Everything is wrong in this country

Orecisely Chestnut.
My own daughter (well-off thanks to big inheritance) send her kids to school to have breakfast because it is easier!

I have this theory that WW2 is not a real person, All posts smack of Labour Party Propaganda direct from Headquarters.
There is never any real dialogue; just negative bombardments. If the polls are right, they are getting desperate.

Time to start bombarding back then jo1book

I think it is impossible to make judgements about people who "can't help themselves" unless you have the full facts and history. Superficial judgements lead to bigotry.

I do not agree with the OP that everything is wrong with this country; but I am aware of those things that ARE very wrong; and they are things that relate to the huge divide between the haves and the have nots.

Some more perspective on WWM2's depressing vision of gloom and doom.
Before the welfare state people had to work until they dropped to the ground of old age, often in cold damp fields or filthy noisy factories. If they didn't work they got no money at all, if they did work they still got no unemployment benefit, holiday pay or pension.
Before the NHS people and children could not afford to see a doctor and often died as a result.
Children didn't go to school so they never had the opportunity to read, write and get a well-paid job. This meant it was into the field or factory for them as soon as they were 7 or 8 years old.
There was no birth control so babies were born one after the other, even if you had no money to feed them.

Our ancestors worked hard over the last 200 years to deal with the above problems.

Can you just stop and think about all the advantages we have now. Most people have a choice whether to educate themselves, work hard and earn more money; what size family they can afford to support; and so on.

Many of our problems are due to being a small overcrowded country unable to support the large numbers of people who now live here, and Labour has been largely responsible for that.

83% of schools will suffer further cuts next year, on top of the cuts they have already experienced every year since 2010.

Schools in our area all have banners outlining the amount of money each individual school has lost.

It is appalling.

Opal, how would you differentiate the 'can't work' from the 'won't work? Next, how exactly would you compel somebody to work? I'd love to know. Would you stop their benefits, perhaps and leave their innocent children to starve?

I think you are barking up the wrong tree anyway. By far the biggest drain on the benefits system are all the elderly who are living much longer lives. What would you do to solve that, I wonder?

My husband's grandfather came from a large family and worked in the fields during school holidays picking potatoes. He left school at a young age and worked. He worked hard and established a co-operative soft drinks business ( a bit like Corona if you remember that) He was a keen supporter of workers' education and also bringing music to the poorer members of society. He was able to achieve this because he was a Labour Party member who became an alderman and was also Sheriff of Nottingham.

When he died, in the fifties, people lined the streets for his funeral cortege and one half page in the local broadsheet was devote to this and his obit. Tories never stood against him and he was always elected unopposed.

Not everybody from such a background was or indeed is able to achieve what he did. If he had had a slightly different personality, no doubt his family would have been very rich.

Now we have the greatest divide between the richest and poorest since the Edwardian era.

Please do not paint the poor as feckless drunks, some may be , some rich people are be too, the only difference is wealth. Few single mums chose to be, most have been let down by a man, who pays at best minimum for the children. The father may be dead or disabled. If the mother has dodgy health, or a minimum wage job the child may well be being brought up in poverty.
We imported labour from many countries to do jobs we didn't want to do, while we were doing that our countrymen and women were going off to the antipodes or Canada, some have come back later or on retirement, I know a lot of nurses who did that, to live in a pleasanter climate while we got Irish or Carribbean nurses to do the job we'd trained them to do. Where would I be without doctors or nurses or dentists from overseas, dead probably. Thank heavens we have them. For many it is luck rather than hard work which has given them an easy life, a different decision at a crossroads in their life, a company they worked for closing down, s drunk driver disabling or killing a breadwinner, a freak accident if birth that means you have to give up your job to look after a child with a rare congenital issue...some are born to wealth and privilege, it's not their choice, others are born in poverty and to get to where the rich person is will be an uphill struggle. Wronguns are wronguns whatever their origin, but wring behaviour is brushed off if the person is from the wealthier strata of society, and often demonised or thought of as feckless and to blame if they are from the lower strata, or are incomers from elsewhere.
We'd be so much poorer as a society were it not for the efforts of immigrants over the centuries, Huguenots, in London, Germans in Bradford to mention just a couple of groups. Not all the wealthy are just take, take, some are philanthropic, and care about their neighbour who is struggling. Some are immigrants elsewhere, channel isles, Isle of Man, or other tax havens, avoiding paying the taxes that would benefit so many. They are every but as antisocial as those at the other end of the spectrum. And the likes of Prince Andrew....thank heavens there are members of the royal family who do good for the nation. My mum was once at a dinner at which he was present and says that him and his cronies were throwing bread rolls around, the sort of behaviour that would get you thrown out of wetherspoons. And the waste when people go hungry.

I confess, I have not read this entire thread but what I have read tells me that most of us are quick to blame someone else for all the bad things.
No one wants to take responsibility in my view and once elected the politicians, of whatever hue, are shot down in flames.

Are they all so evil? How come?
Inequalities are nothing new.

Back in the 1960s Lady Isobel Barnet was holding forth on Question Time about the undeserving poor and how they misspent their meagre earnings and she could tell them, good Aberdeenshire stock that she was, how to feed a family on wholesome fare for less than sixpence! or whatever a pittence was
Someone suggested that if you were down to your last sixpence, wouldn't you want to spend it on a little luxury?

In other words, if you are in the fortunate position of not being poor it is easy to tell others how they should live.

There is something to be said for Whitewavemark2 ' list but isn't that the changing dynamics of the U.K.? When younger there was less population of immigrant families in the area I have lived in for 45 years. To be honest I never fully noticed how much U.K had changed until about last 10 to fifteen years and now lack of housing getting your children into a school of your choice in your actual area hospital bed crisis loss of the High Street shopping because it is being pulled down to create even more houses loss of green spaces for the children as being built on for more houses once again so many things and yes the past governments were ready to let many people migrate to the U.K only they failed to notice the country was at bursting point and all the burden this migration was putting on the finances of U.K was ridiculous and we are far from being a rich nation any longer and I for one fear for the future of my grand-children.
I still look for many things that make me feel blessed everyday but my town has been so overbuilt now that it is hardly recognisable and manoeuvring the road layouts to make way for ever increasing transport is an effort in itself when driving around. What I do see is many foreign drivers that seem to have a desire for the large 4x4's good luck I say I would like one of them to ferry the grand-children and my dog around in oh well one can only but dream.
It seems in my area now to maybe have come to U.K through some immigration scheme you are not living in poverty particularly if you drive a 4x4 or latest B.M.W. which is what I see.
I am not being judgemental I have no racist views to have a multicultural town and live in multicultural community is no problem to me only government made all the decisions of the past and we are reaping what they have sown.

I think you could be right lemongrove and WWmk2 is a activist bot!

There’ll be another soupçon of Labour manifesto along to entertain us shortly ....
?

Employment is at an all time high. I think I heard on radio employment at 27 year high.
NHS free at point of service.
More people can afford foreign holidays than when I was a child.
Most people can afford mobile phones and cable TV non of which are essential.
Gas and Electricity prices are price capped so more can afford them and government offer winter fuel payments to those on pensions. If you are on a means tested benefit you can also get extra help with electricity/gas.
We are not at war with another country.
We are hopefully coming out of EU by end of January.
Lots to look forward to in New Year.
No need to be so miserable WW2.

Well said 3nanny6. This overcrowding in such a small country is the cause of many of our problems. How can anyone not notice the growing difficulties with schools, healthcare, housing and transport. The answer is always 'build more houses, more roads, more hospitals, more schools' but where will it ever end?

@johnmcdonnellMP

Leading economist teaches at Cambridge University Ha-Joon Chang explains why Labour's manifesto shows a vision that points to the right direction.

twitter.com/johnmcdonnellMP/status/1201765448464896005?s=20

Agree wholeheartedly.. Why should we expect everything to be handed to us on a plate? We also worked long and hard, restricted our family to one, though my husband wanted 6!
Never owed ,nor lent money, saved whilst working, for our retirement, whilst others spent their money on luxuries, holidays etc. And now living on benefits?
Work hard , and don’t expect handouts. Yes, voted Conservatives, mostly, but divert according when we think another party is better. At the moment I am still undecided, both leaders do not fill me with any sense of confidence!
Certainly improvements needed .

@oodles well said

To a certain extent i agree with WW,not everything wrong with this country, but a lot that shouldn't be in this day and age
The tories only think about the wealthy, who can afford to pay for healthcare etc
Drs and nurses are leaving the country, there are shortages of skilled people, but we let in and keep in immigrants that do no good and are a drain on the health service ,
Most don't work, and are on benefits, yet our own people are penalised if they don't have a job, and before anyone calls me a racist,i am not, but i don't agree with open borders ,for all and sundry,
Australia has the right idea, only allowed in if you have a job to go to,it has always been like that and still is
Not enough Drs and nurses,too many people
Employment is only at an all time high because of zero hours working,or sometimes only allowed to work 12 hours a week, so then have to rely on top ups
I have never voted Tory and never will, but i am not too keen on Labour as it is now
I know most poor people are not as poor as they once were,i remember families who only ever had hand me downs from older brothers and sisters, but it is getting that way,
Some people don't live in the real world and don't see the poverty we have today,especially in families,
There should be no homeless living on the streets
There are over 2000 on our housing waiting list, but almost all empty ones have gone to immigrants because out council have to take in and house at least 36 families this year, and more next year,
Not a lot compared to some places but it is a small town

And yet a huge proprotion of migrants want to live here, choosing Britain over all the countries they travel through. There will doubtlessly be many who will have examples of just how wrong I am, but for the most part we are a decent, kind hearted, incredibly tolerant, good humoured and very lucky nation with much to be grateful for.
Perhaps those who go on about how terrible it all is might like to find a country that is in a better shape? This is not a sarcastic challenge - I would like to hear who is doing it better than us right now. The world is having a bad time in many ways - but I would rather be here than anywhere else on the planet.

Thank-you Chestnut the overcrowding is the biggest problem we have. Do not want to get on my high horse but the schools close to my house are a traffic hazard at morning and home time because of waiting parents in cars no matter how many notices go up about parking they still get ignored gone are the days of children walking to school.
Latest is our rapidly declining High Street will be gone in about two years that's for the next lot of houses to go up.
That's progress I suppose still as the years pass I suppose I think I will be off to meet my eternal maker (not to soon I hope)
Thought I would mention that as somewhere in the post on this subject I noticed a post where someone said that
O.A.Ps are the biggest drain on the benefit system and that us O.A.Ps are taking up hospital beds and social care etc; oh well pardon me for breathing whoever it was they will become an O.AP one day so best of luck when that time comes.
I still feel blessed and glad to be living.

Dawn Smith
@dawnsmith07
#VoteLabour2019 I'ts the same with academy schools, they can choose unqualified teachers to keep costs down. It's a potential high cost for the children and patients.
Leaked NHS document reveals government plan to use cheaper staff to fill nurse vacancies

twitter.com/dawnsmith07/status/1201842364286980102?s=20

Have I read your post correctly blondenana? Are you seriously suggesting that most immigrants don't work?

By the way, when was the last time you had to go to hospital or spend time in a care home or hospice? Did it occur to you how many of the nurses and doctors are pesky immigrants?

The smoking gun: Dominic Raab admits Donald Trump would be free to hike the price of NHS drugs

twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1201875606939590657?s=20

Goodness, what a deeply unpleasant thread this is.

Opal - I agree with some of your sentiments; no one wants to help support the people who are able to work, but choose not to; there will always be some that are cute and know how to work the system. But there are lots of unfortunate people who cannot work for very good reasons - ill-health, they are a primary carer etc. and they genuinely need to claim benefits; if some rogues slip through the system, then so be it, it doesn't stop me from agreeing to pay more tax. Also, the income from increased taxation of the more well-off wouldn't just be used for the welfare state; there's transport improvement, more funding for local government, police, fire, NHS etc. I would benefit myself from all those improvements that I have helped to fund!