To think life in the UK feels meaner, sadder and more dangerous than it did two or three years ago?

[DervlaGlass]

Out on Friday night and it felt grim - chaotic, angry kids and huge groups of men just hanging around with nothing to do and nowhere to go

I know that's just one night but the sentiment just feels wretched day to day. Angry customer services staff getting abused by nasty customers and on and on it all goes. Job market dead, getting a GP appointment a pipe dream, statistically high earners can't afford a one bed flat on many cities.

When are things going to pick up? Or am I perceiving irrationally?

Theres a lot to unpick there OP.

I certainly haven't experienced any of the angry idle crowds you talk of. On a night out I've only seen happy people. I encountered plenty of angry people when I first worked in customer services many years ago. Health service and housing issues are well documented and long standing especially in different areas. There have been impoverished communities in every decade since the war and below.

If you live long enough you'll realise some things get better whilst some things get worse

Its a generalisation and obviously there have always been mean people in all ages but in general I agree with you.

Britain feels a much poorer, more aggressive and more hostile place than even five years ago. There’s still much to love bur the overwhelming public mood is grim and depressing.

There’s still much to love about it but the general sense of self esteem and optimism we had 20 years ago has completely disappeared.

We’re down not out and we will bounce back but I can’t see it happening anytime soon.

Everyone thinks they are the star of the show. They have been gaslighted into thinking that being considerate to others is them ‘compromising’ their ‘true self’.

There was even a thread on here where grown women were getting in a state because people were being considerate and queuing for photos at landmarks. What sort of cunt wants to be in other persons photo? Narcissist that’s who!

@DervlaGlass yes there is a lot to unpack in your post

So I'm going to focus on the Friday night aspect. I have had many Friday nights in my lifetime LOL. Sometimes you do notice a really weird vibe. I can tell you this from two years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago.

I don't know what it is. But with Friday and Saturday night in particular, I think it happens. Maybe it's the alcohol factor. You have no idea how things are gonna turn.

I can actually still remember a couple of Friday nights that were just really wrong and we headed home early. One time my male friend actually insisted on waiting outside the ladies for me because there was a really aggressive group of women in the bar just trying to start arguments.

It was like they were discreet enough not to be thrown out, but they were trying to pick on people.

We spoke to the staff on the way out and they said something like "yes it's a really strange vibe in here tonight"

Sorry that was long

But I have found that sometimes you emerge from a bar or a restaurant and just a mood on the street is wrong.

With regards to the rest of your post, yeah I agree many people are in a permanent rage since lockdown. But I'm not sure how much of it is related to increase drug use. Or different types of drugs. Whenever there's a nostalgic 90s thread on here, it always comes up that people used to take drugs to get happy or to get mellow. In more recent years, there's actually a deliberate attempt to get aggressive. And I think drugs are made differently so they're more likely to make you aggressive.

A sidenote that I've heard from hospitality and retail staff, for the daytime, the fact that people are caffeinated all the time is a huge problem. I don't know why people think coffee is such an essential. I do think the world was mellower without so much drinking coffee.

Disagree - coffee is amazing. I don't think it's coffee the difficult customers are on...

What sort of cunt expects other people to stop getting on with their lives so said cunt can take a photograph? Narcissists, that's what.

People have lost hope.

Neither the present PM nor the even more useless Leader of the Opposition seem able to give them any. So, enter "you know who".

Frankly, I'm getting nostalgic for Boris.

Me too, at least you could laugh at him to cheer yourself up

Well there was nothing mean, sad or dangerous on the streets of Twickenham last night.
Lots of drunk men and women for sure, but everyone was celebrating the rugby World Cup win and it was joyful.
Perhaps we should become a nation of rugby fans.

There is a lot of joy and happiness. But we are going through a dark period where the far right are using social media to spread hate and fear. We need to stand firm and reject that

Sounds grim. I'm very glad I live in the countryside and very rarely have cause to go into a city or big town after dark.

I'm very wary of the Britain is awful argument because of where is predominantly comes from- right wing columnists who don't even live here.

I don't ever go out on a Friday night so can't really speak to that but I've don't have a problem getting a GP appointment and people I meet are generally pleasant.

Been like this since covid times

Yeah, it’s probably area dependent. I emigrated from the UK last year so my experience might be outdated, but I was having great nights out in Hackney Wick, Finsbury Park and Shoreditch last summer. No meanness and aggression around. I did have a horrible experience in Camden but honestly that was a shithole when I first moved to London in the early 2010s. Nothing to do with the last couple of years / new Labour government.

I hear you, OP. I was in a London suburb high street yesterday, that had mainly minority ethnicity families going about their day. Two English men suddenly screamed some rubbish really loudly. Nothing racist, they just did it to unsettle everyone and then laughed.

They ruined the atmosphere within seconds.

Boris who legged it off into the sunset leaving his shit for everyone else to clear up you mean??

Very short memory.

I think it's very hard for people when COL has risen so much and there isnt much in the way of bright spots on the horizon. People need to feel hopeful about the future and many dont right now.

Things aren’t going to pick up, that’s the problem 😬

It's poorer and there's more hopelessness so it's inevitable really.

I think Trump and angry, right-wing men have a lot to do with it. You've got the likes of Farage, emboldened by Trump's extremism, spewing hatred and trying to cause division amongst us all. Times are not good.

And we are all getting poorer as a result of the billionaire class. Looking at Elon fucking Musk and his lot.

Oh for sure. Boris Johnson the lying, cheating, self interested philanderer who switched sides to bring us Brexit purely for his own gain. Boris Johnson who offered to help his friend, Darius Guppy, (who was subsequently sentenced to jail for 5 years for fraud) break another journalists ribs. Yeah, those were the days. I almost split my sides laughing.

Elon Musk has nothing to do with the UK. It's lazy to trot this kind of thing out.

We need to find areas of the economy that can be supported for growth. The government seems not to understand this/be lacking the skills to make it happen.

Hmmm, does anyone else remember the early 2000s? Hoodies out to mug you, happy slapping, gangs of youths drinking white lightning in the park, chav culture, ASBOs - you don’t see as much of this now. But equally there is less of the good stuff now - parties, face to face interaction, chatting on the phone, browsing the shops on a Saturday morning with friends. It just feels a bit like a grey void with everyone on the verge of emotional collapse.

We also need to stop obsessing about the US. Whatever chaos is going on over there isn't helpful, we need to distance ourselves as much as possible. That means acting like grown-ups on things like the economy/defense. We cannot be relying on them for these crucial things.