 2020, had 3 kids under 2 and all our family were back here, we’re both Irish. Apart from a couple of wonderful neighbours we had little support so decided to make the move. I had been there for 17 years. It was mostly my DH’s decision and I’ve been wanting to come back to England ever since. But I’m not sure it would be the same place if we ever did go back from what I’m hearing. It’s certainly not a picnic here. Everything is expensive. I don’t where previous posters in Ireland are living but we’re in a large town near one of the biggest cities, a doctors appointment is €65 and is certainly not same day. I had a hospital appointment with my DS last year and the conditions in the clinic were like 3rd world. A consultation for my DD was €250. There’s at least a year waiting list for SLT sessions and I’ve been waiting 9 months now for my other DD’s referral for something else and no sign of an appointment yet. And luckily my kids are barely ever ill. My DF was in hospital last year for major surgery and he said the conditions were chronic. My DH is on near €100k and we are by no means flush. Our gas bill tripled last month and the house was not baking by any means. If it wasn’t for the governments €200 electricity bill allowance we wouldn’t have been able to pay that bill. We barely go out unless we have vouchers. We saved up all year to go to Centerparcs Ireland for 4 nights and it cost nearly €2k. No holidays or breaks away anywhere else and there certainly wont be any this year. I literally have budget lists for everything counting grocery bills to the penny etc. Yes we choose to save a bit each month for the future, but it’s hard not to just spend it. I shop in Aldi and am finding it creeping up all the time. The worst part for me is that my siblings and their families are all higher earners and aren’t as affected so don’t understand why I’m reluctant to spend €500 per couple on Christmas or Birthday gifts for example… and the biggest irony of all is that through changes of circumstances etc we have even less support here than we did there. I regret our decision every day.

But that's not what people on this thread want. They don't want the UK to recover. In fact, they want it to fail, they would be happy if everyone starved to death. Because then they could blame it on Brexit and the Tories and that suits their political agenda.

The fact is that for the majority of people, life goes on relatively unchanged whether that be under the Tories or Labour. People may or may not have had to tighten their belts due to the increased COL. some people may really be struggling but the majority are not. That's why we have a benefit system. And yes, I'm sure there are people in Sweden and New Zealand living some fantastic utopia. That's nice for them. MN has been having this debate about the respective joys of Sweden and NZ for years now. I don't understand why everyone didn't up and leave before?

The economy is cyclical. It always has been and if you live long enough, you remember the previous dips that were no different to this one.

I'm 67, and I've never felt as concerned about the state of the country as I do now.

Although I live in an affluent part of the SE, I work in welfare rights and all my clients have MH problems. The levels of poverty I come across are shocking, and the poorest have been hit incredibly badly by rising prices. Those living in privately rented homes are the worst hit of all, because rents are rising massively but benefits aren't. They're having to choose between heating, eating and having a roof over their heads.

The NHS is in a bad way, but MH services seem to be disproportionately affected. Clients with significant MH problems often don't see an MH professional for a year or more. They end up in crisis due to lack of early intervention and need admission, then we find out that the nearest in-patient psych bed available is hundreds of miles away.

But for people on average incomes, who are in good health, aren't renting and don't have big mortgages, life seems to be going on pretty much as normal. They may be cutting back on non-essential stuff, but that's so they can still afford a holiday. We can still get GP appointments, but the initial one is a phone appointment, followed by F2F if necessary. We have a very good minor injuries/urgent treatment centre open 8-8, 7 days a week, so only need to go to A&E for something pretty serious. As soon as the snow cleared, council contractors were filling the potholes that had appeared during the freeze. The bin men arrive like clockwork every week and do a splendid job; when a friend had to call the police the other night they were there within a few minutes.

I think things are bad, especially for the poor and vulnerable, and I wouldn't want to need emergency care for something life threatening, but I think most of the problems are due to inequality and under-investment.

If people are prepared to vote for less inequality and more investment next time they vote, things should improve.

Sunak is a multi millionaire so I hope he's not in it for money!! He's a WEF puppet and supports digital currency which is far more worrying.

I agree with everything you have written in this comment. Every generation thinks they've had it the worst when actually their lives have been pretty good in the scheme of things. It is normal that there are problems and periods of bust and it has nothing to do with the government. Voting labour won't change that. Those who think that will be deeply disappointed.

i agree too. Well said

I suppose I apply a different test. I am comfortably off but I strongly disagree with foodbanks and the austerity drive. I accept the economy is cyclical and fairly, this for me does not feel too much different.

But structurally the world is more unstable. Our leadership in the UK is abysmal in politics. That really does bother me in a way that it did not 15 years ago. It is now comfortably third rate.

The impact of that immediately is hard to see. However it does come with people like Kwarteng and economic policy making, politely put, can undermine a lot of stability for everyone. That is what has happened to the UK. It is suffering more because of very poor political leadership. Yes inflation is an issue for all European countries, but the UK has particular problems and vulnerabilities in its leaders. We as a country internationally do not look too good. That too, is new.

Absolutely spot on and I agree with every word.

This post needs to be pinned at the beginning of every tory/brexit/UK/England bashing thread.

It’s certainly a lot worse where they’ve come from!! Rabid right wingers are behind so much of our woes.

But why come to the UK? Why not stay in, say, France, Germany, Italy etc. Where everything is rosy.

We are NOT at war!! There is a war in Europe. These are 2 very different things!! The fact is the corrupt Tories are using this, with their private sector energy donors, as an excuse to rip off the ever compliant British public!!

Wtf are you talking about.

TmFid · Today 11:43
ortonym · 02/02/2023 14:40
It's so bad that people are prepared to risk their lives crossing a dangerous strait of water in rubber dinghies to get here...
**
It’s certainly a lot worse where they’ve come from!! Rabid right wingers are behind so much of our woes.

Are those coming here in dinghies all escaping from rabid right wing regimes?

But that's not what people on this thread want. They don't want the UK to recover. In fact, they want it to fail, they would be happy if everyone starved to death. Because then they could blame it on Brexit and the Tories and that suits their political agenda.

I totally disagree with this because, frankly, it’s an insulting load of bollocks.

First it’s the height of arrogance to
assume you know what individual posters want and that you understand their motivations for posting.

Second to say that some of us would be “happy” if everyone starved to death, even if it’s said in jest, is pretty grim given the current levels of homelessness and use of food banks in the uk right now, not to mention the current levels of child poverty. Not true and not funny.

Third, it’s a well known tactic of populists to deny and obfuscate economic facts, and claim disloyalty, lack of national pride or lack of patriotism in response to criticism of government policies which hurt the most vulnerable in society.

But let’s just say I play your game and ignore all the things that have got worse about the UK since Brexit. If you want us to be jolly and upbeat about the UK, presumably then it will be fairly easy for you all to give me a list of all the positive economic outcomes that have come about since the referendum?

@ortonym because they have been fed a load of bollocks that it's easier in the UK - that it's far easier to work 'under the radar' etc (partly true) and in many cases they have relatives here . There are also teams of dodgy Brits (and also other ethnenticities who live here already) taking hard cash off many of these people by saying 'it's easy' and these people going along with it and risking it know no better .

For those who don't think there are big issues, I can only presume you live in an area where housing is more affordable or bought years ago or are the kind of person with a main home plus a holiday home etc, plus secure jobs and an area where it's still possible to see a GP reasonably easy and haven't needed A&E much recently. Yes there are ups and downs everywhere in terms of cost of living and general standards but add to this a ton of crumbling infrastructure, limited affordable housing options, real problems with care options for the elderly , worker shortage in many industries and councils being starved of funding , poor conditions to invest in business etc and we have an absolute maelstrom of issues- the current government have no forward thinking- the whole Brexit and covid thing actually hid how clueless they are in terms of business planning or social planning and action. Basically a bunch of self interested grifters- just interested in staying in power and not governing.

However if I can add- I think a lot of people are like this too- they really took Thatchers statement of 'no such thing as society, only the individual' to heart- provided they are ok at that moment in time- they aren't remotely interested in the wider picture. A tweet I read last week summed it up where a builder was saying he personally is making £3k a week because he's got no competition, and he really didn't give a monkeys about anyone else. Most reassuring to the average nurse/teacher/fireman etc out there.