Is it too late to turn the uk around?

[Rememberwheneveryoneusedtosaywhatssssup]

Is it too far gone now?

If we don’t rejoin the EU then yes.

A lot of countries have a lot of problems. We are not the only one.

Is it too late to turn the UK around. Yes, I think it is. Even if we get in a government that wants to make changes, the opposition will gang up to bring it down. You'll never get benefit curbs, or get rid of people who have come here and committed heinous crimes. There are too many people who ideological steadfast agendas who will always have backing to stop things.

Look after you and your own. That is all you can do now.

Under this government, the rot will continue. No forward thinking, just stuck in the old give the unions and benefit claimants what they want mentality. No growth, not enough money going into defence because they'd rather it be thrown at parents with more than two kids and bone idle scroungers. The middle ground for legitimate claims fair enough. That's Labour all over for you, there's no balance.

The magical EU where utopia is that way. Is the EU going to stop knife crime?

Or maybe she/he means stop the hate marches?

I agree. Its like the remainers before brexit and the Kamala supporters before Trump. The writings on the wall.

Yes. The country’s descent into irrelevance and a middle income country is done.

Next is humiliation as a self hating woke hellhole where people are locked up for misgendering others before they are dealt with for violent crime, where they can just plead some protected characteristic, and entrance into the league of low income countries.

I don’t know if we can go back to the way we were. Pre 2010 we were a pretty good country and it’s hard to imagine getting back what we had then.

We need to try and not give up!

I for one am not leaving the country whatever happens. It’s my country and I’m going to fight for it, right wing bigots be damned.

I came here to say it is never too late and steps in the right direction are being taken..... then I read many of the responses here and I was quickly reminded on why we got here in the first place! So many people just refuses to acknowledge that UK, and many other West countries, is plagued with big problems that we need to address ASAP.
I think we need to invest heavily on renewables and, till we get there with the renewables, our own gas and oil, whenever possible. That will shield us of much of the finance chaos from Russia/ Iran wars, Venezuela's oil and any other wars to come. We need to get back manufacturing our own goods. That will create jobs, keep young people happy and productive and translate in growth. We cannot carry on buying everything from miles across the globe, shipping it through sea routes and air spaces that are at war.
Whether you are left or right minded, I think we can all see that we have to push for British manufacturing. I am left, so I will favour national companies. Our national energy, military weapons (that sadly we need), ships, IT and AI developments, better personal transport (EV, but personally I would bet for hydrogen fuel cell). Let's jump on top of the wave of change with our British companies. A natiinal owned company that is run as efficiently as private investors one is what we need. But, even if the company is not nationalised, in the meantime is British and independant, the money and jobs will stay in UK. And that is what we need.
Labour is doing well, in my opinion.
But Starmer is acting against them. He has worked hard to tangle himself with Mandelson and his unrecorded meeting with Palantir, for example. Palantir will take our money abroad. Contracting them will not create that many jobs in UK. Why can we not make our own IT/AI company? That will employ our nationals and that will ensure our military AI and NHS and police, or any other IT based service are completely safe? It should be a 100% British job, made by our people, no access from any outside server to fix issues or install updates or whatever.
Rachel Reeves had to promp her colleagues to contract British companies recently. But this should be the policy from Starmer himself.
We need to keep the tax payer money invested in UK, create jobs, jobs paid well enough to scrap the benefit system to only those unemployed or disable, improve services ( NHS, potholes, roads, edycation..), then the social tension will ease.

Before what? Before we had peace, the NHS, rights for women and minorities, social security perhaps? None of these things are perfect, but I don’t think I want our country to be without them.

Agree with this point.

I don't think we should have left and it's a massive loss. However rejoining will not magically fix many of the problems we face. It a solution which comes with it's own problems especially as rejoining will not look like remaining. The two are completely different beasts and there's issues within this difference which are negative for the UK too.

Great post Red - absolutely agree.

No not too late. Just need to get a govt that has some clue about how the economy actually works and a little respect for work and wealth.

Reading some of these responses, we have the country people want.

Most people don’t seem to care about declining living standards, declining global influence, an economy on fire, fewer big companies and less economic activity. As long as they can champion ‘diversity’, fly pride flags, tell everyone what their pronouns are, and strain every sinew to find some kind of disadvantage or disability to tick ever box on the intersectionality wheel. Basically find every kind of disadvantage and generally follow the cult of woke.

It’s all about priorities. And they have chosen theirs. While the sane minded people loom on in bemusement and now increasing horror. Looking for an escape route and leave these people to indulge each other while fighting over scraps.

Too late for what?

Why are there some people hell-bent on making out that the UK is in a crisis. Usually as a prelude to how the current government is crap and how Reform are the answer to the country's problems.

This is pure fiction in your head.

Probably too late. We are a shitty little backwater and becoming poorer by the day. Hurray for Brexit! Next we'll be seeing the effect of holding the triple lock for far too long for the 'luckiest generation' while working people suffer... Delayed retirements for all!

But yet, we'll continue to sell each other overpriced houses (that is after all what our economy is based on) and pretend everything is okay for at least another decade before it all sinks in. This is not a blip, we are a poor country.

No, denial in yours.

The UK - the western world, actually - has always peaked and troughed. Modernity has it that the current predicament is the worst ever faced, but it's really not. No where near! Over consumption of social media will have you believe all sorts of nonsense. The internet is the home of hysteria.

Really, the only thing you can improve is your own lot in life. It sounds very simplistic because it is, however getting off the internet more will genuinely improve your mood and your outlook. I promise you that no one in the real world is going to tell you their enjoyment of a stroll to the coffee shop was ruined because they couldn't stop thinking about brexit. Or that a good session in the sack with their man was tainted by the thought of Nigel Farage.

The buzz words are a cop out for people living in denial. Reform and Brexit sick - of hearing about them as the dark destroyer and saviour respectively.

I think we may still have enough to put our economy back together, bringing back manufacturing and using the current challenges as an apportunity (AI looming.... ler's make our own AI)
But the further we leave it, more skills we will lose and more difficult it will be, plus we will have less capital.

This. A lot of this country is an absolute shitstorm at the moment, mainly due to the failures of a lot of governments - including the current one.

So what country are you living in OP?

(Second time of asking)

I think I know where you are coming from on this Gertrude. But to a large extent those who hold this nostalgia for how things were are really one of the biggest things holding back and attempt to solve the nations problems.

So much has changed both externally and internally since 2010 that we cannot just roll the clock back. Very significant change is required.

So many well meaning people are quick to criticise Farage etc. I don't like him much either. But until we have a common acceptance by a majority that the route we are pursuing - high taxes, high spending, low growth - is just a recipe for long term decline that decline will continue.

What is necessary is for all the nice people, like you, to recognise this fact (for it is a fact) and then act on it.

Recognising and acting on this reality does not need to be the same thing as supporting Farage/Lowe etc.

Last night DH received an AI written report for something. It was produced by someone who apparently is intelligent. I have never seen such absolute drivel in my life. It's not my field but I could have easily written better.

I do think we have a national problem with slipping standards, corner cutting, lazy attitudes and wanting a quick fix to everything.

Culturally a lot of the problems we currently face as a nation are due to people wanting an easy life and avoiding dealing with problems properly. We have chosen a generation of politicians where this is all they do. It is across the political spectrum.

There is poor accountability and proper oversight on so many things. People don't both to understand problems properly which is basic level management.

It's a middle management gap. We have the ability to change this, but I'm not sure we are ready to do this or want to. All political options we currently have are actually the same in this context. The public do have the power to change this, but we need to stop being lazy. It will hit a crunch point at some point and change will happen but right now we aren't at that point. These things come in cycles. The question is how long it goes on before we get there.