Is the future bright?
Discussion
Not that I want to bring the forum down....... but this feels like the most negative the UK has been for a long time - 20-30 years anyway (which is as long as I can remember). I remember in 1999 when everything felt so positive for the new millennium (or was that just me).
Everything just seems to feel negative these days (not helped by modern comms/media which is on all the time)
More importantly perhaps - it feels like worse is yet to come with the economy and this Government
What do you reckon?
Everything just seems to feel negative these days (not helped by modern comms/media which is on all the time)
More importantly perhaps - it feels like worse is yet to come with the economy and this Government
What do you reckon?
GFK’s consumer confidence index doesn’t look too healthy.
https://www.gfk.com/en-gb/press/uk-consumer-confid...
https://www.gfk.com/en-gb/press/uk-consumer-confid...
Mojooo said:
Not that I want to bring the forum down....... but this feels like the most negative the UK has been for a long time - 20-30 years anyway (which is as long as I can remember). I remember in 1999 when everything felt so positive for the new millennium (or was that just me).
Everything just seems to feel negative these days (not helped by modern comms/media which is on all the time)
More importantly perhaps - it feels like worse is yet to come with the economy and this Government
What do you reckon?
Thank you Private Frazer.Everything just seems to feel negative these days (not helped by modern comms/media which is on all the time)
More importantly perhaps - it feels like worse is yet to come with the economy and this Government
What do you reckon?
Thirty three years ago the Berlin Wall fell, Peristroika, collapse of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev shaking hands with everyone and the feeling existed that we could all, one day, be friends. We went through Maastricht and the Lisbon treaty and gained freedom of movement, could live and work where we wanted and, in Europe, we were all friends; we even bought Russian gas and sold them our luxury goods. We sold Big Macs in Moscow and setup factories in China. For three decades the future looked bright.
Now most of that's rolled back and for the first time in over three decades things look worse today than they did a few years ago. The future is in our hands today, but the present doesn't look as good as a decade ago.
Now most of that's rolled back and for the first time in over three decades things look worse today than they did a few years ago. The future is in our hands today, but the present doesn't look as good as a decade ago.
We need a real conservative government right now , Cameron, May , Boris , and recent chancellors, have given us low growth, high taxes and socialist style handouts !!!
Lower taxes , help and encourage businesses ,
Make work pay stop subsidising big companies wage bills with family tax credits …
Lower taxes , help and encourage businesses ,
Make work pay stop subsidising big companies wage bills with family tax credits …
Timothy Bucktu said:
A lot of it is over dramatised by the news outlets. So simply, don't watch the news and things will feel better.
You only need the news headlines at most...you don't need the opinion of the likes of the BBC.
This.You only need the news headlines at most...you don't need the opinion of the likes of the BBC.
The MSM are responsible for a lot of negative reporting, they go out of their way to find and report a bad angle no matter what the news or how good it is.
As an example I recall Paul “Doom and Gloom” Brand gleefully introducing us to some poor unfortunate who had been inadvertently sent a poor vaccine appointment on the day the vaccine was finally released as a saviour to Covid…. What an absolute twunt he is.
How often today do the MSM tell us that the U.K. is in a similar position to the rest of the developed world rather than portray us as being in a uniquely poor position?
Having lived through various inflation spikes, IMF interventions, threats to world peace, threats to health etc etc through the last 6 decades it’s not really much different today.
Simply stop watching the news, get on with your own life and you be a lot happier!
MitchT said:
Brexit. Covid. Russia. The war on motorists. Unavoidable living costs going through the roof. Wages stagnating. Etc. It's like the world is reaching some kind of moment of reckoning that will only be affordable for, and survivable by, a fraction of the population.
It's always useful to make a valid comparison though. So, compared to what?The Black Death.
The Miners strike?
WW1?
WW2?
I was having a similar conversation with my boss this morning, (he’s 2-3 years older than me).
It’s not just the issues highlighted by posters above me that I find troublesome.
I’m sure many of you fellas remember pre-9-11, never mind pre Covid. The pace at which many supposedly liberal western Governments are eroding our civil liberties and embracing authoritarianism is frankly frightening, added to which the ever increasing political polarisation and the dumbing-down of society is, as history shows us, a one way ticket to a very unpleasant period to put it mildly !
I believe my daughters generation is in for a very rough time.
It’s not just the issues highlighted by posters above me that I find troublesome.
I’m sure many of you fellas remember pre-9-11, never mind pre Covid. The pace at which many supposedly liberal western Governments are eroding our civil liberties and embracing authoritarianism is frankly frightening, added to which the ever increasing political polarisation and the dumbing-down of society is, as history shows us, a one way ticket to a very unpleasant period to put it mildly !
I believe my daughters generation is in for a very rough time.
steveatesh said:
Timothy Bucktu said:
A lot of it is over dramatised by the news outlets. So simply, don't watch the news and things will feel better.
You only need the news headlines at most...you don't need the opinion of the likes of the BBC.
This.You only need the news headlines at most...you don't need the opinion of the likes of the BBC.
The MSM are responsible for a lot of negative reporting, they go out of their way to find and report a bad angle no matter what the news or how good it is.
As an example I recall Paul “Doom and Gloom” Brand gleefully introducing us to some poor unfortunate who had been inadvertently sent a poor vaccine appointment on the day the vaccine was finally released as a saviour to Covid…. What an absolute twunt he is.
How often today do the MSM tell us that the U.K. is in a similar position to the rest of the developed world rather than portray us as being in a uniquely poor position?
Having lived through various inflation spikes, IMF interventions, threats to world peace, threats to health etc etc through the last 6 decades it’s not really much different today.
Simply stop watching the news, get on with your own life and you be a lot happier!
The future is bright. It must be. The alternative is unthinkable. We are going through hard times but there will be an opposite reaction to this, history shows there always is and continually creates the lens through which it is itself viewed. The futures so bright, I gotta wear shades.
Evoluzione said:
MitchT said:
Brexit. Covid. Russia. The war on motorists. Unavoidable living costs going through the roof. Wages stagnating. Etc. It's like the world is reaching some kind of moment of reckoning that will only be affordable for, and survivable by, a fraction of the population.
It's always useful to make a valid comparison though. So, compared to what?The Black Death.
The Miners strike?
WW1?
WW2?
In some way it reminds me of the 70s. Rampant inflation, predictions of of environmental calamity reaching fever pitch, trade union leaders bellowing to each other like Wodehousian aunts.
But unemployment is lower, even the greens aren't quite as exuberantly pessimistic. Inflation is nowhere near as high. More importantly, the economic issues are recognised to be a cyclical downturn. In the 70s, at least in the UK, it felt as though national decline was inevitable and inexorable, something to be managed rather than reversed. To even suggest an upturn might be possible, let alone suggest measures to hasten it, seemed almost in bad taste.
But unemployment is lower, even the greens aren't quite as exuberantly pessimistic. Inflation is nowhere near as high. More importantly, the economic issues are recognised to be a cyclical downturn. In the 70s, at least in the UK, it felt as though national decline was inevitable and inexorable, something to be managed rather than reversed. To even suggest an upturn might be possible, let alone suggest measures to hasten it, seemed almost in bad taste.
There's little going on now that hasn't happened previously.
The difference is that we see more of it today and the problem is that this increased visibility isn't accompanied by an increased in understanding so our opinions are shaped by others not all all of whom are qualified to shape opinions or do so for their own personal gain. Things are pretty s
t at the moment and as a society, we're not making things easy for ourselves, that's for certain.
But....
Mankind is programmed to positively progress. That's what we do. It may not seem like it though the lens of today but today is better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be better still, as will the day, the week, the years that follow. We can only see that by looking back.
The difference is that we see more of it today and the problem is that this increased visibility isn't accompanied by an increased in understanding so our opinions are shaped by others not all all of whom are qualified to shape opinions or do so for their own personal gain. Things are pretty s
t at the moment and as a society, we're not making things easy for ourselves, that's for certain.But....
Mankind is programmed to positively progress. That's what we do. It may not seem like it though the lens of today but today is better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be better still, as will the day, the week, the years that follow. We can only see that by looking back.
Dr Jekyll said:
More importantly, the economic issues are recognised to be a cyclical downturn. In the 70s, at least in the UK, it felt as though national decline was inevitable and inexorable, something to be managed rather than reversed. To even suggest an upturn might be possible, let alone suggest measures to hasten it, seemed almost in bad taste.
Maybe you are right but certainly not feeling very cyclical to me. Seems to be a downward pressure on things that are, currently at least, essential not luxury or discretionary. It does not feel as though things will return to “normal”. Things will be vastly different from here on out. And not seeing any solutions from our Govt. in fact not even seeing them or hearing from them at all. Zero leadership. They simply are not equipped for the challenges ahead
menousername said:
Dr Jekyll said:
More importantly, the economic issues are recognised to be a cyclical downturn. In the 70s, at least in the UK, it felt as though national decline was inevitable and inexorable, something to be managed rather than reversed. To even suggest an upturn might be possible, let alone suggest measures to hasten it, seemed almost in bad taste.
Maybe you are right but certainly not feeling very cyclical to me. Seems to be a downward pressure on things that are, currently at least, essential not luxury or discretionary. It does not feel as though things will return to “normal”. Things will be vastly different from here on out. And not seeing any solutions from our Govt. in fact not even seeing them or hearing from them at all. Zero leadership. They simply are not equipped for the challenges ahead
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