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?

You’re reaching for the usual lines. Happy to debate if it’s not just ‘no critical thinking’ nonsense. Or as for replies to @strawberrybubblegumstump up a plan or it’s not valid.

You’re reaching for the usual lines.

And you aren't?

Or as for replies to @strawberrybubblegumstump up a plan or it’s not valid.

I don't know what this means

Wisest post on the entire thread. If only. Maybe we’ll get a coalition government in 2029 and it will become reality.

I can only live in hope!

@strawberrybubblegumis making sense.

At a macro level, I don’t know but take solice in the boom / bust cycle theory from other posters. At a micro level, I think we’ve got to sort ourselves out a bit. Our expectations are a huge drain on healthcare, we litter and don’t value community anymore, our attitude to children and older people is shit and we’ve made our lives way way too busy for us to be healthy and happy. Obvs huge generalisations but I don’t think we’ve got things right.

@smugmugg "These debates are so pointless, I don't understand the tribal politics & lack of critical thinking, the issues the country is facing need years to sort with cross party solutions".
THIS I agree with 100% . But its been illustrated so well on here that the die hard Labour supporters won't accept anything other than their own pov.

I've personally moved on from being a tribal Labour supporter to a centre right position and I'm ashamed that I was one of the entrenched Labour-ites a few years ago. That's way lies nothing though.

Cross party is 100% what we need but unfortunately people are digging in more than ever hence any criticism on here is met with chants of: rascist/bot/Russia/dark money etc. You simply can't achieve cross party agreement under that atmosphere. Labour supporters assume they are automatically right, simply by being Labour supporters, they feel intellectually and morally superior and look down on everyone else as being less intelligent/rational etc. Many accusations on this post about lack of intelligence/ftutcases/being a dick purely for disagreeing with them.

^^ are the reasons many are frustrated with Labour

UK progressives have a compulsion to just give away other people's money without thought or judgement. They think that makes them good people. They're wrong. Our society is much worse for everyone as a result of that childish compulsion.

The welfare state was devised so that society has a safety net and everyone is protected. We all pay into it and everyone can benefit from it: from the cradle to the grave. A lot of thought went into it and it has benefited society, we are a lot better off for it.

It's a very right wing view to call the NHS or pensions 'a childish compulsion' and write them off as giving away other people's money. That's how taxes work, they don't just explicitly benefit the individual. Obviously you don't believe in society but the individual and I'm not surprised to see you cherry picking information from Nordic countries.

You're perfectly aware that the NHS is failing and we have millions on waiting lists. If not, do an internet search and look it up. It stands to reason therefore, that it's going to have a knock on effect and one of those effects is people being unable to work due to a delay in treatment or treatment being unavailable. Widening deprivation is also having a costly and detrimental effect.

So mostly under Tories…

I am saying that by the standards they accused Truss of crashing the economy, Labour have also ie gilts/bonds.

Non Doms are not leaving in their droves

https://www.ft.com/content/14420f4a-06e0-40f6-b5b1-c4e0a36565f0

Fears of a massive non-dom exodus from the UK have been allayed by initial tax data, which suggests that total numbers leaving the country are in line with — or even below — official forecasts.

You agree that a cross party approach is what’s needed and then follow it with a whole tribalist diatribe. What a brilliant illustration of how hard it would be. It would only work if entrenched party politics were left at the door.

Yes there’s no point in asking for the first part if you do that last part.

They will be getting us to fund the NHS via insurance premiums for healthcare. I suppose there will be a very minimally tax payer funded Medicaid type system for those who can’t afford the premiums.

I am writing about this thread and the accusations thrown at people challenging Labour. Not hard to miss if you search through.

It sort of proves my point, all sides are now too entrenched. There is no common ground because neither side will give in.

Fine words but the reality is far from this.

The are right wing posters on here who will never ever criticise the Tories, even over Truss or Brexit.

I once asked on here if anyone can point to a single public service that improved or even stayed static in the Tories 14 years in office... no one could answer with a positive.

I don't warm to Starmer and i certainly don't agree with some of his policies, WFA, Farm IHT but on Business NI?
What was the alternative? reverse Hunts NI cuts ... and take £100's out of consumer pockets?

Would have cased huge damage, sparking wage demands and even higher inflation...

Schools NHS Roads. PO/Blood scandal, free childcare... all need vast amounts of money, if not Business NI, where does it come from?

Nope not true, plenty left/centre left criticise Labour, we don't see that on this thread or others from the 'right, they wont hear a bad word against Sunak or even Reform...

Anything the 'right can't argue against, results in names, "Hysterical" being a favourite, straight from Trumps playbook... usually thrown from men towards women or to the 'left.

All the established parties can probably rely less on loyal voters anyway. The newer parties will change the landscape.

They will. And that gives me hope.

Employers NI ultimately hits workers. It is passed down the line because business's simply couldn't "absorb" the cost like Reeves expected.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have been necessary if Hunt hadn’t bestowed an unfunded cut in employees’ NI as a pre election bribe.

You need to factor in the attacks too. Sunak was constantly vilified on here by Labour posters for being corrupt and in the pocket of his very rich father-in-law, improperly making rules to benefit his wife etc.

These accusations were baseless and, in my view, partly motivated by racism.

People criticising Starmer’s freebies, as a contrary example, are dealing with the acknowledged truth. Of course, there are also some baseless and silly attacks on Labour by right-wing posters.

The reality is that politics is a tribal thing. The left won’t ever admit anything good done by the right and vice versa.

Or to put it another way, Labour supporters are no fairer or open minded than any other posters.

Hunt did his best to fuck this country up.

Rachel could have reversed it if she really wanted to!

But the reason wasn't a "pre election bribe", it was part of a bigger picture to "make work pay" by reducing taxes paid ONLY by workers.

Of course it was a pre election bribe. I wasn’t born yesterday even if you were.

True it would have taken some honesty though. Not the we won’t raise taxes pre GE sell in.