Where is the breaking point for you?

[dowie]

From economic uncertainty to social and political divisions, this is clearly a difficult time for the country.

In the face of these mounting pressures, at what point would you feel compelled to take more active measures such as protesting or going on strike?

Protesting what exactly? Surely whether or not you go on strike is a rather different matter relevant to your specific industry and employer and indeed whether or not you're in the position to negotiate your compensation on an individual basis such as in the private sector and in a professional role vs non-professional role or a public sector role.

If you want to protest inflation or energy prices rising you may as well go and protest the tide coming in, we had a pandemic, we've got a war in Europe suck it up. We've actually recovered better than the other European G7 economies and Japan, it's only the US and Canada that have done better.

The issue I'm mostly concerned with is the lack of house building, that actually is something the government could do a lot to solve but that's also where protesting is pointless, you'd be much better off (if attempting to organise anything) organising a bunch of people to write letters in support of proposed developments in your area. Currently, if you go and look at local facebook groups there is inevitably some group of NIMBY types moaning about a proposed development at the old garage or whatever... all sorts of random trivial complaints even though they won't personally be buying one of the new homes. Simply having a few local people writing in support of new development could help tip the balance for each application as currently all these local planning committees get a handful of complaints from retired boomers who by default oppose everything they can and simply balancing that out could easily change things.

More generally we have a general election coming up, that's where you're supposed to signal your discontent with the current government, anyone can join a local party and lobby their representative etc. If we have a labour government next under a non [redacted] leader like Keir (frankly anything would be better than the previous labour leader) then house building might be a priority again.

He's not going to be able to work miracles though, if your gripe is with inflation or energy prices then you're still going to have to suck it up and ditto to any complaints re: how much you're paid. Go get some useful skills and find someone willing to pay you more if you're unhappy and in the private sector or try starting your own business or become a contractor if you think you still have something more valuable to offer but no one else is recognising it.

 

[FoxEye]

BBC presenter/journo summed it up this morning.

"There is a general feeling among voters that Britain today is just a bit rubbish. Everything is a bit rubbish. Everything has gone downhill. And then they look at who has been in power for the last 13 years..."

It is tho, isn't it. Britain is just a bit rubbish. We've been far too accepting of getting a worse deal year-on-year, whilst praising the 1% for taking an ever-greater share.

Public services getting worse, the money in your pocket not buying as much, the cost of everything skyrocketing. Whilst multi-national businesses are making record profits. MPs with conflicting interests having their fingers in all the pies. Infrastructure not being maintained (Network Rail now has an official policy of "managed decline," I kid you not).

 

[GGizmo]

I'm not sure of the reason behind the OP. But if this is a post of despair (many of the posts sound in despair), then things WILL get better.

History repeats. We have a false feeling in modern times that we can control everything. That we have to speak out about every wrong otherwise things will slide to hell. The reality is whether we speak or not, life and the world goes on.

It is very easy to become exhausted. I've seen people I know who have had nervous breakdowns through political and personal battles. Everyone needs to take a break at some point. This 24/7 era is draining peoples essense of always being on. No wonder coffee sales are always increasing!

I would advise to switch off the politics and go do your hobby. Spend time with family, friends, reconnecting with people you haven't spoken to in a while.

Things will get better!

 

[FoxEye]

Things will get better!

That would require a change in direction. If the UK keeps going on as it is, society itself will unravel. And yes, history repeats, and that unravelling has happened many times before in many countries. The UK is not immune to social unrest and its consequences.

 

[bainbridge]

I'm not sure of the reason behind the OP. But if this is a post of despair (many of the posts sound in despair), then things WILL get better.

History repeats. We have a false feeling in modern times that we can control everything. That we have to speak out about every wrong otherwise things will slide to hell. The reality is whether we speak or not, life and the world goes on.

It is very easy to become exhausted. I've seen people I know who have had nervous breakdowns through political and personal battles. Everyone needs to take a break at some point. This 24/7 era is draining peoples essense of always being on. No wonder coffee sales are always increasing!

I would advise to switch off the politics and go do your hobby. Spend time with family, friends, reconnecting with people you haven't spoken to in a while.

Things will get better!

Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream - New Labour (Campaign song 1997)

The UK Labour Party used the song as a theme during the party's successful campaign in the general election of 1997.

youtube.com

 

[BUDFORCE]

Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream - New Labour (Campaign song 1997)

The UK Labour Party used the song as a theme during the party's successful campaign in the general election of 1997.

youtube.com

Featuring professor Brian Cox (yes THE Brian Cox) on keyboard no less.

 

[gingergundog]

wrong thread

 

[sigma]

Things will get worse

 

[FoxEye]

Things will get worse

Yes. It looks very likely that we will continue to pursue the same policy agenda that has made life miserable for so many (and massively enriched a few), until we reach a collective breaking point. Probably going to be very ugly up to and after that point. I think a lot of politicians have genuinely given up trying to make things better, or have totally run out of different ideas. We can only keep going along with the status quo, until the whole house of cards collapses.

 

[Haggisman]

Pretty much this, of course, i have a breaking point but like you it's pretty much losing everything through no fault of my own. At that point, I would start to plot vengeance on everyone that wronged me and it would be so extreme that they'll either have a serious mental breakdown or top themselves.

I'm in. Probably start with a decent rifle (or at least some piano wire) and the local "yoof" who think it's entertaining to ride up and down the road on their scooters at 3am

 

[potatolord]

If you want to protest at the state of things, surely ruining your ballot would be a more effective thing to do - at least showing you have an interest in the process but see no suitable option rather than just one of many others who are simply too lazy to bother voting.

Spoiled ballots will not help.

The only thing parties care about is getting enough votes to get over the line, and spoiled ballots do not change that.

I think some sort of "none of the above" choice might focus minds. Of course, if that constituency then returns no member voters get no representation, which is a problem. Also, what does an empty "none of the above" seat vote on a bill or similar?

 

[413x]

BBC presenter/journo summed it up this morning.

"There is a general feeling among voters that Britain today is just a bit rubbish. Everything is a bit rubbish. Everything has gone downhill. And then they look at who has been in power for the last 13 years..."

It is tho, isn't it. Britain is just a bit rubbish. We've been far too accepting of getting a worse deal year-on-year, whilst praising the 1% for taking an ever-greater share.

Public services getting worse, the money in your pocket not buying as much, the cost of everything skyrocketing. Whilst multi-national businesses are making record profits. MPs with conflicting interests having their fingers in all the pies. Infrastructure not being maintained (Network Rail now has an official policy of "managed decline," I kid you not).

I agree. It is this. There's nothing terrible. (war, water shortages etc) but you can feel the decline. Nhs is a big big one for me. I don't mind the bins being collected less. But pension age rise, nhs rot is going to really hit our (millennials).
The you have even more problems for subsequent generations. AI and how that pans out, not being able to afford to have a family, not being able to get in the housing ladder etc.

Its just a gradual decline... Then we do some self harm and vote brexit (I said it) and make it even worse

Does anyone think the UK is going to get better in 10 years? Because anecdotally, I don't know anyone who does

 

[jpaul]

If you want to protest inflation or energy prices rising you may as well go and protest the tide coming in, we had a pandemic, we've got a war in Europe suck it up. We've actually recovered better than the other European G7 economies and Japan, it's only the US and Canada that have done better.

The royal we ? - income inequality growth in uk post 2008 versus europe increased so that wealth growth vs g7 (not if you include brexit too) isn't in your pocket, compared to fr/de colleague

Master procrastinator is going to need a few stealth taxes to deal with that

[eg. https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk
The majority of households in the UK have disposable incomes below the mean income (£32,300 as of 2022). This includes wages and cash benefits, and is after direct taxes like income tax and council tax, but not indirect taxes like VAT. The median income was rising by 2.2% on average for the last five years before the pandemic. However, in 2022, incomes for the poorest 14 million people fell by 7.5%, whilst incomes for the richest fifth saw a 7.8% increase.
]

 

[413x]

Yes. It looks very likely that we will continue to pursue the same policy agenda that has made life miserable for so many (and massively enriched a few), until we reach a collective breaking point. Probably going to be very ugly up to and after that point. I think a lot of politicians have genuinely given up trying to make things better, or have totally run out of different ideas. We can only keep going along with the status quo, until the whole house of cards collapses.

I wonder how bad it would have to get for the UK population to actually do a France and grind the country to a halt

 

[dowie]

The royal we ? - income inequality growth in uk post 2008 versus europe increased so that wealth growth vs g7 (not if you include brexit too) isn't in your pocket, compared to fr/de colleague

What do you even mean by "not if you include brexit"? You're wrong anyway:

Doomsayers 'proved wrong': UK had third-fastest Covid recovery in G7, revised GDP data now shows

The UK economy is no longer thought likely to be an outlier among the G7 nations, after revised GDP figures were published.

www.cityam.com

+ in Germany it's fallen so how does that translate to "in your pocket"

The majority of households in the UK have disposable incomes below the mean income (£32,300 as of 2022). This includes wages and cash benefits, and is after direct taxes like income tax and council tax, but not indirect taxes like VAT. The median income was rising by 2.2% on average for the last five years before the pandemic. However, in 2022, incomes for the poorest 14 million people fell by 7.5%, whilst incomes for the richest fifth saw a 7.8% increase.

The majority of households in any nation will almost always have incomes below the mean income, that's how averages work, the mean will be skewed by the higher earners. I'm not sure what you're trying to highlight there? Also half of households will have disposable incomes below the median income too, that's also how averages work, the median being the middle-income bracket.

We had a thing called lockdown and some industries basically stopped, if you worked in a bar then you probably lost some work, if you worked from home in tech, especially when there were low interest rates, you probably had a situation where you could jump ship for a big pay rise.

 

[Haggisman]

I agree. It is this. There's nothing terrible. (war, water shortages etc) but you can feel the decline.

Arguably this is worse than something like a war etc. As terrible as war is, at least it is a tangible event with relatively definable (and potentially even achievable) goals and a finite "end state".

 

[FoxEye]

I agree. It is this. There's nothing terrible. (war, water shortages etc) but you can feel the decline. Nhs is a big big one for me. I don't mind the bins being collected less. But pension age rise, nhs rot is going to really hit our (millennials).
The you have even more problems for subsequent generations. AI and how that pans out, not being able to afford to have a family, not being able to get in the housing ladder etc.

Its just a gradual decline... Then we do some self harm and vote brexit (I said it) and make it even worse

Does anyone think the UK is going to get better in 10 years? Because anecdotally, I don't know anyone who does

Not without some kind of cataclysmic event coming first.

Re the NHS: the people I know who work for the NHS don't think it will survive much more than a few years in its current state. With things getting progressively worse until (again) some sort of tipping point/cataclysm that brings with it huge changes. Perhaps full privatisation.

 

[413x]

Not without some kind of cataclysmic event coming first.

Re the NHS: the people I know who work for the NHS don't think it will survive much more than a few years in its current state. With things getting progressively worse until (again) some sort of tipping point/cataclysm that brings with it huge changes. Perhaps full privatisation.

Genuinely have been wondering if it's worth putting some money into one of our private health care providers like spire.

I don't know how long is going to last, can it just fall away like it is, or will it (like you say) suddenly break.

Ie tories in 5 years.. "Labour have been in power for 4 years, the to save the NHS will cost you all [insert obscene cost per household]. Or you could vote for us, we will kill it off and save you [insert obscene amount per household]"

 

[dowie]

Genuinely have been wondering if it's worth putting some money into one of our private health care providers like spire.

Do you have to use their hospitals though? Probably better off just taking out insurance and having more choice if so, in particular something like the private wing of proper teaching hospitals in a major city is perhaps better than most ****ty little private "hospitals", especially if you need something major.

I'm not sure we should treat the NHS like some sacred cow anyway, it's silly how any criticism of it leads to say comparisons with the US when there are multiple other developed countries in Europe + Australia who have public/private systems and often have better outcomes than we do.

We're probably going to have a labour government for the next 5 or maybe 10 years anyway so healthcare reform is likely moot, the population will get older, even though funding has increased and likely will increase much further under labour we'll still have lots of moaning.

Likewise, more houses will perhaps be built, perhaps we'll (finally) have an overhaul of planning laws under a Starmer government, will that satisfy the likes of Foxeye who has a fit at the mere existence of landlords and second homeowners? Probably not!

Some of the stuff people are mad about is unrelated to the government, all of Europe is having to cope with energy prices rising, high inflation etc..

Maybe with a future Starmer government pushing for more house building and perhaps with inflation eventually falling a bit and rates dropping things can go back to how they were in parts of the 00s. But back then people were also complaining that house prices were "too high" and dreaming that they'll crash.

There will always be some grumpy people angry at the world, some of them will never be happy.

 

[Rroff]

I'm not sure we should treat the NHS like some sacred cow anyway, it's silly how any criticism of it leads to say comparisons with the US when there are multiple other developed countries in Europe + Australia who have public/private systems and often have better outcomes than we do.

The top of the list by country for healthcare is dominated by countries with or had until recent years similar models to the NHS many of them fully funded single provider until more recent years where privatisation has crept in with a corresponding decline in outcomes seen in metrics such as increased wait times - Australia for example wait times have become a huge issue lately it isn't a rosy picture.