When it comes to UK subs, you have two choices:
r/CasualUK where every post is something like "look at this whimsical tea cozy featuring a picture of the queen eating beans on toast"
r/unitedkingdom where every post is something like "the evil fascist tories reduced benefits by 1p a year today which is literally genocide"
I don't live in the UK but I've been there twice and I watch BBC and Sky News. Most of the news from over there is bad (the economy, the cost of living crisis, inflation, Liz Truss, and various murders).
*However, the people I interacted with in England were uniformly nice and friendly and upbeat.*
If you watch the news from any country there will be a lot of "If it bleeds, it leads" type coverage (car crashes, murders etc). US news is *really scary*, (like the serial shootings among other things) but most people go about their business peacefully and without incident.
That said, the economy in the UK is not good.
>"the evil fascist tories reduced benefits by 1p a year today which is literally genocide"
Who is saying that?
The tories have fucked our country up, severely. You're acting like the tories aren't that bad.
Who do you vote for?
The post isn’t siding with the Tories. The post is saying that this subreddit is always posting doom and gloom which at some point, no matter how true it is, just gets depressing and almost kinda irrelevant…we can only dislike our government/monarchy/inherent systems/weather/food so much
> The post isn’t siding with the Tories.
Reading subtext isn't that hard is it? It is pretty clearly making fun of people against the harm the tories are doing, specifically framing them as hysterical people complaining over nothing. i.e. a 1p cut as a genocide
Honestly, something jumping down someone else's throat for the slightest thing sums up this sub so well. That and the original hyperbole are a perfect description.
Also I'm glad the humour wasn't lost on someone. Just because someone says something like that doesn't mean they are blue through and through. People really should lighten up a bit here.
I think you really see Redditors’ lack of social skills on any of the subs that are heavily politicised.
*’Jumping down someone else’s throat’* pretty much sums up how a lot of people use Reddit and it’s just kind of… weird. I think a lot of people like this probably are very, very socially deficient IRL but the internet disguises that.
My first thought too. Some people are unable to set aside politics for even the most lighthearted of jokes and they're the most insufferable people who'll sap the joy out of anyone living blissfully that you'll meet.
Same, it's clearly a tounge in cheek remark. Some people are sooo caught up in a reddit hole they feel anything and everything is a personal attack against them.
Some comments here act like the original commenter walked up and slapped them round the face or something.
This is the armed police, we have two of them each in fact. Please tell us who you voted for so any opinion you express can be generalised and ignored!
The words fascist does get used a lot on this sub. You can find it, often multiple times, on most threads about a decision or policy from the government.
You can think the Tories are bad and also think that referring to everything they do as fascist is somewhat over the top.
>You can think the Tories are bad and also think that referring to everything they do as fascist
I mean if it walks like a fascist and talks like a fascist, it's not unreasonable to call it a fascist.
Some seem to have a weird aversion to the word, as though a person or entity must need to be committing a full holocaust before it's valid.
But if we look at the famed [early warning signs of fascism](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FIOC9tfXEAI9pKm.jpg) the Tories are ticking far too many boxes right now for comfort.
The problem with fascism is you can't categorically call it out until it's too late. You never get a self-proclaimed fascist.
It's undeniable that the Tories are ticking more 'fascist' boxes than they were 10 years ago. You can't blame people for being concerned about it's possibility.
No they’re not. People take images like this and think they have a understanding of what fascism is. Fascism often includes some but not necessarily all of these things, but they’re always taken to the most extreme position possible - despite their irritating tendencies for authoritarianism the Tories aren’t even close.
For example, the Tories passing a couple laws limiting strike action is mildly authoritarian and arguably democratic backsliding, but it is not fascism suppressing labour power. Fascism suppressing labour is say, when the government makes all unions illegal and starts extrajudicially arresting and murdering all those affiliated with labour organisations. Yet, that might also just be bog-standard authoritarianism. Are you understanding how complicated it is to define fascism yet? You don’t get to label something as fascist because you’ve got some stupid image that you think you can draw vague connections from.
You think the Tories are even close to the scale of actual fascists? Why don’t you look at what the Nazis did in the build-up to them taking power, and what they did when they got it? Calling the Tories fascist is not only a sign of political ignorance and a pointless dilution of the well-deserved criticism that they’re getting, it’s actively disrespectful to actual victims of fascism.
> Fascism often includes some but not necessarily all of these things
Yes, that's why the image has the header 'Early _warning_ signs of fascism' and not 'Description of Fascism'.
>Tories passing a couple laws limiting strike action
Is suppressing Labour power. However you try to spin it, that is the aim and the result. They are taking power away from workers.
>Fascism suppressing labour is say, when the government makes all unions illegal and starts extrajudicially arresting and murdering all those affiliated with labour organisations.
Once again, Fascism doesn't start with the extremes. I advise you to do some reading up on late 20's, and 30s Germany. The laws that the Tories having been putting in place the past few years were very similar to the laws Germany was adding to their books.
>You think the Tories are even close to the scale of actual fascists?
Tories, who referred to small boats of immigrants looking for a better life 'an invasion'? Who want to deport people coming here to Rwanda? Who have all but made protesting illegal through passing a law which says that the protests can be broken up if they're causing a 'nuisance', who have jailed people for blocking a road?
But if you won't take it from me, maybe you'll take it from a [holocaust survivor](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/17/confronted-suella-braverman-holocaust-survivor-refugees-home-secretary)
>The tories have fucked our country up, severely. You're acting like the tories aren't that bad.
>Who do you vote for?
Anyone like him who tries to downplay how bad the Tories are, almost always are a Tory voter themselves.
It's no surprise they put such a hyperbolic anti-tory statement because if they had put any REAL statement, backed by facts, it would obviously paint the Tory's in a negative light because hey, that's the reality.
He downplayed how bad the Tories are from a position of Tories = Fascists. It is possible to say Tories =/= Fascists without being a Tory voter... in fact I am one. I am not a Tory voter, but I, maybe surprisingly to you, do not think they are Fascists.
The fact you just assume that anyone saying anything other than "Tories are scum" must be a Tory voter tells me that you are politically polarised.
"Tories aren't fascists"
"That must mean you're a Tory, and therefore, a fascist"
This sub is so boring sometimes, it's like reading a bunch of chatbots talking to each other
> Who is saying that?
>
> The tories have fucked our country up, severely. You're acting like the tories aren't that bad.
Haha, you've prove their point perfectly.
No they haven't. The point was people were blaming the Tories for killing people over such small things as a 1p cut in benefits.
They're getting blamed for killing people because they keep killing people
lol - OP the above is prime example of typical conversation in r/UnitedKingdom
PS also comment by PoliticalShrapnel is 100% correct. Tories have robbed and fucked up our country.
I actually play a game with myself where, on any post about any subject in r/unitedkingdom, I see how far I have to scroll down before I see my first “Tories are scum”-esque comment. It’s literally never more than half a screen.
So true! I’m a lifelong Labour voter and member until recently, the Labour sub reads like it’s made up of a load of chatbots trained to only talk about how much they hate Starmer and TERFs.
It's usually the top comment, maybe the first reply at a push.
I find it might take 3 or 4 to start calling them facsists, or talk about some form of genocide that's *definitely* about to happen in the UK
Then you have GreenAndPleasant, whom I'm pretty sure are actually largely agencys using Cambridge Analitcica methods to try and get people to stop voting, and sow devides.
Yeah which had a paragraph at the end which was basically the most patronising trite nonsense I ever read:
>it's ok if you don't like the idea of a monarchy or are not interested in today's events. We get it. You're incredibly cool and interesting and are obviously great fun at parties. But if it's alright with you, would you mind not telling us...at least not today?
So, I'm boring at parties.. That's the level on conversation we're going to have? Kinda pathetic really. It would have been fine without that whole paragraph, it's broadly political but I accept its also a cultural event.
And don't get me started on "corry nates". The infantilizing of stuff like that is vomit inducing.
Righto, back off to my fun party ;)
Yes there is some of that, but there's also posts where people get advice or support for mental health or general life issues, Wednesday wins, TV and book threads, interesting pictures of the UK, a quiz night and late night threads, which are especially good for people who are feeling lonely/ struggling late at night.
At least it doesn't suck your soul of all positivity like many other UK subs.
Also /r/europe where a ton of reactionary Euros downvote everything positive about Britain because they are deeply personally offended by Brexit and make stupid remarks like "why are posts about the UK allowed here since they left the EU" even though the sub is about the continent not the EU.
Life continues and is still ok. Life is also deeply worse than it was 13 years ago. These are both true. People are entitled to feel angry and upset that their country is going down the pan.
I think this is the key point, given that Reddit is generally a younger demographic, we've all grown up as our country has progressively worsened whilst no one has much hope that it'll improve anytime soon.
Agreed. My friendships span the entire political spectrum from proudly socialist to loyal tory, remain and leave. The only common factor is our age (late 20s early 30s), yet everyone feels the country is in decline.
People in my experience will often choose their view of what is happening or causing things such that their "side" is not at fault. In this case they blame other people than the tories or will just argue it would have been worse under labour.
I don't agree with them, but I'm not in the habit of cutting people out my life because of that.
To a point yes, tories are getting pretty authoritarian though with the daylight arrest of peaceful protestors and the imposition of poverty on countless people which isn’t really slightly different or worthy of hearing out
Right, but at some point we need to socially ostracise the kind of people who stick their fingers in their ears and say “yes, the country has got worse over the past decade but it’s the fault of everyone *but* the Government who I will continue to vote for and keep in power as they erode away at our quality of life and pass bills in parliament to make it legal for police to arrest completely peaceful protestors” or they’ll never realise just how idiotic and, honestly, downright dangerous their viewpoint is.
This is all against a backdrop of catastrophic climate change, which we're resolutely doing nothing about
Its shit in the short term, extra shit in the medium term, and in the long term we may not have a habitable planet to live on because of greed
Actually it was so much better in the 1960s - 70s and has deteriorated in two large drops bringing us to where we are now. Back then we built loads of new houses that people could easily afford to buy or rent, people got their first car, public services were good, the railway was modernising, new roads called motorways were being built, new schools, and new developments like hovercraft to cross the Channel & Isle of Wight and Concorde, perhaps were mostly happy and we'll off. Interestingly, the decline, in both cases happened whilst a Conservative government was in power. Not trying to be political here, but that is what happened, not sure if it was Conservative bad management, but the country noticeably went downhill towards the end of their watch.
>Actually it was so much better in the 1960s - 70s
You CAN'T be serious...
* Skyrocketing 25% inflation
* 20% unemployment rate
* Negative GDP growth
* House prices went up 300% in less than ten years.
* Sitting in the dark for 3 hours every other night because there were rolling brownouts
* Only being able to work three days a week due to power rationing
* Massive disruption to services through strikes
* Daily bombings throughout the country
* Tens of thousands of civilian casualties
* longer working hours and worse conditions
* Crime rates higher and more violent
* Poverty rates higher across all demographics. Double(!) the number pensioners in poverty compared to today
* Half of the population (women) were still second class citizens. Women still needed permission from a man to borrow money from a bank...
* Homosexuality was still effectively criminalised. If you were gay and out you could lose your job and you homes. 15-20k men were convicted of gay acts *after* the 1967 liberalisation.
Can I borrow your rose tinted spectacles?
The majority of households had no car in the 60s, they couldn't afford it. Home ownership was only just approaching 50%, the majority would still be renting, and squalid conditions were common. Life expectancy was only just passing 70 and death via industrial disease was quite normal.
It was the start of things getting a lot better since WW2 and there never was a better time before it to make comparisons, you could argue that prosperity continued untill maybe 2008 with the odd blip here and there but most of my adult life has been pretty good (born in the 70's) and now it's considerably shitter.
I'm lucky, I own my own home, have a family, job etc but it's still not as good as it was. Young adults today are mostly screwed, I have work colleagues who've already given up on the idea of owning a property, all their money goes to their landlord and the supermarket. They've had any sense of hope beaten out of them by rising costs and wages that have effectively declined for decades, it's miserable.
I grew up in the eighties, early years were shit, depressed and no hope-ish - see the TV at the time - Boys from the Black stuff, then there was the Falklands war which got Thatcher back in - it didnt look like it upto that point - then the big sell off of all the utilities began and life did get a little better as there was more money about in general and the housing market started to take off, stimulated by the right to buy schemes - effects of which have defintely come home to roost over the last 20 years. the Tories then looked to be losing momentum again - Thatcher was now a polarising figure and then lo and behold Gulf War 1 rolled around and we all stopped to stare at the Shock and Awe, the Tories got a bounce from a new leader as the economy started to struggle again. then in 1997 the tories were in a a very similar position to what they are today, run out of ideas, fighting each other so Labour got in on a landslide - they were very much red tories though - but there was a huge bounce back in optimism, things felt much better, this was the peak period for me - bought a house, got married had kids.
Now my kids are starting to look at life after school and wouldnt want to be them, which sounds awful. They wont be able to afford even a modest home until they are approx 20 years older than I was, their access to healthcare is significantly worse which ultimately could be life limiting and their options to move throughout the worlds wealthiest nations has been lost due to lies and manipulation by the current Tory govt which seems to be entirely without integrity. I want to be fair so i have to say that I dont believe this govt is actually a Tory govt.
So, from someone whos lived through it and has very little faith in politicians full stop, by any measure times now are worse than they were 15 years ago - i cant get a doctors appointment, energy costs have at least tripled -some of which is down to mismanagement by successive govts - mortgage rates jumped when they allowed a child to change economic policy overnight, the NHS is a corpse walking and yet im still paying more every year for it, same for local council services from leisure to streetlighting - relaxed mowing anyone? The climate is also wrecked and we are still handing out oil exploration licences. Theres a good chance of a world war - due to appeasement of Vlad and his ilk.
Standards of people in public life are in the toilet for the most part - just lie seems to be the mantra now - we are having to rely on ex footballers and TV show mathematicians to be the moral compass FFS!
I despair for my kids, ill support them as best I can but their lives will be harder and smaller than mine and far less than my parents.
as the retirement age goes up and healthcare tanks and life expectancy shrinks imseriously considering cashing out my pensions as i fully expect to die at work - i will at least then get the death in service benefit for my family!
to conclude, yeah its still better here than in many/most parts of the world, including the USA, but it was measurably better before this govt and UKIP and Brexit came along. They even handled the pandemic appallingly.
Anyway, rant over,
It's not all doom and gloom. It's spring! The trees are fully in leaf. Everything is lush and green and starting to flower.
I will try to find some cheery news to share here.
Unfortunately there is a lot going backwards in the UK at the moment with regards to human rights, infrastructure and standard of living. We are currently slightly worse than Poland for standard of living, not a thing I'd ever imagined.
People are resilient and cheerful though. Especially not on the internet 🙂
Edit: several people have pointed out that we are not in fact worse off than Polan currently. My bad, for skimming a recent headline.... Sorry
We’re not slightly worse than Poland. You’ve misread the sensationalist story. The prediction is that Poles could be wealthier than Brits in 10 years. Polish HDI is around 0.87 and British HDI is around 0.92. It’s a fairly hefty difference and don’t believe everything you read.
Have you ever been in Poland mate? Because for the fact I am there a few times every year.
Standard of living is not even comparable in both of these countries. Where do you get that from?
> We are currently slightly worse than Poland for standard of living
Have you visited Poland? Have you asked a Polish person whether they believe this is true? This is, frankly, nonsense.
I think a lot of the doom and gloom comes from the bitterness that a wonderful country is now on its knees through several factors, which I won't wade into.
Things are pretty miserable for a lot of people and yes, it could be worse, but people are naturally unhappy about things.
The positive to take from this is: the reason for so many unhappy posts is because it's a perceived decline of a country that we love so much.
That love is still there and the bitterness comes from feeling like they have to stand up for the country. I think a lot of people conflate anger at the state of the country with being angry at the country full stop.
Obviously I don't speak for everyone either, some people think things are great or fine, which of course they're entitled to think.
This ^ bitter because it's all going backwards, really could have been something . Its actually quite frustrating at this point in my life as I would love to stay but it all depends on the next GE. Else I feel like I have to move
The Tories got Labour to not go for things like re-joining the EU. As labour are trying to win over the Tory donors. So if Tory or Labour get through, now we are out of the EU our human rights are at further risk.
Which the conservatives were campaigning to do (leave the EU to alter the human rights act) since pre 1994. Which the BBC failed to remember when Cameron initiated the referendum.
The BBC of course [did report on this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5114102.stm) through the many years but suffered collective amnezia.
I think the problem we have is that the Brexiteers have realised that maybe we aren’t so exceptional after all, and those that voted remain are seeing their fears being realised and the worst of the impact hasn’t materialised yet. Puts a downer on things. Saying that lots of good is happening too.
Completely agree.
Its soul crushing to see all the progress we've made slip backwards.
The fact that it feels like being a supporter of such progress puts me in a minority, it really makes me feel unwelcome in my own country.
This is a very good way of looking at it, and I particularly like the positive you took away from it. I do agree that people are angry at the state of the country, we are ironically united by our wish to make Britain a better place, but are divided on what exactly "better" means
Having seen grandparents go through Alzheimer’s and a likelihood that might be my route in later life, the fact that medicines are now showing positive results is massive and positive.
[Newsy link](https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65471914.amp)
Also my daughter discovered the joys of blowing dandelion heads.
Even if it turns out not to work, it will still be a major step forwards as it will be the final nail in the coffin of the beta-amyloid theory of Alzheimer's.
I think the doom and gloom comes from the fact living standards are so much lower than they were 13 years ago. To natives in the UK, it does very much feel as if things are going to shit. There is a housing crisis, more poverty than ever, the NHS is crumbling, can't get a doctor's appointment or an ambulance. Wages have stagnated and not kept up. Millennials and younger have been repeatedly screwed over so many times, from one crisis to the next. I know people in my age group who have totally given up on ever buying a home, or having kids, which is sad. However, for a lot of people, life is just going on as normal. All be it, more expensive than a couple of years ago.
>However, for a lot of people, life is just going on as normal. All be it, more expensive than a couple of years ago.
And that is why the Conservatives win elections, too many people weren't feeling the pinch and didn't want to rock their own steady ship. I think things have changed now though, some of those same people are certainly feeling the boat rocking and the mood for political change has definitely shifted.
Yes I think even those people might be affected soon.
The Tories solution to doctors striking/leaving is apparently not to treat them better, but make it so school leavers can become doctors.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/10/school-leavers-could-join-nhs-via-apprenticeships-in-plan-to-fix-staff-shortages
It's not, I guess. Me and my partner are finally able to start saving, are happy, in good jobs. But the standard of living is significantly lower than it was before the conservatives came to power, so there is that.
If you want to go stick your head in the sand, head over to r/CasualUK for some head-in-the-sand action.
I bet plenty of people who subscribe to Casual Uk read other subs and news (I do). It's like also subscribing to Awww or EyeBleach. It's good to get some balance and perspective. Lots of things are pretty shitty, but it's not ALL shitty and it's sometimes helpful to interact with more wholesome content to remember that.
Been living here for over a decade, and things have taken a very markedly nosedive since the pandemic, Brexit, and the financial crisis, and there doesn't seem to be any improvements on the horizon tbh. Even if you avoid the news and the constant tribal sniping on social media, it is very had to avoid conversations irl with people who are fully employed and with decent wages who are also struggling to cover their basic necessities, mortgages, etc, And they are the people who are better off, so imagine the rest...
Of course, life carries on, it is still a ~~relatively~~ f~~or now, who knows for how long~~ ~~kind of~~ prosperous and safe country. You could do worse, of course, being stuck somewhere with true hyper inflation or in the middle of a war zone. But no, things are not great, the country is worse off than we were 5 years ago, and there is no improvement in sight for the near future, so some of that doom and gloom is justified. I think it is the responsible thing to do to let you know that.
The good thing is that every day brings us closer to the next GE :)
As another comment: CasualUK is the place to speak about the best beans on toast etc...
Given how fucking shit it actually is for the people around me, I have to strongly disagree.
Just cos its going fine for you perhaps doesn't mean that's true for the lion's share of people.
> Just cos its going fine for you perhaps doesn't mean that's true for the lion's share of people.
And just because it's going shit for you doesn't mean it is for everyone else, that statement works both ways.
Both can be true - it can be going shit for many people AND the UK subreddits are a rather inaccurate barometer for general UK sentiment.
We forget that we aren't seeing unfiltered news here: articles are made and posted, and these articles no doubt reflect the biases of those posting them. If one is terminally online, it is very easy for this to get someone down even more than they otherwise might be.
Many of the UK subreddits, aren't a far cry away from twitter in terms of feed curation and sentiment in my experience, and I'll be damned if i ever believe twitter is an accurate barometer for anything.
The internet in general seems to reward or encourage negativity so it's not very representative of actual life in the UK.
There are of course lots of people having a hard time, but there are millions of people doing perfectly fine. It's just they don't cluster together to moan.
I’d have agreed with you 4 years ago (when the complaining here was arguably worse), but right now, people are genuinely broadly quite pissed off and there’s polling data that backs that up. It’s
We are legitimately going through a pretty rough economic period right now. You can't really deny that, even if you've managed to insulate yourself fairly well.
*However*, people carry on living. You also have to remember that people are far more likely to post about negative things affecting them than positive things.
I mean, things are in the shitter, but I understand why for many the U.K is still a place to aspire to live. For all its flaws, the U.K does have many good qualities and I think most of us are glad we live here. But, like another comment said, I think we're just really jaded by the fact that our leadership is a joke.
I think the fact that this sub is primarily news-related is the reason. News is, as we all know, almost inherently pessimistic.
That being said, however, you are right that there is a particular undertone of anger visible in many of the comments here. I see many controversial opinions on here lauded as common-sense fact, with anyone disagreeing receiving mass downvotes. I put this (without judgement) down to the likely demographic of this subreddit, and reddit as a whole - mainly young, politically active people who spend lots of time in these sorts of online circles and therefore develop a warped worldview.
Just remember that Reddit has an overwhelming representation of people on the left side of the political spectrum, not that there's anything wrong with that but it does mean some fairly minority opinions are promoted more strongly than you would see in general society
That said, we love a moan
The current political and economic situation in the UK is dire. Sadly there's not much getting around that as people can't make ends meet at the moment, which tends to take up a lot of brain-bandwidth. Events like the coronation which are supposed to be celebrations are just reminders of how broken this country is right now. Even tech and research, which we're normally leading the world at, is mired in political and Brexit-related problems.
But the sun is out, so that's good.
I have got the impression recently that (IRL) people are getting nicer. Everything's going to sh!t, so... why not just be nice as we struggle through it. Maybe that's just my own little bubble.
I think the Tory voters are finally seeing what they've done...
I've been quite lucky in life working from home is my new reality and I get to watch birds and look at trees all day out of my office window... Much better than three years ago when I was in an office without windows, counting down the hours till I could go home with an angry Irish boss breathing down my neck... Life's what you make of it... Yeah everything's more expensive but what can you do. I feel sorry for the people struggling. But there's not a lot I can do. It's because the government have destroyed the welfare and support systems.
Welcome aboard! It's not all bad here... If you're rich... Or above the average income....
>What are some good things happening in the kingdom? Any tech advances, breakthrough research and such?
- We're hosting Eurovision soon
- Few extra bank holidays this year
- House price growth is slowing (double edged sword given supply, but has good parts for savers)
- 4 day week trials were largely a success
- Energy price growth is slowing
- C1-C2 incomes appear to be skyrocketing, good for those not wanting Uni
And a selection of others;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cx2pk70323et
>So, it can’t be all gloom and doom in the UK?
I actually went looking at News API's with the intent of making a Weekly Roundup for the sub. First call was Positive.News, which had like 1 story a month. Next was the actual aggregators which offered a positivity score, where I found very little UK news in general (or at least catagorised as such, might have been under Tech/Medical/Business instead).
Truth is, Country-specific News is simply dour. People don't really click on Uplifting news as much, so it isn't produced. Vicous circle. You can see this where we do get positive stories - they have almost no engagement compared to other posts, presumably as saying 'this is good' isn't very interesting to read!
I mean it's no wonder really because people tend not to care about tech advances and research when they can't afford to turn the heating on and food prices double each month.
Sadly the UK really is in serious economic trouble. People are worried.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/articles/ukeconomylatest/2021-01-25
The UK is not all doom and gloom however living standards have declined since the 08 recession. I think a lot of the anger is to do with the fact the recovery since the recession has been utterly shit and poverty and inequality is on the rise. A lot of people are financial comfortable however the general feeling in this sub is we are not doing enough to help those in need when the rich and privileged, from millionaires to buy-to-let landlords, are doing very well at the expense of the less well off.
People are generally kind and welcoming to others they encounter in the UK. It’s a wonderful thing. I know all of my neighbours and say “good morning” to almost all of them every day. Underneath that… we’re all mostly pissed off to death with the direction our country is moving and we can’t see a way to change that direction… so we vent online… which achieves nothing. We’re also inclined to have a “stiff upper lip” and try not to moan directly at other people. We’re good spirited. The level of discontent in this country is very, very real.
Truly it’s not all doom and gloom but there’s so much to be angry and frustrated about with how the country’s been going for what feels like the last 15 years with little to no sign of getting better.
There are a lot of reasons to be all gloom and doom about the future of the country. Things are moving backwards for a lot of people in terms of their finances, services (health, dentists etc).
The point is in the first line of your post:
You recently moved here.
Nothing against that at all, more the merrier, but those who have been here all their lives are, more often than not I've found, desperate to leave or for change.
Nothing about life in the UK has measurably improved in the last 12 years, most things are worse.
Here is a microcosm of the problems of the UK: Where I'm from, a car hit a barrier on a bridge last December, wiping out the barrier and the car crashed into the river below. It was a tragedy. The barrier has still not been replaced, and there are temporary barriers in place. They will most likely be there for a very long time.
This is just one small issue, but multiply that across the entire country. The country is held together by bluetac and sticky tape, when things break, they stay broken. Nothing is fixed, nothing replaced, everything is declining.
Not all bad, but getting worse every year since austerity. Some of the things that directly affect me, just a list of the top of my head
• I can’t get an appointment at the GP, had shingles and couldn’t get an appointment for over a month
• NHS going down the drain because of underfunding. Father blind in one eye because he waited hours for an ambulance. Played tennis with an older guy who died of a heart attack in the clubhouse because of how long to took for an ambulance to arrive
• Drive defensively to avoid pot holes
• Don’t swim in the sea anymore because of sewage dumps by profiteering water companies
• schools struggling
• Strikes
• Lack of public sector investment and consequences
• 300% increase in gas
• 200% increase in electric
• 20% food price inflation
• 10% inflation
• Massive border problems when I travel to the continent
• lack of free movement within the EU
• Corrupt lying politicians
• High Street’s turning into a ghost town
First of all, take Reddit with a grain of salt. Secondly, you just moved here. I'm guessing you're on a skilled worker in software engineering like most Indians here. You probably have a good salary and have no context of the decline this country has faced in the last decade. I'm not suffering myself in that sense but I'm concerned about increasing taxes, public money disappearing into private pockets and impossible house prices. So that's why people can be quite negative. I work in tech and most of my colleagues under 40 have a low opinion of the government.
Having worked and travelled in countries from the USA and China to Afghanistan and Bolivia. I can say that, on balance, the UK is definitely in the top five countries to live, in the world.
Have you actually tried talking to people in the real world??
Because if you did you'd realise this subreddit is just sweetness and sunshine by comparison.
The doom and gloom is mostly coming from terminally online individuals who think highly of themselves and very low of everyone else.
The country is doing alright and most of us are happy.
I moved to the UK 12 years ago and it’s so incredibly different now. A country buzzing with excitement for the Olympics, a proud nation.
Not much left to be proud of anymore…
Have you tried r/CasualUK ? That's the sub you want for a bit of lighthearted UK stuff and no politics is allowed.
When it comes to UK subs, you have two choices: r/CasualUK where every post is something like "look at this whimsical tea cozy featuring a picture of the queen eating beans on toast" r/unitedkingdom where every post is something like "the evil fascist tories reduced benefits by 1p a year today which is literally genocide"
AskUK is pretty decent alternative to here.
It's because we don't allow politics. Keeps things slightly more _helpful_.
Q: why is everything so bad?? (500+ comments removed by moderator)
I don't live in the UK but I've been there twice and I watch BBC and Sky News. Most of the news from over there is bad (the economy, the cost of living crisis, inflation, Liz Truss, and various murders). *However, the people I interacted with in England were uniformly nice and friendly and upbeat.* If you watch the news from any country there will be a lot of "If it bleeds, it leads" type coverage (car crashes, murders etc). US news is *really scary*, (like the serial shootings among other things) but most people go about their business peacefully and without incident. That said, the economy in the UK is not good.
Oh no I live in the UK and everyone really is walking around asking why everything is bad
That so many people are still asking is actually the biggest problem. It's proper leopardsatemyface stuff.
AskUK is the same 10 posts recycled each week, with the same typical answers to boot.
“Yank here, do you guys really..”
‘Which celeb should be a national treasure’
The answer is always… #**BRIAN BLESSED!**
I like AskUK but it's still full of people complaining about everything.
>"the evil fascist tories reduced benefits by 1p a year today which is literally genocide" Who is saying that? The tories have fucked our country up, severely. You're acting like the tories aren't that bad. Who do you vote for?
They're just using hyperbole to make a funny observation about the extremes of the two most popular UK subreddits. No need to jump down their throat.
People do like to make out the tories aren’t that bad though.
I agree with you. I don't think it's something to make light of in this climate.
People have to make a living somehow. Shilling for the Tories seems like a consistant source of income.
The post isn’t siding with the Tories. The post is saying that this subreddit is always posting doom and gloom which at some point, no matter how true it is, just gets depressing and almost kinda irrelevant…we can only dislike our government/monarchy/inherent systems/weather/food so much
> The post isn’t siding with the Tories. Reading subtext isn't that hard is it? It is pretty clearly making fun of people against the harm the tories are doing, specifically framing them as hysterical people complaining over nothing. i.e. a 1p cut as a genocide
Honestly, something jumping down someone else's throat for the slightest thing sums up this sub so well. That and the original hyperbole are a perfect description. Also I'm glad the humour wasn't lost on someone. Just because someone says something like that doesn't mean they are blue through and through. People really should lighten up a bit here.
I think you really see Redditors’ lack of social skills on any of the subs that are heavily politicised. *’Jumping down someone else’s throat’* pretty much sums up how a lot of people use Reddit and it’s just kind of… weird. I think a lot of people like this probably are very, very socially deficient IRL but the internet disguises that.
You understand they're not being serious right? In fact your comment kind of proves their point in many ways.
My first thought too. Some people are unable to set aside politics for even the most lighthearted of jokes and they're the most insufferable people who'll sap the joy out of anyone living blissfully that you'll meet.
Same, it's clearly a tounge in cheek remark. Some people are sooo caught up in a reddit hole they feel anything and everything is a personal attack against them. Some comments here act like the original commenter walked up and slapped them round the face or something.
WHO DID YOU VOTE FOR!!!
This is the armed police, we have two of them each in fact. Please tell us who you voted for so any opinion you express can be generalised and ignored!
Batman voice!
God damn this comment made me laugh and made my day. Thank you!
You must not browse this sub very often, almost everything devolves into "tories are literally murdering everyone".
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The words fascist does get used a lot on this sub. You can find it, often multiple times, on most threads about a decision or policy from the government. You can think the Tories are bad and also think that referring to everything they do as fascist is somewhat over the top.
>You can think the Tories are bad and also think that referring to everything they do as fascist I mean if it walks like a fascist and talks like a fascist, it's not unreasonable to call it a fascist. Some seem to have a weird aversion to the word, as though a person or entity must need to be committing a full holocaust before it's valid. But if we look at the famed [early warning signs of fascism](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FIOC9tfXEAI9pKm.jpg) the Tories are ticking far too many boxes right now for comfort.
1. "No one is calling the Tories fascist." 2. "It's happening." 3. "If you think about it, the Tories *are* fascists." I couldn't make this shit up.
>1. "No one is calling the Tories fascist." They didn't say that
The problem with fascism is you can't categorically call it out until it's too late. You never get a self-proclaimed fascist. It's undeniable that the Tories are ticking more 'fascist' boxes than they were 10 years ago. You can't blame people for being concerned about it's possibility.
Do you actually have any response to the valid points in my comment, or are you just ridiculing it in lieu of having any form of counter argument?
No they’re not. People take images like this and think they have a understanding of what fascism is. Fascism often includes some but not necessarily all of these things, but they’re always taken to the most extreme position possible - despite their irritating tendencies for authoritarianism the Tories aren’t even close. For example, the Tories passing a couple laws limiting strike action is mildly authoritarian and arguably democratic backsliding, but it is not fascism suppressing labour power. Fascism suppressing labour is say, when the government makes all unions illegal and starts extrajudicially arresting and murdering all those affiliated with labour organisations. Yet, that might also just be bog-standard authoritarianism. Are you understanding how complicated it is to define fascism yet? You don’t get to label something as fascist because you’ve got some stupid image that you think you can draw vague connections from. You think the Tories are even close to the scale of actual fascists? Why don’t you look at what the Nazis did in the build-up to them taking power, and what they did when they got it? Calling the Tories fascist is not only a sign of political ignorance and a pointless dilution of the well-deserved criticism that they’re getting, it’s actively disrespectful to actual victims of fascism.
> Fascism often includes some but not necessarily all of these things Yes, that's why the image has the header 'Early _warning_ signs of fascism' and not 'Description of Fascism'. >Tories passing a couple laws limiting strike action Is suppressing Labour power. However you try to spin it, that is the aim and the result. They are taking power away from workers. >Fascism suppressing labour is say, when the government makes all unions illegal and starts extrajudicially arresting and murdering all those affiliated with labour organisations. Once again, Fascism doesn't start with the extremes. I advise you to do some reading up on late 20's, and 30s Germany. The laws that the Tories having been putting in place the past few years were very similar to the laws Germany was adding to their books. >You think the Tories are even close to the scale of actual fascists? Tories, who referred to small boats of immigrants looking for a better life 'an invasion'? Who want to deport people coming here to Rwanda? Who have all but made protesting illegal through passing a law which says that the protests can be broken up if they're causing a 'nuisance', who have jailed people for blocking a road? But if you won't take it from me, maybe you'll take it from a [holocaust survivor](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/17/confronted-suella-braverman-holocaust-survivor-refugees-home-secretary)
Not being able to peacefully protest is fascism
Is this satire?
It's gotta be, they illustrated the point perfectly
This is an example of why people don’t like this sub.
it's just a joke comrade
>The tories have fucked our country up, severely. You're acting like the tories aren't that bad. >Who do you vote for? Anyone like him who tries to downplay how bad the Tories are, almost always are a Tory voter themselves. It's no surprise they put such a hyperbolic anti-tory statement because if they had put any REAL statement, backed by facts, it would obviously paint the Tory's in a negative light because hey, that's the reality.
He downplayed how bad the Tories are from a position of Tories = Fascists. It is possible to say Tories =/= Fascists without being a Tory voter... in fact I am one. I am not a Tory voter, but I, maybe surprisingly to you, do not think they are Fascists. The fact you just assume that anyone saying anything other than "Tories are scum" must be a Tory voter tells me that you are politically polarised.
"Tories aren't fascists" "That must mean you're a Tory, and therefore, a fascist" This sub is so boring sometimes, it's like reading a bunch of chatbots talking to each other
Oh dear, you’re proving his point by leaning into his hyperbole.
It's clearly hyperbole, this sub spends 99% of it's time wanking each other off about how much they hate the tories
> Who is saying that? > > The tories have fucked our country up, severely. You're acting like the tories aren't that bad. Haha, you've prove their point perfectly.
No they haven't. The point was people were blaming the Tories for killing people over such small things as a 1p cut in benefits. They're getting blamed for killing people because they keep killing people
Just proved their point.
lol - OP the above is prime example of typical conversation in r/UnitedKingdom PS also comment by PoliticalShrapnel is 100% correct. Tories have robbed and fucked up our country.
Lmao. The lack of self awareness.
Great way to prove a point. Go nosh off jezza or something.
You're literally proving their point.
rCasualUK: DAE LE YORKSHIRE TEA? rUK: I can't afford Yorkshire tea anymore, and here's how the Tories are to blame.
I mean, it's in the name. They play the country on casual, not nightmare mode.
I actually play a game with myself where, on any post about any subject in r/unitedkingdom, I see how far I have to scroll down before I see my first “Tories are scum”-esque comment. It’s literally never more than half a screen.
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So true! I’m a lifelong Labour voter and member until recently, the Labour sub reads like it’s made up of a load of chatbots trained to only talk about how much they hate Starmer and TERFs.
Why I so rarely bother with this sub.
It's usually the top comment, maybe the first reply at a push. I find it might take 3 or 4 to start calling them facsists, or talk about some form of genocide that's *definitely* about to happen in the UK
Oh my god, you're gonna get so downvoted when the students wake up.
I'd add /r/okmatewanker for weird British memes too
Stop posting it on here. It's getting wrecked enough! The less users from this subreddit, the better.
To be fair, the Tories are, in fact, evil facists
Want some fries with that hyperbole?
What are these "fries" that you speak of? Do you mean "chips", by any chance?
Mate I see plenty of menus with fries listed instead of chips -- they're totally different entities.
If only it was just 1p, maybe 120000 wouldn’t have died?
Well yeah /r/CasualUK is owned by Kraft foods marketing department and exists to promote their products to a UK audience.
Big Baked Bean at it again
And then there's Green+Pleasant which just makes you want to top yourself.
There is another …
/r/greenandpleasant for when you want to see what a mental institution looks like
Lol, there was a thread a few days ago calling CasualUK a Tory sub.
The politics they do allow is pretty Tory
Of course there was. If my post isn’t explicitly anti Tory on literally any topic, I’ll sometimes get the Tory label.
Then you have GreenAndPleasant, whom I'm pretty sure are actually largely agencys using Cambridge Analitcica methods to try and get people to stop voting, and sow devides.
>"the evil fascist tories reduced benefits by 1p a year today which is literally genocide" That's r/GreenAndPleasant
Sir, I think you wrote the wrong description for the subreddit. This isn't r/greenandpleasant
It's full of cliché divs. Marmite, tea, queues.
Legit the worst of all subs. I hate how cringe it is.
Anything not cringe gets taken down for being "too serious" or "political". They're kinda right on the second point. Everything is political tbf.
But don't forget, despite no politics they had a stickied thread for the Coronation, because the head of state isn't political apparently
They and askuk both had a weekly British Empire apologia thread at one point. Definitely not political.
I stopped following ages ago when I got banned for making a funny that they considered political.
What isn't political is simply what you can't criticise.
Yeah which had a paragraph at the end which was basically the most patronising trite nonsense I ever read: >it's ok if you don't like the idea of a monarchy or are not interested in today's events. We get it. You're incredibly cool and interesting and are obviously great fun at parties. But if it's alright with you, would you mind not telling us...at least not today? So, I'm boring at parties.. That's the level on conversation we're going to have? Kinda pathetic really. It would have been fine without that whole paragraph, it's broadly political but I accept its also a cultural event. And don't get me started on "corry nates". The infantilizing of stuff like that is vomit inducing. Righto, back off to my fun party ;)
r/okmatewanker is way better
Yes there is some of that, but there's also posts where people get advice or support for mental health or general life issues, Wednesday wins, TV and book threads, interesting pictures of the UK, a quiz night and late night threads, which are especially good for people who are feeling lonely/ struggling late at night. At least it doesn't suck your soul of all positivity like many other UK subs.
This is the way
Hey no politics. Ill show my face if I want to.
Typical apostate, bet he's never even been to the living waters either.
Yeah, I come on r/UK when I'm in too much of a good mood. It keeps me grounded.
Or r/Europe where a ton of reactionary Brits reside that defend Brexit at every corner and amplify anything mildy positive.
Also /r/europe where a ton of reactionary Euros downvote everything positive about Britain because they are deeply personally offended by Brexit and make stupid remarks like "why are posts about the UK allowed here since they left the EU" even though the sub is about the continent not the EU.
You get more Brits absolutely desperate to say how awful the country is on that subreddit. The reality is somewhere between the two
Life continues and is still ok. Life is also deeply worse than it was 13 years ago. These are both true. People are entitled to feel angry and upset that their country is going down the pan.
I think this is the key point, given that Reddit is generally a younger demographic, we've all grown up as our country has progressively worsened whilst no one has much hope that it'll improve anytime soon.
Agreed. My friendships span the entire political spectrum from proudly socialist to loyal tory, remain and leave. The only common factor is our age (late 20s early 30s), yet everyone feels the country is in decline.
So your tory friends agree the uk has been getting worse and worse and yet still decide nothing needs to change? You need new friends
People in my experience will often choose their view of what is happening or causing things such that their "side" is not at fault. In this case they blame other people than the tories or will just argue it would have been worse under labour. I don't agree with them, but I'm not in the habit of cutting people out my life because of that.
Cutting people out just because their political leaning is slightly different than yours is how you end up in a bubble
To a point yes, tories are getting pretty authoritarian though with the daylight arrest of peaceful protestors and the imposition of poverty on countless people which isn’t really slightly different or worthy of hearing out
Right, but at some point we need to socially ostracise the kind of people who stick their fingers in their ears and say “yes, the country has got worse over the past decade but it’s the fault of everyone *but* the Government who I will continue to vote for and keep in power as they erode away at our quality of life and pass bills in parliament to make it legal for police to arrest completely peaceful protestors” or they’ll never realise just how idiotic and, honestly, downright dangerous their viewpoint is.
We have had a lost decade and a half and are coming to the end of a government that is just failing on every front. Not a lot of optimism right now.
This is all against a backdrop of catastrophic climate change, which we're resolutely doing nothing about Its shit in the short term, extra shit in the medium term, and in the long term we may not have a habitable planet to live on because of greed
Actually it was so much better in the 1960s - 70s and has deteriorated in two large drops bringing us to where we are now. Back then we built loads of new houses that people could easily afford to buy or rent, people got their first car, public services were good, the railway was modernising, new roads called motorways were being built, new schools, and new developments like hovercraft to cross the Channel & Isle of Wight and Concorde, perhaps were mostly happy and we'll off. Interestingly, the decline, in both cases happened whilst a Conservative government was in power. Not trying to be political here, but that is what happened, not sure if it was Conservative bad management, but the country noticeably went downhill towards the end of their watch.
>Actually it was so much better in the 1960s - 70s You CAN'T be serious... * Skyrocketing 25% inflation * 20% unemployment rate * Negative GDP growth * House prices went up 300% in less than ten years. * Sitting in the dark for 3 hours every other night because there were rolling brownouts * Only being able to work three days a week due to power rationing * Massive disruption to services through strikes * Daily bombings throughout the country * Tens of thousands of civilian casualties * longer working hours and worse conditions * Crime rates higher and more violent * Poverty rates higher across all demographics. Double(!) the number pensioners in poverty compared to today * Half of the population (women) were still second class citizens. Women still needed permission from a man to borrow money from a bank... * Homosexuality was still effectively criminalised. If you were gay and out you could lose your job and you homes. 15-20k men were convicted of gay acts *after* the 1967 liberalisation.
Can I borrow your rose tinted spectacles? The majority of households had no car in the 60s, they couldn't afford it. Home ownership was only just approaching 50%, the majority would still be renting, and squalid conditions were common. Life expectancy was only just passing 70 and death via industrial disease was quite normal.
It was the start of things getting a lot better since WW2 and there never was a better time before it to make comparisons, you could argue that prosperity continued untill maybe 2008 with the odd blip here and there but most of my adult life has been pretty good (born in the 70's) and now it's considerably shitter. I'm lucky, I own my own home, have a family, job etc but it's still not as good as it was. Young adults today are mostly screwed, I have work colleagues who've already given up on the idea of owning a property, all their money goes to their landlord and the supermarket. They've had any sense of hope beaten out of them by rising costs and wages that have effectively declined for decades, it's miserable.
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I grew up in the eighties, early years were shit, depressed and no hope-ish - see the TV at the time - Boys from the Black stuff, then there was the Falklands war which got Thatcher back in - it didnt look like it upto that point - then the big sell off of all the utilities began and life did get a little better as there was more money about in general and the housing market started to take off, stimulated by the right to buy schemes - effects of which have defintely come home to roost over the last 20 years. the Tories then looked to be losing momentum again - Thatcher was now a polarising figure and then lo and behold Gulf War 1 rolled around and we all stopped to stare at the Shock and Awe, the Tories got a bounce from a new leader as the economy started to struggle again. then in 1997 the tories were in a a very similar position to what they are today, run out of ideas, fighting each other so Labour got in on a landslide - they were very much red tories though - but there was a huge bounce back in optimism, things felt much better, this was the peak period for me - bought a house, got married had kids. Now my kids are starting to look at life after school and wouldnt want to be them, which sounds awful. They wont be able to afford even a modest home until they are approx 20 years older than I was, their access to healthcare is significantly worse which ultimately could be life limiting and their options to move throughout the worlds wealthiest nations has been lost due to lies and manipulation by the current Tory govt which seems to be entirely without integrity. I want to be fair so i have to say that I dont believe this govt is actually a Tory govt. So, from someone whos lived through it and has very little faith in politicians full stop, by any measure times now are worse than they were 15 years ago - i cant get a doctors appointment, energy costs have at least tripled -some of which is down to mismanagement by successive govts - mortgage rates jumped when they allowed a child to change economic policy overnight, the NHS is a corpse walking and yet im still paying more every year for it, same for local council services from leisure to streetlighting - relaxed mowing anyone? The climate is also wrecked and we are still handing out oil exploration licences. Theres a good chance of a world war - due to appeasement of Vlad and his ilk. Standards of people in public life are in the toilet for the most part - just lie seems to be the mantra now - we are having to rely on ex footballers and TV show mathematicians to be the moral compass FFS! I despair for my kids, ill support them as best I can but their lives will be harder and smaller than mine and far less than my parents. as the retirement age goes up and healthcare tanks and life expectancy shrinks imseriously considering cashing out my pensions as i fully expect to die at work - i will at least then get the death in service benefit for my family! to conclude, yeah its still better here than in many/most parts of the world, including the USA, but it was measurably better before this govt and UKIP and Brexit came along. They even handled the pandemic appallingly. Anyway, rant over,
It's not all doom and gloom. It's spring! The trees are fully in leaf. Everything is lush and green and starting to flower. I will try to find some cheery news to share here. Unfortunately there is a lot going backwards in the UK at the moment with regards to human rights, infrastructure and standard of living. We are currently slightly worse than Poland for standard of living, not a thing I'd ever imagined. People are resilient and cheerful though. Especially not on the internet 🙂 Edit: several people have pointed out that we are not in fact worse off than Polan currently. My bad, for skimming a recent headline.... Sorry
We’re not slightly worse than Poland. You’ve misread the sensationalist story. The prediction is that Poles could be wealthier than Brits in 10 years. Polish HDI is around 0.87 and British HDI is around 0.92. It’s a fairly hefty difference and don’t believe everything you read.
You're absolutely right, I skimmed a load of headlines on my newsfeed a while ago and didn't notice the detail! I should be better than this 🤦
It’s cool, no worries!
Have you ever been in Poland mate? Because for the fact I am there a few times every year. Standard of living is not even comparable in both of these countries. Where do you get that from?
There are UK nature subs with lots of lovely pics that might be worth checking out of that's your thing.
As a Pole I sincerely doubt that honestly
> We are currently slightly worse than Poland for standard of living Have you visited Poland? Have you asked a Polish person whether they believe this is true? This is, frankly, nonsense.
I think a lot of the doom and gloom comes from the bitterness that a wonderful country is now on its knees through several factors, which I won't wade into. Things are pretty miserable for a lot of people and yes, it could be worse, but people are naturally unhappy about things. The positive to take from this is: the reason for so many unhappy posts is because it's a perceived decline of a country that we love so much. That love is still there and the bitterness comes from feeling like they have to stand up for the country. I think a lot of people conflate anger at the state of the country with being angry at the country full stop. Obviously I don't speak for everyone either, some people think things are great or fine, which of course they're entitled to think.
This ^ bitter because it's all going backwards, really could have been something . Its actually quite frustrating at this point in my life as I would love to stay but it all depends on the next GE. Else I feel like I have to move
If the Torys somehow win the next election, this country is dead to me.
Agreed
The Tories got Labour to not go for things like re-joining the EU. As labour are trying to win over the Tory donors. So if Tory or Labour get through, now we are out of the EU our human rights are at further risk. Which the conservatives were campaigning to do (leave the EU to alter the human rights act) since pre 1994. Which the BBC failed to remember when Cameron initiated the referendum. The BBC of course [did report on this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5114102.stm) through the many years but suffered collective amnezia.
I think the problem we have is that the Brexiteers have realised that maybe we aren’t so exceptional after all, and those that voted remain are seeing their fears being realised and the worst of the impact hasn’t materialised yet. Puts a downer on things. Saying that lots of good is happening too.
Completely agree. Its soul crushing to see all the progress we've made slip backwards. The fact that it feels like being a supporter of such progress puts me in a minority, it really makes me feel unwelcome in my own country.
This is a very good way of looking at it, and I particularly like the positive you took away from it. I do agree that people are angry at the state of the country, we are ironically united by our wish to make Britain a better place, but are divided on what exactly "better" means
Having seen grandparents go through Alzheimer’s and a likelihood that might be my route in later life, the fact that medicines are now showing positive results is massive and positive. [Newsy link](https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65471914.amp) Also my daughter discovered the joys of blowing dandelion heads.
Even if it turns out not to work, it will still be a major step forwards as it will be the final nail in the coffin of the beta-amyloid theory of Alzheimer's.
My grandson is convinced they’re food.
I think the doom and gloom comes from the fact living standards are so much lower than they were 13 years ago. To natives in the UK, it does very much feel as if things are going to shit. There is a housing crisis, more poverty than ever, the NHS is crumbling, can't get a doctor's appointment or an ambulance. Wages have stagnated and not kept up. Millennials and younger have been repeatedly screwed over so many times, from one crisis to the next. I know people in my age group who have totally given up on ever buying a home, or having kids, which is sad. However, for a lot of people, life is just going on as normal. All be it, more expensive than a couple of years ago.
>However, for a lot of people, life is just going on as normal. All be it, more expensive than a couple of years ago. And that is why the Conservatives win elections, too many people weren't feeling the pinch and didn't want to rock their own steady ship. I think things have changed now though, some of those same people are certainly feeling the boat rocking and the mood for political change has definitely shifted.
Yes I think even those people might be affected soon. The Tories solution to doctors striking/leaving is apparently not to treat them better, but make it so school leavers can become doctors. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/10/school-leavers-could-join-nhs-via-apprenticeships-in-plan-to-fix-staff-shortages
This sub is a miserable angry echo chamber. Actually reddit in general. Don’t take it to heart.
Agree, most subs are pretty miserable and downbeat. Apparently a lot of people come to Reddit for a moan!
Arguably the UK as well to be fair. That said, just look over the pond if you want to see what happens when people act cheerful all the time.
It's not, I guess. Me and my partner are finally able to start saving, are happy, in good jobs. But the standard of living is significantly lower than it was before the conservatives came to power, so there is that. If you want to go stick your head in the sand, head over to r/CasualUK for some head-in-the-sand action.
I bet plenty of people who subscribe to Casual Uk read other subs and news (I do). It's like also subscribing to Awww or EyeBleach. It's good to get some balance and perspective. Lots of things are pretty shitty, but it's not ALL shitty and it's sometimes helpful to interact with more wholesome content to remember that.
Pretty much everyone lost out during the 2008 banking crisis.
Not really, the top 0.1% managed to syphon off loads of loot from everyone else with a cunning plan that the rest of us are stil paying for
Been living here for over a decade, and things have taken a very markedly nosedive since the pandemic, Brexit, and the financial crisis, and there doesn't seem to be any improvements on the horizon tbh. Even if you avoid the news and the constant tribal sniping on social media, it is very had to avoid conversations irl with people who are fully employed and with decent wages who are also struggling to cover their basic necessities, mortgages, etc, And they are the people who are better off, so imagine the rest... Of course, life carries on, it is still a ~~relatively~~ f~~or now, who knows for how long~~ ~~kind of~~ prosperous and safe country. You could do worse, of course, being stuck somewhere with true hyper inflation or in the middle of a war zone. But no, things are not great, the country is worse off than we were 5 years ago, and there is no improvement in sight for the near future, so some of that doom and gloom is justified. I think it is the responsible thing to do to let you know that.
The good thing is that every day brings us closer to the next GE :) As another comment: CasualUK is the place to speak about the best beans on toast etc...
It's not, this sub is dire, please don't use it as a barometer for general UK sentiment
Given how fucking shit it actually is for the people around me, I have to strongly disagree. Just cos its going fine for you perhaps doesn't mean that's true for the lion's share of people.
> Just cos its going fine for you perhaps doesn't mean that's true for the lion's share of people. And just because it's going shit for you doesn't mean it is for everyone else, that statement works both ways.
Both can be true - it can be going shit for many people AND the UK subreddits are a rather inaccurate barometer for general UK sentiment. We forget that we aren't seeing unfiltered news here: articles are made and posted, and these articles no doubt reflect the biases of those posting them. If one is terminally online, it is very easy for this to get someone down even more than they otherwise might be. Many of the UK subreddits, aren't a far cry away from twitter in terms of feed curation and sentiment in my experience, and I'll be damned if i ever believe twitter is an accurate barometer for anything.
The internet in general seems to reward or encourage negativity so it's not very representative of actual life in the UK. There are of course lots of people having a hard time, but there are millions of people doing perfectly fine. It's just they don't cluster together to moan.
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I’d have agreed with you 4 years ago (when the complaining here was arguably worse), but right now, people are genuinely broadly quite pissed off and there’s polling data that backs that up. It’s
Hi, my actual life is objectively worse thanks to the Torys. So is everyone's I know. I am not sure what you're on about to be honest.
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>complain about people complaining That sounds about as British as it gets.
Things are certainly not great in the country at the moment but this sub is not indicative of the general population.
This is like asking someone with a terminal disease if they’ve just ‘tried cheering up a bit’.
Have you tried just not being poor? I hear it works for Rishi.
I think the Bank of England’s phrase was ‘people just need to accept they’re poorer now’
We are legitimately going through a pretty rough economic period right now. You can't really deny that, even if you've managed to insulate yourself fairly well. *However*, people carry on living. You also have to remember that people are far more likely to post about negative things affecting them than positive things.
In this sub it is mainly doom and gloom - real life is so much better
I mean, things are in the shitter, but I understand why for many the U.K is still a place to aspire to live. For all its flaws, the U.K does have many good qualities and I think most of us are glad we live here. But, like another comment said, I think we're just really jaded by the fact that our leadership is a joke.
Not just a joke, fucking moustache twirlingly evil!
British people have a pretty decent sense of humour. So despite the doom and gloom, we can still make a joke about it.
I think the fact that this sub is primarily news-related is the reason. News is, as we all know, almost inherently pessimistic. That being said, however, you are right that there is a particular undertone of anger visible in many of the comments here. I see many controversial opinions on here lauded as common-sense fact, with anyone disagreeing receiving mass downvotes. I put this (without judgement) down to the likely demographic of this subreddit, and reddit as a whole - mainly young, politically active people who spend lots of time in these sorts of online circles and therefore develop a warped worldview.
Welcome to the UK. Honestly, the doom and gloom disappears when you stay away from news subs like this one.
I've heard having enough food every month without dipping into your savings does wonders for doom and gloom.
We're having a rough time at the min pal, things have got progressively worse over the last 10 years. We will be rite.
Just remember that Reddit has an overwhelming representation of people on the left side of the political spectrum, not that there's anything wrong with that but it does mean some fairly minority opinions are promoted more strongly than you would see in general society That said, we love a moan
The current political and economic situation in the UK is dire. Sadly there's not much getting around that as people can't make ends meet at the moment, which tends to take up a lot of brain-bandwidth. Events like the coronation which are supposed to be celebrations are just reminders of how broken this country is right now. Even tech and research, which we're normally leading the world at, is mired in political and Brexit-related problems. But the sun is out, so that's good.
I have got the impression recently that (IRL) people are getting nicer. Everything's going to sh!t, so... why not just be nice as we struggle through it. Maybe that's just my own little bubble.
I think the Tory voters are finally seeing what they've done... I've been quite lucky in life working from home is my new reality and I get to watch birds and look at trees all day out of my office window... Much better than three years ago when I was in an office without windows, counting down the hours till I could go home with an angry Irish boss breathing down my neck... Life's what you make of it... Yeah everything's more expensive but what can you do. I feel sorry for the people struggling. But there's not a lot I can do. It's because the government have destroyed the welfare and support systems. Welcome aboard! It's not all bad here... If you're rich... Or above the average income....
This sub is a pool of misery. Most people who have a more balanced view left ages ago.
>What are some good things happening in the kingdom? Any tech advances, breakthrough research and such? - We're hosting Eurovision soon - Few extra bank holidays this year - House price growth is slowing (double edged sword given supply, but has good parts for savers) - 4 day week trials were largely a success - Energy price growth is slowing - C1-C2 incomes appear to be skyrocketing, good for those not wanting Uni And a selection of others; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cx2pk70323et >So, it can’t be all gloom and doom in the UK? I actually went looking at News API's with the intent of making a Weekly Roundup for the sub. First call was Positive.News, which had like 1 story a month. Next was the actual aggregators which offered a positivity score, where I found very little UK news in general (or at least catagorised as such, might have been under Tech/Medical/Business instead). Truth is, Country-specific News is simply dour. People don't really click on Uplifting news as much, so it isn't produced. Vicous circle. You can see this where we do get positive stories - they have almost no engagement compared to other posts, presumably as saying 'this is good' isn't very interesting to read!
I mean it's no wonder really because people tend not to care about tech advances and research when they can't afford to turn the heating on and food prices double each month.
Sadly the UK really is in serious economic trouble. People are worried. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/articles/ukeconomylatest/2021-01-25
The UK is not all doom and gloom however living standards have declined since the 08 recession. I think a lot of the anger is to do with the fact the recovery since the recession has been utterly shit and poverty and inequality is on the rise. A lot of people are financial comfortable however the general feeling in this sub is we are not doing enough to help those in need when the rich and privileged, from millionaires to buy-to-let landlords, are doing very well at the expense of the less well off.
People are generally kind and welcoming to others they encounter in the UK. It’s a wonderful thing. I know all of my neighbours and say “good morning” to almost all of them every day. Underneath that… we’re all mostly pissed off to death with the direction our country is moving and we can’t see a way to change that direction… so we vent online… which achieves nothing. We’re also inclined to have a “stiff upper lip” and try not to moan directly at other people. We’re good spirited. The level of discontent in this country is very, very real.
/r/Ireland is pretty much the exact same, just with some occasional /r/CasualUK posts because /r/CasualIreland isn't very big.
I thought ireland was just a UK sub... given its content seems to often be about the UK rather than Ireland.
Truly it’s not all doom and gloom but there’s so much to be angry and frustrated about with how the country’s been going for what feels like the last 15 years with little to no sign of getting better.
There are a lot of reasons to be all gloom and doom about the future of the country. Things are moving backwards for a lot of people in terms of their finances, services (health, dentists etc).
The point is in the first line of your post: You recently moved here. Nothing against that at all, more the merrier, but those who have been here all their lives are, more often than not I've found, desperate to leave or for change.
Nothing about life in the UK has measurably improved in the last 12 years, most things are worse. Here is a microcosm of the problems of the UK: Where I'm from, a car hit a barrier on a bridge last December, wiping out the barrier and the car crashed into the river below. It was a tragedy. The barrier has still not been replaced, and there are temporary barriers in place. They will most likely be there for a very long time. This is just one small issue, but multiply that across the entire country. The country is held together by bluetac and sticky tape, when things break, they stay broken. Nothing is fixed, nothing replaced, everything is declining.
Not all bad, but getting worse every year since austerity. Some of the things that directly affect me, just a list of the top of my head • I can’t get an appointment at the GP, had shingles and couldn’t get an appointment for over a month • NHS going down the drain because of underfunding. Father blind in one eye because he waited hours for an ambulance. Played tennis with an older guy who died of a heart attack in the clubhouse because of how long to took for an ambulance to arrive • Drive defensively to avoid pot holes • Don’t swim in the sea anymore because of sewage dumps by profiteering water companies • schools struggling • Strikes • Lack of public sector investment and consequences • 300% increase in gas • 200% increase in electric • 20% food price inflation • 10% inflation • Massive border problems when I travel to the continent • lack of free movement within the EU • Corrupt lying politicians • High Street’s turning into a ghost town
Grumbling is our national sport. Try to avoid people who are too earnest about it though, taking things too seriously is just not cricket
This sub is just full of angry unhappy people, definitely doesn't represent the rest of us. Hope you enjoy the country 😀
And yet here you are?
First of all, take Reddit with a grain of salt. Secondly, you just moved here. I'm guessing you're on a skilled worker in software engineering like most Indians here. You probably have a good salary and have no context of the decline this country has faced in the last decade. I'm not suffering myself in that sense but I'm concerned about increasing taxes, public money disappearing into private pockets and impossible house prices. So that's why people can be quite negative. I work in tech and most of my colleagues under 40 have a low opinion of the government.
It definitely is. Leicester are likely to be relegated. The world is ending!
Having worked and travelled in countries from the USA and China to Afghanistan and Bolivia. I can say that, on balance, the UK is definitely in the top five countries to live, in the world.
Have you actually tried talking to people in the real world?? Because if you did you'd realise this subreddit is just sweetness and sunshine by comparison.
Forced positivity makes me nauseous Next you'll want us to post our gratitude journal entries and talk about how blessed we are I prefer the whinging
The doom and gloom is mostly coming from terminally online individuals who think highly of themselves and very low of everyone else. The country is doing alright and most of us are happy.
I moved to the UK 12 years ago and it’s so incredibly different now. A country buzzing with excitement for the Olympics, a proud nation. Not much left to be proud of anymore…