To wonder how the UK will look in 3 years time?

[Labradorlover987]

I was inspired to write this after reading the UC post that was just reported - the govt’s welfare bill has passed but was watered down so unlikely to make any real savings.

I earn 40k, have a school age child and just feel like I am living hand to mouth 😩 I 100% think there should be a welfare systems that supports people on low incomes but I wonder how the current system will be sustained in the long run?

Just wondered what other people thought.

I actually wouldn’t mind paying more in taxes if we could be guaranteed more in services etc - for example my council tax just went up and the services seem even worse this year than usual.

Its 10,000 out of 2.8million..... hardly 75%......

But what did having all these millionaires do for us? and many will still be paying tax in the UK, on property and businesses still here.....

Root cause of the problem is that the proportion of working people in the population is dropping due to

People living longer
Dramatically falling birthrates - which rarely gets talked about
2.8million people economically active due to sickness

@Alexandra2001 don't bring logic into it 😆

Are you a politician? You can certainly duck & dive like one! Still no mention of the other big issues within the UK?

I will leave you to fixate on the NHS waiting list data that the gov have provided you with. I’m pleased that you’re fully on board with this data. Some of us aren’t.

I think a well funded state is the seat of economic health (America being an outlier). But it's so chaotic right now it's not doing the job. Instead of panic and despair I think if we have the wherewithal we just need to see it as motivational.

It's absolutely shit for people who are stuck but hopefully wider motivation can help everyone.

Root cause of the problem is that the proportion of working people in the population

Basically and the fact pensioners haven't paid enough into the system vs what they take out. Fine if you have pyramid demographics not great when you already have more over 65s than under 15 yr olds.

You have zero actual ideas, which puts you quite firmly in the general public pot

I really wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up some where like Oman or Dubai.

Oman are introduced tax now. Dubai will likely do the same.

Do you mean you’re in idea creation? For whom?

Having lived through the Blair years, it was still really shit for about 3 years and then it really did get a lot better. I’m hopeful that will happen again. My two year wait for an operation has already been reduced to 10 months. I can see improvements at my local hospital already.

It is the work of a moment to destroy something and the work of a lifetime to restore it and build it back again. We’re barely a year into the restoration and recovery phase.

Dubai seems to be popular.

Also, on the subject of energy. Our issue is we don’t control enough of our own energy production which is why we are held to mercy from a financial point of view when it comes to prices. It’s also part of the reason why the Cambridge to Milton Keynes project is fine, but won’t achieve what the government expect (that it will be a technological gateway), because data centres aren’t run out of the UK as the price of energy to run them is too high.

We're richer than we've ever been as a country.
If most people aren't better off as a result, that's a political decision.

Young people correctly perceive that the social contract is broken and are opting out. For the 90%+, working hard all your life does not translate into a house, family or a pension, let alone anything nice like a holiday.

There's a solution to all of this.
Tax wealth not work.

I fear for the country. We have had zero real terms GDP/Person growth for over 20 years (successive government's). This means GDP growth through immigration has been used as a smoke screen.

This has brought about huge and rapid changes in our societal structures. Inadequate housing, health and social welfare to handle the rapid population increase.

We are still feeling the disastrous impacts of "austerity". One example being that crime is out of control. Low level crime (shoplifting, counterfeit goods, car theft, personal robberies, even house break ins) are not even investigated any more. Even if caught the prisons are full, so prison time is unlikely.

We have the largest non working population in the western world. The numbers claiming benefits are rocketing. We have the largest group of 18-22 years old, NEETs (the future working population).

We have a creeping specific type of islamisation of the country. There are believed to be 38 Islamic courts in the UK. Even though they are illegal. We have no go towns (Bradford, Blackburn, parts of Oldham and more), and yet a blind eye is turned in the spirit of " social cohesion".

The problem is that we don't have politicians with the fortitude to take hard decisions. The recent welfare reforms are a case in point. Therefore my only conclusion is that we are heading for a crash and hard decisions will be forced on us. Even then, those will only be financial decisions.

Even if they did action it, it wouldn't solve the problems that they promise it will. Remember that Brexit bus slogan? Ha ha ha. (Heavy laugh there.)

They are scored to death of human rights laws/Unions and upsetting the middle classes.

My wry and somewhat fearful take is, give it ten years and AI will do many things we thought could only be done by humans. So our quality of life and surroundings will become less relevant for commuting and socialising for example.

We will be sitting at home, nothing to do, paid by the State, shopping delivered, admin done by pressing A, B, or C for our needs. No need for investment in anything because we will not need to drive or go anywhere. Travel and holidays will be replaced by AI virtual reality. We could get obese sitting around, but Mounjaro will be mandatory if you exceed a certain BMI. Schooling will be online by an AI tutor. Healthcare will be by robot. And so on.

I was just reading earlier that AI has now reached PhD levels of "knowledge" and ability. Watch this space.

I think the wealth gap’s going to get bigger as more boomers with quite normal jobs die and leave £££ houses to their kids.

I was thinking last night that this weather is worrying and that part time jobs are thin on the ground, then saw on BBC news website warnings about the heat and significant water shortages and that job vacancies are down, I fear for our children's future

I do think real life will come back into fashion as people realise any written word could be written by a robot. So the only time you will hear something not fake is to hear it coming out of someone’s mouth face to face

Working people should be getting hand outs before anyone else as they are the ones who pay taxes. I can't work due to having 2 disabled children I care for but my other half does and before he went self employed things were tough for us trying to get by on the little we had. We have people coming into the country illegally and they are being put into hotels which the government are paying 1000s for each month then when the hotel is no longer needed they are paying for it to be re furnished and decorated for the hotel owners. They are also renting houses from 3k a month from people a friend was asked to rent their 4 bed for 5k a month for illegals. My dad currently owes 100s of thousands in taxes as he refuses to pay tax while it's going to illegals which I can't blame him. He's Ltd so they can only take his buisness not his house or anything else. If more people had the guts to actually do that they would be forced to have to do something as they wouldn't have our money to pay for the illegals or anything else. British need to stand together now before the country is over run by immigrants who will be able to vote which means they will always win the vote as there will be more of them. We've been letting illegals in for so many years that there is a large percentage of family's who's head of the family wasn't actually born in the uk

My children have already left the country. They have jobs and partners. Neither want to bring children into this world.

Health care in Switzerland is privatised. Just in case that makes a difference.

I will leave you to fixate on the NHS waiting list data that the gov have provided you with. I’m pleased that you’re fully on board with this data. Some of us aren’t.

Lived experience backs it up. My bloke was diagnosed with cancer on 9 July, his surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday. They told him it would have been sooner if it had been more urgent.

That’s an interesting idea. I agree.

I expect big changes in the longer term nature and use of the internet. So much is false - not just straightforward disinformation but AI images, including of people, AI music and voices and AI ‘users’ writing and posting.

Coupled with much heavier regulation, I do think that will reduce what we do on the internet outside of core services.

But that sort of change will happen over 15 or 20 years, not 3.