Gransnet forums

News & politics

Where have we gone wrong....

(151 Posts)
MargaretinNorthant Sun 07-Apr-24 12:18:27

I've been reading the thread about what each would do should they win the next election. I will confess upfront that I have always voted conservative until now.
I am 86, mother, grand-mother, great-grand-mother. Looking back, and I know hindsight is the best sight of all, where do you think it all started going wrong? Not just politically but socially too? How has it come down to twelve year olds carrying knives and murdering people in the street? I know times have changed, but its obviously not been for the better in some ways, yet compared to the poverty extant in the 30's when I was born we are all better off....or perhaps my eyes do not see the worst situations? I don't know about that? I would have thought TV pushed everything that it could straight into the home these days! Where have we gone wrong , folks?

Germanshepherdsmum Sun 07-Apr-24 18:08:44

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

zakouma66 Sun 07-Apr-24 18:20:39

I'm sorry but that is such a hurtful thing to say. I'm sad and stunned.

"The problem" which problem? The whole of society?
Ethnic minority single parent families?
Don't you think black parents love and care and worry? They know where their kids are. They care.

Casdon Sun 07-Apr-24 18:21:08

That is definitely a racist comment Germanshepherdsmum. Saying it isn’t doesn’t make it not one. Knife crime hits the news, but there are many other crimes, many just as serious, committed by people of all races (and by people from varied family backgrounds).

zakouma66 Sun 07-Apr-24 18:22:47

God, really I can't stand it. How can people feel free to write this stuff.
Stephen Lawrence? Ring any bells?

Dinahmo Sun 07-Apr-24 18:32:38

zakouma66

God, really I can't stand it. How can people feel free to write this stuff.
Stephen Lawrence? Ring any bells?

Yes and it's still not properly resolved.

petra Sun 07-Apr-24 18:48:00

zakouma66

Lack of control by The Church? ( love it or loath it)

The church hasn’t exactly covered themselves in glory over the past few decades 😡

Germanshepherdsmum Sun 07-Apr-24 18:48:15

Casdon, almost all the stabbings I hear about on the news or read about in the national press seem to be committed by members of ethnic minority groups. That is a fact and not a racist comment.

zakouma, I assume you are a member of an ethnic minority and maybe also a single parent? You must realise that not everyone fitting that description is a bad parent, any more than a white (single or otherwise) parent is.

Casdon Sun 07-Apr-24 18:56:07

Brianna Ghey? It can’t be justified. Selecting stabbings as the only crime relevant to a decline in standards is inappropriate in itself, and then generalising it to infer that it is a crime of single parent non white people is racist.

Norah Sun 07-Apr-24 18:59:34

Drugs.

Blind eye 60 years ago -- now we have a mess.

petra Sun 07-Apr-24 19:06:24

Here’s what a crook looks like.
The head of Thames Water.
White.
Wealthy.
Privately Educated.

Delila Sun 07-Apr-24 19:11:54

This thread is bringing out some very unpleasant attitudes and makes extremely uncomfortable reading. Some comments are definitely racist.

Delila Sun 07-Apr-24 19:18:04

GSM, you’ll possibly assume the same about me as you do about Zakouma then, as I feel exactly as she does.

AskAlice Sun 07-Apr-24 19:19:30

Delila

This thread is bringing out some very unpleasant attitudes and makes extremely uncomfortable reading. Some comments are definitely racist.

I have to agree with Delila

Gillycats Sun 07-Apr-24 19:24:42

It went wrong a long long time ago. Politics only play a part in it in that successive governments have screwed us over, Labour are as guilty as the Tories or have people forgotten that? I think it really started going wrong in the 1960’s. People started to have sometimes unrealistic expectations and some got fed up with being held back because of poverty. Look at the awful strikes of the 1970’s and still today people have an expectation that the world owes them a living. I know a lot of people on benefits that shouldn’t be but nothing gets done about it. And other people deserve more help but don’t get it. What a crazy world we live in.

M0nica Sun 07-Apr-24 19:26:54

What no one is taking into account is that it is us and everyone else in the country who has brought it to its current state. Its not the fault of anyone else. It is each and everyone of us.

We have voted in the parties and politicians who have formed the governments. By our own acceptance of changes we didn't like we have effected or accepted all the changes in society that have led to the rise in knife crime.

Blaming the church for lacking control is ridiculous. The church has no control. peopl eeither decide they are believers and go to church or they don't. The church cannot coerce anyone to do anything, unless they consent first.

Similalry those blaming drink are also way off, the current generation of young people drink far less than their predecessors at the same age www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/24/gen-z-for-zero-tolerance-why-british-youth-are-turning-off-booze

As for those who doubt that SKI parents are a serious issue. Just google 'spending the children's inheritance' and see the pages and pages of references from a huge range of sources.

I am another non-drug taker, no virtue in it. In my first year at uni, the drug of choice before exams was caffeine. You could buy caffeine tablets quite legally over the counter at Boots. In panic over one exam, I took the maximum recommended dose. It worked but the effect it had on my mental state, was frightening, making me almost suicidal, was enough to stop me ever being tempted to mess with any other drugs.

Similarly seeing a fellow student accidentally overdose, when during a very bad attack of migraine, they were too disabled by pain to time their doses of pain killers properly has made me very cautious with pain killers.

Katie59 Sun 07-Apr-24 19:31:37

Germanshepherdsmum

*Casdon*, almost all the stabbings I hear about on the news or read about in the national press seem to be committed by members of ethnic minority groups. That is a fact and not a racist comment.

zakouma, I assume you are a member of an ethnic minority and maybe also a single parent? You must realise that not everyone fitting that description is a bad parent, any more than a white (single or otherwise) parent is.

GSM you were bound to get flack for an assertion like that, whether it is true or not.
It’s not just the children that don’t have respect for authority the learn it from their parents and other adults. It’s cool to break the rules often the rules are ignored or condoned with no penalty. I suppose my own childhood was structured more than most on the RAF bases dad worked there was always plenty of security to make sure the ‘orrible kids behaved. Sadly these days things have changed it’s much harder for so many parents

Germanshepherdsmum Sun 07-Apr-24 19:39:51

It may be harder, but it’s not impossible. I stick with what I have said. The majority of those who stab others are from ethnic minority groups. That is what I see on the news and what I read in newspapers.

JaneJudge Sun 07-Apr-24 19:49:34

I line in a multi cultural area and it is common knowledge that the problems with knives are directly linked to county lines and have nothing to do with our community. My neighbour is a medic and they have a huge increase in knife crime/stabbing at the hospital when there are organised gatherings as these people plan to come in and cause trouble. It’s a dreadful situation

AGAA4 Sun 07-Apr-24 19:50:49

Germanshepherdsmum

It may be harder, but it’s not impossible. I stick with what I have said. The majority of those who stab others are from ethnic minority groups. That is what I see on the news and what I read in newspapers.

You may be right but I wonder if they are the ones who are most afraid of being attacked themselves.
I can't condone violence of any kind but if knives are carried they will be used.

Casdon Sun 07-Apr-24 19:56:55

FullFact.
fullfact.org/crime/are-majority-youth-knife-offenders-minority-ethnic/

Casdon Sun 07-Apr-24 20:00:45

And YouGov.
yougov.co.uk/society/articles/45755-how-do-white-and-ethnic-minority-views-and-experie

Grammaretto Sun 07-Apr-24 20:36:38

I agree that you can't blame politicians, however awful they are, for the state of British society.
You can't blame parents either.

What has happened and continues to happen is the equivalent of the industrial revolution, the nature of work has changed out of all recognition.

People have been slow to catch up and the education system is still geared for a world that is no longer needing the qualities and qualifications for which young people are being trained.

I actually marvel at how well the young ones adapt and find satisfaction in their lives.
Many of them study computing and media but also have time for music, sport and art.

Perhaps I'm living in a bubble but I really don't recognise this horrible violent drug ridden world you talk about.

True there are far more prescription drugs but these are mainly for the likes of you and me!

Callistemon21 Sun 07-Apr-24 20:41:18

As for those who doubt that SKI parents are a serious issue. Just google 'spending the children's inheritance' and see the pages and pages of references from a huge range of sources.

I really cannot see why that is a serious issue.

I did not expect to inherit anything for my parents and I do not think that is an expectation that my DC have, either.

Everyone has to strive to make the best of themselves and their lives and not expect a cushion of wealth to fall into their lap through no effort of their own.

Callistemon21 Sun 07-Apr-24 20:42:00

for - from

M0nica Sun 07-Apr-24 20:43:03

Grammaretto It depends on where you live.

Live in the centre of huge conurbation in estates and neighbourhoods where most families live in poverty and you would be more familiar with it.

Even in our village in South Oxfordshire we have a problem with cars parking on the edge of the green and dealing drugs and the 18 year old son of a local family died of a drug abuse about 2 years ago. He had been an addict for some years and appeared in court several times.