The Rise of Lonely Single Straight Men

Vauxmad said:
My wife passed away in April. We were together for 15 years.

I’ve just turned 40 and I don’t know what scares me more – the prospect of being alone or the thought of trying to get back into the dating world.
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Oh I'm really sorry to hear that. 15 years is a long time so it is understandable that you feel the way you do. You must miss her a lot and the pain you are feeling is immense.

Agree with another poster, who said that April is not long gone though, so I'm sure things are still really raw.

Take as long as you need and want, to gently look after yourself, and allow yourself the time to grieve. There is no need to rush back into dating or even think about it until you are ready.

You are the priority now.
 
g67575 said:
Donno why we can't just bring dentistry into the NHS and make most treatments free, especially with all the public money already being borrowed each year. No better way to encourage regular appointments to keep on top of things.
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That's a good reason not to make more stuff 'free'.
 
R.P.L said:
That's a good reason not to make more stuff 'free'.
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It's a matter of priorities. After WW2, governments prioritized the public's health (both for practical and moral reasons), over time it seems, we have collectively decided it's no longer worth the cost.
 
g67575 said:
It's a matter of priorities. After WW2, governments prioritized the public's health (both for practical and moral reasons), over time it seems, we have collectively decided it's no longer worth the cost.
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Your original post that I responded to was more 'spend money on everything' rather than prioritising anything, which is why I replied. Besides, NHS spending has gone up steadily over the years so I'm not sure your last statement is correct.
 
g67575 said:
It's a matter of priorities. After WW2, governments prioritized the public's health (both for practical and moral reasons), over time it seems, we have collectively decided it's no longer worth the cost.
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Its nothing to do with that. Its the ever increasing costs associated with healthcare and the ever decreasing standards of health coupled with ever increasing life expectancy.

We are living longer but fundamentally more unhealthy lives than ever. What would have killed us previously is now managed with a cocktail of expensive medications and treatments for decades. When people would have died soon after retirement, many are now living 20 years and costing huge amounts.

Its only going to get worse and the people that complain are the people that are the root cause. The overweight, the unhealthy and those that abuse their bodies their whole lives.
 
Bassmansam said:
How depressing. So retirement was also a sign that you wouldn't have much time left to live?
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I mean, it always was designed that way. People underestimate how little they actually contribute to society when it comes to taxes in vs taxes out. When you are suddenly not paying in at all and you are potentially at your most costly in terms of health costs and care then the country can't afford to keep millions of people alive for 20 years as massive net loss.

Society is expensive.
 
fez said:
Its nothing to do with that. Its the ever increasing costs associated with healthcare and the ever decreasing standards of health coupled with ever increasing life expectancy.
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We want people living longer and healthier lives though, that was the point of setting up a public healthcare system. The costs to the individual (national insurance and income tax) are relatively small, compared to the alternatives.

I would perhaps argue that people of retirement age should pay more into the system via national insurance (they generally don't pay it under the current system) depending on their ability to pay, but I doubt that would be popular.
 
g67575 said:
We want people living longer and healthier lives though, that was the point of setting up a public healthcare system. The costs to the individual (national insurance and income tax) are relatively small, compared to the alternatives.

I would perhaps argue that people of retirement age should pay more into the system via national insurance (they generally don't pay it under the current system) depending on their ability to pay, but I doubt that would be popular.
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Health is largely in the hands of the individual and because people "pay their taxes" they think that anything they get treated for on the NHS is their god given right. Some things you have little control over but your diet, weight and things like lung health very much are for the massive majority of the population.

Personally I would argue that the biggest thing we should do for the country is to start a proportional vote weighting system that deprioritises people when they are young and old. i.e you can vote when you are 16 perhaps but its only worth half a vote and that weighting increases up until 25 where 1 vote = 1 vote and then starts declining again when you hit around 55.

Allowing people who haven't experienced much of adult life and those who are about to leave the workforce to have an equal say in the running of the country doesn't make sense to me. The retired and elderly hold massive power to swing elections and push agendas that do no one any favours but themselves and they won't be the ones to suffer for them.

Thats a whole can of worms for another day though perhaps.
 
Most people don't use the NHS in the way that you describe, including the young. If the burden on the NHS were as heavy as you seem to suggest, I think it would have failed by now.

I would be more in favour of voting reform with the aim of reflecting the popular vote share that each party receives in parliament, e.g. each party would receive a percentage of seats that as closely as possible reflects their share of the votes, in a general election. That's because I think we need to represent people's views in parliament who vote for the smaller parties, as well people who vote for one of the large parties, and more and more people appear to be voting for smaller parties that more closely reflect what they believe.
 
fez said:
Health is largely in the hands of the individual and because people "pay their taxes" they think that anything they get treated for on the NHS is their god given right. Some things you have little control over but your diet, weight and things like lung health very much are for the massive majority of the population.

Personally I would argue that the biggest thing we should do for the country is to start a proportional vote weighting system that deprioritises people when they are young and old. i.e you can vote when you are 16 perhaps but its only worth half a vote and that weighting increases up until 25 where 1 vote = 1 vote and then starts declining again when you hit around 55.

Allowing people who haven't experienced much of adult life and those who are about to leave the workforce to have an equal say in the running of the country doesn't make sense to me. The retired and elderly hold massive power to swing elections and push agendas that do no one any favours but themselves and they won't be the ones to suffer for them.

Thats a whole can of worms for another day though perhaps.
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You don't get a vote based on your tax contributions, you get a vote based on the fact you're a citizen of the United Kingdom, regardless of age
 
fez said:
Health is largely in the hands of the individual and because people "pay their taxes" they think that anything they get treated for on the NHS is their god given right. Some things you have little control over but your diet, weight and things like lung health very much are for the massive majority of the population.

Personally I would argue that the biggest thing we should do for the country is to start a proportional vote weighting system that deprioritises people when they are young and old. i.e you can vote when you are 16 perhaps but its only worth half a vote and that weighting increases up until 25 where 1 vote = 1 vote and then starts declining again when you hit around 55.

Allowing people who haven't experienced much of adult life and those who are about to leave the workforce to have an equal say in the running of the country doesn't make sense to me. The retired and elderly hold massive power to swing elections and push agendas that do no one any favours but themselves and they won't be the ones to suffer for them.

Thats a whole can of worms for another day though perhaps.
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Hmm really?
 
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