1970s
Sad thing is it seems we are genuinely happier when we have a common enemy/threat to unite us.
If we could understand that the common enemy is poverty, lack of education and job opportunities, exploitation of social media etc we might do a lot better
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<div class="bbp-reply-author d-flex align-items-center flex-wrap"><span class="bbp-author-name">P-Jay</span>
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<div class="bbp-reply-content p-0">I guess I’m feeling more positive than most. The times, they are a-changin’
I know OP didn’t really want to discuss the economy, but I don’t think you can really discuss society without mentioned the combined evils of the economy and politics.
It feels to me that Britain needed to go through this painful period at some point, too many people feeling isolated from the rest of the world, being fed a lot of bullshit formed a lot of very dark opinions, it’s been simmering for decades. For me, the situation we find ourselves in today is the logical conclusion of that, we’re lead by a populist idiot and his lackies and I think, finally the veil has been lifted.
This current age of populism is coming to an end, it’s more than just Labour v Tories, Johnson is willing to take the ship down with him, but for me, it doesn’t matter, the Tories time is coming to an end, they’ll be out at the next GE and will spend a decade or more in the wilderness, it just seems to be part of the natural cycle of things in the UK.
As for society in general, again, I feel most positive. Yes, it’s more digital, but local FB groups, school groups, etc – yeah the internet is still full of bullshit influencers and all that crap, but I see more and more ‘real’ people who aren’t afraid to share their real lives and feelings.
There are some difficult times ahead, inflation, is going to make our lives a little less easy, and yes very hard for some and we could be entering a 2nd Cold War with Russia and China, but perhaps become of our age most of us think the 90s was some kind of cultural high point, it’s not such a bad thing? 😉
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I think you're probably right...
I think when all (to a lesser or greater extent) papers but Express seem to have turned on the Tories over the last few weeks, it's a good sign.
With regards to the common enemy "of the people", where in previous years it might have been the USSR, Nazi Germany or the EU (:rolleyes:), the Tories are doing the level best to turn the man on the street against immigrants (of all types and despite our crippling staff shortrages in many sectors), the left leaning "Metropolitan elite" and "do gooders". And to an extent I think it's been successful, however it has also energized a section of society who have been pretty unbothered about politics until now - the young - who really find the Tories abhorrant.
Well, this is fun.
Some more cheery reading.
Better start armouring those bubbles!
Well, this is fun.
I know. We could have free coke, hookers and Santa Cruzes for all, some people would find a way to moan about that.
If someone had a magical time machine that could transport me backwards to any year in history to live out my life with my current physical and mental health and career/socioeconomic standing... I would pick the present.
Despite certain (obvious) things getting worse life (on this island at least) has never been so good.
Interesting to read a few others who have/had their eyes on a move to New Zealand. I was meant to be over there for 2-3 months early 2021 with a view to relocating there in the future. Obviously tgat didn't happen! Another option for me is Canada as my nan was from there, might have to revisit that.
All I know is that since this thread started I've been taking a keen look at the world around me and I really don't like what I'm seeing. My personal bubble is a little bit shit compared to others and I can't see it going any other way than down. I take hope from what it's like for my parents and where I grew up as life there is pretty good but there's no way I could afford to live there independently on the wages I can earn.
Those above in there little bubbles are in for a rude awakening one day.There have been plenty examples of this.You might start with the life and times of Ian Huntley.The collapsed society people don't stay put.
Interesting to read a few others who have/had their eyes on a move to New Zealand. I was meant to be over there for 2-3 months early 2021 with a view to relocating there in the future. Obviously tgat didn’t happen! Another option for me is Canada as my nan was from there, might have to revisit that.
My Wife and I were pretty much set on NZ it last year, some friends of ours had visas and jobs in place to go which meant it was easier for my Wife to accept it, the kids were mad keen too.
Sadly our Friends marriage collapsed, and we've been having a rough ride recently too so plans like that went out of the window.
I aware that the grass isn't always greener, NZ has it's own problems, but I think that being they're most free of an Elite ruling class, things are on balance better.
Future of Britain? This sums it up..
Its well known that war = Money
actually...
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
@kryton57 you had a great post about a page back.
I think most of Britain's problems are mainly similar problems to those faced by other countries, but, because cultural history differs, we're having different outcomes. New media is being used to stoke division and hatred by those with money and the means to benefit from it, as new media has often been used for.
We have some real structural problems baked in to our democratic system that show no signs of going away soon. That's a thing. The two party system is a joke, a crap childish version of democracy that leads only to childish levels of engagement.
Then again. In a generation's time, most of Britain will no longer be banging on about some football that happened sixty years ago, a war that happened eighty years ago, and a world empire that happened a hundred plus years ago. We might recognise our status in the world correctly. With a bit of luck, we might be mending the recently damaged economic and social relationships with all of our neighbours.
Move house and go part time in the next 2 years to free up time to live. Enjoy more free time somewhere in the countryside. That's the plan and I hope to stick to it.
Great post by scruff9252
Yeah, because the Daily Mail etc were never capable of that
The thing is that with social media, a person can get through life seeing nothing but right wing bilge. In fact Facebook will actively target some people with nothing but right wing bilge from various sources, making it appear widespread and universal. 20 years ago, it would be difficult not to notice all the other headlines of the other newspapers on the shelf, and hard not to encounter mainstream news on the TV.
There is now a huge division in people's beliefs, held in good faith based on the news they are presented with, of what is factually true about the world.
Also I'm a big believer in happiness = reality - expectations. Many in their 20s and 30s saw their optimistic 90s prospects buggered by the 2008 financial crisis, house price inflation, and other world problems. Young teens today know that they are in for a horrible time economically. I don't know what that will mean for society once they become adults!
@SSS I got the G Michael Hopf quote, but I think it’s a bit overly simplistic. I don’t think that the boomers who lived through a pretty easy period of UK history (no major wars, rising affluence, improving civil rights) can be blamed for how society has diminished as they became the generation in control.
Equally the kids today may might be the strong ones who pull us out, but…
My own suspicion is that there are just natural cycles some long, some short and constructive interference between them complicated the understanding.
Also I’d suggest Hopf comes with an agenda.
Like a few others i'm fairly well insulated in my bubble -
I've 49 and feel a little hard done by as i've got a big mortgage, and a few other debts from living beyond my means but we live in a nice house in a place we want to be - and could be mortgage free if we moved 2 hours further north.
My kids don't want for anything, and have a standard of living i could only dream of at their age.
I've got a decent job i mostly enjoy, which is in an industry which isn't going anywhere (Defence sector - Engineering)
My wife is a teacher in an area which superficially is quite affluent (Sevenoaks) but under the surface the poverty and depravation shocks me - i cannot believe some of the things she tells me..
The future for me looks reasonable - and i think both my kids will grow up with an understanding of the world around them, the ability to make the right choices, and to be happy and successful, but i think there is a whole sector of society who are basically doomed to repeat their parents life of living on benefits with no hope, opportunity or ambition - which is both sad and scary.
Bigger picture - we'll end up re-joining the EU in some capacity when the current crop of people in power no longer have any influence - Brexit made no sense on any level - my kids are bewildered as to why it happened.
Hopefully the era of Trump/Boris/Bolsonaro type politics will blow itself out, and we'll once again have leaders who care more about doing the right thing than their own popularity/wealth.
For sure our past is doing us no favours in our quest for a better future. Just because we used to be a world super power, doesn't mean we are any more. I genuinely feel like the country needs a hard reset. Don't dwell on past "successes", build for a better future. Invest heavily in renewable energy, have a reform on land ownership, re-write the justice and tax systems... the list could go on.
Aside from moving overseas, I'd love to move to a small, smarter home (and I live in a 2-bed middle terrace, not a mansion!). Not quite a tiny house, but certainly I think it might have to be the way forward for a lot of people. Cheaper to buy, cheaper to own/run, more sustainable & energy efficient and cleverer use of space. Do we honestly need all the space we have currently, or do we just need to be smarter in how we use it?
In fact Facebook will actively target some people with nothing but right wing bilge from various sources, making it appear widespread and universal. 20 years ago, it would be difficult not to notice all the other headlines of the other newspapers on the shelf, and hard not to encounter mainstream news on the TV.
Yeah. That's the nub of it. It enables division. I mean its a great thing when you're searching out positive connections and all that, but, the de facto standard presentation appears engineered to provide you with whatever makes you angry.
I've read of a similar phenomenom occurring with the availability of cheaper transport, this allowed people to live in a community of like mindedness and not being forced to be exposed to differing views so much, as they could easily travel a larger distance from home to work. Sound familiar? IIRC the process was meant to be starting properly in the 50s. Stoking more extreme political views etc etc.
The thing is that with social media, a person can get through life seeing nothing but right wing bilge
Or left-wing bilge, to be fair.
appears engineered to provide you with whatever makes you angry
That's quite literally how it's engineered, they've said as much.
feel free to ignore the word 'appears' 🙂
Or left-wing bilge, to be fair.
Right wing bilge is better clickbait. Right wing politics is more fear-based and that's very powerful.
Right wing bilge is better clickbait. Right wing politics is more fear-based and that’s very powerful.
I dunno, I think the two wings just say there are different things to fear (this is off the back of un-following one of my sisters on FB as so much of the stuff she posted is/was left-wing bilge).
The wider point though is the easy enablement of division, as mrmonkfinger has said.
Not saying there isn't left wing bilge too mind but even as a card carrying lefty I often get suggested right/far right conspiracy type material by 'the algorithm'. There is also the matter of funding. Shady think tanks funded by people like the Koch brothers that promote a hard-line free market/small government/fossil fuel agenda don't have as many equivalents on the left AFAICS.
The creepy thing for me is the confluence of the two. Noticed a few years ago traditionally 'left' alternative types spouting some really virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric and stuff about the great replacement etc which was traditionally the preserve of the far right.
Right wing bilge is better clickbait.
Left wing is just as bad. But in this case, left wing means far far to the left of Starmer, whereas extreme right wing seems to be on Boris's cufflink.
Left wing is just as bad
Content might be as bad but it's nowhere near as prevalent online IME. Gonna see if there's any stats on this.
Not aware that far left radicalism is on the radar as a terrorist threat by police or for indoctrination of children, for example.
Anyway...
Well u for one hope this forum continues as is cause it give me no end of laughs.
Declaration of interest here.That Meat Head video was shot in my home town.A thriving and prosperous town when I was a child!As you might have guessed it colours my judgement a little.
Those above in there little bubbles are in for a rude awakening one day.
Yeah, there's an awful lot of smug 'I'm alright jack' in this thread. Well all I can say is none of us live in isolation. Some might feel safe, but poverty and decay spreads upwards, and it won't be long before it starts impacting those in the middle if it isn't already.
A thriving and prosperous town when I was a child!
I grew up somewhere similar. I despair when I go back there now. Nothing will change until the people who are being shafted find a way to channel their anger and direct it at the people who are shafting them. It'll happen eventually, it always does, but god knows how far we have to descend in the meantime.
Do you know, I think some folk could do with re-reading “1984”.
I think they could do with reading a lot of the other writings of Mr Orwell
Or left-wing bilge, to be fair.
Different sort of bilge, mostly just snide insults.
there’s an awful lot of smug ‘I’m alright jack’ in this thread
I am alright. It's my (adult) kids I worry about. Really worry.
I think, in the future all ground floor property will be coffee shops. Kitchens will become obsolete as a means to extract more profits from housing. Nobody will do anything interesting, productive or creative anymore, they will work in coffee shops. And at weekends they will go to coffee shops, take photographs of their coffee for social media and talk about house prices. The population will become so large that 90% of them will live in tents along arterial roads.
The comparative few who do own property will act surprised that the masses; priced out of owning a home and with no stake in society won’t recycle. Whilst the world burns they will spend their free time moaning about this on the internet and whether the current prime minister’s hair is transphobic.
Enjoy the decline!
I’m hoping Scotland will take me in as a refugee
Sometimes I listen to the folks on here and wonder If I,m from the same country.Comments about those marooned on Welfare benefits are particularly obnoxious.Usually the notions of distant observers.
Yeah, there’s an awful lot of smug ‘I’m alright jack’ in this thread
I read that as people saying 'it's not all doom and gloom, my bit is lovely, there must be other lovely bits about too.' That's certainly what I meant with my tuppenceworth, just saying there are some nice parts of the country, I like living in mine, and trying to provide a contrast to the doom-mongers.
grum, have you seen/watched watchmen 😀
I try not to get too angry my mrs is angry enough for the both of us.
When these kind of topics come up, I'm always minded of the idea that some post-WW2 societies might have made the assumption that democracies, relative global peace and relative prosperity were the norm when the last 75 years might instead be the aberration or 'blip' in a much longer history of large-scale conflict, inequality of wealth and authoritarian regimes (or at least non-democratic forms of government)...
Although I feel guilty about thinking it as it seems a bit alarmist, it does increasingly feel like we're heading into a 1930s mindset again.
Round here the good years we're over by 1976.Its been a race to the bottom ever since.For those still feeling a bit smug and complacent may I remind you that large numbers of children are being and have been destroyed in this economic set up.
Living on the edge of Central Manchester, I don't recognise the country described by media, social and otherwise. It feels more like a City state, more and more separate to the rest of the country. It's my bubble I guess.
Doesn't mean I don't recognise what colournoise is concerned about, because making comparisons to the 1930's is not alarmist, it's accurate.
Though I think perhaps were still in a version of the 1920's, the Munich beer putch failed in Washington, the stock market and assets are booming and the poor are invisible. Just like the Edwardian, upstairs, downstairs era here or the Great Gatsby era in the US.
A combination of a stock market crash, a collapse in the housing market and rampant inflation would be interesting...
Distant if my Irish Passport goes through. If I had kids I'd be worried for them and my plans would be very different. On the whole most of my friends are ok financially and have varying degrees of financial plans for the future though the last few years have been pants for the head,but I work in social housing and see many who don't with all the knock on effects of health, education and prospects but have no solution to offer. Politics and social media will become more toxic.
I suppose, with global warming, living outside in a tent might be a bit more bearable. That's my positive contribution for the day.
What does the future of Britain look like for you?
SSS
Free Member
the joe rogan bullshit cycle? 😆Its a quote from ‘Those Who Remain’ by G Michael Hopf.
You need to read more books.
Posted 9 hours ago
It was joe rogan that popularized it though.
It's simplistic nonsense. 😆
Our earth is degenerate in these latter days ; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common ; children no longer obey their parents ; every man wants to write a book, and the end of the world is evidently approaching
Either written by a STW poster in 2022 or a very dead guy in Assyria circa 3000BC (they wrote on clay, a lot survives)
Hang on, it was written by a dead guy, or a guy that's now dead?
