The Winter of Discontent #2 Food, energy, transport, jobs, housing etc

[Ibrokethegoddamnwheel]

If we are taking in 800 per day… then yes! We need to Be able to provide for the population we have surely? As a country/economy we are struggling…no need for the eye roll.. it’s common sense surely?! Maybe I take it personally? My 84 year old nan won’t accept anything financial help from me… but she worked from 17 years old till retirement age + for the ministry of defence… yet she’s been totally fooked over by pension scheme and is debating whether or not to switch her heating on??!! Really???! It’s a disgrace.

The government is the reason your nan has been fucked over by the pension scheme. Nothing to do with immigrants.

 

[Saddlesoap]

Probs not the thread for it, but top tip. Put your knickers on the radiator before putting them on. Really warms you up

 

[grumpy_curry]

I get it's the easy "solution" to blame immigrants/refugees for issues, fascism has been doing that since time immemorial. But I urge you to please look deeper into this and don't just swallow the daily fails headlines.

Immigration is a net plus for any country. Immigrants bring their education that their new country did not pay for, saving thousands, if not more. Free expertise. Compared to the average citizen, they also pay more into the system than they take out. And so on and so forth.

Now refugees - it's an emotionally fraugh topic, but I also can only ask you to put yourself in their shoes. Your home has been destroyed, your children have a bleak future ahead of them. It's not a matter of if, but when things are going to get worse. Somebody tells you that up north there's food aplenty, people live in luxury and safety. Wouldn't you at least try to change your own lot and those of your children?

It's so sad to me that people still seem to think it's an "either- or" situation. The government has enough money to help the underprivileged, they'd just rather funnel it through to their Eton buddies than spend a penny on someone they deem undeserving.

If you need numbers, just look at how much investigating benefits fraud costs, and how much benefit fraud there actually is. Ask yourself - who profits? And in the age of "poverty porn" of "Benefits Britain" and "Life on the Dole", its easy to be manipulated into losing your empathy for people.

Those programmes are propaganda, plain and simple. They make you despise one participant, who is shown as lazy no-good scrounger. Even better if they fuck up their Job Centre appointment. Can't even get that right, lazy git. They are thus undeserving.

The other participant is a "good" benefit claimant, because they are working a shit job or have a disabled family member, so they're blameless.

If the first example made you go "well yeah, they should just get their life straight" ask yourself why the fuck you think it's humane to take somebodys only income away and leaving them at the threat of homelesness and starvation, no matter how irresponsible they're acting.

Sorry for the lenghty post, I'm just so angry right now. The DWP is fucked up and is linked to at least 69 suicides. They're asking quadriplegics to take an assesment if they're fit to work ffs. They ignore doctors notes, they ignore the workers condition, they are just there to make you give up even trying to claim.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

My daughter is gutted. Due to the supply chain issues, they didn’t have any cheese and ham pizza for lunch at school, so she had to have sausages instead. Oh to be 6 again.

 

[Mimble]

I am one step away from buying one of those wolf fleeces from the market to avoid putting heating on for a bit longer. In Mumsnet speak can I have a handhold

 

[HotesTilaire]

Close the borders? They can’t give away visas for people to come here and drive the trucks to deliver your oil!!!
Should have closed the borders to stop all the EU nationals (who kept the UK running) from leaving, more like.
There’s enough food and electric it’s just more expensive
people desperate enough to try to cross from France in this weather aren’t taking your leccy

 

[Mimble]

Surely you can still do that, but others might want to dig deeper into what is going on. Unless you really believe 100% that everything going on right now makes perfect sense?

For me, nothing going on right now makes any sense and if you look into history you will see this isn't the first time the economy has been crashed on purpose If we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.

I'm not going to argue with you re history, because I know it's pointless, but no actually to the 'you can just have a moan anyway, what's the problem to posting conspiracy videos or whatever'. It changes the tone of the thread totally so anyone who does say something against the conspiracy theory grain gets a pile on and eventually no one else comments on it. Look at the Corona thread. It's turned into another anti vax powers that be thread.


For my own personal reasons I am pretty aware of conspiracy language and how it works and how pointless it is to engage. When conspiracy promoters say things like 'just encouraging people to dig deeper' or 'there's other sides to this' - it isn't that at all, it's pushing one uncritical narrative forward of a master plan that relies on totally twisted 'sources' from conspiracy platforms. It becomes the version of the Christmas party where everyone starts to go quiet and thinks of ways to leave when someone says something like 'and about 9/11'. It's not enlightening anyone, it's just changing the tone of a conversation into one people can't participate in and stay away from because no one wants to deal with getting a pile on for challenging it. It's not broadening discussion, it just narrows it and stops it. Even if users are blocked by someone the thread and any other current affairs thread just morphs into another conspiracy echo chamber. I genuinely think some posters are purposeful about it because there's no one left to argue with on the Corona or anti vax thread. I'm not trying to backseat mod I'm just saying it's already happening in this one and it will probably start to happen in every other current affairs thread as well.

I realise this is blunt but your response just showed how upfront you are about this and I'm not going to disrespect you by shrouding what I'm saying in some meely mouthed passive aggressive bull. There's nothing I can do about it anyway, it's just an observation.

 

[no-no]

I am one step away from buying one of those wolf fleeces from the market to avoid putting heating on for a bit longer. In Mumsnet speak can I have a handhold

Go for it, they’ll probably be back in fashion soon…

 

[GobShyte64]

I was doing my food shopping last night on the app. 73 items came to over £100. No goodies, just meat, cupboard stuff, bit of fruit, freezer bits.. Had to take some off to get it down to under £100 because I just cannot afford that. I didnt even have toilet rolls or any house hold bits on - was literally just food. Going to buy some more of them teddy bear fleece duvet sets that you guys were talking about in the last thread. Me & my kids have 1 set each but I'm going to get another for when its in the wash and we can still keep warm.

I really do feel like we are on the way to another recession. I can't see it going any other way with Bojo and Co.

 

[Reverend]

I think this is M&S.......

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Another important thing people can do is reduce spending on cheap clothes. I know it's easier said than done, but it's really important. The problem is, the likes of Primark don't help. They are just there, tempting people with a £1 pair of socks or a £1.50 t-shirt. I haven't been there for quite a few years, so could be wrong about the prices, but nevertheless they are very cheap. If a person can afford to, then the best thing to do is save and buy better quality clothes at a higher price. I used to buy leather jackets that were about £50, but realised they aren't great at lasting. I went and bought a boda skins leather jacket for £450 and it should last a long while. I know it's a lot, but that's an extreme example. It's better to spend a decent amount on a good quality jacket or pair of jeans, or even footwear imo.

Sustainably/ethically sourced clothing is a minefield and sadly it’s not just a case of more expensive = fair wages for garment workers, safe conditions, and sustainably sourced material.

It can also be a bit of a classist dig as low income families *need* stores like Primark, and it’s not fast fashion to them it’s the only accessible means of clothing they have. The secondary market is fucked - go into most charity shops and it’s either house clearance stuff so inappropriate for anyone under 60 or poor quality “fast fash” brands priced not that dissimilarly from buying brand new, tbh. Just because MC consumers / customers with a disposable income are seeing these outfits as single use, doesn’t mean the people that need these retailers are.

Ultimately it needs an attitude change, people don’t need as much as they’re buying, they don’t need to refresh their wardrobes as often as they are, the industry needs to move away from being trend led, marketing to move away from hyper consumption to styling or accessorising or swapping, like it’s an incredibly complex situation and I don’t think telling ppl to just spend more answers it.

 

[that1]

I grew up without much money. My parents were extremely irresponsible. There were times when the electricity went off, bills went unpaid and we were eating barely anything.

I *swore* to myself as a child, I wouldn’t live my life like that. I was hellbent on going to uni and getting a good job. Not because I wanted money - I wanted options and chocies. And I did. My degree meant I got a good job. I forced myself to apply for jobs I didn’t always feel fully confident in - because like someone said in the previous thread, most men in senior positions absolutely wing it. And I’ve yet to start a job I haven’t been able to learn, so that fear of not being competent is pretty unfounded if you’re even halfway intelligent and hardworking.

I also swore I wouldn’t have children until I was financially secure, with a house. Because I’m terrified of risking putting my kids through what I went through.

rising costs, even though I’m in a decent well paid job - are still terrifying. We are due to remortgage in just over a year and I’m terrified of rising interest rates.

it’s true that a lot of people with money - haven’t a clue. And they are the ones who are in positions of influence to change the system so they absolutely need to care. A lot of my circle are upper middle class and didn’t grow up with the circumstances I did, and they just don’t get how terrifying it is.

poverty porn didn’t start in the 2010s either. This country has a long history of it. The victorians thought that if you were poor, it was because you were immoral in some way. The mindset inspired Charles Dickens in many of his books. He was able to empathise better with the poor because he’d grown up in poverty himself.

 

[hollowcrown]

I’m catching up from the previous thread and it’s good to know I’m not the only one feeling really worried about this winter. Does anyone else feel like the government are massively in denial in order to prevent us from panicking? Especially given the petrol situation?

what do we genuinely believe will happen in the next few months? I’m glad I’ve got lots of candles and warm clothes to prevent me from needing toturn on heating / as a supply in case supply is down.

The government is entirely in denial about any of the problems normal people are facing.

Did you see that Tory MP complaining about how hard it is to live on 82k salary? Fucking patronising.

And that's in a normal state, if the economy crashes I have absolutely no faith Rishi has any idea how to fix it, he's completely out of his depth.

 

[Instashamous]

I feel like I’m in a living history class. What is worrying is that an adult who works full time on minimum wage is already one of the top 10% wealthiest people in the world. Those same people will struggle to heat their homes and eat this winter. It’s absolutely horrifying. Im now £120+ per week on a modest food shop, and although we will be able to eat and stay warm this year so we are incredibly privileged, it still scares me that we are one pay cheque away from disaster.

 

[dancingqueen5678]

My dad lived on the Isle of Man where enemy aliens were interns (admittedly, it was if you were german or italian, or been a known supporter of Mosley you were locked up, even if you hated Hitler, had been a refugee from Fascism or had repented far right views etc.). His home was actually about 15 yards from the barbed wire of the camp (the internees were put in hotels that pre and post war hosted holiday makers). They never knew if they were going to find someone trying to break out every night, so they he didn;t have exactly pleasant memories!

Also, he did National Service, and told me it was the biggest waste of time that experienced in his life.

potentially controversial here but I find the mentality in regards to the war in this country really bizarre. Everyone's always like "we were okay in the war/everyone these days is too soft/the people today would never have lived through the war/our war hero ancestors would be laughing at us, they all just got on with it". But that's subjective. If you were a kid evacuee who ended up with an abusive family, if someone you loved went off to fight and died or just never came back you would be suffering. I'm sure there were plenty of people during the war years who struggled, and whinged. In the same vain, that Germans under the Nazi's actually faired quite well, in particular, women, they got paid a decent amount of money providing they had lots of kids and followed the 3 C's (now fully aware that this isn't okay but if you consider it in 1930s context, that's what women were expected to do anyway.) Jews, on the other hand, would have a very different story about how world war Germany was for them.

 

[hollowcrown]

In a world of several billions, individuals can make small changes but the only way change can be truly made is through systemic change at the top, by corporations and politicians the ones leading the world right now. Eating less meat, driving less and turnin your heating down will make a bit of a difference but it is nothing in comparison to industries and the amount of energy they consume.

"Oh you're a hypocrite for using an iPhone" is so stupid. I could get rid of my iPhone and stop using the internet but Apple would still be a billion dollar company and I would still need to go on the internet in order to get a job and put food on my plate and a roof over my head.

 

[hollowcrown]

The current governerment is only interested in making money for themselves and their donors not in improving anyones life as a whole.

 

[dancingqueen5678]

Well this is the government that advised us to sing happy birthday whilst washing our hands to deal with the initial outbreak of Coronavirus. Meanwhile, the rest of the world was going into complete lockdown. So wouldn't put it past them to be in some sort of denial.

And left the borders open so everyone and their dog could come in while all other countries blocked borders as best as they could.
Don’t even get me started on the happenings with that Indian variant or I swear I’ll never stop talking about it

 

[Penguin86]

I am fucked.
Normally when I'm struggling I just by tinned food but today something I would normally pay under 30p for is now nearly £1

 

[JoeBloggs]

Another important thing people can do is reduce spending on cheap clothes. I know it's easier said than done, but it's really important. The problem is, the likes of Primark don't help. They are just there, tempting people with a £1 pair of socks or a £1.50 t-shirt. I haven't been there for quite a few years, so could be wrong about the prices, but nevertheless they are very cheap.

If a person can afford to, then the best thing to do is save and buy better quality clothes at a higher price. I used to buy leather jackets that were about £50, but realised they aren't great at lasting. I went and bought a boda skins leather jacket for £450 and it should last a long while. I know it's a lot, but that's an extreme example. It's better to spend a decent amount on a good quality jacket or pair of jeans, or even footwear imo.

In a ideal world, of course. But the reality just doesn't work, Primark has its place. If you are on a low or even decent income and have kids you cannot afford to be buying and high end brands at the rate they grown. Hand me downs are not done much anymore, perhaps because of society's shift and also because the quality of clothes is no where near what is was and I think so of this was driven by companies desire to make more money and cut costs not always driven by the need for fast and cheap.

I think it all feeds into each other, social media, big corporations, low wages and where do you start to make the changes. It is a big cycle. Most people just cannot afford not to shop at Primark and not having a smart phone in todays age puts you at a massive disadvantage.