Page 16 | Uk is in big trouble - what do you think will happen?

hippysun · 2025-08-13T09:03:34+00:00

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?

IcedPurple · 13/08/2025 14:08

AntikytheraMech · 13/08/2025 14:04

Apologies it wasn't clear.
Things that relied on chewing of numbers.
Searching huge databases and referring to every medical document or case law or producing actuarial statistics are next in line.
Creative content in terms of video etc have already surpassed my wildest imagination. Search YouTube for video clips of Google veo3.
And the ones released in the last couple of weeks (although the grock one has not been allowed in Europe because it's so effective it threatens the jobs of millions)
What I was trying to say is that hands on jobs and caring, technical hands on, STEM basically have a bit of a buffer for our children.
You can't use a robot to do a hands-on diagnosis of a pet.
You can't use a robot to do the plumbing under the sink or rewire a main circuit board.
No one is going to want robots to work in a care home dealing with the elderly or a robot nurse.
Obviously we will make assumptions about the awareness of other people's knowledge in a certain field.
I design AI and cyber security and quantum computing solutions for some very large companies and governments so I'm aware of what they can do and how fast they are exploding.
Look up the singularity by Ray Kurtzviles..
That's when AI becomes more intelligent than everybody on the planet and it was supposed to be or predicted to be around 2030 but it looks like it may be 2027 now.
AI is already writing its code to make the next iteration a hundred times more powerful. Many of the models I have come across in a professional context have basically absorbed every document, every web page, every forum, every PDF, every image, all of YouTube and other platforms so it has the ability to gather and form solutions to almost anything. Yes the current version isn't even 60% of the way there but that is number is decreasing extremely rapidly.
Again just look for some peer reviewed professional documents about the exponential rate of increase in AI and I'm actually quite scared for my children.

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What I was trying to say is that hands on jobs and caring, technical hands on, STEM basically have a bit of a buffer for our children.
You can't use a robot to do a hands-on diagnosis of a pet.
You can't use a robot to do the plumbing under the sink or rewire a main circuit board.

I recently listened to a long interview with Geoffrey Hinton, one of the founders of AI. He was highly pessimistic about the effect it will have on employment. When asked what advice he would give to his children he said 'Train to be a plumber'.

twistyizzy · 13/08/2025 14:08

BIossomtoes · 13/08/2025 14:06

But you don’t have a choice of two parties. Tactical voting doesn’t mean that. It’s why the LibDems picked up so many seats last year because voters picked whoever was most likely to eject the Tory.

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Oh you know the parties who field candidates in my constituency do you?

funnybaer · 13/08/2025 14:08

PaddlingSwan · 13/08/2025 10:18

Having spent a fair amount of time "playing" with AI yesterday and this morning - different bots as well - there are some things that it just cannot do.
There will always be a need for an experienced human to check the results.
It is a bit like using a calculator to do maths, you need to have a rough idea of the answers.
This morning I asked Meta (which is akin to Chat GPT's younger, slightly more dense sibling) to recommend me somewhere to go for lunch today.
I gave it an exact location and a budget. The answers it came up with were ludicrous, including:

Places not open at lunchtime.
Places than no longer exist.
Places well outside the budget.
Places located 100s of km away.

If you challenge it or point out the errors, it goes all smarmy - which is annoying in itself.
I also asked it to suggest some coastal locations on an island I know and stipulated that the accommodation must have a sea view. One of its suggestions was about as inland as you can get.
I rest my case.

Edited

So reassuring 🙏

cardibach · 13/08/2025 14:09

twistyizzy · 13/08/2025 14:05

If you only have a choice of 2 parties then if you want 1 of them out you only have 1 other option. Why is this so hard for people to grasp? We don't live in liberal metropolitan areas with a board range of options, each standing a chance of getting in.

You have called me rascist and extremist so I will report your comment because it's against MN rules.

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Just seen the last bit. I didn’t call you racist and extremist. I said voting in that way was voting for racism and extremism. I’ve specifically said elsewhere that I’m not saying your are racist or even that you actively want a racist government.
If MN think my phrasing is such that it looks like a personal attack I’m happy for them to remove it.

SixtySomething · 13/08/2025 14:10

PrincessJasmine1 · 13/08/2025 12:56

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 :).

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Yes, I agree with what you say. I find it sad that in the UK we seem to have lost pride in ourselves as s nation, quite wrongly, as shown by some people's need to belittle Britain in 'decolonisation'.
It sounds like in Poland you have retained pride in your national identity.
On the other hand, I have personally heard Polish people expressing extreme right wing views and intolerant attitudes.
So I guess it depends who you know!

Mrsbloggz · 13/08/2025 14:11

Yes it was rough in the 70s but we weren't bombarded by billionaires and obscene wealth in the way that we are today.
Struggle is struggle but barely being able to keep your head above water when others have unlimited wealth grinds you down psychologically.
Yes some people deserve more because they are harder working, more entrepreneurial, talented etc but no one is a thousand times more talented or hard-working, no one can be justified in having obscene wealth.

Locutus2000 · 13/08/2025 14:12

What the fuck is with all the constant doomer shite right now?

twistyizzy · 13/08/2025 14:13

cardibach · 13/08/2025 14:09

Just seen the last bit. I didn’t call you racist and extremist. I said voting in that way was voting for racism and extremism. I’ve specifically said elsewhere that I’m not saying your are racist or even that you actively want a racist government.
If MN think my phrasing is such that it looks like a personal attack I’m happy for them to remove it.

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Good but this the last interaction I will have with you. Bullying people and name calling because they disagree with you is classic Labour supporter play book but I won't bear the brunt of it.
Just know that it's comments like yours which push people away from Labour, the nasty air of superiority and put downs of anyone who dares to criticise Labour.
Labour should put their own house in order with regards to anti-semitism and women before calling out others. Screeching "rascist" at everyone doesn't have the effect you think it does.

Noelshighflyingturds · 13/08/2025 14:14

GasPanic · 13/08/2025 10:25

Collapse house prices.

You cannot lower energy costs.
You cannot lower food costs.
You cannot lower import costs (just about everything).
You cannot lower tax (at least you can't if you want the services).

You can lower house prices. Collapsing these would :

Lower rents, so renters have more money.
Stimulate movement as more people could afford houses.
Allow the government to lower public sector wages because living costs would be less.
Lower mortgage costs for new entrants giving them more money to tax/spend.
Plus probably a whole load of other things I haven't thought of.

It would of course screw over anyone who owns a house. But this is the wealthiest section of society anyway and the money has to come from somewhere.

At the end of the day the middle class are going to be the ones that pay for this, it's just a matter of how you take the money.

I’m actually not bothered if House prices collapse as a homeowner fundamentally the money is gonna go to the kids anyway so if it means that they get the houses they want for less it’s pretty irrelevant What I paid for mine.
It swings and roundabouts I’m massively over earnt for the amount of effort and application I dedicated to my job.
It’ll all come out in the wash.

EasternStandard · 13/08/2025 14:14

twistyizzy · 13/08/2025 14:13

Good but this the last interaction I will have with you. Bullying people and name calling because they disagree with you is classic Labour supporter play book but I won't bear the brunt of it.
Just know that it's comments like yours which push people away from Labour, the nasty air of superiority and put downs of anyone who dares to criticise Labour.
Labour should put their own house in order with regards to anti-semitism and women before calling out others. Screeching "rascist" at everyone doesn't have the effect you think it does.

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Yes I’d disengage. Hounding people won’t help.

Tabitha005 · 13/08/2025 14:18

Thames Water looking likely to be purchased by a Chinese company. FFS.

I'm fucking sick of the UK, frankly. We just LOVE selling off our infrastructure into private ownership and permitting private equity a free rein to hoover up as much as possible, resulting in uber-aggressive profit-driven business models that couldn't give a fuck about the customer (vets being my latest bug-bear in this respect).

suitcasesarepacked · 13/08/2025 14:19

CaptainMyCaptain · 13/08/2025 10:27

Exactly what I was going to say. That and the very real threat of nuclear war in the early 80s.

ETA bombs going off on the UK mainland in the 70s and early 80s.

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The UK joined the EEC in 1973 and left in 2020. Funny how the good times fall within that time period.

Foolsgold74 · 13/08/2025 14:21

BIossomtoes · 13/08/2025 10:12

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

You would if you were old enough to remember the 1970s. It’s cyclical, we’ve had four decades of prosperity, now we’re in the downturn part of the cycle again.

I grew up in the 70s. It was great. No Internet meant no violent pornography available 24/7, so men's minds weren't as porn-soaked. Lower expectations of what happiness meant, so no constant re-decorating the house, buying new cars, going on flash holidays, eating salmon and avocados every day. No gentle parenting bullshit. A country that wasn't over-populated, so you could go to the dr, dentist, school, hospital. Drugs not on every street. I could literally go on and on. It wasn't perfect but it was a whole heap better than what we've got today.

TheKeatingFive · 13/08/2025 14:22

suitcasesarepacked · 13/08/2025 14:19

The UK joined the EEC in 1973 and left in 2020. Funny how the good times fall within that time period.

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To be fair, the 60s were a better time in the uk than the late 70s.

GingerBeverage · 13/08/2025 14:22

IcedPurple · 13/08/2025 14:08

What I was trying to say is that hands on jobs and caring, technical hands on, STEM basically have a bit of a buffer for our children.
You can't use a robot to do a hands-on diagnosis of a pet.
You can't use a robot to do the plumbing under the sink or rewire a main circuit board.

I recently listened to a long interview with Geoffrey Hinton, one of the founders of AI. He was highly pessimistic about the effect it will have on employment. When asked what advice he would give to his children he said 'Train to be a plumber'.

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Do you have the link plz?

EasternStandard · 13/08/2025 14:22

@twistyizzyI didn’t mean you for that last part btw but agree with you.

twistyizzy · 13/08/2025 14:23

EasternStandard · 13/08/2025 14:22

@twistyizzyI didn’t mean you for that last part btw but agree with you.

I know, thanks 😊

Julen7 · 13/08/2025 14:24

twistyizzy · 13/08/2025 14:05

If you only have a choice of 2 parties then if you want 1 of them out you only have 1 other option. Why is this so hard for people to grasp? We don't live in liberal metropolitan areas with a board range of options, each standing a chance of getting in.

You have called me rascist and extremist so I will report your comment because it's against MN rules.

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I reported it also

cardibach · 13/08/2025 14:26

twistyizzy · 13/08/2025 14:13

Good but this the last interaction I will have with you. Bullying people and name calling because they disagree with you is classic Labour supporter play book but I won't bear the brunt of it.
Just know that it's comments like yours which push people away from Labour, the nasty air of superiority and put downs of anyone who dares to criticise Labour.
Labour should put their own house in order with regards to anti-semitism and women before calling out others. Screeching "rascist" at everyone doesn't have the effect you think it does.

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I didn’t bully you. And just so you know I reported my own post because it had bothered you - I can see how I perhaps didn’t word it clearly. I think the rest stands though, and isn’t bullying.

IcedPurple · 13/08/2025 14:26

GingerBeverage · 13/08/2025 14:22

Do you have the link plz?

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Here you are! It's a long interview but worth every minute, even though what Hinton has to say is really quite alarming.

BurntBroccoli · 13/08/2025 14:27

BIossomtoes · 13/08/2025 10:12

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

You would if you were old enough to remember the 1970s. It’s cyclical, we’ve had four decades of prosperity, now we’re in the downturn part of the cycle again.

Four decades of prosperity? We haven’t had this since 2010 and Tory enforced austerity (while stripping back NHS funding and councils).
We also had Brexit which has undoubtedly been a disaster for this country.

BurntBroccoli · 13/08/2025 14:29

Oh and who do you think privatised Water, transport and energy? Yes Tories.
They also introduced Right To Buy and did not allow councils to build new housing to replace those sold.

Glitchymn1 · 13/08/2025 14:30

Just praying reform won’t get in. They’ll be the same as Labour, but will end the NHS.

Things are pretty bleak but we have social media to thank for that!

MaraB77 · 13/08/2025 14:35

We'll need to prepare for the idea of a Universal Basic Income. There aren't going to be enough jobs.

Carandache18 · 13/08/2025 14:35

Glitchymn1 · 13/08/2025 14:30

Just praying reform won’t get in. They’ll be the same as Labour, but will end the NHS.

Things are pretty bleak but we have social media to thank for that!

They won't. They can't. Farage is the bogy man people are using as a threat because they feel helpless.
I (rural- terrible worried about small family farms and environmental damage being cause by the refusal to use anything but greenfield sites cf. brown for both building and solar) will change my vote to Green. As will many others, I suspect.
(Please try not to fling too many saucepans at my head.)