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?

If we want to change things in the UK we need radical policy change. Otherwise we just end up stumbling on the way we are.

I would prefer that radical policy change to come from the Tories or Labour. But they are both completely paralysed by indecision.

Truss wanted to enact radical policy change, fucked up the process and now everyone is running scared of trying anything different.

So we can either stay as we are boiling frogs going onwards to a long slow death. Or take a roll of the dice and get a 6 or maybe a 1.

Depends on your outlook I guess. But many people are edging towards Reform because neither Tories or Labour are actually a) doing anything different or b) living up to their promises. They both seem to think they can lie continuously and then just spin away the promises.

If Reform win it's because Labour and the Tories are failing. Not because Reform offer any coherent or credible solution.

Well by the metrics upon which the economy is measured then yeh, pretty much.

The whataboutery is just a distraction. Will you still be blaming Tories in 4 years when Labour have failed to deliver? At what point will you accept they are fucking up?

FYI they have now cancelled the 1000 new careers advisors for schools which were promised in manifesto and they have relealised their "free" breakfast clubs are hugely underfunded (even though they claimed they were "fully costed") so they are begging for sponsors in return for promotion. So turning children's breakfasts into a marketing opportunity for private companies!

I know Emma and although that interview was a carcrash, it was so out of character for her as to be bizarre. She's an excellent constituency MP.

Whenever we went on holiday in the 70’s (never abroad as that was what the few people “with money” did) I hated the journey as we almost always broke down at least once in our crappy car, rusty car

👏👏👏

And extra 👏 for being a sweary OAP.

The irony of your post. You’ve been ageist yourself here - but it’s okay when it’s against the younger generation, right?

Edited To Add.

Admittedly, the lack of a capital B at the start of bomb doesn’t help.

I'm stating an indisputable fact and I'm tired of Reform supporters repeating the same bs. Reform have less than a handful of MPs and their councillors are a joke. Farage hasn't done anything for his constituency so it's doubtful he'd retain his seat. You seem to believe it's a certainty that Reform will get over 300 seats at the next election in four years.

Labour have been in power for one year. It's not 'whataboutery' to point out that it's impossible to fix 14 years of Tory incompetence, exacerbated by global events, in that time.

Can you give some concrete evidences of how the economy is 'demonstrably worse' than it was under the last (Sunak) government?

I think @Blossomtoes has hit the nail on the head re. expectations.

Whatever makes you get through the next few years. And keeps you a fan of this train crash of a government.

But it isn't an "indisputable fact" is it? It's your opinion. Your opinion doesn't = fact.
Yes they've only got a tiny number of MPs now but you are missing the whole protest vote thing. Like I said, Labour have lost most of the Red Wall.

Never mind, neither of us will change our opinions at this stage, we just have to try and survive next 4 years and then see what happens.

We’d be in a much better position if the Tories hadn’t had to deal with the shit show left by Blair and Brown.

May I suggest that a lot of the pessimism is solely a result of the media.

actually if you look for positive stories, policies, advancements and developments there is an awful lot of good stuff happening. You’re just sucking up the gloom fed to you by the daily mail. That’s not actually an accurate reflection of where we are now.

In the 70s most teenagers had never been on a plane. I certainly hadn't and didn't know many in my age group who'd been abroad at all.

My dad used to buy a car a couple of weeks before we went on holiday.

It would always be a crappy rustbucket, and he would spend all the nights in the garage before the holiday fixing it. Normally swearing a lot in the process and only managing to complete the work a couple of hours before we were due to go.

The cars would last maybe a year or so and then basically the engine would explode and have to get towed away.

I don't ever recall breaking down anywhere though (at least on the holiday trips) so +++points for dad on that one.

I run the figures through and your numbers don't add up.
To determine the tax-free allowance and tax bands applicable to an average teacher's salary of £9,700 in England for the 1983-84 tax year, we can use the available data on income tax allowances and rates from that period.
Tax-Free Allowance (Personal Allowance)
For the 1983-84 tax year:
Single Person's Allowance: £1,785
Married Man's Allowance: £2,795 (if the teacher was married and claiming this allowance)
This means that a single teacher could earn £1,785 tax-free, while a married teacher (with no working spouse or claiming the married allowance) could earn £2,795 tax-free.
Tax Bands and Rates
Income tax was applied to taxable income (income above the personal allowance) at the following rates for 1983-84:
Basic Rate: 30% on taxable income up to £12,800
Higher Rate Bands:
40% on taxable income from £12,801 to £15,100
45% on taxable income from £15,101 to £19,100
50% on taxable income from £19,101 to £25,300
55% on taxable income from £25,301 to £31,500
60% on taxable income above £31,500
Investment Income Surcharge: An additional 15% was applied to investment income exceeding £6,250, but this is unlikely to apply to a teacher's salary.
Applying to an Average Teacher's Salary (£9,700)
Let’s calculate the taxable income and tax liability for a teacher earning £9,700, assuming two scenarios: single and married (claiming the married man's allowance).
Scenario 1: Single Teacher
Personal Allowance: £1,785
Taxable Income: £9,700 - £1,785 = £7,915
Tax Calculation:
The entire taxable income (£7,915) falls within the basic rate band (£0 to £12,800).
Tax = £7,915 × 30% = £2,374.50
Net Income After Tax: £9,700 - £2,374.50 = £7,325.50
Scenario 2: Married Teacher (claiming Married Man's Allowance)
Personal Allowance: £2,795
Taxable Income: £9,700 - £2,795 = £6,905
Tax Calculation:
The entire taxable income (£6,905) falls within the basic rate band (£0 to £12,800).
Tax = £6,905 × 30% = £2,071.50
Net Income After Tax: £9,700 - £2,071.50 = £7,628.50
Summary
Tax-Free Allowance: £1,785 (single) or £2,795 (married).
Tax Bands Applied: For a £9,700 salary, only the basic rate of 30% applies to taxable income up to £12,800.
Tax Paid:
Single: £2,374.50 (net income: £7,325.50)
Married: £2,071.50 (net income: £7,628.50)
These calculations assume no additional allowances (e.g., for age or other reliefs) or deductions like National Insurance, which would further reduce net income but are not detailed here due to limited specific data for 1983.

Just because it was shit in the 1970s doesn’t mean it should be shit now. I loathe that attitude. “I had it shit so you should too.” Get lost.

Expectations regarding standard of living should be higher.

I don’t live in the U.K. anymore. I think the standard of living is very poor. I also think the British people are being taken for a ride by water, energy and food retailers. High costs are certainly not unique to the U.K. but you’ve got shitty rivers and beaches fgs.

My mother arrived in the 1960s from a European country (to marry my English father) and she was shocked and appalled at the standard of living then in the U.K.

Quality of housing is poor. Huge profits are made by construction companies whilst people struggle and struggle and struggle.

It really doesn’t have to be this way.

It’s not certain but it’s also possible. It will be unprecedented for a party to go from one to the other in seats but they’ve shown they can poll it in a year so it’s not a timing problem. Ie they have enough time.

It is important to remember this.

Labour have been a bit ham fisted and made some mistakes but their policies need more time.

We definitely have a collective productivity issue in this country.

And if Blair and Brown hadn't had to deal with the way Thatcher destroyed the fabric of UK society by smashing the economy in the North and creating generations of jobless people, as well as selling off all the council houses and creating today's horrific housing bubble. And the fallout from Major's disastrous Black Wednesday.

Modern cars have made this such a relative rarity that it’s become something of an entertainment piece for the young upstarts. I took my goddaughter away for a weekend a couple of years ago in my beloved but temperamental 30-year-old campervan, and by far one of the highlights etched into her memory is being broken down on a Norfolk side road at dusk, sitting in a field watching the bats coming out of roost waiting for the RAC to arrive, and then being towed by a big truck to a local pub car park, where I bought her a banana split 😂

Of course it's an indisputable fact. It's not certain that the next government will be Reform and I have already explained why. I doubt Farage will even be an MP in 2029 never mind get over 300 seats. You're living in cloud cuckoo land.

The fiscal time bomb has been ticking for a lot longer than the duration of the current government.

Council housing should never have been sold off ,there would be more affordable housing and the UC bill would be a lot less because working people wouldn't need a top for rent.
If someone is on UC and in private rental the bulk of their claim goes to a private landlord and the claimant isn't recieving thousands of pounds.