Was life in Britain better twenty years ago?

[LimaDelta]

MC Bodge said:

LimaDelta said:

MC Bodge said:

"remoaners" are those who think that the present day is fine and feel optimistic about the future.

Which future though?

The future that was going to be, up until a certain vote 3 years ago. Not an idealised version of the past.

Surveys showed that those who thought that life was better 30 years ago had very different outlook to those who thought the opposite.

The current course of our nation is now different and the future now somewhat less certain.

Edited by MC Bodge on Saturday 20th July 09:54

So in fact, it is the 'gammons' who are optimistic about the future? The 'remoaners' are bricking it.

[MC Bodge]

LimaDelta said:

So in fact, it is the 'gammons' who are optimistic about the future? The 'remoaners' are bricking it.

Let's not let this thread descend into that sort of discussion.

[WinkleHoff]

MC Bodge said:

LimaDelta said:

So in fact, it is the 'gammons' who are optimistic about the future? The 'remoaners' are bricking it.

Let's not let this thread descend into that sort of discussion.

Agreed. Discourse in 2019 is infinitely destructive than it was 20yrs ago. Slurs and insults over facts and consideration of alternative views.....

[LimaDelta]

MC Bodge said:

LimaDelta said:

So in fact, it is the 'gammons' who are optimistic about the future? The 'remoaners' are bricking it.

Let's not let this thread descend into that sort of discussion.

Agreed.

[bloomen]

WinkleHoff said:

Agreed. Discourse in 2019 is infinitely destructive than it was 20yrs ago. Slurs and insults over facts and consideration of alternative views.....

Poohead.

It's interesting to apply this question to other periods of time. If this was asked in 1999 there's no way I'd want to be back in the 70s. I find most things about that decade repulsive.

Similarly, asking a 70s resident about the 50s is unlikely to find them desiring a return considering how much progress was made.

Despite all the good stuff since 1999 the corrosive stuff still outweighs it and that's nothing to do with my circumstances, just what I see around me.

It feels to me like some sort of shark has been jumped in the last couple of decades.

[MC Bodge]

bloomen said:

Poohead.

It's interesting to apply this question to other periods of time. If this was asked in 1999 there's no way I'd want to be back in the 70s. I find most things about that decade repulsive.

Similarly, asking a 70s resident about the 50s is unlikely to find them desiring a return considering how much progress was made.

Despite all the good stuff since 1999 the corrosive stuff still outweighs it and that's nothing to do with my circumstances, just what I see around me.

It feels to me like some sort of shark has been jumped in the last couple of decades.

It also depends on your age

[GetCarter]

One thing I'd bet.

2019 is a shed load better than 2039 will be.

[Nerdherder]

JulianPH said:

I think it depends upon were exactly in Britain you live.

20 years ago when I was in London life there certainly seemed better than London today, particularly with regard to crime and safety.

Now days I live in a rural village where life hasn't really changed much for the last 40 years, let alone 20.

We have lost the village shop and butcher, which is a shame, but being 5 minutes away from a thriving market town (that wasn't anywhere near as thriving 20 years ago) does make up for that.

So some things are better and some things are worse and where you live is likely to have an impact on this.

One thing I think most people would agree on though is that as an island we are more densely populated now than we have ever been and that is putting great stress on housing, healthcare, schooling and many other important infrastructure.

Also, we appear to have an ever increasing section of society that is basically lawless, which with a corresponding decrease in the ratio of numbers of police to members of the public is only going to continue to get worse.

Let's also not forget the rise of the terminally offended amongst us.

Those things were certainly better 20 years ago (or at least it feels like it).

This post is spot on.

[MC Bodge]

If you ask pensioners if life was better when they were in their prime, what do you think they'll typically say?

[croyde]

GetCarter said:

One thing I'd bet.

2019 is a shed load better than 2039 will be.

I'll be unlikely to be around to experience it. It'll be hover cars and cities on the moon.

Hang on! When I was a kid in the 70s we thought that 1999 would be hover cars and cities on the moon

[Spare tyre]

The field behind my house was a field

[anonymous-user]

It all went to hell in '97 imo with the arrival of nulab.

Prior to that good times. Too many stupid new terms around today as well, wtf is 'gammon' for example, the anti-Guardian reader ? And 'Woke' Jesus Christ anybody who considers themselves "woke" needs a fecking bullet.

[GetCarter]

croyde said:

GetCarter said:

One thing I'd bet.

2019 is a shed load better than 2039 will be.

I'll be unlikely to be around to experience it. It'll be hover cars and cities on the moon.

Hang on! When I was a kid in the 70s we thought that 1999 would be hover cars and cities on the moon

That's the thing though, when we were young we believed it would be better as time went on (and in the main, it has). Now anyone with half a brain knows the world is going to hell in a handcart. Anyone born in the 50's, 60's and 70's has had a free pass. No world wars, no conscription, cheap housing, free education, easy entry into employment, low crime, rising incomes, introduction of tech/internet, first availability for cheap foreign travel, increasingly decent cars (with empty roads!) - et al... I'd love to be 20 again, but back then, not now.

ETA, there is no way on earth I could end up doing what I do now if I started at 20 today, It's not only where you are, but when you are.

Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 20th July 13:01

[MC Bodge]

Schmed said:

It all went to hell in '97 imo with the arrival of nulab.

Prior to that good times. Too many stupid new terms around today as well, wtf is 'gammon' for example, the anti-Guardian reader ? And 'Woke' Jesus Christ anybody who considers themselves "woke" needs a fecking bullet.

[anonymous-user]

MC Bodge said:

Schmed said:

It all went to hell in '97 imo with the arrival of nulab.

Prior to that good times. Too many stupid new terms around today as well, wtf is 'gammon' for example, the anti-Guardian reader ? And 'Woke' Jesus Christ anybody who considers themselves "woke" needs a fecking bullet.

actually a gen-X

[LimaDelta]

GetCarter said:

Now anyone with half a brain knows the world is going to hell in a handcart.

Is it though? Really? Surely if that were the case anyone with half a brain would not choose to bring children into this doomed world? Where is the corresponding drop in birth rate?

I feel very optimistic about the opportunities and experiences awaiting my young children. At least they are not growing up with the spectre of nuclear annihilation hanging over their heads like any child of the cold war. Now all we have to worry about is a few stabby people in London and some hungry polar bears.

[bloomen]

GetCarter said:

Now anyone with half a brain knows the world is going to hell in a handcart.

I've asked plenty of oldies what they thought the future would hold back in the day. Dystopia was the usual answer. The 70s were heaving with predictions of oil running out and overpopulation starving everyone yet we're ticking along adequately.

While I REALLY wouldn't want to be young at this moment in time either there may be plenty of inspiring and exciting things around the corner.

[GetCarter]

To the two above, I hope you are right and wish you the best.

Time will tell.

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

P-Jay said:

mikeveal said:

Twenty years ago the country was living so far beyond it's means that the government chose to sell off half the UKs gold reserves to pay the bills.
Everyone hates the fact that spending has been cut to the bone to try rebalance the books (whether or not you consider it necessary.)

Is it "better" to live way beyond your means (storing up the pain of paying for later), or to live almost within them?

That a very barbed view of what happened.

But a very Pistonheads one.

Firstly, it was a world wide economic crash, no PM would have avoided it.
According to Google we as a nation own around 5134 tonnes of the stuff, and he flogged 395 tonnes of it. So nowhere near half.

And I'm making these statements with no political bias.

[GetCarter]

BTW the 70's were indeed rubbish, cars were terrible, power cuts, poor wages, dreadful beer, etc... but then there was everything I mentioned above. Try getting into the music biz today. It was piss easy back then.