We Are Not Alone - And No Mention Of Brexit!

[MissTerious]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-61584608

Perhaps some of us need to realise that the whole world has problems and stop continuously moaning and expecting more and more government help. We need to learn to cope again and not expect!

[barry1010]

Governments of other countries are financially helping their people, too - you are right, we are not alone
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/61522123

[Bobbisox1]

The saying goes
God helps them who help themselves ….

[naomi24]

Reality won’t stop people moaning.

[Bobbisox1]

There’ll always be those that think they’re ‘owed’ a living

[drmorgans]

And there'll always be those who do jobs that aren't paid well, working irregular / unsocial hours, who struggle when faced with a 10% rise in the cost of essentials, food, gas, electric.

[naomi24]

^and those people exist the world over.

[MissTerious]

/There’ll always be those that think they’re ‘owed’ a living/

Very true, but the number of those people has risen steeply. It makes me mad. We need a stronger government, but all the alternatives to what we have now are wishy washy moaners. Our present government has been too generous with handouts during rough times. I can't see things improving!!

[MissTerious]

There will always be the rich and the poor, and those in between. I believe in helping those that genuinely can't help themselves, but these people are probably not the moaners in most cases.

[douglas9401]

I wonder when teacher is going to tell us to pull our socks up.

[Bobbisox1]

There’s been people who think there should take out the pot without never putting into it, I know of them, we all do ,but this is not a problem from this government, it happens no matter who’s in power

[MissTerious]

Nowadays there is so much envy and expectation that we should all have the same standard of living, but so many that aren't prepared to strive and work for it. And as generations go on it will get worse, not better.

Everything my family has achieved has been worked hard for with lots of sacrifices and hardships. Someone called me rich the other day and inferred I was lucky. They got a sharpish reply!!

[naomi24]

Telling people that they’re not the only ones struggling, that others are in a similar or worse situation, is a bit like telling someone suffering illness that there is always someone worse off. Whilst that is, in the main, true, it doesn’t make the pain less. The thing is with this is to understand the reasons it’s happening.

[sp1814]

"We need to learn to cope again and not expect!"

When was that?

I can just about remember how people used to cope with cost of living rises.

They went on strike.

It wasn't coping when bodies were piling up in mortuaries, rubbish piled high in the streets and evening full of rolling power cuts.

People still demanded handouts - but used union power and that's not available to them now.

[barry1010]

I don't know how many people would have coped during WWII without government support

[naomi24]

That was the make do and mend generation when nothing went to waste, Barry. Food was rationed along with clothing and pretty much everything else. No ready means, no benefits, unheated houses without running hot water and bathrooms - and yet people managed. I wouldn’t like to see a return to those days but I’m all admiration for those people.

[naomi24]

*ready meals

[youngmafbog]

Well I still make do and mend even though I can easily afford not too. I was bought up to fix things and not waste anything as was the trouble. My kids wont though.

I blame social media and the me me me generation.

[New Judge]

//...but used union power and that's not available to them now.//

And for that most of us should be grateful. There are exceptions, of course. The railway unions still believe it is their right to dictate how employers should operate their businesses, even going so far as to specify how employers and employees may communicate with each other. Hopefully their day of reckoning is a little closer.

[sp1814]

NJ

I don't believe that a highly unionised workforce is a good thing, but by the same token an economy built on a disenfranchised workforce is structurally weakened.

We have far too many on zero hours contracts. We have far too much job instability. We have far too many people earning below the minimum wage. This affects all of us - a poorer workforce means a lower tax spread, lower NI contributions, a negative impact on the housing market.

70s-style unionisation should never come back, but what we have now has swung too far in the other direction.