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?

And that 13% need to give their head a wobble.

That doesn't translate into the majority wanting a racist party in power though. They don't, despite some of the racist poison that is constantly dripped all over MN.

My Dad remembers the interest rate being, say 10% at breakfast and up to 15% by lunchtime

It wasn’t quite as bad as that! I do remember the day in the early 90s when it went up to 17% and I was nearly sick on my shoes.

They are the die hards

Well people have to vote for someone…

You couldn't go to uni for free by the late '90s, and you definitely couldn't just walk into a good job. I graduated in 1996 and it took me a couple of years of grafting and unpaid work before I finally managed to get a job in the sector I wanted (media). I had a good degree from a top university.

Houses were cheaper, but still out of reach for a lot of people on a normal salary in the south-east. The only people I (middle class, privately educated) knew who bought houses in their early 20s had help from their parents.

I think you might be looking back with rose-tinted specs tbh!

Yep it could work again. Against Labour.

How are you proposing to collapse house prices?

You could potentially add a wealth tax, which included residential property. They tend to result in an exodus of the people who can actually increase productivity though.

Surely you're not proposing property theft by the government? You know how badly that usually ends, don't you?

How do you know, where is your data to support that statement that it's not the majority?
Anyone I know who is saying they will vote Reform is doing so as 100% protest vote cos around here it's the only way of getting Labour out. They aren't doing it because they love Farage etc, it's because they loathe Labour! But that's just anecdotal.

I partly agree with this. I think it's a strong possibility rather than a certainty though. The current government clearly were handed the poison chalis.

Frankly as long as it works against Reform I don’t care. I’d vote Tory to avert a Reform government.

All of this.

I just think it’s worse now.

as I say my parents live in a beautiful house now. They can retire and are cash rich. Lots of savings.

in 20 years time… I just can’t see myself retired and living in the equivalent house. I’m in my 40s and I’ve only just finished paying my student loan off 🤣

I doubt I’ll be able to retire in my 60s. My pension pot is awful at moment and certainly nowhere near enough. And I’m lucky as I have a decent work contribution.

I don’t own a car as I can’t afford my own. My and husband share. I can’t downsize like my parents as I’m still in my first home. It’s what most would consider a starter home.

my parents are very well off now…

I just cannot see the same for us when I’m their age

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

I mean, things aren't great, but 5 years ago we were in the middle of a pandemic and you weren't allowed to stand next to people. This isn't worse than that.

Remember some basic facts:

Labour has been in power for just over one year.

The Conservatives were in power for fourteen years, mostly adopting the policies now advocated by Reform - cutting spending, Brexit, obsessing over immigration.

Thinking that Farage ( the architect of Brexit) will improve the country has no logic behind it at all.

Tax rises for middle income earners coming meaning this country’s position is now firmly a socialist one,

Income tax bands have never been more generous than they are today. When I started work in the 1980s there were proper bands - tax rate started at 30% and rose through 40%, 45% etc up to 60%. In 1983, for example, a teacher on an average salary for a teacher would be paying 45% on part of their earnings. These days someone on a salary the same as that of a middle band teacher is paying 20% on all of their income.

It's this obsession with cutting taxes over the last 20 years that has helped us on our way to being a broken country.

It probably will. Tories and Reform will team up - given that Reform ARE the former right of the Tories, that government is likely to be the exact same shit show it was under the last four - sorry, five, forgot about Truss for a moment there - Tory PMs.

'1950s housewife' is a popular term in some areas. Perhaps it's worth thinking more what that means. They had food rationing then and men were encouraged to grow their own vegetables and build their own furniture to save money, while the 'little woman' sewed and darned to her heart's content in the evening while listening to the radio. No 'fun money' needed.
Single people lodging in a single room and baths scheduled for once a week. Cold water to wash in the morning.
Were times really easier then?
I think we need a sense of proportion and to count our blessings

You don’t collapse the house market, it just adjusts because people can only afford what they can afford.

A family inherit a house, it has to be sold to split the money, you need to sell it because after a while it starts costing money, and IHT/solicitor fees are going up. So you lower the price or it goes to auction.

We are SE house prices are falling, not by a great deal but if you want to sell, and people need to move, most listings go to reduced before selling, two ABAB properties, not even up and running two years are back on the market.

If there is no one to buy the house it’s effectively worthless, a heap of bricks and grass you have to pay council tax on.

No jobs, no buoyant housing market.

Don’t forget about Jezza. I saw a poll that suggested his party would unseat Starmer. How ironic would that be.

As a Gen X and immigrant, I am really struggling with the rapid pace of change. Like most immigrants, my family is obsessed with education. I inherited that and encouraged education and hard work in my DC. But now first class degrees from top unis- or even 'safe' jobs like.medicine or engineering-often mean nothing. AI is a great leveller.

And then neighbourhood groups rattling on about suspicious young brown men whom they want to report...😩One of those may well be my son.

It would be ironic, but I reckon there's a lot more chance of Reform getting in than Jezza's progressive party. Unfortunately.

I think that what is happening in this country is the same all over the world I don't think we are any different. Everybody suffered the same with Covid but everyone thinks we were hit worse but I don't see it like that.
In the 70s women were 2nd class, loads of racism, muggings and what used to be known (forgive me ) p**i and queer bashing, ira bombing london no DNA.
I think the world is better now than the 70s.
Message edited by MNHQ

A future Reform government is in no way a certainty. I wish people would stop repeating this BS.

Yep. Women stuck in hideous abusive marriages because they couldn't afford to leave their husbands. Unable to get bank accounts. Marital rape perfectly legal.

A truly golden age!