Quality of Life Today

[Bugsy]

Now this is not meant to be a party political thing, but I want to know whether people think that life in this country has improved in the last decade. I am feeling particularly hacked off today, hideous commute, crappy project and grumpy toddler pre-work but I think my quality of life is slowly going down the toilet.
Since I started working, some 10 years ago, I've watched the tube service get worse, the train service get worse, local hospitals close departments & wards, traffic congestion increase, parking become more difficult & expensive. One way or another through NI, VAT, road tax my tax burden has increased and I can't help wondering what is going on.
Do other people feel like this, or am I just Mrs Misery today? As I say, I am not trying to get at any one political party but I would be interested to know how others feel about their quality of life in the UK over the last 10 years.

Well, Robinw, You have just proved my point, so thank you. Your post was so smug and superior it is untrue. Actually the reason I don't recomend this site is because of you I'm afraid.
And it was certaintly not something "callie made up" when she said you were insulting the way some mumsnetters were brought up. I saw it and so did Janh. If you read her heatfelt post below you will see she has quoted you.

I find it astonishing that you haven't offered your sympathies or support to Janh like the other mums here.
And what about callie? She has written below apologising if she has ever offended you and asking you to put her mind at ease that you are not talking about her. Yet you ignore her.

Do you really not know how you sound. Are you really this uncaring toward others in real life?
Why are you taking your nastiness out on two vunerable woman. Are you too big and better to simply apologise for any misunderstanding or upset you have caused.
Does it somehow give you pleasure to know you are kicking when down, a lonely pregnant woman and a cancer patient.
I some times wonder what this world is coming to.

Iam quite sure you won't see fit to answer my questions robin. I just hope my children never cross paths with someone like you.

I'm sorry if this seems over the top to anyone but as someone who never normally gets involved I can see very clearly who spoils this site and it has made me want to speak out for once.

robinw! I posted nicely to you asking if you could reassure me that you didn't think horrible thinks of me. I apologised to you for any offence and told you I had been in tears by your comments. I really thought we could just clear the air and I could continue to post here without feeling worried what snipe at me would come next.
But to be honest I don't feel I can anymore. Why did you have to say that about me? Iam feeling lonely here on my own with two children and I have just found out iam pregnant again. Iam really missing dh and my baby is sick. The last thing I need right now is this.
I think I'll have to give it a break for a bit, even though I have been looking forward to sharing my pregnancy with everyone, especially, the other pregnant mums. iam sorry that you feel iam that worthless, or underserving.

Callie, you are not worthless or underserving.
don't stop coming here just because of one person.
That is how bullies win. If you need support I know that mumsnet is the place to get it. You are a valuable member of this site and I hope you will ignore robins insults to you and stay.

To , robin, Are you happy now?

Callie, you are not worthless or underserving.
don't stop coming here just because of one person.
That is how bullies win. If you need support I know that mumsnet is the place to get it. You are a valuable member of this site and I hope you will ignore robins insults to you and stay.

To , robin, Are you happy now?

I stopped posting here after the birth of my twins because to be honest i was fed up to the back teeth of robinw and her whole attitude.
I too was one of her "victims" and she seemed to take a dislike to me that quite truthfully frightened me. I just didn't need the hassle so I quit.[plus i have no time anymore.]

I occasionally surf, but have resisted to post till now.

Just want to add my support to janh and callie who have both been very friendly and helpful to me in the past.

For anyone interested I had my babies a month ago.[I was sara7 for some reason my nickname won't work]
Georgia Olivia 5lbs and Harry James 5lbs4oz.
Two weeks early by elective c-section.

robinw, I almost feel sorry for you. You must be really unhappy and bitter to be so nasty.
Is it just vunerable woman you take a dislike to, as I too was pregnant.

I just felt I had to say how sad this thread has made me feel.

Janh, please please please don't leave - your wit and wisdom will be missed, I am so sorry you have had such an awful time over the past year and I know I have felt hurt when postings I've made have been ignored, but on the other hand I've probably been guilty of just skimming over someone's posting meaning to reply when not so busy and then never get around to it.

Callie and Robinw, you are both decent people and it would be a real shame if either of you felt you couldn't post on here again because of a hurtful comment someone might make against you. Robinw, you will see from the bereavement thread that everyone thinks a lot of you and really wanted to be supportive to you at this sad time for your family, perhaps there was no need to drag up the past about what you felt to be 'childish' comments, could you not put all of that behind you? Callie did apologise earlier on this thread and I think you have been upset by other comments said after that, Callie was trying to extend the hand of friendship, it would be good if you could accept it - please?? And don't get your coat either!

Sar71, I've just seen your posting - of course we are interested! Many congratulations, I hope you are recovering well after the c-section.

I think we need a smiley or three on this thread now.

Blimey. What is going on? I thought the whole philosophy of this site was to make parenting easier - not start World War 3. It is a real shame that people are taking offence - whether unwarranted or not - and/or causing offence - whether unwittingly or not. (if that makes sense). Come on girlies. Let's be nice out there.

Agree with Willow2 - what is happening to Mumsnet - it is ironic that there are other threads about the difficulty of making friendships/problems with existing friendships/lonlieness/friends being offensive & off hand etc and then all this happens ! Get a grip, all of us.

I've been in and out of Mumsnet since I don't know when and I'm a bit surprised to see this thread, here on Mumsnet of all places.

In the past if someone was posting something very mildly insulting surely it was ignored??? After all it's hard enough for us all to communicate effectively in the small time we have (ie 'Mums'net) without having the time or energy to rise to 'supposed' cyber putdowns.

I've posted a lot and some of these postings have been very heartfelt and have taken me quite a bit of time to sribe what I actually feel, onto screen without fearing misunderstanding or abuse. This isn't easy and can be quite a put-off in participating in Mumsnet. It's a very difficult thing to do and in my own workplace, people are regularly sent on courses on 'How to communicate effectively via the Net" ie don't have to actually TALK to anyone.....

Please don't be offended. I'm going through an extremely bad time at work, my dh is having a bad time and of course needs so much supporting, my 2.5 year old dd is an an absolute handful between poo training and getting her used to STAYING in her bed at night (her cotbed is now a bed! Yikes), we're right at the end of a BIG extension going on, the builders have been her since first week of November, during the week they started clamberingover the inside and outside of my house I had miscarriage, so that last 4 months have been c*.

I've put posts on Mumsnet and not really had any response, part of which I guess I was looking for but again part of it is actually sitting her at the keyboard and bashing it out.

Please don't get cross at some postings, at least enough to leave Mumsnet, just ignore what you don't like....relax a bit

I hear what your saying mommy. Insults in general can be brushed off. It is the net after all. The main reason I just got fed up though is because robinw was following me around the board and posting put downs to me in a very snide manner. This was happening on threads that had nothing to do with what she was saying, such as potty training. I just figured I didn't have the energy for it anymore, no big deal, so I moved to another site.
Understand totally what Janh is saying about noone else noticing if they were in "her approved circle". When noone challenged the things she were saying that were obviously aimed at me , I just thought sod it . Iam not in the brownies anymore Iam a grown woman. So I just started visiting another site instead.

Sorry Rozzy. I would say but Iam scared robinw might follow me over there. Unlikely but not impossible.
I'll have to be careful or I might get the bug for posting here again.

I'm sure i'm not the only one to find this bizarre. I'm not taking sides but I would point out that Robinw has been a regular poster here for 2 years or so without any of these problems emerging.

My theory on robin is she is quite a bit older than everyone else here. 50, if I remember correctly. Also her child is a bit older too around 7, i think?? Perhaps she has forgotten how hard it is to have babies and young toddlers.

I also think she is bored and unhappy. I don't think she works and her child is at school all day, she lives in the country which she herself says she hates and she is surrounded by "bigots and Bitches" for neighbours. Her words not mine.

no wonder she is bitter and she is taking it out on the younger women here I have noticed. A tad envious of their youth??

Too be honest she is the same age as my mil and I can see where the term MIL ffom hell came from.

No croppy. The problem HAS been there for around a yr at least. That is how long I was here. Like myself and Janh said sometimes her put downs are subtle and cloaked and others don't notice too much. Like yourself for instance.
But don't belittle the problem because it is real to quite a number of woman on mumsnet.
Enid, Lisav, callie, janh, malmomum and myself when I was sara7.
Do you recognise those names croppy? Of course you do because they to have been here for quite some time. Yet they have all been targets of robinw and more than a couple of them seem to have dissapeared lately fed up with the snideness and put downs fron robinw.

Ask any one of those mums what they think of robinw and how she has targeted them and you will see the problem has been alive and well for a long time now.

Oh for goodness sake, grow up.

It is extremely unpleasant reading all these messages of personal abuse and does us no credit. If we can't think of something pleasant to say about someone then we shouldn't say anything at all!! It makes me go cold reading these comments, as it takes me straight back to the bullying and name-calling that went on in the school playground. This is a prime example of people "ganging up" on each other. What sort of example are we setting to our children when we behave like this? I am all for lively debate, but keep the personal insults out of it!!

I think many of us are hypersensitive, because we are going difficult times (I have too, but don't want to elaborate here), but surely that should make us more sensitive to other people's feelings and not so quick to judge and take offence.

I've only recently plucked up the courage to start posting on Mumsnet, being a somewhat sensitive soul, but I am typing this with trepidation, wondering if it will be my last post!

This is absolutely amazing.... and it's always the same names that keep popping up !
As Gracie said : GROW UP!

Also I believe Enid is on holiday so don't go jumping to conclusions as to why she isn't posting !

We?ve been saddened to read some of the comments on this thread. It is our general policy to allow Talk to be self-policing, although we do have moderators who keep an eye out for offensive material and/or dangerous information. However several members, as well as our moderators, have written to us to ask us to do something about this thread. I?m not terribly sure what we can do apart from draw everyone?s attention to our philosophy as stated on the opening Talk page (and reproduced below). Mumsnet was founded as a community of parents helping each other out. I hope you agree that personal attacks have no place in this community and that we can leave this thread alone from now on and get back to the real job of mumsnet which is to support and encourage each other and make all our lives easier.

The mumsnet team

A word about our philosophy
The idea of mumsnet is that by pooling knowledge and experience, parents make the job of parenting easier. Please bear in mind that issues to do with parenting can be very sensitive and that everyone has the right to make their own choices when it comes to bringing up their kids. As far as possible we would ask you to respect other people's right to choose, even if you disagree with them. After all, we all know how difficult this parenting business can be and if there's one thing all of us could do with it's some moral support.

Thank you Carriel for your message. I hope that robinw does take heed and think twice before posting something hurtful but its too late for me to stick around.
Xanthe and valerie ann. I have never heard your names here before so perhaps you should be a bit more sensitive to the bullying that has been going on.

I just thought the personal abuse was part of the cut & thrust of Talk...but it did upset me too. I believe that debate is good for us all & can even change people's points of view. The rude comments directed towards me when I joined in (it was one of my first postings) made me too feel like abandoning the site, which is a pity.

We?ve been saddened to read some of the comments on this thread. It is our general policy to allow Talk to be self-policing, although we do have moderators who keep an eye out for offensive material and/or dangerous information. However several members, as well as our moderators, have written to us to ask us to do something about this thread. I?m not terribly sure what we can do apart from draw everyone?s attention to our philosophy as stated on the opening Talk page (and reproduced below). Mumsnet was founded as a community of parents helping each other out. I hope you agree that personal attacks have no place in this community and that we can leave this thread alone from now on and get back to the real job of mumsnet which is to support and encourage each other and make all our lives easier.

The mumsnet team

A word about our philosophy
The idea of mumsnet is that by pooling knowledge and experience, parents make the job of parenting easier. Please bear in mind that issues to do with parenting can be very sensitive and that everyone has the right to make their own choices when it comes to bringing up their kids. As far as possible we would ask you to respect other people's right to choose, even if you disagree with them. After all, we all know how difficult this parenting business can be and if there's one thing all of us could do with it's some moral support.

I would assume the double message from Mumsnet is to reiterate that all this slagging eachother off is not what the site is about. So let's all stop?? Sometimes I admit I get annoyed with comments but I try and will try harder to rise above responding as you only fuel these debates. I know its so hard if you feel it is a personal attack but I have had SOOO much support and bloody good ideas given to me for ages now that I would rather ignore silly comments than end up leaving Mumsnet I would really be lost without it. So, better to count to 10 and click on another posting than get caught up in it??