Uk is in big trouble - what do you think will happen?

[hippysun]

Thames water on brink of collapse. All those CEOs getting fat bonuses. Water shortages and rising bills.

the cost of living is off the chart. Every bill has gone up. Pop in to Tesco for toothpaste, butter and chicken and it costs an insane amount for just a few items.

the government are crap and taxing the hell out of us.

my salary is stuck. I feel constantly poor now. 10 years ago when I earned significantly less, I felt ok money wise. Chatted today to a colleague about science graduate son who is stuck doing a minimum wage job as there are no jobs here. I’ve noticed this myself in my town. The council have a few, other companies outsourced to India years ago, the pharma company moved out years ago and the land will soon be a new housing estate.

the nhs is a total mess.

housing costs make me want to weep! No chance of moving. Feel bad for my kids. They just keep building expensive houses here all packed into poorly designed estates. Tiny gardens. But no infrastructure. The promised schools get cancelled and drs surgeries and hospitals are rammed with patients. My mortgage of course is up.

in my industry… everyone is obsessed with AI and I’m sad to say it has taken some jobs already. There is a huge push towards AI.

there seems to be underlying tension here re migrants. People getting increasingly annoyed.

this country feels like a right mess. Making rich people richer and poor people even poorer. The middle earners are getting squeezed. I hate it.

i don’t remember it being this bad ever before.

why is it so terrible? And what do you think will happen?

But people still weren’t happy clearly because this 2010 society was part of the bedrock for the EU referendum in 2016.

Yep. There’s no point in going back to 2010 anyway. We have Labour in now.

And yet again, a fact has to be supported by evidence. Your opinion isn't evidence so show me the evidence to support your "fact". An undisputed fact can not be argued against. Your opinion is neither a fact nor an undisputed fact.
If you can show me the evidence to support your statement then I will accept it as fact. Until then it remains an opinion.

I am incredibly bored now. No further engagement required.

Is the country you are talking about in Eastern Europe by any chance?
If so, I agree with everything you say. However, it isn't exactly a paradise, is it? I'm thinking of issues around homosexuality, abortion, people of different skin colour. Petty corruption is still a problem?
I think overall the UK has much to be proud of!

May I ask (for a friend) where you have all decamped to?

If you genuinely want to challenge your beliefs have a play on here:

https://www.gapminder.org

Reform’s agenda is basically massive tax cuts across the board alongside significant increase in spending on the NHS, police and the military. Yay! 🤡

Where is my data?

The polls.

Show me a poll whare the majority of the electorate want a Reform government?

Reform is leading the polls at around 30%. That means 70% don't support it.

If you imagine that Labour, Plaid Cymru, Green, SNP supporters, even One Nation Tories, won't mobilise to tactically vote against Reform in 2029 if needed, I think you are in for a surprise.

I don't think you understand how reviled Reform is outside your own little bubble.

But we shall see. I have faith that the majority of the UK doesn't want a racist government and can see Farage for what he is.

There are also plenty of economic problems in the EU, it is not just the UK. In GDP we come out above a lot of EU countries including Germany, France. Italy and the EU Area in total. Who really knows if it would be higher had we stayed in the EU.

For every small boat stopped, a money tree grows. Didn't you know that?

Interesting. I got 5/6 for economics. Will play around with the others

You are absolutely blind, the reason things seemed quite good in 2010 is that we were on emergency interest rates and the BOE was printing new money at a phenomenal rate (a policy which cleverly avoided massively increasing the national debt figures but was actually the same thing through a different method). The problem was just being cleverly masked.

Is the UK in big trouble? Do you admire Japan and think life there is great?
It has more than twice the level of debt to GDP than the UK. Around 96% in the UK, 216% for Japan.

The balance of power and wealth in the world is changing and we'll just have to change with it. We've been through two massive global crises in the last 20 years: the financial meltdown of 2008 and Covid.

Despite that, I look around where I live — not a particularly wealthy area — and it's full of people tooth veneers, gel nails and gym memberships, driving cars less than three years old, drinking coffees at £4 a time. At the weekend I got talking to a woman who's just bought the most expensive house in our little town. She's made her millions selling personalised car number plates. Is a country where someone can make millions selling something no one actually needs really in trouble?

I am not a fan. I am hugely disappointed so far, which is why I have switched to Plaid Cymru.

However, in 2029 I will vote tactically to keep the racists out.

Get a grip.

Lol.
The other 70% don't want Labour though either do they?
I feel it depends to what extent Jezza splits the votes on the Left.

It also depends on individual constituencies as I've continually said.
Lib dems don't even field candidates where I live. It's always been Labour Vs Tories. Now it's Reform with a majority Vs Labour. Doesn't matter if all the other parties form a coalition, they won't get in up here. Same in many Red Wall areas.

Of fortunately. We had a chance to pick Jezza for PM twice. No thanks.
Of the current crop of party leaders I like Kemi, but I don't think the Tories have the forgiveness of the electorate.

TORIES are crap because they championed privatisation; TORIES increased the taxes; TORIES caused Brexit and TORIES carried on with austerity even during the far years

Yes, it's Poland. I am now in a small town here. Nobody here cares about these issues - for them it's just politics in big cities and it's a fairly conservative society. People are happy they have a job and a big house with a garden, holidays at the seaside, a mushroom picking trip to the woods on a Saturday, a church and a family party on a Sunday and generally enjoy a good quality of (simple) life. BTW there is an Indian guy working here at a kebab shop who is a student in a nearby city, people here are trying to find him a local wife (!) There is a Vietnamese family running another restaurant and lots of Ukrainian moms with small kids. No tension, no troubles. And my DH is not white, has never been in any trouble in the last 15 years. Don't believe in whatever you see/read in the media. Come over and see for yourself :).

Double post

The wealthiest section of society? Are you talking about people who own a house outright? Lots of the working class ‘own’ a house, with a mortgage. This would destroy their lives.

You missed all the private partnerships Blair created then?

This with nobs on.
I remember the power cuts and strikes etc in the 70s. It's swings and roundabouts

Also socially things are much better now eg. womens rights, racism, sexism, homophobia etc.

You're wrong, unless you can prove the next Reform government is a certainty.

My evidence is that the next election is 2029 and Reform aren't in power.

Reform councils,one of their first moves was to fly the union flag over council buildings.
That was the most pressing thing, that's purely to Appeal to the Billy Britain's of this country.
People want to see local issues dealt with by their councils.
Not an edict that wouldn't have looked out of place on a BNP leaflet.