Everything is wrong in this country

why do you think it is only this country, or the USA

look at Syria... Lebanon, South America, Russia... France
Germany..

name a country that isn`t so afflicted...

good grief

and no I did not read all the posts, as it is all just too depressing... we have to do what we can as individuals.
corruption abounds throughout the world.....

as does poverty, etc.

Social care

In June 2019 a report was published which stated that there are at present more than 1.4 million over 65s who are a social care need that is not being met.

Nearly £8 billion has been cut from social care since 2010, and further cuts are in the pipeline.

This will put 10s of thousands more elderly at critical risk.

Agree with Chewbacca. Technology/science has aided a lot of the problems with the NHS. Great advances but the funding just hasn't been able to keep up with demand. The population is growing. People's expectations are higher, unrealistic some would say eg 21 year old having their own accommodation. Even only 40 years ago people lived with parents until marrying or moving for a job. Human rights are now well known hence the change in the style of policing and education, even parenting. Corruotion has been with us since time began and will not go away, we can only try to limit it. These are just a few of the changes causing UK to be different. Unless we are prepared to pay a massive increase in taxation how will all the demands/expectations of people be met. Of course we could put a halt to the population numbers, only one child and no medical help for the aged. That would enable our increased taxes to be effective in solving many of the issues highlighted by whitewavemark2.

When people always bang on the same drum, you do not hear.

Old Chinese proverb (no - just a thought)

I hate the constant knocking of our great country

Quite so Jennifer Eccles and our diversity, social, ethnic and religious, is a part of that greatness, but is constantly knocked and belittled by Johnson, his father and Rees-Mogg, to name but a few in the Tory party.

Muslims, single mothers, the poor, the 'working class', people of colour, the disadvantaged, to name but a few groups, have all been insulted by the above toxic trio.
The trio seem to find the view from their ivory tower somewhat distasteful.

A vote for Johnson is a vote for racism, classism, sexism and religious intolerance. Not to mention mendacity and laziness.

This great country is indeed better than that and worth better than that.

Well said Rivernana it’s good to get some balanced opinion from someone with life experience. Thank you.

My son and his wife emigrated to Denmark in 2017 because of all the hate stirred up by the EU referendum. He pays higher taxes there, but considers it worth it to live in a civilised, polite and supportive country. Posters who say how much better the UK is than some other countries are missing the point - the important measure is how much worse things are now than when we were younger. I'm an optimist, and always count my blessings, but I'm very depressed about the future. And particularly depressed about people who repeat the misinformation spread in the billionaire-owned media. Whatever the Conservative and Unionist Party might have been in the past, the current incarnation are extreme right-wing and proven liars. Unless you are rich and selfish, please do everything you can to stop them gaining a majority government. I'm optimistic enough to hope that enough people will rally to avert disaster.

Opal, well said, I could have written the same post.
My 3 brothers and I were brought up, firstly in a flat with no bathroom, then in a council house. My parents worked very hard to give us a good life, they both always voted Conservative. We realised that if you wanted anything in life you had to work for it and not rely on anyone to hand it to you on a plate. We all live comfortable lives but there was no inheritance, both parents died in care homes and their house had to be sold to finance this.
My point is that the UK has it's share of problems but it is not all bad. If it was why, as others have said, do so many people risk their lives to try and get here.

Incidentally, I have a huge amount of sympathy for traditional Tory voters and members. The party is not what it was 14 months ago, let alone 14 years ago when some of their more principled members held some sway. They must be having a very hard time being stuck with Johnson. I have never voted Tory, but I have still had a great deal of respect for some of their MPs and principles in the past.

Yes, I know some GNetters will be itching to say 'what about Corbyn and the Labour party?'. And I wouldn't entirely disagree, but when it comes to choosing the less bad, I think we would be hard pressed to find evidence for Corbyn being as guilty of the same level of disdain and disrespect for the electorate which I discussed in my previous post in relation to Johnson.

janed666 my sentiments exactly?

janed666 we have the opposite in our family, people have come from Denmark and Sweden to live in UK.

Everything is not always greener on mainland Europe.

There are too many people on a small island - and rising. Towns are crowded, roads are crowded. Part of the reason things are better in Denmark for example is because of its low population. Politicians just won't address the issue - overpopulation is the biggest problem the world faces.

Sar53 Well said, there is still ample opportunities in the UK.

Perhaps it’s time to stop taking free education for granted and make the most of it.

Stop clogging up A & E with the drunkards and drugged up wastrels, I have witnessed this with my own eyes and my friend is an A & E sister!!

My neighbour, who is married to a Dane, moved back here 4 years ago due to high prices and the inability to purchase homes for their sons.

The boys were in good jobs but it was nigh on impossible to purchase a property.

They've settled here.

All 3 sons have jobs and homes.

We can moan about this country but there's an awful lot worse out there

Oh dear if this bleakness and austerity means full nail shops, mobile phones for all, then bring it on. Ask takeaway delivery drivers where they deliver to the most ( it’s not the well off areas) at least we have gas and electricity now not like the 70’s when labour were in.

Nice post GranE but I must just add that I would seriously fear for our national security with JC in charge. I watched him from the sidelines as he walked behind an IRA coffin of a convicted murderer then went to the house to sympathise with the family. He spoke at their rallies but never once expressed a word of concern for the victims. Our servicemen.
I could never ever forgive him for that.

You all do remember don't you that the Tories have tripled the debt...that the GLOBAL banking crisis wasn't labour. I guess some of those saying about 'Oh its not that bad!' know what its like to see kids actually come to school crying because they haven't eaten, because dad was laid off, because Mum is depressed, because because because. And the Tory Government ARE TO BLAME! 9 years of Austerity, wages stagnating while the prices all rise, of course, if you are comfortable and well off, you wont care, pull the ladder up Jack....
I do care, I care that Jeremy Corbyn has been so smeared, mainly because the toffs are scared he will get in and their money-making days are over, because the Tories don;t care about you or I, or anyone, unless you have a big fat cheque to put in their hands.
Its scary for people who care about those who are in poverty, in our very own country.
I do as much for charity as I can, however, I have to help out my daughters family first, shes a nurse, been working hard her whole life, for next to nothing.
Open your eyes, forget the BBC bias, stop believing everything you read in the papers because you know who bloody owns them!
The rich get richer while the poor are dying.
And I truly believe a vote to keep the Tories in, means you are either too rich to care for others, or so stupid you have believed all the smear campaigns and rubbish they have thrown at the man who has won awards for Peace.

Corbyn = disaster

Very few people die of starvation in the Western world.

MaggieMay. You have no idea who votes Tory. You don't know about the teacher who votes for them. But has to keep it quiet. You don't know about the students who are silent Conservative voters.

Not rich.

Not stupid.

Just have different political views to yourself.

The sooner people accept that the better.

Another polarised thread. Whitewave and others are correct, we have many people in this country, including/especially the working poor who are in desperate straights,
Reading so many smug, judgemental comments suggesting those poor aren't deserving and should just work hard, like they have, reminds me of reading Angela's Ashes.

I agree with the poster (was it MaizieD) who agreed we aren't at quite the same levels as the poor in Dickens novels but if he was alive, he'd be as disgusted now as he was then.

We need a government that will re-build our devastated public services. A vote for the Conservatives certainly won't achieve that.

If JC gets the keys to No. 10 Downing Street the worst is yet to come - make no mistake!

I loved your post ‘Rivernana’.
You are exactly right.
My daughter is a frequent visitor to India, a country she loves, but she gets really fed up with people complaining about the NHS. She says we don’t know how lucky we are.
And a final word about the NHS and some people’s attitude toward it.
I have both worked in it and benefitted from its services.
If you approach it with an entitled, critical attitude, as I expect some of these posters do, then you are likely to get the sort of help you deserve.

I have recently done an analysis of health spending since 1997. It has risen in REAL terms every single year since then. In fact it is now in real terms THREE times as high as it was. The trouble is that most of the rises went into healthcare professionals' salaries and pensions, as well as rubbish PFI deals. Meantime practices are perpetuated which should have been mechanised and digitised decades ago. My father is in hospital at this very moment; I cannot believe that nurses are still laboriously filling in his readings by hand into his paper notes. I cannot believe that his menu choices all have to be done onto slips of paper - and presumably manually input into a computer program somewhere. I cannot believe the staggering amounts of waste and inefficiency tolerated. And I cannot believe that the average GP is so well remunerated that 3 days work a week suffices to pay for an excellent standard of living.

No doubt the rest of the public sector is equally profligate with our money. I don't mind paying for good services, I deeply resent paying for this crap.

"A vote for Johnson is a vote for racism, classism, sexism and religious intolerance. Not to mention mendacity and laziness."

Complete and utter b******t. A vote for Corbyn is a vote for laziness, encouraged by a State that taxes ordinary working people, and ploughs that money into failing nationalised industries and the benefits system which is not fit for purpose and encourages people to stay out of work. Let's have a grown up discussion on how much tax we are prepared to pay, and how much is needed to properly fund the NHS and education, but not funding hangers-on and lazy oiks who don't want to work (and no, I'm not including genuinely disabled people who can't work in that, just the ones who CAN work but DON'T WANT TO - we all know they're out there). And whilst we're at it, we should also discuss what we can reasonably expect from a free NHS service, given the lifespan we can now expect, the advancements in medical sciences, and the cost of drugs. No matter what the loony left tell you, it all has to be paid for and the UK does not have an endless supply of money, or a licence to print as much money as it wants!