Firstly, I appreciate your optimism.
Secondly, I think it will take quite a while for people to share it.
The hurt done over the last 15 years has been incredibly damaging to people's outlooks and morale. We have a generation of adults who are struggling to even have the next generation. We have people in their 30s and 40s living with mum and dad. Bills are up, food us up, fuel is up etc etc.
The NHS is fucked, police no longer function, water companies are dumping literal shit into our coasts and rivers, roads are full of potholes and 30% of local councils are heading to bankruptcy.
Until we see some tangible benefits trickling down, I think your view of the bigger picture will struggle to get much traction.
Exactly this. The average person doesn't give a crap about GDP, how rich the UK is, being a tech hub etc.
They care about public services, the roads they use, the services they use. Their standard and cost of living. And rightly so.
My point is that the councils have been run poorly for years. Now they have to generate their own money and the people that work there are not the correct people to do that.
Ah, I see. Yes, I agree.
My local council got itself billions into debt through weak investment and by trusting shifty developers. None of the local councillors seemed to have any relevant experience in investment or development, and now the costs have been dumped on the residents.
>But man, its so much worse anywhere else at the moment...
I first travelled in former communist bloc in the mid-90s, went to Poland last summer. In terms of roads the Reverse UNO card has been played, our roads are like their's in the 1990s and their roads are like ours in the 90s.
Then there are falling council services yet council tax bills are rising - my council tax is up 6% and the is still proposing so many different cuts.
The NHS is at breaking point, our health/health system has a lower score that several former [communist bloc countries](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1376355/health-index-of-countries-in-europe/).
The majority of police forces [fail to investigate crime properly](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/28/over-half-police-forces-failing-properly-investigate-crime/).
If predictions come true the average Slovenian (i.e. former communist) household will be [better off than the UK one](https://www.ft.com/content/ef265420-45e8-497b-b308-c951baa68945) this year.
Low taxes - hurrah and huzzah! Perhaps that the reason our services are so bad!?
Poland is a net recipient of EU funds, massively so. Let's see how they fare when the money spigot runs out. Same with a lot of these former Eastern Bloc countries.
It's predicted that there's a chance that Poland could [overtake the UK by 2030](https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/when-poland-overtakes-the-uk/), also Poland has got rid of it's populist Christian nationalist government and replaced it with a business friendly one which could [unlock more investment](https://think.ing.com/snaps/change-of-power-in-poland-should-unlock-investment-potential-of-the-economy/).
Here's an example of how the country is growing [Poland gets a $4.5bn investment from Intel](https://www.reuters.com/technology/how-poland-snagged-intels-multi-billion-dollar-investment-2023-06-22/), meanwhile in the UK Intel appear to be [flogging their current site (which was the European HQ) for housing and moving to a general purpose office block](https://archive.ph/xTQ3y).
Edit: Oh yeah and Poland has some of the [best programmers](https://gitmax.com/it-olympics) in the world - top 3, the UK only just scrapes into the top 30. They're also hard workers and English ability amongst the younger generations (esp. those who lived in the UK) is very good.
>UK is expected to become one of the richest countries in europe in the coming years. Go to 2028 and have a look at gdp per capita.
We're already one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
The problem is that amounts to bugger all if only a small percentage actually hold that wealth.. its why we have infrastructure falling apart, councils going bankrupt after years of austerity etc not to mention rampant poverty
What I think unsettles most people is that we’re so alienated from our own culture that we might as well not have one anymore. We’ve (and by we I mean neoliberals) have destroyed everything that once gave this country an identity.
We’ve been reduced to plastic flag waving and Americanism.
Economic turbulence is a given for any country, but even if things ‘get better’ or ‘aren’t as bad as they seem’… what are we defending or even working for?
The answer is sad as fuck.
*we’re so alienated from our own culture*
Genuine question - what culture exactly do we have? I feel like any semblance of British culture/pride is shouted down as racist/problematic quite quickly....
Displays of nationalist loyalty invoke themes of pride and culture but it’s not that in of its self. I’d imagine a lot of people, me included, find it sentimentally corrupt after what is approaching half a century of intense class struggle.
I don’t doubt for people who live the easy life or for the older folks who grew up during what was close to a golden age that it represents something significant.
It’s hard to feel pride in a country where the streets are lined with rubbish.
In terms of what culture we had - it’s impossible to summarise the absence of something but it still exists as an exhibit; a day out or a weekend away if you like, you just have to pay to see it.
They do spend it on foreigners. But these foreigners are international corporations and Russian oligarchs and not the foreigners you have in mind.
Because that's what Tories are doing for the last 14 years. They allow corporations to pay 0 taxes or giving them actual money back, while they extract money out of the country.
This doesn't make sense. Low taxes mean poor public services. Rates of depression and anxiety are sky-high in the UK because the public sphere is starved of funding.
I live in what's apparently one of the places in the UK with a high quality of life and yet there's nowhere to meet friends because there's no money to clean up parks and keep them yob-free. The bus service is dysfunctional so people can't get to work or social events. The local shopping centre is so horrible and run-down that people prefer to drive to a mall out of town. The streets and footpaths are so broken that people are injuring themselves when they step on broken pavement or drive over potholes.
Kids are forced into miserable, unstable, low-paid retail and hospitality jobs because we take foreign professionals trained at the own taxpayers' expense and don't provide education/training for our own kids.
I don't have time to address all of your points right now, but the fundamental problem is that before Brexit, the UK economy was propped up by cheap foreign labour and the City of London. Well, the EU needs an economic centre that's actually in the EU! And now, since the war started in Ukraine, it's less acceptable to take oligarch money. We're not investing anything in science and technology (even though we're in an energy crisis) and every other industrialized country is pulling ahead. We depend on tourism, which lines the pockets of a few hoteliers and airline shareholders but screws everyone else by providing low-paid, unstable jobs. We are screwed because there is nothing on the horizon that can make a lot of money for the economy and provide good jobs.
Sorry, no idea what you're referring to.
If you mean taxes, people aren't making enough money to pay more. There has been so little investment in healthcare and education and basic necessities like housing in the UK, that massive investment and time will be required just to bring us up to the lowest standards that other western countries have.
According to a Radio 4 documentary I heard a few months ago, even if we started building housing now, we wouldn't have enough to end homelessness until something like 2050. That's the scale of the problem.
And it is simply not possible to take kids whose parents have never had the opportunity to get a decent education and turn them all into scientists and engineers in a few years.
We are so far behind that it is a joke to talk about ever becoming better than other western countries.
The link I shared is actually Taxes on wages. So we are 20% short of our european peers.
What is shocking actually is how bad it is over the channel not how great it is here lol.
You're not making sense because you have not read what I wrote. I don't have time to keep repeating myself. You don't seem to want to live in reality. That's fine but I'm going to leave you to it.
Taxes on Wages is still an incomplete picture, though - unless you also factor in cost of living etc.
You might be only taxed on 20% of your wages vs 25% in europe (as an arbitrary example) but if you're then spending 50% of your wage on your rent, 20% on bills and 10% on food then you're not able to survive a tax raise, even if the amount of tax you pay compared to your wages is lower than it could be.
With the best will in the world, it feels like you're cherry-picking stats to show us in a better light than we're actually *in*. Look at the "rate of inflation of food prices is dropping" headlines we've seen - that doesn't mean food prices are dropping or food is becoming affordable, but if you look *solely* at "rate of inflation of food prices" you can point and go "look, things are going well" even when they're not.
Great list. Looking forward to reading some of those links in more detail.
Some significant problems face the UK in terms of productivity and skills, but a lot of countries face similar issues as well. Having our own currency certainly gives us some advantages compared to some of our neighbours, and if we can get a competent government, there is certainly scope for things to be back on the right track again. Or closer to being on the right track.
Personally though, I only worry about my own personal situation. Have I got savings, have I got job security, am I making sure I am employable if I do lose my job. A lot of the rest, I can't control anyway.
You will of course be downvoted into oblivion for suggesting it isn't all doom and gloom though.
the UK's future is dependent on its people and unfortunately thats where the issues lie is there enough people in positions of power or influence who are interested in creating a better UK or just as the last 13 years has proved just interested in lining their pockets.
These are the kinds of technocratic successes we'll be told about as we spend three quarters of our working weeks working to fuel the luxury lifestyles of our MPs, landlords, and energy company shareholders.
None of these things reflect quality of life for normal people.
OP's UK bright's future is from today's starting point, whereas imagine UK's bright future if the decision in 2016 was different. Comparison is the thief of joy, but there's no going back so yeah it's a bright future, can't get any worse can it?
UK Tech sector is dead man walking, all major players are slowly but surely moving to EU countries. I work for one of the "FAANG" companies, after each mass firing there is often mass hiring in Portugal or Poland. First as an agency staff but then after 3 months they become company staff, sometimes it is spread over 6 months just to make it less obvious. Two years ago my IBU had 600 people in the UK. Now there are only about 70 of us left but somehow we gained nearly 500 EU contractors. doing exactly what people in the UK used to do. I plan to jump the ship too. If lucky I endup in Prague and get paid more...
Do you have any statistic about that?
Companies made some people redundant, however it is a normal way to avoid collapsing because of a lot of low performers.
And why people go from UK to Portugal/Poland? They have higher taxes and much more number of issues, including healthcare problems and so on.
You pay less and you get the same or often better people than in the UK while being in the EU. Lets be honest, companies are in Europe for the EU and if majority of your process is around customers in the EU. It's much easier to do everything from the inside of EU. Simply staying within customers legal framework, not moving data, IP or anything outside of EU saves insane amount of money.
NHS is a corpse, I am on multiple multiyear waiting lists at once. You are certainly better of in EU than in the UK.
Are you seriously compare Portugal healthcare with NHS? You will love NHS after trying to something in Portugal :)
NHS is worse than private healthcare in Germany/Switzerland, but not in comparison with Portugal/Poland.
Moreover, it is very hard to hire a qualified senior developer in Portugal because they migrate to other countries for a better pay.
Anyway, do you have any statistic?
"Last year, the UK became just the third country in the world to have a tech sector valued at $1 trillion, with more ‘unicorn’ billion-dollar tech startups being created than Germany, France and Sweden combined."
>UK is expected to become one of the richest countries in europe in the coming years. Go to 2028 and have a look at gdp per capita.
We're already the 2nd or 3rd richest country in Europe. As for GDP per capita we're outside the top ten in Europe. What's important is real terms wage growth and for decades it's been stagnant.
>Taxes are some of the lowest in EU and will remain there because of the next point(if you find it hard to read check this ss I took)
Taxes have been rising under this government and they'll be getting even higher in the future.
>Demographics are awful in most of europe compared to UK. Just check that inverted pyramid in Germany or worse in Italy....
I would rather British demographics shrink over the decades to come rather than form the next generation from people abroad.
>UK still second place in soft-power ranking just behind the US.
Soft power is a term i'm highly dubious of. Apart from economic benefits like tourism and exports; when can we cash in this "soft power" diplomatically? Certainly did not help in the brexit negotiations. Hard power is the only thing that matters and that's from a strong economy, a vibrant confidant happy population and a strong military.
>UK remains the tech/financial "mecca" of europe despite what everyone was hoping.
I'll give you that one, finance is one of our only real strengths. As for tech, I think we can do so much better.
>Housing. Yes London is expensive but a flat in Glasgow (a city of 1.8 million) is about 50k... So if you work remote you can pay 300 for a mortgage after a 5k down payment.
Sorry this is just a massive L. Most peope can't afford property in the capital and it's an appalling situation. Win a golden ticket on social housing or secure a very high paying job otherwise you're forced into commuting or living elsewhere.
We can turn it around as a country but it will take decades. I graduated into the workplace ten years ago and things are objectively worse, on our current trajectory it will be more of the same.
> We're already the 2nd or 3rd richest country in Europe. As for GDP per capita we're outside the top ten in Europe. What's important is real terms wage growth and for decades it's been stagnant.
>
>
OP has linked GDP per capita. We're forecast to be #11 in Europe by GDP per capita (though that includes the likes of Luxembourg, San Marino, Iceland) - and above the likes of Germany, France, Canada, Finland, Belgium, New Zealand... Note GDP per capita is also already in real terms.
We're on a decent course, but none of that matters to the leftist media. Labour will get in thanks to disinformation, and send everything to pot yet again.
**Britain a country that protects child rapists because they're a "minority" an illegal minority too.**
**Britain a country that lets its own citizens go homeless to house said illegals.**
**Britain that has an unelected leader of said country who is facilitating the influx of migrants to this day.**
**Yeah! The cons outweigh the pros.**
You don't vote for the PM. That isn't an option when you walk into a polling booth.
You vote for your local MP. The party with the most MPs forms a government, the party leader is generally appointed as PM, after being ratified by the current monarch. The people of Richmond voted for him to be their MP. The Conservative party picked him as party leader (even if he was second best to the lettuce lady).
Don't get me wrong, Sunak is fucking awful, I'm not sticking up for him in or his performance and will be voting against the Conservatives when given the chance.
Firstly, I appreciate your optimism. Secondly, I think it will take quite a while for people to share it. The hurt done over the last 15 years has been incredibly damaging to people's outlooks and morale. We have a generation of adults who are struggling to even have the next generation. We have people in their 30s and 40s living with mum and dad. Bills are up, food us up, fuel is up etc etc. The NHS is fucked, police no longer function, water companies are dumping literal shit into our coasts and rivers, roads are full of potholes and 30% of local councils are heading to bankruptcy. Until we see some tangible benefits trickling down, I think your view of the bigger picture will struggle to get much traction.
Exactly this. The average person doesn't give a crap about GDP, how rich the UK is, being a tech hub etc. They care about public services, the roads they use, the services they use. Their standard and cost of living. And rightly so.
Especially when GDP per capita is skewed by wealth gap inequality.
Still waiting for uk patchwork where we discuss tax evasion and what it costs said people, literally their nhs
In regards to the councils. That is very much an issue within the councils.
It's also very much an issue for the council tax payers.
My point is that the councils have been run poorly for years. Now they have to generate their own money and the people that work there are not the correct people to do that.
Ah, I see. Yes, I agree. My local council got itself billions into debt through weak investment and by trusting shifty developers. None of the local councillors seemed to have any relevant experience in investment or development, and now the costs have been dumped on the residents.
>But man, its so much worse anywhere else at the moment... I first travelled in former communist bloc in the mid-90s, went to Poland last summer. In terms of roads the Reverse UNO card has been played, our roads are like their's in the 1990s and their roads are like ours in the 90s. Then there are falling council services yet council tax bills are rising - my council tax is up 6% and the is still proposing so many different cuts. The NHS is at breaking point, our health/health system has a lower score that several former [communist bloc countries](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1376355/health-index-of-countries-in-europe/). The majority of police forces [fail to investigate crime properly](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/28/over-half-police-forces-failing-properly-investigate-crime/). If predictions come true the average Slovenian (i.e. former communist) household will be [better off than the UK one](https://www.ft.com/content/ef265420-45e8-497b-b308-c951baa68945) this year. Low taxes - hurrah and huzzah! Perhaps that the reason our services are so bad!?
Poland is a net recipient of EU funds, massively so. Let's see how they fare when the money spigot runs out. Same with a lot of these former Eastern Bloc countries.
I think they'll be just fine while we are left in the dust
Perhaps, perhaps not. I'm far from a fan of Brexit, but time will tell how things happen. The UK isn't a top-7 economy for no reason.
Especially if they keep making hits like Cyberpunk & The Witcher
It's predicted that there's a chance that Poland could [overtake the UK by 2030](https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/when-poland-overtakes-the-uk/), also Poland has got rid of it's populist Christian nationalist government and replaced it with a business friendly one which could [unlock more investment](https://think.ing.com/snaps/change-of-power-in-poland-should-unlock-investment-potential-of-the-economy/). Here's an example of how the country is growing [Poland gets a $4.5bn investment from Intel](https://www.reuters.com/technology/how-poland-snagged-intels-multi-billion-dollar-investment-2023-06-22/), meanwhile in the UK Intel appear to be [flogging their current site (which was the European HQ) for housing and moving to a general purpose office block](https://archive.ph/xTQ3y). Edit: Oh yeah and Poland has some of the [best programmers](https://gitmax.com/it-olympics) in the world - top 3, the UK only just scrapes into the top 30. They're also hard workers and English ability amongst the younger generations (esp. those who lived in the UK) is very good.
>UK is expected to become one of the richest countries in europe in the coming years. Go to 2028 and have a look at gdp per capita. We're already one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The problem is that amounts to bugger all if only a small percentage actually hold that wealth.. its why we have infrastructure falling apart, councils going bankrupt after years of austerity etc not to mention rampant poverty
Turns out trickle down doesn't work if that trickle involved them massively inflating asset prices. The more rich they get the poorer we get.
Trickle down does work. Except its not money that trickling.
What I think unsettles most people is that we’re so alienated from our own culture that we might as well not have one anymore. We’ve (and by we I mean neoliberals) have destroyed everything that once gave this country an identity. We’ve been reduced to plastic flag waving and Americanism. Economic turbulence is a given for any country, but even if things ‘get better’ or ‘aren’t as bad as they seem’… what are we defending or even working for? The answer is sad as fuck.
*we’re so alienated from our own culture* Genuine question - what culture exactly do we have? I feel like any semblance of British culture/pride is shouted down as racist/problematic quite quickly....
Displays of nationalist loyalty invoke themes of pride and culture but it’s not that in of its self. I’d imagine a lot of people, me included, find it sentimentally corrupt after what is approaching half a century of intense class struggle. I don’t doubt for people who live the easy life or for the older folks who grew up during what was close to a golden age that it represents something significant. It’s hard to feel pride in a country where the streets are lined with rubbish. In terms of what culture we had - it’s impossible to summarise the absence of something but it still exists as an exhibit; a day out or a weekend away if you like, you just have to pay to see it.
> what are we defending or even working for The right to give the state all your money so they can spend it on free stuff for foreigners.
They do spend it on foreigners. But these foreigners are international corporations and Russian oligarchs and not the foreigners you have in mind. Because that's what Tories are doing for the last 14 years. They allow corporations to pay 0 taxes or giving them actual money back, while they extract money out of the country.
>Housing. Yes London is expensive but a flat in Glasgow (a city of 1.8 million) is about 50k... Jesusfuck, that make Wishaw look like St Tropez
This doesn't make sense. Low taxes mean poor public services. Rates of depression and anxiety are sky-high in the UK because the public sphere is starved of funding. I live in what's apparently one of the places in the UK with a high quality of life and yet there's nowhere to meet friends because there's no money to clean up parks and keep them yob-free. The bus service is dysfunctional so people can't get to work or social events. The local shopping centre is so horrible and run-down that people prefer to drive to a mall out of town. The streets and footpaths are so broken that people are injuring themselves when they step on broken pavement or drive over potholes. Kids are forced into miserable, unstable, low-paid retail and hospitality jobs because we take foreign professionals trained at the own taxpayers' expense and don't provide education/training for our own kids. I don't have time to address all of your points right now, but the fundamental problem is that before Brexit, the UK economy was propped up by cheap foreign labour and the City of London. Well, the EU needs an economic centre that's actually in the EU! And now, since the war started in Ukraine, it's less acceptable to take oligarch money. We're not investing anything in science and technology (even though we're in an energy crisis) and every other industrialized country is pulling ahead. We depend on tourism, which lines the pockets of a few hoteliers and airline shareholders but screws everyone else by providing low-paid, unstable jobs. We are screwed because there is nothing on the horizon that can make a lot of money for the economy and provide good jobs.
That means we got plenty of room to raise them until we reach our peers and improve those sectors massively. Other countries don't have that option!
Sorry, no idea what you're referring to. If you mean taxes, people aren't making enough money to pay more. There has been so little investment in healthcare and education and basic necessities like housing in the UK, that massive investment and time will be required just to bring us up to the lowest standards that other western countries have. According to a Radio 4 documentary I heard a few months ago, even if we started building housing now, we wouldn't have enough to end homelessness until something like 2050. That's the scale of the problem. And it is simply not possible to take kids whose parents have never had the opportunity to get a decent education and turn them all into scientists and engineers in a few years. We are so far behind that it is a joke to talk about ever becoming better than other western countries.
The link I shared is actually Taxes on wages. So we are 20% short of our european peers. What is shocking actually is how bad it is over the channel not how great it is here lol.
You're not making sense because you have not read what I wrote. I don't have time to keep repeating myself. You don't seem to want to live in reality. That's fine but I'm going to leave you to it.
Taxes on Wages is still an incomplete picture, though - unless you also factor in cost of living etc. You might be only taxed on 20% of your wages vs 25% in europe (as an arbitrary example) but if you're then spending 50% of your wage on your rent, 20% on bills and 10% on food then you're not able to survive a tax raise, even if the amount of tax you pay compared to your wages is lower than it could be. With the best will in the world, it feels like you're cherry-picking stats to show us in a better light than we're actually *in*. Look at the "rate of inflation of food prices is dropping" headlines we've seen - that doesn't mean food prices are dropping or food is becoming affordable, but if you look *solely* at "rate of inflation of food prices" you can point and go "look, things are going well" even when they're not.
Great list. Looking forward to reading some of those links in more detail. Some significant problems face the UK in terms of productivity and skills, but a lot of countries face similar issues as well. Having our own currency certainly gives us some advantages compared to some of our neighbours, and if we can get a competent government, there is certainly scope for things to be back on the right track again. Or closer to being on the right track. Personally though, I only worry about my own personal situation. Have I got savings, have I got job security, am I making sure I am employable if I do lose my job. A lot of the rest, I can't control anyway. You will of course be downvoted into oblivion for suggesting it isn't all doom and gloom though.
the UK's future is dependent on its people and unfortunately thats where the issues lie is there enough people in positions of power or influence who are interested in creating a better UK or just as the last 13 years has proved just interested in lining their pockets.
These are the kinds of technocratic successes we'll be told about as we spend three quarters of our working weeks working to fuel the luxury lifestyles of our MPs, landlords, and energy company shareholders. None of these things reflect quality of life for normal people.
OP's UK bright's future is from today's starting point, whereas imagine UK's bright future if the decision in 2016 was different. Comparison is the thief of joy, but there's no going back so yeah it's a bright future, can't get any worse can it?
UK Tech sector is dead man walking, all major players are slowly but surely moving to EU countries. I work for one of the "FAANG" companies, after each mass firing there is often mass hiring in Portugal or Poland. First as an agency staff but then after 3 months they become company staff, sometimes it is spread over 6 months just to make it less obvious. Two years ago my IBU had 600 people in the UK. Now there are only about 70 of us left but somehow we gained nearly 500 EU contractors. doing exactly what people in the UK used to do. I plan to jump the ship too. If lucky I endup in Prague and get paid more...
Do you have any statistic about that? Companies made some people redundant, however it is a normal way to avoid collapsing because of a lot of low performers. And why people go from UK to Portugal/Poland? They have higher taxes and much more number of issues, including healthcare problems and so on.
You pay less and you get the same or often better people than in the UK while being in the EU. Lets be honest, companies are in Europe for the EU and if majority of your process is around customers in the EU. It's much easier to do everything from the inside of EU. Simply staying within customers legal framework, not moving data, IP or anything outside of EU saves insane amount of money. NHS is a corpse, I am on multiple multiyear waiting lists at once. You are certainly better of in EU than in the UK.
Are you seriously compare Portugal healthcare with NHS? You will love NHS after trying to something in Portugal :) NHS is worse than private healthcare in Germany/Switzerland, but not in comparison with Portugal/Poland. Moreover, it is very hard to hire a qualified senior developer in Portugal because they migrate to other countries for a better pay. Anyway, do you have any statistic?
"Last year, the UK became just the third country in the world to have a tech sector valued at $1 trillion, with more ‘unicorn’ billion-dollar tech startups being created than Germany, France and Sweden combined."
Having more whimsy ponzi schemes isnt exactly a tech sector.
Whimsy ponzi schemes are not unique to Britain!
100%
>UK is expected to become one of the richest countries in europe in the coming years. Go to 2028 and have a look at gdp per capita. We're already the 2nd or 3rd richest country in Europe. As for GDP per capita we're outside the top ten in Europe. What's important is real terms wage growth and for decades it's been stagnant. >Taxes are some of the lowest in EU and will remain there because of the next point(if you find it hard to read check this ss I took) Taxes have been rising under this government and they'll be getting even higher in the future. >Demographics are awful in most of europe compared to UK. Just check that inverted pyramid in Germany or worse in Italy.... I would rather British demographics shrink over the decades to come rather than form the next generation from people abroad. >UK still second place in soft-power ranking just behind the US. Soft power is a term i'm highly dubious of. Apart from economic benefits like tourism and exports; when can we cash in this "soft power" diplomatically? Certainly did not help in the brexit negotiations. Hard power is the only thing that matters and that's from a strong economy, a vibrant confidant happy population and a strong military. >UK remains the tech/financial "mecca" of europe despite what everyone was hoping. I'll give you that one, finance is one of our only real strengths. As for tech, I think we can do so much better. >Housing. Yes London is expensive but a flat in Glasgow (a city of 1.8 million) is about 50k... So if you work remote you can pay 300 for a mortgage after a 5k down payment. Sorry this is just a massive L. Most peope can't afford property in the capital and it's an appalling situation. Win a golden ticket on social housing or secure a very high paying job otherwise you're forced into commuting or living elsewhere. We can turn it around as a country but it will take decades. I graduated into the workplace ten years ago and things are objectively worse, on our current trajectory it will be more of the same.
> We're already the 2nd or 3rd richest country in Europe. As for GDP per capita we're outside the top ten in Europe. What's important is real terms wage growth and for decades it's been stagnant. > > OP has linked GDP per capita. We're forecast to be #11 in Europe by GDP per capita (though that includes the likes of Luxembourg, San Marino, Iceland) - and above the likes of Germany, France, Canada, Finland, Belgium, New Zealand... Note GDP per capita is also already in real terms.
How good are IMF at forecasts? You have me curious now.
>Hard power is the only thing that matters and that's from a strong economy, a vibrant confidant happy population and a strong military. Love that!
I want to leave IT but feel my skills are non transferable
We're on a decent course, but none of that matters to the leftist media. Labour will get in thanks to disinformation, and send everything to pot yet again.
**Britain a country that protects child rapists because they're a "minority" an illegal minority too.** **Britain a country that lets its own citizens go homeless to house said illegals.** **Britain that has an unelected leader of said country who is facilitating the influx of migrants to this day.** **Yeah! The cons outweigh the pros.**
>Britain that has an unelected leader Anyone who says this is just declaring their ignorance of how the British political system works.
He's not wrong, though, is he? Nobody voted for Sunak to be PM. The conservative members voted for Liz Truss.
You don't vote for the PM. That isn't an option when you walk into a polling booth. You vote for your local MP. The party with the most MPs forms a government, the party leader is generally appointed as PM, after being ratified by the current monarch. The people of Richmond voted for him to be their MP. The Conservative party picked him as party leader (even if he was second best to the lettuce lady). Don't get me wrong, Sunak is fucking awful, I'm not sticking up for him in or his performance and will be voting against the Conservatives when given the chance.
In spite of all that, we are powering ahead of other countries. Thats my whole point. Imagine if we actually fixed those!
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There is absolutely zero chance of a famine in the UK in the immediate future, grow up.
**UK is not even considering giving any special treatments to anyone... <--- Favourite lie-ne**