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 .

There's an epidemic of rampant profit taking - especially in the energy sector - which is affecting prices everywhere else.

Shell announced profits of $42 billion earlier. This is making things seem worse. Just one company bleeding the economy dry.

YANBU.

As soon as our youngest moves out, we’re moving to Spain. Wont be spending any longer here than we need to now.

If you have 7 times the population then you have 7 times the potential tax revenue.

But that's a ridiculous argument. What if a lot of your population is elderly/sick/children (i.e. economically a drain on resources) and a lot of the jobs are low wage?

Doesn't look like it'll improve this year.

Scroll for chart.

UK growth 2023

It's so bad that people are prepared to risk their lives crossing a dangerous strait of water in rubber dinghies to get here...

Demographics across most of Europe are against any heath care system - I think all countries are aging though at different rates and all systems have flaws - but I don't think they are having the crisis NHS currently is.

There are lots of Swedish women moaning on Twitter about the HRT shortages there, they have been told that one of hte most popular brands of oestrogen patch (Estradot) is out of stock until May.

But yeah, Sweden is a rosy paradise and the UK is a shithole. 🙄Why do people post this stuff? It was the same during the pandemic - everyone is doing better than us, the UK is the laughing stock of Europe/the World, every single country is better than us and smarter than us. It's a really odd perception.

You didn't wet your pants over covid that's probably helped as well. That and the fish of course.

If you think of countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, Haiti etc etc then

Inappropriate comparison. Those countries have always had horrific problems. Whereas we have sunk dramatically in a few short years.

@GloomyDarkness

Not yet.

But all health and social care systems (including America) are facing severe staff shortages and increasing demand because of aging populations and unrealistic expectations

Privatisation doesn't prevent that

Good grief some of you make Marvin the Paranoid Android sound chipper 😂

not that every single person in the UK right now is struggling to get a gp appointment and needs a food bank.

Of course not but many, many more are compared to just a few years ago.

And your name.... is that how many of them you have?

As other pps have said there have been bad times before. I lived through the 70s and 80s and remember the army going out in the "Green Goddesses" to deal with fires, rubbish lying in the streets and the regular power cuts (although as a child I quite enjoyed them because it meant time off school). I think one of the main differences now is social media which makes things 10 times worse. If you are an anxious person you are not going to feel any better by going onto a forum where another 50 anxious people reinforce your fears. That is not to say that there aren't real problems and issues but there have been very few times in history when this hasn't been the case.

I also get the impression that political leaders and those in charge of other large organisations are now more concerned with how they look and that they follow all the latest "fads" rather than actually getting down to dealing with serious issues such as the NHS, the quality of education and the growing disparity between rich and poor. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions if you want to improve things and this will often result in unpopularity. There seem to be very few in leadership positions these days who are prepared to do this.

And all this is without taking into account the global issues over which our government has little or no control.

I live in france and the healthcare is outstanding. I can get a same day appointment for the doctors and can see a specialist within a week or two. Prices are stable (food) and our energy prices have been capped so I'd disagree with your post that Europe is in the same state as the UK.

@Fladdermus Do you have know concept of economics?

*no

Sweden has huge, absolutely massive issues with gang crime and shootings on a daily basis Electricity costs are astronomical, hospitals are understaffed and the staff is over worked. Midwives are signing off by the minutes. Food prices have increased in line with the U.K. and interest rates are increasing as the housing market is collapsing. I wouldn’t say it’s astronomically different.

I did find the Scandinavians made quite a big thing of it if there was any trouble at all !! It was all very 'up front' in Denmark for instance a politician was booted out of parliament and his party for overclaiming 200 euros!! And that was news everywhere. It isn't all roses and sunlit uplands everywhere else too, they all have some similar issues that covid and Ukraine kicked into play, but certainly stuff still seems to function better day to day in many other countries.

Davos has just had its recent meeting. Agenda 2030 is in full swing propelled off the back of a disgracefully handles global pandemic. Lock downs that have caused much of this shit show and those who advocated those lockdowns and cried for my more tyranny now have no right to complain at the state of the economy, what the hell did you expect 🤦🏼‍♀️….and before anyone starts crying “tin foil” hat wearer, just remember, we were the ones telling you what was going to happen which has all now come to fruition (including the vaccines being more damaging to the human body than covid but that’s another thread-and I’m still not a doctor 😂).

We are about to have the biggest global shake up in history with everything you know is about to change. First they have to break you and the economy in order to “build back better”, anyone claiming that this is “just another cycle” is naive….and if you disagree, give it time, we were right with covid and we will be right with this.

True - but we do spend less than European countries currently and it;s hard to argue NHS is doing well at the minute.

America health system is a system I fear - it didn't make any sense till I saw a YouTube doc which said when you understand it's a business to make money and it's not about health at all. Another I saw showed rural area basically being left with no hospitals as they close for more profitable locations and the industry lobbies their agencies and government to ensure higher drug costs.

Imo opinion the media has a lot to answer for. Social media is recycling it all with more negative spin making it sound worse.

In my lived experience things were far worse in the decade that followed WW2; and also in the 1970's.

@GloomyDarkness

Oh, it's not.

The NHS is fucked and the govt are ignoring all the problems because they have caused all of them and the solutions all cost lots of money

Privatisation still isn't the answer

I think this is worse than the 70’s having lived through the 70’s