UK ( England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland)

I am really curious to see how things are going for our friends in the U.K.

I came upon this BBC News article today which made me think of the continued  visions and "pulling" I had during August-October  concerning how difficult things could become for the UK.  A sense that it would be similar to the challenges people faced during World War 2 in the UK.  Scarcity with food,  clothing  and essential need product rationing. 

I am becoming aware that things are difficult right now in the UK and sense this might be the case for some time before turning around again and I do believe it will turn, just not right now,

I hope our UK friends can give us some perspective of what life is like in the UK right now.  While rising prices have been concerning in the US, it appears the UK a challenge as well as affording food.  If so, is this typical for all of the UK or just certain areas?

Sending out a lot of love to living in the British Isles.  I have a sense that getting through the winter will be easier when working together to solve hardships. Creating warming stations, sharing food items or creating soups which can be shared and bartering skills.  Checking in with neighbors seems essential. Togetherness.  

There is light even in the most trying of times.  May we all remember to find and share that light.

The UK faces its biggest drop in living standards on record as the surging cost of living eats into people's wages.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63659936

Bless you @lovendures for creating this topic.

Sometimes I do feel a bit lonely across the pond from you all here in the UK with regards to our issues.

This subject is quite a difficult one for me to express, because there is so much to say and I don't know how to explain without getting angry and upset.

All I can say for now, is that the situation is incredibly complex and difficult for millions of people in the UK.

Some of the suffering that is happening breaks my heart.

But for now, my family and I are doing okay. We are trying to be sensible with our heating and when we use it for example, and where we buy certain goods from. I think it is important for me to say that I am extremely grateful for everything that we have and how we are managing.

I may come back to this topic at a later time to elaborate more on the situation in the UK.

@luminous 

I was thinking of you when I opened this topic.  I saw the response the Canadian thread had and hoped some of our UK members and lurkers might post.  

I have spent a lot of time in the UK and my daughter got a masters degree in England the year before the pandemic hit.  My great-grandparents were born there.  Pre-Covid, my parents would travel there 2 times a year and when they returned this past summer after their first Post-Covid visit, they discussed many changes they had noted.  (London, Manchester, Sheffield and some other towns). 

In the U.S. things are tight for many people, but it seems a whole other level of concern is happening in the U.K.

I am glad you are managing fairly well right now.  May this holiday season b3 filled with joy and light for you and your family.

P.S.  Would love to know the differences in how you or people you know celebrate  Boxing Day vs. Christmas.  My daughter was home during her year abroad for Christmas so she did now experience those holidays.  She did however experience Christmas markets in the Yorkshire areas and LOVED them.  She also LOVED Guy Fox day in the fall. She had never experienced anything like it.

@luminous please tell us your thoughts as you can, and feel led. We want to know. We are here for you.

I am going to start my post with the more positive stuff about the UK first.

Now onto the more negative situation in the UK.

@lowtide @lovendures

The situation in the UK as it stands, is dire and really bad. I can't emphasise that more. 

The Conservatives who have been in power for 12 years have wrecked public services and the economy.

We used to be a shining beacon in the world for our universal healthcare but it has been grossly underfunded and poorly looked after by the Conservatives. Many have speculated that their agenda has been to deliberately underfund it so that the system falls apart and is no longer fit for purpose. They want to privatise it and bring in US health insurance providers (which was one of deals that was discussed with Trump as part of a US-UK trade deal when he was president) and make everyone pay for insurance.

Healthcare is really important because without an adequate healthcare system you have many people sick and with long-term illness which can destroy your workforce and be disastrous for the economy - all of this is what is happening now - see here:  https://www.itv.com/news/2022-11-15/mystery-around-massive-half-a-million-increase-in-long-term-sick

When the previous Labour government handed over the NHS to the Conservatives in 2010, the healthcare system was in good standing and had good diagnostics and treatment and there were no delays or lack of funding. 12 years later, and the nurses and doctors are now leaving in droves due to inadequate pay and poor working conditions, the backlogs for both treatment and diagnostic tests are the worst they have ever been, the system is buckling under extreme pressures and people are dying and suffering in pain because they can't get treatment and ambulance services cannot get to people for hours and hours - see here:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/12-hours-ambulance-front-line-b2140774.html  and here:  https://news.sky.com/story/woman-angrily-confronts-health-secretary-over-people-dying-due-to-lengthy-ambulance-waits-12681423

It's late and my eyes are going a bit funny.

The edit button timed out so apologies for typos in that post. I meant to say my dad had suffered 1 stroke and a brain bleed. Not sure how I managed to mistype the letter d for h. Bleh.

@luminous It's horrible to learn how your health care system, which was born out our your country's desire to care for each other after WWII, has been systematically dismantled. What causes some powerful politicians to become destroyers, chipping away at major institutions that people come to rely on and trust? It's disgusting. Your sadness and fears for your family are understandable! 

I think of Ecclesiastes. "To everything there is a season...a time to build up, a time to break down." We seem to be living through an era of breaking down. Jeanne has seen that. I think something similar is happening in the US with our educational system. I hope and pray we don't lose our system of public education. But we very well could.

We can only hope that what is eventually built back, is better.

I agree @lowtide

Hopefully we can build a new world that is better than it was before...

@lowtide 

Very insightful.  Yes, seems we have been in a breakdown faze.  I hope the building up faze gains traction.

@luminous

Sorry to hear health care is now such an issue.  What a dramatic change.  Health care is so important.  I still can't believe we have't fixed our VA health system.  That has been a disgrace here in the U.S.

@lovendures 

I gotta let this go for now. I can't talk about it anymore without it making me angry. It is just exhausting and although it is sometimes nice to vent, I feel like I am getting inside negative energy and I just don't want to be there. 

As I said before, I am incredibly grateful for how my family and I are coping. It is a difficult situation but we are doing okay. There has been some challenges sure, definitely, but we are trying our best to cope with them one at a time. 

I know there is a brighter future just over the horizon for the UK, I see the light in the awakening of the public mood, the change of opinion, the shift in the polls. Things are changing and there will be change that will eventually be better for us all.

@luminous I think modern conservatism is more akin to fascism than traditional conservatism and it's very disturbing. It's so sad about what has happened to the NHS and the whole Brexit debacle. The single largest chunk of my ancestry comes from the British Isles. 

I'm wondering if there is a way we can band together and deliberately work for a more humane planet regardless of whatever government system we have because it looks as if all governments are in decline and the "less enlightened" are attempting to get into power, or back into power at any cost. It's going to be a rough couple of years here because of the House, but I'm hoping once people see the chaos they'll step back and rethink things. Maybe we can mitigate the chaos the GOP in the House will cause.

The UK elections is in October (possibly) 

I am tired of Rishi and his corruption, the tories must go.

Who wins? 

Posted by: @darrenb439

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The UK elections is in October (possibly) 

I am tired of Rishi and his corruption, the tories must go.

Who wins? 

Based on curent polling, I would say Labour by a decent margin.

But expect the lies and propaganda to come out in full force from the Tories.

I also, wouldn't rule out a May General Election either yet. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Tories delayed the election into November/Decenber, just because they can.

If they win, and I seriously hope they do not, then I will have lost faith in our country and political system for good. After 14 years of successive Tory governments and breaking everything, it would be unforgiveable to elect them again.

Is anyone here brave enough to look at the outcome of the election?

I thought it would be worth mentioning for those in the US, to avoid confusion, that we have May local elections as well. These are where we vote for people in our local council at the local level. The election for members of parliament (MPs) who represent us in parliament and make up the seats of different parties who govern England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland would be a general election, like yours in the US. This is due to take place anytime between now and January 2025, but no date has been given.
 
As things stand based on current polling, Keir Starmer, who is the leader of the Labour Party, would win the most seats and become Prime Minister, but that could all change given how volatile politics has been in the UK over the last 14 years.

I'm not sure what you know about what's going on in the UK, but the Conservatives have just blatantly let their Islamophobic views out of the bag, claiming that the UK has been taken over by Islamists.

So anyway, blatant Islamaphobia, blatant racism, blatant fascism, blatant attacks on the sick and disabled, blatant attacks on doctors and nurses, universities, schools and teachers. Apparently, they are all part of the communist and socialist deep state that is trying to undermine the Conservatives.

But it doesn't stop there, because all the racists and fascists now feel they can say what they want without consequence. The Tories have normalised it.

I have never been more disgusted by what I see in my country.

I don't know what your impression of the UK is, but we are not a progressive, liberal country. We are not like Canada or our European neighbours. We have not been a progressive liberal country for 14 years. We have slipped into fascism.

This is all an ideological choice. It is what they believe in and it is what they want the UK to be.

If the Conservatives win the general election this year and get another 5 years, there won't be an NHS, there won't be human rights (they want to get rid of them), they want to ban certain books and literature in schools, they want to ban the right to protest (some of this is already happening) and they want to ban certain political groups and label them as terrorists. These are just some of the things they want to do.

They are just a bunch of horrible ******* and they are immoral and horrible, horrible people. They are vile and evil and if they win the general election then I will find a way off this island one way or another.

@luminous my best friend is a civil servant in the uk for the past 20 years. He advises on health policy and his wife is an nhs doc. He has shared these concerns for years…

and, what you described sounds to my ears, exactly what America has become…

@jaidy Thanks and I'd like to pick up on a nuance that I don't think you are saying that America has become all those awful things, but it's what some of americans have become;  with social media propaganda and lies brain washing many people in America.

@jeanne-mayell agreed - and I’m speaking perhaps reactionarily to the ivf news and pocket of the south, or the pockets of places banning books and inciting fear. But I guess as I read luminous’ concerns I read a description that some people might use to describe what is actually happening in the US. 
I see all of it as a wake up call though, a call to action and frankly I’ve seen discussed movement to report more on the good that happens everyday- we all see it locally and we are starting to say out loud- the news is driven by reporting what gets viewers in some cases. The more we acknowledge it out loud, say it even without judgement the more easily we can reject it and shift our perspectives.