Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Absolutely shit scared about the future in the UK?

649 replies

JDNCh · 04/01/2025 18:17

Name changed - I’m genuinely terrified by the hate, division and atmosphere here right now, online and spilling over on the ‘the real world’. I’m scared by how quickly things are changing, and just how much influence the US/Elon Musk/Reform+supporters are having. I’m scared of what the actual point of it all is - what’s the endgame? And what’s the solution? Why is no one protesting/rising up from the other way? Do people generally agree with all this?

I’m in no way a minority (white, female, 30s), I’m not super left, I have one little boy and I’m so scared for his future. I don’t want to live somewhere so intolerant with this constant atmosphere of distrust and something getting ready to blow.

What’s the general consensus? Is this what the people of the U.K. want?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
20
SidhuVicious · 05/01/2025 09:21

LizzieSiddal · 05/01/2025 08:15

I’m scared too when I really think about what’s been going on over the past few years. We’ve had Brexit only due to the lies told by Farage, Johnson etc. why people trust these men icant fathom. They’ve absolutely damaged our country beyond repaid and a lot of people don’t care about that.

I think we are fucked tbh.

I think a lot of people vote based on ideas rather than facts/statistics/history. Some people see the Left as wanting to welcome all and sundry into the country ("oh, there's so many houses sitting unused" etc) and having unlimited sympathy for the workshy ("oh, you don't know their story") whilst they view the right as being about self responsibility and standing on your own feet etc. A bit like the socialism vs capitalism thing.

I'm not saying I agree, just that it seems to me that some people view the ideologies somewhat separately from the politicians and a staunch right wing bloke won't start voting Labour just because he doesn't like the latest PM. It's only really around gender issues that I see people changing political/voting alignment year to year.

NeedToChangeName · 05/01/2025 09:34

Snowmuchlove · 05/01/2025 08:10

I have so much nostalgia for the lovely 90s🥰 Those were the days... Blur, Oasis, Pulp, All Saints ,Spice Girls... Doc Martens, Exclamation spray, body shop lip balm... would love if this was the 90s & my kids were living my teen years.. no social media.. bliss..

Edited

Funnily enough, I was going to say the 90s were a good time. Until I thought of Iraq, 9/11 etc

So yes perhaps any era is good for some people, not for others

Errors · 05/01/2025 09:38

The right aren’t ’far right’
They just seem that way because the left has gone so far left

Absolutely shit scared about the future in the UK?
LondonPapa · 05/01/2025 09:42

baroqueandblue · 04/01/2025 20:39

You live in (and presumably profit from) a country, but have absolutely no concern for its wider good? Wow, all the integrity of a germ. What a guy 🙄

Why should I care? No one else does! I look after myself and my family first, if I can no longer make money out of the public’s poor choices, I’ll just leave to somewhere warmer.

ThisOldThang · 05/01/2025 09:45

@LondonPapa

Just out of interest, were you born in the UK?

mollyfolk · 05/01/2025 09:55

SidhuVicious · 05/01/2025 04:09

All your posts imply sexual assaults en masse are a Muslim problem and NOT a male problem.

Well, they can be both. But the fact that there is an Arabic phrase called 'taharrush gamea' which exactly describes the type of sexual assaults we're now seeing in Europe from middle eastern immigrants isn't really helping your argument.

It roughly translates as 'the rape game' or 'circle of hell'. It's a well established practice whereby a large group of men overwhelm and strip a woman and then sexually assault or rape her - usually for being dressed 'immodestly' or being out without a chaperone. Men on the outside generally try and distract people and deflect them away from what's happening in the middle, thus allowing the perpetrators to continue unchallenged in the middle of the 'hell circle'.

I first read about this in relation to the rape of the reporter Lara Logan about a decade ago - she was gang raped in public for about 30 mins while covering the Arab Spring in Egypt. The 1200 sexual assaults on NYE in Germany followed an almost identical format as did the various other documented ones in Europe (can find some listed on the wiki page for the NYE assaults).

Whatever you say, Western men are not congregating in massive groups and publicly gang raping women for 30 mins at a time. This is why I challenged anybody to find me just one example in light of the numerous examples we have of non-western men doing it.

Your post isn't exactly true?taharrush gamea means harassment in Arabic. It's not some kind of acceptable Muslim "game" .

This is a slant put on these incidents that aims to demonise all Muslims in Europe.

Demonising a racial or religious group and blaming it for all its crises never ends well.

LondonPapa · 05/01/2025 10:06

ThisOldThang · 05/01/2025 09:45

@LondonPapa

Just out of interest, were you born in the UK?

Don’t worry, I’m British.

SidhuVicious · 05/01/2025 10:25

mollyfolk · 05/01/2025 09:55

Your post isn't exactly true?taharrush gamea means harassment in Arabic. It's not some kind of acceptable Muslim "game" .

This is a slant put on these incidents that aims to demonise all Muslims in Europe.

Demonising a racial or religious group and blaming it for all its crises never ends well.

Oh please....

Firstly, nobody is saying it's an 'acceptable' game.

Secondly, what slant can you put on incidents where large numbers of men are clearly seen harassing women in public?

There's videos of it happening in Egypt (I posted one of three videos from that link) and it was about 15 years ago it happened to Lara Logan the US reporter in Egypt, and it was already well documented years before that.

Now, after large scale immigration to Europe from men originating from those countries, we are seeing the same things happening in Europe - there are loads of well documented examples that can't be denied.

You frame it as some kind of political agenda yet the opposite is true. The authorities have typically been so afraid of racial unrest/being seen as intolerant that they gloss it over and subsequently admit to as much.

What we know is that 1200 sexual assaults happened in one night in a European country and they were perpetrated 'almost exclusively by men of Arabic and North African appearance', and that they closely resemble the similar assaults perpetrated in the countries these men originate from.

The mass sexual assault of women in public has been documented in Egypt since 2005,[n 1] when Egyptian security forces and their agents were accused of using it as a weapon against female protesters during a political demonstration in Tahrir Square, Cairo on 25 May.[3] The behavior spread, and by 2012 sexual assault by crowds of young men was seen at protests and festivals in Egypt.[4][5]

In these assaults, assailants would encircle a woman while outer rings of men deter rescuers. The attackers regularly pretended to be there to help the women, adding to the confusion. Women reported being groped, stripped, beaten, bitten, penetrated with fingers, and raped.[2]: 38–41  The attacks were described as the "circle of hell".[n 2]

Amnesty International described a series of attacks that took place on January 25, 2013, against protesters in the vicinity of Tahrir Square. The victims of these attacks said they typically lasted from a few minutes to over an hour, and that the men were usually in their 20s and 30s. Victims were aged seven to 70.[2]: 41 [18]

Describing the Tahrir Square attacks, women said they were often separated from friends by the crowd, or out alone, and encircled by a large group of men who groped their breasts, genitals and buttocks. Attempts were made to pull or cut their clothes off, and their bodies were pulled in different directions as men moved them through the crowd. Women regularly report digital penetration of the vagina and anus. Attackers have used sticks, knives and blades, and in several cases sharp objects have been inserted into the victim's vagina.[2]: 41 [19]

Perpetrators regularly claim to be helping the women when in fact they are attacking them, which increases the difficulty for rescuers and leaves the women not knowing whom to trust. Women testify to having heard attackers say: "Do not be afraid; I'm protecting you," or "you are like my sister, do not be afraid."[8]: 6  People genuinely trying to help find themselves being beaten and sexually assaulted too.[2]: 41 

Volunteer groups in Cairo, including OpAntiSH (Operation Anti Sexual Harassment), organize "extraction teams" who push into the circles wearing padded clothing, helmets and gloves, and get the women out. Other OpAntiSH teams carry spare clothes and medical supplies, operate a hotline so that the extraction teams know where to go, and offer counselling and legal and medical help. They were called to 19 incidents on 25 January 2013 alone, and were able to respond to 15 of them.[20]

Rescuers have described how assailants have set up makeshift tea stands in the crowd; in one case boiling water from a tea stand was thrown over rescuers who had formed a protective ring around a woman.[21] During an attack in Cairo in 2013, the attackers allowed an ambulance to leave with the victim only when the driver told them she was dead.[2]: 41

In one survey 60 percent of the highest educated women in Egypt blamed the victims (of general sexual harassment) and "provocative" clothing, as did 75 percent of the least educated women.[24]

According to a 2008 survey by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, 83% of Egyptian women said they had experienced sexual harassment, as did 98% of women from overseas while in Egypt.[27]: 16  A 2013 study in Egypt by UN Women found that 99.3% of female respondents said they had been sexually harassed.[25]

The mass sexual assaults have been on the increase since the fall of Hosni Mubarak on 11 February 2011, the end of the 2011 revolution, particularly during protests in Tahrir Square and religious festivals.[4][5]

After the fall of Mubarak, there was rapid escalation, beginning with the attacks, on the night he stepped down, on Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy and South African journalist Lara Logan.[29][31] Logan, a correspondent for CBS, was sexually assaulted for 30 minutes by around 200 men in Tahrir Square before being rescued by a group of Egyptian women and soldiers.[14] Several more journalists were among the hundreds of women who experienced mass sexual assault over the following few years: French journalist Caroline Sinz in November 2011; British journalist Natasha Smith in June 2012; Egyptian journalist Hania Moheeb on 25 January 2013, along with 18 other women; and a Dutch journalist in June 2013.[32]

Five hundred cases of mass sexual assault were documented between June 2012 and June 2014.[2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_sexual_assault_in_Egypt

Mass sexual assault in Egypt - Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_sexual_assault_in_Egypt#cite_note-Amnesty2015-2

TempsPerdu · 05/01/2025 10:30

WomensRightsRenegade · 04/01/2025 23:08

I think more people outside your bubble are scared about how much damage Labour are already doing to the country and how open borders/ illegal immigration is destroying social cohesion, putting immense pressure on public services, and increasing risk to women.

Not to mention the dangerous indoctrination coming our kids’ way in the new CRT/ anti-excellence curriculum. Instead of teaching all kids about the stunning achievements of western civilisation and focusing on uniting everyone around the great fortune they have to be living in the UK, it will sow terrible division.

I’m delighted that Musk is highlighting the horrors that prioritising ‘political correctness’ over the lives of young working class girls can bring. And I’m also delighted America is going to be taken back to biological reality on Jan 20th. As we slide backwards!

I'm concerned about the incoming new curriculum too, and I'm a centre-left voter and former Lib Dem member ('former' because of the party's descent into gender woo). I've already seen it play out in DD's London primary, where the curriculum has been decolonised to the extent that white men have been all but erased.

I'm an ex-primary teacher myself and a current governor at the school, so I can see how systemically and deliberately it's been done - a new member of staff was brought in specifically to create the new 'progressive' curriculum, and figures such as Neil Armstrong, Isaac Newton and Isambard Kingdom Brunel have been stripped out in favour of black 'equivalents' (always African American figures rather than any other ethnicities, as this is where the ideology stems from). Remembrance Day (which I attended) focused solely on the contribution of black soldiers etc.

It doesn't even reflect the local community of the school; it's majority white, but my Year 3 daughter has spent an inordinate amount of time learning about slavery in the US, and while the school is demographically mixed the minority groups that are actually largest within the specific school population (Turkish/Kurdish/Albanian) are entirely overlooked. It's all just political, rather than being about a genuinely holistic education.

And white working-class boys (who, I can very clearly see from volunteering at the school, are often struggling the most) don't get a look in, other than via the constant, drip-fed implication that they and their ilk are the problem.

We're so disgruntled with it all that we're planning to move out of London this year, and will certainly be seeking a school with a more traditional, less politicised ethos for DD.

JHound · 05/01/2025 10:31

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

All I want is a source….

SidhuVicious · 05/01/2025 10:34

JHound · 05/01/2025 10:31

All I want is a source….

See my above post. 500 mass scale sexual assaults reported in Egypt alone between 2012-2014 plus many many others.

JDNCh · 05/01/2025 10:35

I don’t think anyone is denying that all these things are absolutely horrific and have clearly not been dealt with in the way they should.

What I struggle to get my head around is why it is then absolutely acceptable to have Trump as president with his track record of assault and misogyny, or the Reform MP who assaulted his wife - how are we not equating all of these things with the same problem? Why do certain groups have no problem with some of those things but are baying for blood with others? I’m not saying that everything should be treated in the same way but how can you be best mates with Mr ‘grab them by the pussy’ and in the same breath be calling for Jess Phillips to be jailed for not protecting women and girls. It makes zero sense to me (other than the obvious racism!)

OP posts:
Pamosonic · 05/01/2025 10:37

I've long dropped any interest in politics. They are all slippery self serving power hungry liars in my opinion no matter which political party you align to.

I am a bit concerned about the ticking pension time bomb though especially with the decreasing birth rates likely to struggle to fund state pensions. Far too many people have pittance in private pensions.

I'm concerned further automation will mean there are too few good jobs for my children when they are adults.

I'm also concerned about the apparent collapse in dating. Will my kids be able to find a good partner to lead a happy family life.

SidhuVicious · 05/01/2025 10:37

SidhuVicious · 05/01/2025 10:34

See my above post. 500 mass scale sexual assaults reported in Egypt alone between 2012-2014 plus many many others.

There's 56 links in the wiki page I posted a few posts above. Should be more than enough.

Hunglikeapolevaulter · 05/01/2025 10:38

There's videos of it happening in Egypt (I posted one of three videos from that link) and it was about 15 years ago it happened to Lara Logan the US reporter in Egypt, and it was already well documented years before that.

The Lara Logan case made me feel absolutely sick to my stomach. I remember at the time some people minimising it saying she was "only" groped but I read the details, and it was a severe, sustained mass sexual assault of the worst kind.

It's horrible to know that this is something that women are suffering on a regular basis, and horrible to know that it's now spread to countries that were previously much safer for women.

Catpuss66 · 05/01/2025 10:40

Do you not think that Trump & Elon have a winning formula, find somthing that creates an emotional response such as child abuse + migrants & throw a match to it watch it spiral out of control. Worked in the US. This is to encourage people to vote Reform in the next election. I still think there is a collab between them (Trump, Farage & Elon) & Putin they all want world domination.
The uk is a nice safe place to be, look at the threads someone helping a teenager get home, offering support when they need someone to talk too.These are all positive things about the uk. I watch a black American guy in the uk talking about different things about the uk, like the word nincomoop, or the amount of fresh vegetables in supermarkets & how they are much smaller than the US because they are not sprayed with so much chemicals. These are lovely things we take for granted nice to be reminded of them. Look for the positives.

Njhforuivsr · 05/01/2025 10:44

I wish we'd have stayed with Rishi. The only thing I sort of like about Labour is their energy policy.

JHound · 05/01/2025 10:45

MyBoiledEggIsTooSoft · 05/01/2025 10:41

https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/interpellation/andelen-invandrare-bland-de-som-begar-valdtakt_h810517/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20961790.2020.1868681#d1e179

@JHound a source for you from Sweden, including a link to where this has been discussed in the Swedish parliament (in Swedish unfortunately).

My comment was re the claims about France but thanks for this.

I shall find somebody Swedish to translate.

Upstartled · 05/01/2025 10:48

JHound · 05/01/2025 10:45

My comment was re the claims about France but thanks for this.

I shall find somebody Swedish to translate.

Doesn't your phone offer o translate it for you?

JHound · 05/01/2025 10:49

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Why do you keep contrasting “western” within “Muslim”?

Plenty of western men are Muslim.
Plenty of non western countries are not Muslim.
There are countries with huge issues with violence against women and girls that aren’t Muslim majority countries (such as India).

You don’t have concerns about women and girls. You have a bugbear with Muslims.

Just say that.

JHound · 05/01/2025 10:50

Upstartled · 05/01/2025 10:48

Doesn't your phone offer o translate it for you?

No.

JHound · 05/01/2025 10:51

SidhuVicious · 05/01/2025 10:37

There's 56 links in the wiki page I posted a few posts above. Should be more than enough.

Egypt is not Europe. Nor is a general article about Egypt direct sources for the separate post you made about European countries.

MyBoiledEggIsTooSoft · 05/01/2025 10:59

JHound · 05/01/2025 10:45

My comment was re the claims about France but thanks for this.

I shall find somebody Swedish to translate.

The separate research article is in English. It is a published research article in forensic science.

MyBoiledEggIsTooSoft · 05/01/2025 11:07

@JHound Just to add, in the discussion in the Swedish Parliament, they refer to this article (to the English name), so I just added that link (formal link to riksdagen which is parliament in Swedish) to show that the research article was given attention at that level.