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Are you optimistic about the UK's future?

I remain quite optimistic about our country but bloody hate the shower in power & actually wish harm on quite a few of them.
 
Nations rise and fall. Sadly our nation is falling with the current “owners” going full throttle nationalism as their only means to retain power, but which will accelerate our political, economic and cultural decline.

Its perfectly understandable that the privileged in this country will do whatever it takes to retain that status, even to the detriment of the country as a whole. Ive always felt the biggest arseholes in this country are those that come from a humble background, have been fortunate to have made a few quid and then forget from where they came and look down on those less fortunate in life.

Don’t you agree Ponty?
 
Not really looking forward to coming back to the UK in 2 weeks - everything I see in the news looks a total shambles.
 
Nations rise and fall. Sadly our nation is falling with the current “owners” going full throttle nationalism as their only means to retain power, but which will accelerate our political, economic and cultural decline.

Its perfectly understandable that the privileged in this country will do whatever it takes to retain that status, even to the detriment of the country as a whole. Ive always felt the biggest arseholes in this country are those that come from a humble background, have been fortunate to have made a few quid and then forget from where they came and look down on those less fortunate in life.

Don’t you agree Ponty?

Tories love a good 'pulled himself up by his boot straps' narrative, but not too many - they can't run the risk of plebs infiltrating and taking over as they're still plebs, just plebs dun gud.
 
Its perfectly understandable that the privileged in this country will do whatever it takes to retain that status, even to the detriment of the country as a whole.
You've reminded me of a clip from a Channel 4 documentary, 'Inside the American Embassy' from 2018 (Twitter). In it some American policy wonks predicted what Brexit would do to the economy: ('the economy is going to tank', 'inflation went up from 0.5% to 3%...and that's not inflation from a growing, bubbly economy, that's inflation from an outside shock. That's the worst kind of inflation. That's going to be a problem').

So far, so true. But here's the key quote: 'If the economy sinks...for the people that voted to leave, they are terrified, because this is something they've been fighting to achieve for almost 40 years. I mean, it's a generational struggle. They've now won, and they're absolutely terrified that it's going to be snatched away from them.'

Who sold us Brexit? A sliver of the public-school educated, traditional ruling classes (Farage, Rees-Mogg, Lord Pearson, Reckless), some of whom lived their early lives in British Imperialism and who are still consumed by an imperial imaginary (Hannan, Douglas Carswell). For these folk, one aim of Brexit was to restore the 'freedom' of UK parliament, which, given their accompanying politics, was always code for restoring the status of UK ruling classes, no matter the effect on the country as a whole.

And now - just as the Americans foresaw - inflation, cost of living and other longstanding challenges that were not fixed by Brexit terrify the hawkers of Brexit: the political problems of that victory threaten to snatch it away from them. The voters who supported Brexit are also terrified: some shared the goals of the privileged Brexiters, but others voted to stick two fingers up to the political system, and they don't want a return to the status quo ante either because, even before austerity and the 2008 financial crisis, that was a slow humiliation. The unifying theme for Brexit voters was that Brexit promised change. That hope of change has diminished, but they still insist on pursuit of Brexit. They want their country back, and no-one is proposing alternatives that will substitute for that fantasy. As Adam Curtis noted twenty years ago, our neoliberal politicians have given up promising solutions; the most they will offer is to manage things more efficiently ('Make Brexit work'). The untenable must be maintained, as the song goes.
 
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Well, I’ve been in Henley today. Pubs and restaurants packed, people everywhere out enjoying the amazing weather. Marquees going up for the Regatta and Festival. Could only be England, fabulous.

I'm not a great one for literature but one is reminded of something about Nero fiddling while Rome burned here......................

It is similar to the massed queues at airports for the EasyJet/ Ryanair tourist flights...........

Regards

Richard
 
I'm not a great one for literature but one is reminded of something about Nero fiddling while Rome burned here......................

It is similar to the massed queues at airports for the EasyJet/ Ryanair tourist flights...........

Regards

Richard
The mass flight cancellation and national IT failure at Border Control are affecting vast numbers of people.
 
The mass flight cancellation and national IT failure at Border Control are affecting vast numbers of people.

I think we are cross purposes here? I was referring to people carrying on 'as normal' regardless of what else may be going down around them which is my take on Ponty's observation about Henley.

I queued for near 30minutes coming back in to Aberdeen the other night as our flight coincided with a b****y tourist flight. Can anybody tell me why, as a British national, I have to queue to enter it? Why don't we have passport scanning machines? Assorted foreigners checked through faster then I did!!!

Regards

Richard
 
I'm not a great one for literature but one is reminded of something about Nero fiddling while Rome burned here......................

It is similar to the massed queues at airports for the EasyJet/ Ryanair tourist flights...........

Regards

Richard

Yep. Out in Bristol yesterday. Nice Italian booked for late lunch / early supper before theatre. Packed to the rafters. Later on was like a zoo everywhere. If you didn’t watch the news you’d say the UK was booming. One thing which was very noticeable was the general unhealthiness of people. I could do with losing a few pounds but bloody hell. You can see the ticking time bomb (which no doubt the NHS is expected to deal with) in plain sight. I suppose the reality is at a global level, we, along with the rest of the west, are in decline. There are other nations who are less complacent, hungrier, more disciplined and will therefore rise whilst we fall away. Just the next chapter in historic cycles repeating. Still, I’m generally a glass half full person so will enjoy whilst it lasts.
 
I didn’t think I was pessimistic about the UK but I’ve been in Singapore for the last 5 days and, yeah, we’re probably screwed.
 
Yep. Out in Bristol yesterday. Nice Italian booked for late lunch / early supper before theatre. Packed to the rafters. Later on was like a zoo everywhere. If you didn’t watch the news you’d say the UK was booming. One thing which was very noticeable was the general unhealthiness of people. I could do with losing a few pounds but bloody hell. You can see the ticking time bomb (which no doubt the NHS is expected to deal with) in plain sight. I suppose the reality is at a global level, we, along with the rest of the west, are in decline. There are other nations who are less complacent, hungrier, more disciplined and will therefore rise whilst we fall away. Just the next chapter in historic cycles repeating. Still, I’m generally a glass half full person so will enjoy whilst it lasts.

London was the same, packed with loads of tourists plus a bit of residue from the bike race; apparently most of the restaurants at home were full too.

First sunny bank holiday after a long, wet spring of working flat out.

Being tourists most of the people i saw looked reasonably healthy!

Most of the businesses i deal with in London are optimistic after a couple of years of loss and stress.

The tax bill's certainly creeping up.
 
London was the same, packed with loads of tourists plus a bit of residue from the bike race; apparently most of the restaurants at home were full too.

restaurants in the Greatest London were quieter than we expected. Pubs were reasonably busy in the busier places TCR. Out of way pubs in Holborn were having a good trade but not busy. Even the Euston tap was surprisingly quiet.

I have no observation to take on the health or otherwise of the people around me - have no interest.

Was bemused by the number of tourist groups being given pub tours stopping in the Viaduct Tavern for a rest and a drink. One European group, engaged heavily in the drinking, Yanks just asked for a glass of water......
 
London was the same, packed with loads of tourists plus a bit of residue from the bike race; apparently most of the restaurants at home were full too.

First sunny bank holiday after a long, wet spring of working flat out.

Being tourists most of the people i saw looked reasonably healthy!

Most of the businesses i deal with in London are optimistic after a couple of years of loss and stress.

The tax bill's certainly creeping up.

Have to book to get in where I want to go here, even a quick supper in the pub. I can’t begin to imagine the tax burden on restaurants etc. VAT, business rates, employers NI / pension contributions and if they’re lucky, corp tax. Let alone the increased cost of utilities, staff and raw materials. You can see why it’s so expensive to go out now, yet everywhere seems full. Must be plenty of money around.
 
Have to book to get in where I want to go here, even a quick supper in the pub. I can’t begin to imagine the tax burden on restaurants etc. VAT, business rates, employers NI / pension contributions and if they’re lucky, corp tax. Let alone the increased cost of utilities, staff and raw materials. You can see why it’s so expensive to go out now, yet everywhere seems full. Must be plenty of money around.

Indeed. However you are seeing those 'with' and not those 'without'.

Its a sad fact that the poorest suffer the most with rising food prices as thats where most if not all their money goes after rent etc. Its also terrible that the supermarkets are into greedflation. I guess that they work on the basis that the poorest (including pensioners) can't do mental arithmetic and work out how much extra they have to pay to satisfy the greed of supermarket owners. ASDA has really gone bad since it was first sold off to to the yanks and now to other foreign owners. Its mainly overpriced crap.

DV
 


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