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.

Yes we have too many people.

We have too many people because advances in medical science mean that we can keep people alive for far longer than they are able to be economically productive.

We do not have the resources to support and care for increasing numbers of elderly people who are dependent on decreasing numbers of young people.

It’s the decline of the west/ Europe. Future growth will come form the African continent, maybe supported by china and India.

maybe it’s time for our children to be the migrants who make their fortune abroad?

The Vikings didn’t submit benefits claims, no. They did however, raid settlements and sometimes burned them down.

This is true. But people invested in housing because-
1-the government incentivized them to do so, and
2-a period of abnormally low interest rates meant that there were few other opportunities to get a good return on your money.

@Mrsbloggz and we are feeling the impact of that now.

If you want to solve the population issue fast enough to avoid climate disaster you are talking billions of people who need to die within the next couple of years

for the uk to be self sufficient we would need about half the population to die today

try to be a little practical

I never understand the "we have too many people", do they just think we should start culling the elderly?

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.

But you understand that we never recovered from the 08 crash, there hasn't been a rise since. And in the past we didn't have today's demographics...

Are you trying to suggest that the Vikings were very moral decent people who worked hard and respectfully integrated with the existing population 🤣

I don't know about terminal decline but I often think I'm glad to be in my 50s and childfree so I dont have to worry too much about the future. That doesn't mean I don't care about future generations just that I'm not going to ruin the years I have left by worrying about things I can't change. I live in the middle of nowhere so I don't have to see the scruffy, litter strewn mess that most cities seem to have become.

I was referring to the poster claiming they didn't feel safe in their own neighbourhood

Especially for the young

Absolutely not but I do think it's important to realise we're massively over populated and think about ways to ensure that we don't continue on an upward trend. That's as a planet and not just as the UK. Having no children or solo children isn't the bad thing it's seen to be for society. Quite the opposite.

And there's a big big difference between 'culling' the elderly which is a foul thought and not prolonging life in cases where it's just not sensible and quality of life is extremely poor.

I remember doing a sociology project at college in the 80's and the British population was 52 million. It's now projected to be 70 million by 2030. I don't want it to get to that level. We haven't invested in our public infrastructure to support 70 million, our transport, housing stock, utilities, food production and health systems are not able to support that increase. We are seeing evidence of it now, it's difficult to access any public services - we patch things up rather than invest in new modern infrastructure. I find it laughable that the third runway at Heathrow won't get built until 2030. We just can't seem to built anything ! We are tied up in rules and regulations, consultations and public inquiries. How long and how much does it cost to fix a pot hole?
I agree with a PP who says we will have to start taking responsibility for ourselves more, including our health and our pensions. The NHS has become abused and taken for granted. The country needs huge investment in infrastructure, not sticking plasters. We are relying on Victorian design and construction, not design fit for the 21st century. I look at the debacle of HS2 and despair.

Due to declining fertility rates, the rate of growth of worldwide population is slowing, declining towards the end of the century.

This makes no sense in the context of the situation described. If the uk population was halved, what would be the advantages? Because we wouldn’t have enough workers to run the economy, government, education or criminal justice. We wouldn’t be able to meet international obligations or defence. We would simply die overnight. No one would be able to purchase the vacated houses, take up the reduced operating waiting lists or attend their chosen school. The pensioners and disabled population left would starve quickly.

This is how feel. We have four young adult kids and whilst I'd like to downsize in a few years time I am feeling like this will be increasingly unwise. My eldest ds currently lives with his gf in a rented house but is constantly complaining that he cannot afford all the bills etc. he works in a job with a fixed salary but works 50+ hours a week and it's putting a strain on his relationship. My youngest ds whilst still at Uni, i feel due to his social anxiety etc is going to struggle to find work when he graduates next year. My normally upbeat optimistic student daughter said last night that she does not see much of a future for her and her friends all feel the same. It's sad. I thoroughly expect at least some of the kids to be living with us long term which is fine but not the life we hoped for them.
On the other hand as a poster upthread pointed out we have so much. free healthcare, generous benefit system ( although I appreciate this will change), beautiful countryside. Despite huge social challenges we still have a lot to be grateful for.

Did I say halved? Nope.

And die overnight? Really?!

Having no children or solo children isn't the bad thing it's seen to be for society. Quite the opposite.

How does a society progress & thrive without new blood?

I agree there should be massive fines for littering. Everywhere you go all you see is shit that lazy bastards can’t be bothered to dispose of properly. From sweet wrappers and bottles/cans to severe fly-tipping. It’s disgusting.

I loathe the UK right now.

It's no wonder nobody wants kids anymore. And the government will just keep on importing endless single men from other cultures

Well of course things are going to decline when you make headline politics instead of evidence based investments.

Tell me why we are approving plans for fucking loads of 4/5 bed housing estates in the suburbs instead of affordable flats in existing town centres and empty buildings, with the caveat that developments can only be approved with evidence as to how the ongoing infrastructure of nhs dentists and GPs will be funded?

I'm mentally checked out and planning to travel as much as I can when I retire. I'd be seriously depressed if I was planning to be here forever properly.

The cut to CS jobs is nothing new. Boris wanted the CS cut to pre Brexit levels which was impossible because many departments have to do a lot of the functions that the EU did.

I hate littering but fines need to be proportionate to the offence committed. Nobody is going to pay £10,000 for littering, so what would happen then? Custody?