Are things becoming just a little bit shit?

[Bloomsburygirl]

I was wondering if anyone else has started to notice the deteriorating standards in public services and private businesses. I went to London over the weekend, and I was shocked by the filth and litter. I moved to the UK in 2011, and I visited many times before I moved. I do not remember rubbish strewn across streets like it is now. And every place I seem to go gives off a feeling that there simply are not enough staff anymore. Restaurant toilets and public toilets are filthy, it takes an age to be served, and don't get me started on public transport (I read the recent thread on this and agree with every word). It seems to me like the consequences of Brexit/pandemic are really starting to bite, and to be honest, I miss the way it was pre-2016. AIBU, or do others feel the same? And is this the new normal? Disclaimer - I still adore the UK and would never want to live anywhere else!

@fetchacloth where do you think the money will come from? It’s either tax or cutting services & that’s just to stay afloat. Our tax whilst high isn’t that much of an outlier in Europe the problem is the cost of other things eg housing & the lack of investment which means we don’t feel we are getting anything back for our tax.

I must admit Councils don't make it easy to get rid of rubbish. In my area they do come out and remove rubbish that has been dumped very quickly, but I wonder how cost effective it is. Is it cheaper to remove dumped rubbish or cheaper to have easier ways to dispose of rubbish so that people don't need to fly tip?

2008 crash - Tory austerity begins so we don't recover as well as other places - considerable instability and political chaos as a result of the Brexit vote - then a pandemic that fucked everybody - we haven't recovered from that as well as other countries because of the incompetent politicians in power because of the Brexit vote, plus the actual impact of leaving is starting to bite.

But don't worry, Keir Starmer won't be doing anything too different to the current lot of he manages to win next year.....

😭😭😭😭😭

The middle and upper classes in the UK don't pay enough tax. They think they do, but the UK is a low tax state.

They would rather live in a country with services that feel like a developing economy, but be cash and asset rich. They would rather pay to use private health insurance than pay to fund their NHS properly.

The post offices here are insane: they look and feel like they belong in the forties, but they're charging 2 quid a stamp.

yes, But the councils advice is to have a bonfire……thats really eco. What if you dont have the space for a bonfire ? Its going to get to a point where the tips/ recycling places start taking less and less so fly tipping will increase.

Put bluntly, too many economically inactive people, whether young, old, disabled, unemployed, undeclared, illegal, etc etc. Too few people paying enough into the pot and too many taking out!

Theres more over 65 yr olds then there are under 15 yr olds, the demographics don’t work.

https://ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxlab-key-questions/how-do-uk-tax-revenues-compare-internationally

The rest of the world had lockdowns and furloughs. They don't seem to be falling to bits like we are. We go to the Netherlands every year and it's just a country that works.
Our insularity and exceptionalism has helped us withdraw from our closest neighbours and think we can go it alone. We elected a narcissistic, incompetent, callous buffoon, and apparently he was 'doing his best'.

Getting a government that doesn't mostly function as a funnel to shovel our country's money into the bank accounts of their profiteering mates.

Getting rid of the Brexit millstone around our necks.

Privatisation of public services is hugely to blame- all profits are siphoned off to shareholders rather than reinvested and there is very little consideration for workers, fair wages etc etc as ultimately it all comes down to greed.

Not investing in our public services with year on year cut backs is killing our services. Yet the public just see 'my bins aren't being collected weekly let's blame the council/grass isn't being cut blah blah' and Central Government sit back laughing because the Tory agenda is to shrink public services.

I've never been a Tory, but I have believed generally that Conservatives often care about the environment, rural areas, environmental issues such as flooding, our heritage etc. This Government don't give a shit about our beautiful land or people who live and work on it, they just care about banking, financial services and how to make their mates richer. It's so fucking depressing.

Stamp prices start from 75p . Royal mail set the prices not the post office.

We get post every two weeks now if we are lucky.
I don't know why they don't have post boxes in the sorting office that we could go and get our own , but they would still need people to sort it into the boxes I suppose.
Post offices have massive queues and charge a fortune.
Most branches of banks are closing in our town , maybe another mail bar or barbers might take over instead. They are really needed more than banks 🙄

Other countries have issues. Politically it’s getting more pronounced

The Netherlands showed that in their recent election

Maybe if people qualify for an Irish passport they're getting one of those instead of a U.K. one?

Mail not mail

Nail bars ! Sorry

The ageing population is going to need to fund itself. We’re going to have to divert public funds away from medication and treatments to extend already long lives.

Current pensioners have taken an awful lot from the system compared with what they paid in.

Agree with most of this @user1497207191

People outside of London & the home counties, areas like the East Lancashire, Blackpool, Barrow and also the North East have had multiple generations of deprivation.

Unfortunately, I think this was all in the build up to Brexit and why so may people voted to leave

I noticed this 5 years ago at least, where have you been hiding?!

Gap between rich and poor never been wider and the rate of both billionaires and people living in poverty is rocketing. Corporate capitalism is broken. This can't go on but I'm afraid that when things finally break, we'll find ourselves in an anti democratic, Trumpian dystopia. The world is already heading that way. Very worrying.

Honestly, speaking only for myself , I'd rather go over to Switzerland than end up in a care home or a burden to my kids in my dotage
I dread all that

Yes, people are under pressure - many financially due to the pandemic and the economy. We are working hard and achieving less.
I see dispondant people who don't care as much about anything. There are more deaths on the roads and more breaking road rules. I think some people have become hopeless with dispair; they don't care about their own safety.

Departments have fewer workers than they need so jobs don't get done to a high standard and people loose pride.

Getting a government that doesn't mostly function as a funnel to shovel our country's money into the bank accounts of their profiteering mates.

Getting rid of the Brexit millstone around our necks.

I mean these are easy things to say but what do these things look like in reality @verdantverdure

Letting these Tories get our country into such massive debt lis a pretty bad mistake on our part.

So is Brexit.

We really need to vote smarter in future.

@the80sweregreat

Most branches of banks are closing in our town , maybe another mail bar or barbers might take over instead. They are really needed more than banks

It seems a lot of barbers and nail bars are fronts for money laundering. Over the past few years, we've dozens of new ones in our city centre, and there are barely any customers ever in them, just a few "shady" looking people sat around chatting and looking at their phones.