To think the UK is in terminal decline

[ThisOchreBiscuit]

Jobs Civil service to cut thousands of jobs

Nothing positive is happening in this country. It’s just cuts, cuts and tax increases but these arent doing anything to scratch the surface.

The whole country is being propelled up by a massive Ponzi scheme: house prices and immigration. House prices make all home owners feel richer and immigration makes the GDP figures look better.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain as I am a child of immigrants. My parents came here in the 70s from India. They were virtually penniless but they have now been retired for 15 years, earning a state pension from 65 and still getting their final salary pension. They own their home in London and have thousands in savings. They were able to achieve this whilst working in low skilled factory jobs.

Now, professionals with university degrees would struggle to achieve their life style.

I think we are heading to a social mobility and quality of life that is closer to India and than the traditional western view, with wealth in the hands of a small number of landlords.

A has just purchased a completely nice family home near me for £500k and added a back and loft extension and turned it into a 6 bed HMO charging £800 per room.

They will make a 15% return on their £250k investment.

Why are you laughing? Living in a cesspit won’t be fun for anyone. I really can’t stand people that care so little they just throw litter around. It’s slovenly and disgusting.

Basic business knowledge tells us that we make money either by making something and selling it, growing or mining something and selling it or providing a service and selling it.

The only way as a country you can grow your economy is to sell said thing, product or service to another country.

Products are far safer bets and more productive than services, services can easily be moved or provided elsewhere, production less easily.

We produce virtually nothing compared to our industrial heyday when we produced for much of the world - the wealth was made then and is now running out.

We cannot compete with say china or India for mass production of cheap goods, but we should have focussed heavily on hi tech, low volume, precision, high return goods over an obsession with service provision.

We are now reaping the return - we have very few skilled workers left in a manufacturing sense and inadequate facilities to train sufficient new blood and have closed most of our raw material production facilities, so decline is inevitable.

I believe we tend to overestimate the quality of life of previous generations and negatively compare ours to theirs. The really of many families 50 years ago was that until they could enjoy higher standards later in life they had a pretty difficult, basic life with few comforts. It wasn’t rare to see families crammed in too small houses, only furnishing or heating a few rooms at the time and going camping once a year because it’s all they could afford. Social time was at home or pub, not meals out. All money would go on the very basics for surviving. Of course there are many families out there struggling, and this should not be the case. But comparisons between generations are thoroughly inaccurate.

My family have never had money, I’m the first person in the family who has qualifications outside of GCSEs and I’m in no better position than my parents were at my age. If anything, they were much better off as my mum could work part time as a cleaner, my dad retired at 55 with a decent factory pension.

I can’t afford the £150 pension contributions per month so I’ve had to opt out, in order to feed myself today.

there will be no inheritance.

It’s really depressing.

Of course the country is headed into the deeper spheres of becoming a shit hole.

That’s what happens when you put talentless morons, sorry ‘progressives’ in charge who have never had real jobs. Government stuffed full of career politicians or ex charity workers who have no idea about the real world works where business is done and money is made. On top of that you have a public sector and civil service employing people you wouldn’t pay to build your shed. Corrupt, incompetent and brain dead.

But hey, at least net 0 is going well. You know, the whole 0.5% of global emissions that this country is reasonable for.

The funniest thing is when people come on here to criticise the US or middle eastern countries for various things. While the world laughs as Little Britain for feeling all smug despite being nothing more than an irrelevant, increasingly poor small island.

I don't think reducing the number of civil servants is an example of the decline of this country. There have been many other factors, two of which were avoidable- Brexit, and the poor/belated response to Covid 19.

I agree with those who point out the low quality of politicians.

Thing was in the past you had respect for the privileged people who ran the country partly because it was seen as an honour to serve- we have no respect for anyone now,anyone is fair game to be belittled,cancelled etc
Why would anyone of calibre be an MP now.

The world is in decline, thanks to humans.

The other point of reducing public servants is the pensions they will be paid for up to 30 years on retirement People are living longer -pensions cost so much for so long. Doesn’t a doctor retire on about 50,000 a year. Where will we find this money.

This country is a shit tip. Mess everywhere. Drug problems, poverty, immigrants everywhere in Northern towns. (Maybe South too I don’t know). I don’t feel safe in my own neighbourhood anymore.

My city is all homeless tents and litter. Nothing like how it was when I moved here 20 years ago.

It is all aggressive white British men shouting racist comments, starting alcohol and drug fuelled fights, yelling at people in the street if they don't give them money, fly tipping everywhere.

The rest of the population is students, stay at home mums, and people in their late 40s/early 50s who can't cope with their jobs any more and have retired early, and pensioners.

The immigrants seem to be the only ones actually working.

Except the older generations tended to be more resilient and hard working than younger generations, many of whom are wrapped up in themselves and want everything handed to them on a plate.

People need to be more mentally tough and self-reliant. If you are waiting for politicians to sort out your problems you will face a lifetime of disappointment.

Completely agree with this. The cost of living and housing crisis is the same where I am living now (not the UK). Pros and cons to each country but I don’t think the problems the UK are having are unique. Well perhaps the NHS and benefits part. But there are negatives to where I am too.

I have to agree with this and I’m considered a millennium. A lot of people want everything but don’t want to make any sacrifices or work hard to get it.

Decline probably but terminal no.

They probably said the same about the romans, the vikings, the saxons, the Normans, the flemings, the french huguenots, the irish, the German palatines, the russian jews, the polish, the caribbean, the south Asians, the Cypriots etc.....all coming over here, ruining our country

It’s it just the uk. It’s western societies who for some reason think they are owed a certain standard of living. Even if they don’t work for it or work minimal hours. Where else on the planet does someone expect to be housed, fed and have money ( by tax payers ) left over for luxuries except in the UK?

When you're old like me you can look back and remember how your country's economy etc rose and declined, then rose and declined, over your lifetime.

ATM there are too many people and the Welfare State has become unsustainable.

There is no easy or painless fix to this. I think it's going to have to get quite a lot worse before it can upswing again - but I have no doubt it will, because History shows us this is what happens, to all countries, eternally.

The main difference being that the Vikings, the Normans etc didn’t claim money from those born in the uk to settle here? They either worked or died?

Ultimately we have too many people and only the really rich or the really poor are having bigger families nowadays. The mugs in the middle are paying for it all.

Housing and investing only in housing has fucked the economy

And the ageing population means taxes can only go up

This

most people in the western world are enjoying lives better than other generation that has existed

Not for the young...