To think the UK has gone to hell in a handcart?

[Superlambaanana]

I’m just so fed up hearing about powerful people (usually men) getting away with things. It seems to have become the norm for them to do whatever the hell they like with zero consequences beyond a bit of handwringing in the media, which dies down fairly quickly, and never results in anything changing or being overturned. Leaving us ‘little people’ just having to suck it up.

Examples:

P&O sacked 800 workers in 2022. The CEO, Peter Hebblethwaite even admitted it was illegal. Yet nothing was ever done about it and he’s still CEO!

Liz Truss’s honours list. Bit of a roasting in the press for a day or two, but all the Truss supporters still got their honours in the end. Add to that Boris Johnston’s and the very dubious Charlotte Owen, and now Rishi Sunak creating a whole new honours round to make sure some party donors were rewarded in a blatant exercise in corruption.

Prince Andrew. Apparently still thinking of making a return to public life!!!!!! I mean, wtaf?!!!!!!

Michelle Mone. Has she really faced any actual consequences?

Phillip Scofield. Cheats on wife, bullies colleagues and his boyfriend, but achieves victim status because he was coming out of the closet.

Post Office scandal. Yes it’s managed to get some traction, but people will tire of it eventually and I bet that happens long before the sub-post masters get any justice or decent compensation.

Cost of living crisis and energy companies making absolute fortunes at all our expense with no prospect of bills actually coming back down to where they should be - no, instead we should be happy that they aren’t going up just as fast as last year!

Water companies. Borrowing money to give shareholders big payouts instead of actually managing the water and sewage systems to the extent that rivers are now full of faeces.

😩😫😩😫😫😩😫😩😫😫😩

Yes Hancock is a good example of brazenness.

OP, do you seriously think that sort of thing is unique to the UK?

There is little interest in society or a safety net and support for those who need it most. Because these are people who have been fortunate enough, by virtue of accident of birth, to never face hardship.

And you see that attitude replicated on here nowadays all the time.
People who don’t know, or want to know, their neighbours, who only care about their “ little family”, who are heartless and often vicious about anyone needing benefits, or on a low wage. People who are maybe either comfortably retired or in their 30s, in good health, who don’t recognise that misfortune or ill health can happen to anyone.
I think that when you have leaders in politics and industry who are so blatant about their moral vacuity and disregard for human frailty then some people take that as the green light to behave the same way. Sadly without realising they are also seen as disposable by those in charge.
I barely recognise this country anymore.

Exactly. I hardly think a country is falling apart because of a loathsome little twerp like Philip Scofield. And Prince Andrew is hardly worth talking about (same goes for the rest of his ghastly, vulgar family). Most of the things you complain about are found all over the world. Corruption, greed and selfishness are universal. Do you really think it’s any different in Australia or Japan?

Wasn't there a tv programme about this? A village that decided to follow the tax trail all over the world and found it was all perfectly legal but horribly immoral.

And you really feel sorry for him do you?! He had to pay off the young man he groomed and I’m so pleased about that, he ruined any sort of career plans in tv the young man had.

Now by 'that sort of thing' do you mean corruption generally of have you properly read the op? I'm on about blatant, open, in-your-face wrongdoing with zero consequences, except a few days of bad press.

The GLARING omission in your list OP IS the MEDIA.

Owned by billionaires, courted by politicians, they are hand in glove with the corruption.

They depend on the establishment talking to them to fill their papers, and the billionaires to advertise and keep them afloat. It is in their interests to support the establishment and vice versa.

Within this net of obligation and back scratching is the media's function to tell the masses what to think. And they are good at it. Most of mn is a determined by what the media tell posters to think.

Those things happen in all countries. To think it's unique to the UK is bizarrely insular.

I completely agree. The situation with Northern European royalty is simply not comparable. They are not feted as demigods or considered beyond reproach no matter what they do or how appallingly they behave. The Northern Europeans do not actually believe their royalty are "adorable everyday folk" or somehow exemplary human beings and their press does not continually brainwash its citizens to this end. Compound all of this with our RF's utterly obscene wealth, most of which was snatched, grabbed and stolen from Empire and the true amount of which will never be revealed to the British public.

If you voted Tory or did not vote at any time since and including 2010, you are part of the cause. For example, it's not as if Boris Johnson's behaviour was a surprise after all, he's been ill-treating women for at least 20 years.

Conveniently forgetting the Spanish royal family - now there is a shit show!

And Monaco's!

This x 10000000 ...... what on earth ?! Where is his sense of responsibility in his role in public office. This country is being run into the ground.

An example of how it could be different. Last year the portguese prime minister Antonio costa resigned because an investigation started into allegations of corruption this is what he said

Although he proclaimed his innocence, Costa said the gravity of the charges driving the investigation were “incompatible with the dignity of the office.”

so yes there is corruption elsewhere but unlike here the prime minister resigned recognising that the prime minister has to be above suspicion

contrast that with the behaviour of politicians here who show no remorse, integrity or understanding when they’re caught red handed being corrupt let alone being accused of it

I agree OP. I've been feeling this way for a long time. As someone who sadly is at the mercy of systems like the NHS and social support, I absolutely despair at the fact we are getting less and less, being fobbed off and treated appallingly. I know it's a bit of a tangent but I often feel utterly powerless at the predicament we plebs are in regards doing anything about it whilst being worked to the bone and taxed for the pleasure.

I wonder what exactly can we plebs do about it? I'm fervently anti conservative but then think, will my vote and a change of government improve things I cite above or address the issues you have raised.

I agree. I believe strongly that the way most of these elite type buffoons were raised ( boarding school, nanny as mummy) means a high proportion, including Boris are likely sociopathic or narcissist. They therefore will have no understanding or empathy whatsoever with any of us. Yet people seem to be mesmerised by their posh voices and posh suits. I don't get it.

I wonder what exactly can we plebs do about it? I'm fervently anti conservative but then think, will my vote and a change of government improve things I cite above or address the issues you have raised.

I fear that Labour will prove to be ineffectual, I have little faith in Starmer. Maybe not as corrupt as the Tories but if they don’t have the clout, I wonder how much change there will actually be.

I think they may not be very effective, and since the Tories seem to be in crash and burn mode ( spending money we don't have on tax cuts and taking Labour policies like the non dom status and using the money for electioneering tax cuts, meaning Labour then won't be able to use that same money on things they said they were going to use it for like infrastructure projects). But basically the Tories need to be punished, and punished pretty badly for what they have done to the country. Otherwise they will have got away with it and will get worse. Labour only need to do one thing- realign ourselves with EU trade rules- and the economy will improve. They don't have the Brexiteer headbangers to contend with and they haven't got the awful reputation that the Tories have in the EU.

Well then that's a self-fulfilling prophesy. If all you want to do about it is complain on MN then I guess you will always be disappointed that things just keep getting worse. 'Everything's shit but I'm not going to be the one to do anything about it, I'll just moan about it and say how everyone else should be doing better. When challenged I'll say there's no point in me doing anything it's a lost cause'

I don't deny the things you've written about, but your attitude seems to be the exact thing you're complaining about. No accountability.

I was listening to The Rest is History podcast about the UK in the 70s the other day. Things were pretty grim then. The Troubles in NI, the bombings on the British mainland, strikes, three day week, inflation, power cuts. Housing conditions were grim for a lot of people, some didn't even have inside toilets.

Britain was regarded as the "sick man of Europe". Manufacturing was disappearing and the pound was in freefall.

I think we go through cycles and this is also affected by world events. Big business has always scratched politicians backs and vice versa. There have always been scandals, Jeremy Thorpe, David Mellor, Robert Maxwell and the Mirror pension fund to name but a few. There have also been good times and I think people who have lived through those always think that things will continue to get better.

I also think social media has a lot to answer for in creating discontent and the use of algorithms means that our feelings are constantly reinforced and we often don't see the other side of things. People are also less willing to listen to other opinions which may be different to theirs and tend to see things more in black and white. This has also lead to a lot more abuse and threats to politicians which may affect the decision of those who want enter politics to do good but feel that the downside is not worth it.

Every age has it challenges and although there is no doubt that things are not great in many ways in the UK I don't think that this is an unusual occurrence.

Oh my god - have you seen the tiaras and other jewellery that the Swedish and Danish royals have? Their palaces? How the Belgian royals live, benefitting from that Empire centered on the very lucrative Congo? The Spanish royals - look at King Carlos, also a big Empire, the Netherlands, similar - have you seen their jewellery and palaces?.The wealth of the Monaco Prince?.....

Calm down? Patronising pillock.

@feellikeanalien oh my god, the 70s. I wouldn't care to live through that again. IRA bombing campaigns, 3 day week, blackouts, strikes, high inflation, shortages. Awful.

@feellikeanalien while all that is true in the 1970s, we still had a conservative party that was elected and went on to sack an MP for having an affair and a child and lying about it. I can not imagine that happening now.
We also had Queen Elizabeth who would never have accepted suitcases full of cash as King Charles has.
There have always been business people who behave corruptly if given the chance, but now it extends to our government and even the Royal Family.

@Corinthiana although 1974 was calculated by some research to be the year people were the happiest in Britain. And house prices and rents were not sky high.