Anyone miss the early 2000’s and feel sad that we’re moving further away from those time?

[PlatinumBlondeXo]

Just that really. I know every era had its ups and downs. I do remember the downs of the early 2000’s as well as the ups but I just think it was generally a better time with less depressing things going on and more community feel and support. I grew up in that time period and yeah I didn’t have the best childhood and there was crappy times but also there was loads of great times. I would love to experience the 00’s as an adult. If only time machines actually existed lol. I feel sad that my kids will never experience the early 2000’s and how time has passed by. I know I sound like a saddo lol. I miss the people too.

Late 90s and 2000s were good. Tax credits allowed flexibility for single parents and also for the self employed, especially those same single parents. Lots of training and encouragement, investment in education. Sure start services for new mums, and you could save money as many said, by being frugal, even WITH tax credits, and you were not penalised for it, scrutinised or judged. In fact many people saved money, then bought property, which meant that the benefits bill was reduced, as rents were usually covered by housing benefit if you qualified for tax credits.
so if you were low income, or a single parent, there was real support for you, and the tax credits system worked alongside HMRC and followed the same rules, unlike the UC system which seems designed to keep people in their place.

But there was the feeling of hope and change and possibility that really was different. I seem to recall reading that during that period, there was the smallest gap between the rich and the poor than there had ever been. That must be a good sign.

rents were also reasonable - we lived in shared houses IN LONDON and were able to have a life, even on graduate wages - I started on £15K in 97 and was earning £24K when I left to have my baby in 2000 - and that still seems to be the wage I see advertised around here 24 years later. I was paying £60 a week for my room in a shared house in Willesden Green

On a smaller front I was saying the other night I miss the old thing of seeing a film or watching tv being a big thing instead of the binging. The video shop on a Saturday night and the midweek movie on tv. Cinema being a huge thing (now Disney have it sometimes around the same time!!) Also now everyone has seen everything!

I think this is very true. It’s obvious that the Tories are a mess in every which way so will be a relief to get them out. Starmer will undoubtedly be ‘safer’ hands than BoJo, Truss and Sunak (who all felt in one way or another totally disconnected from reality!) but it doesn’t feel like an exciting new time is coming. Part of this is sensible of course, as Labour can’t overpromise when the country is skint.

I don’t remember as much reliance in food banks etc 30 years ago. Our council tax & all bills are going upwards but salaries are not so much so we are all feeling the pinch. It must be awful to be on the breadline at the moment. I hope Labour do something to really help low income working families.

Oh god this.
And courier flights if you travelled along
Went to St Lucia regularly as had friends there, for £120 return, and Egypt for about £50 on a courier for BA

For me this coming to London typified the different attitudes. They closed down central London completely for this art performance. I remember being in Trafalgar Square to watch with so many other people from so many different backgrounds and it was free, not about money or competition or advertising, no street food stalls or tat market popped up, just an absolutely massive community event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sultan%27s_Elephant

I dont think its about nostalgia and being free of responsibilities. Mentally Im in a much better place than I ever was in those days, and Ive loved being a parent. But I look at the freedom and possibilities and support that I lived through, on a low income, even homeless at one point, from 1997-2008 and compare it to what my 18 and 23 year olds are facing - and its oceans apart. Even the freedom to move out and live in a shared house and bum around a bit being arty and finding yourself.
they seem to be facing a mountain of debt, and impossible housing and living costs.

No, not really https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/can-you-still-be-an-air-courier-in-return-for-cheap-flights-7577742.html

i think it’s made worse by all the secondary children dressing like 90’s throwbacks and listening to the same music.

we were so lucky, that little window with no IRA, before 9/11. Great opportunities, affordable and attainable housing, fantastic music, mobiles and forms of social media but not to an intrusive level. Cool Britannia, hope everywhere.
It was a great time to be young.

i too feel sad mine are too old for it to turn around now, I’m hoping their 20’s are amazing though.

I miss the 80s! It was so incredibly peaceful compared to now. Life was easier and quieter

9/11. The war on terror. Iraq / Iran wars. Happy times?

Yes! I was a student in London. Got 1100 a month in stipend. I had loads of money spare for clothes, going out and travelling. That wouldn't even cover rent now.

To be fair why should society fund anyone to ‘bum around and be a bit arty’?

Bumming around and being a bit arty tends to be a breeding ground for invention and innovation, that's why.

My kids are University age now, and definitely seem more burdened by the troubles in the world than I was. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing really as I was pretty selfish, carefree and unaware when I was at University in the early 90s.

I still have my first mobile phone from 1994. I was the first of my friends to buy one. It was a Nokia 101 and all it could do was make calls. No texting and obviously no Internet. I was so happy with it!

But a stipend would be much more these days, wouldn’t it? And you can easily rent a room in London for £800 a month, these days, including all bills.

This. Bleakly depressing.

Because this is where music, art and innovative thinking happens.

Add to the mix the 2008 economic crash and the 2000s being the first decade that graduates in England would be saddled with huge student loan debts, I think it’s reasonable to say that this decade was like every other one - a bit shit.

I'd agree, things seemed brighter in the world we were hopeful, optimistic. Progress seemed to be made towards a more equal (perhaps more Scandanavian society).

I was reading about deaths of despair the other day, predominantly white, male, northern, with poor education and the way people live a life of drugs/ benefits and the only change is death or jail. Surely as a society we are failing children if this is the life they are growing up into?

I think it depends where you lived. I grew up in an area blighted by IRA threats. You were on constant guard for it, even as a child.

90s more so for me. The 00s was great but I was in my 20s and went down quite a hedonistic path for a big chunk of it. I sometimes despair at where so much of my savings went 😩

I wouldn't thank you to be young in this era tbh.

because, as others have pointed out, bumming around and being a bit arty has produced a hell of a lot of creative enterprise. Many big name designers, singers, writers, actors, artists have formed their roots during the times of unemployment, but gone on to contribute millions to the economy, plus the cultural landscape of the country. Probably not completely unemployed, most likely a bit of bar work, a bit of retail, a bit of care work - but enough free time to live frugally and dedicate time to their arts.

Now that isnt an option. You cant choose to 'live frugally' and work less. The current system doesnt allow it. This leaves the arts as a vocation only for the rich.