to think the UK has become awful?

[ma1formed]

I can't pinpoint when, but it feels like everything that was once pretty good is now quite awful

So expensive
No doctors
Uni costs for kids insane
Terrible rent / can't buy a house
Everyone seems quite unpleasant or racist

Is it just me?

What's more housing is money that is tied up in an economically unproductive asset whereas if that money was invested in say a business or say spent in a restaurant then it would create jobs and further wealth.

Having lived there for a long time... unless lots has changed...

It's 'sort of' free at the point of use, but paid for by an extra piggy-back tax on your PAYE. It's also very province dependent. Some places are very good, some are terrible.

You also have to pay for a lot of things.

Blood tests used to be around around 15 euros, you had to go to the centre to book one, go for the test, go back to pick up results and then take them to the GP.

Consultant appointments were about 50 euros and again you had to book it yourself so needed to know who was a good consultant etc.

Prescriptions you paid 20% of the cost of the medication. That could get very expensive.

Hear, hear, thank you

I think the north misses out so much. I agree that everyone here drives, you have to do. It is so congested but I cannot get to work via public transport and I live in a town! I would have to walk at least 1.5 miles to catch a bus to work, further to take the train. So I drive, in the congested traffic. Doesn’t matter how bad it gets it’s the only option for me.

@Maatandosiris
Excellent post!

What a ridiculous reply. You must read the Mail or Express to come out with a nasty and pointless comment like that.

Some of us have left so we notice the differences when we visit. Things look shabby, prices have increased hugely, the NHS is way worse.

Today husband's aunt has posted a brain dead "close our borders!" meme she got off a presenter of GB News's page by the look of it and an assortment of racist nonsense.

"These immigrants were recently caught grooming children!" over assorted photos of random brown people and an RNLI logo.

A YouTube video entitled "free homes! Migrants and refugees only"

Loads of anti Sadiq Khan stuff.

She didn't used to be like this.

In 2015 when this began we thought she was developing dementia or had had a series of strokes or something.

But no. She was just in one of the demographics targeted by the Leave campaign.

They needed to ramp up the racism in order to whip people into a stupid enough frenzy that they would vote for Brexit.

Lots of us 15+ years anf seeing the ddcline are leaving.
Yay? I guess?

I think we just need to make sure everyone is paying their taxes .. close all the personal and corporate loopholes.

..because if it is not Private insurance, its state insurance...

Statutory insurance is just another form of taxation, under a different name.

https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/why-has-the-nhs-not-been-copied-spoiler-it-has

But the biggest difference between NHS and "successful healthcare systems" is long term funding, per capita, the NHS is way below what other countries put in.

“Another issue felt keenly in the UK, is the concept that we are already ‘overcrowded’ In this case, a rapid increase in the population due to migration could lead to falling living standards. For example, the UK faces an acute housing shortage, but also an unwillingness to build on increasingly scarce green belt land. In many cities, it is difficult to build more roads because of limited space. The increased population could increase congestion and urban pollution. Therefore, the increase in real GDP has to be measured against these issues which affect the quality of life.”

Interesting passage from the above link. I do think that increasing the population by millions without putting the infrastructure in place to support it has had a detrimental impact on quality of life in this country.

Um, compared to the UK. We all know things can be run better. Quite honestly the capitalist rat run this place is being made into is sickening. Much less socialism which bleeds into society and can be seen in so much entitled behaviour and attitudes. Just read some of the threads on here!

@Maatandosiris
Great post!

I think some areas are appalling, yes.
Some always have been, like the Northern town I grew up in. Some have changed over time and gone downhill.
I now live in an area where we can get dr appointments, where people are genuinely nice on the whole, and we feel safe.
The fact is that we earn a very decent amount of money between us each month. We pay for our dentist. We are starting to seriously look at private school. When I compare my childhood to DC’s childhood, the main reason their’s is better is money. I feel terrible for saying it. But this is an anonymous forum and I can be honest. We have bought a nicer life for ourselves. And childhood me is very glad about that.

Yeah!

We're not as bad as some other places is a really ringing endorsement.

Yanbu, I'm in the police and see colleagues coming in who live off food banks. I know other professions are in the same boat. One colleague has saved up for years for a new build house that they pay through the nose for in mortgage payments etc only to be moved next to a criminal who has been housed next door so now they can't even use work as their incentive to keep going and switch off at home. Our entire country has become weak, no morals or family values and a lack of ambition because everything is like chasing the carrot nowadays.

As a place to live I think its great, there are so many beautiful places to visit and see, so much history, so much art, music and general loveliness. So much diversity in the geography of the landscape and so many fantastic people doing amazing things in all areas.

The general population may have been browbeaten by the current incumbents of Government, but “You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.” sums up their achievements perfectly

I hear this rationalisation a lot in England.

People seem incapable of being objective about the reality thwy actually inhabit.

They either use:

1. False equivalence

"We are not as bad as Libya, Afghanistan" etc

1. Deflection

"Well, other places are not doing too well either"

This thread is a case in point. About 10-15% of the responses use these rationalisations.

Until people (in general) in England accept that the country has deteriorated, and that a significant amount of extra investment is now required to catch up, the politicians will probably keep making the same nationalistic excuses ("world-leading", "Global Britain", "world-beating" etc. to not do anything about the legion of problems that have been allowed to accumulate and fester for years in England.

For example, the UK faces an acute housing shortage, but also an unwillingness to build on increasingly scarce green belt land.

All the housebuilding in the local area ( so in a 10 mile radius ) has been built on agricultural land which most lay people would describe as green belt land, so greenfield agricultural land on the edge of towns/villages, which of course it isn't because Green belt is highly protected, whilst agricultural land isn't.

I do think that increasing the population by millions without putting the infrastructure in place to support it has had a detrimental impact on quality of life in this country.

Something I wonder is how much developers have to pay into the local pot when they build ? You see multiple small developments where they keep the numbers of Executive type homes to 5 or less where they don't have to pay into the local pot, even if they produce several of these type of developments in the same area. You see large scale developments where they have added a lot of housing to a small local town, but no additional school places/ GP places/hospital beds etc are provided. You see large residential/retirement developments where the amount of money added into the local pot would pay for a minimal amount of treatment for a very limited number of people provided by NHS/Social services community services.

I actually agree with you but for diff reasons:

• Cost of childcare
• police are stretched and weak
• town centres are terrible

Although I’m not sure france, italy, Spain etc are any better - diff problems TBH

US is messed up and will get worse again if trump gets in. Canada is cold and australia is v far away and gonna be hit by climate change.

Indeed. I think a large part of it is that the English seem to have a real culture of moaning/self flagellation.

Also, the white collar sector seems to be the demographic whinging the most. Tradesmen are still doing very well. For example, some companies are now paying their bricklayers £2.5k a week and that's not even in London.

The richest place in Northern Europe is London. Of the ten poorest, nine are also in the UK:
https://inequalitybriefing.org/graphics/briefing_43_UK_regions_poorest_North_Europe.pdf

This really highlights the inequality in this country, which is just getting worse.

And be under no illusions. This widening of inequality is a deliberate political choice.

Most of those "poorer" areas voted leave.

Great job you guys. Now, they will become even poorer as you lose all of the EU regeneration funding.

You cannot help people who keep voting against their own interests.