Quality of Life Today

[Bugsy]

Now this is not meant to be a party political thing, but I want to know whether people think that life in this country has improved in the last decade. I am feeling particularly hacked off today, hideous commute, crappy project and grumpy toddler pre-work but I think my quality of life is slowly going down the toilet.
Since I started working, some 10 years ago, I've watched the tube service get worse, the train service get worse, local hospitals close departments & wards, traffic congestion increase, parking become more difficult & expensive. One way or another through NI, VAT, road tax my tax burden has increased and I can't help wondering what is going on.
Do other people feel like this, or am I just Mrs Misery today? As I say, I am not trying to get at any one political party but I would be interested to know how others feel about their quality of life in the UK over the last 10 years.

[Rhiannon]

And I read recently that we are the 3rd richest country in the world. Something has gone wrong somewhere!

Although I am true blue (sorry Star) I feel that IMO there have been loads of problems since various privatisations (like the trains for instance) have happened. R

[Rhiannon]

Me again, I'm going to open the proverbial can of worms now. Here goes. WHY?

Do we have to put up with travellers invading private land for weeks on end. Turning it into a rubbish tip, using it as a toilet, unschooled children roaming the local area all day causing problems. These people seem to have plenty of money but none of them seem to end up in court faced with fines for any of the mess they cause. Private land owners in this area have to build earth piles 8 or 10ft high around their land to protect it.

Why do people that refuse to pay their rent have rights to remain in the home they won't pay for? Why do the homeowners suddenly have no right to reclaim their home?

Why can't you protect your home from burglars? Recently a woman was told to remove broken glass which she had had put in the top of the garden wall in case an intruder was to injure his/herself.

Recently my neighbour saw a girl of about 14 run a key down the side of a car in our street. He was powerless to do anything and very angry. This girl would receive no punishment and no doubt the neighbour would be subjected to harrassment.

That's it, I'm feeling better now. You can all start laying in to me. Go. R

[jsmummy]

Hi Bugsy, No, I don't think you're just being Mrs Misery. I remember (possibly with slight rose tinted specs, but I'm not that old at 35!) when there was better public transport, (seemingly) less crime and what seemed to be better public services.

I agree that privatisation has caused a lot of problems: if the main objective is profit and shareholder value, where is the concern for society and its' quality of life? (I'm thinking local bus routes axed because they're not profitable leaving old ladies/anyone who hasn't got a car stranded.)

I left London/work for the country and being a SAHM (although I am NOT saying this is an easy ride for anyone, just that it is easier for me) and this has improved my QOL.

The last time I went to London, 3 weeks ago, I was appalled at how much worse the tube had become. I've also had recent experience of the NHS (outside London) and was extremely unimpressed.

[Rhiannon]

Hi sobernow, the problem IMO seems to be that there seem to be no boundaries of what is and isn't acceptable. The girl that scratched the car found what she'd done very entertaining and so did her friends.

There are plenty of people who have nothing but don't choose to rob or steal from others. R

[Rhiannon]

Sorry have thought of something else. What about all these court cases where people are suing for anything they can get away with. The most recent one I remember the woman firefighter too short to do the job as she was unable to lift the ladders off the engine. She was claiming compensation. Surely common sense should have told her employers and herself that it was not possible to do this job! The political correctness of this country has gone mad. R

[janh]

Started this reply hours ago and had to go away and do something else for a bit...

I heard a statistic like that recently too, Rhiannon, and it is very misleading...it's based on one of those economists' statistics like GDP or GNP, which are severely weighted by the strength of the pound. If we went into the euro our international ranking would plummet. In most tables where quality of life is a factor we come way down - barely in the top 20 usually.

The train system is rubbish - from what I read! (I am so glad I don't have to use it.) NI has been increased as a form of income tax - very sneaky.

However, the NHS - IMO - is a lot better now, in many ways, than when I first used it regularly, 17 years ago. I think it is understaffed (I couldn't believe what I heard on the news tonight, that there are now 20,000 more nurses than a couple of years ago) but the buildings and appointments systems etc are much better. And the food is edible!

And education is at least better funded than 5-10 years ago, and the numeracy/literacy hours are making a difference.
As fot the underground - I lived in London 20+ years ago, and had hardly been back until last winter, but I was actually quite impressed with the bits we saw - possibly the best bits!

I do think privatisation is responsible for a lot of the problems, especially in transport; but the increase in competition does appear to have benefitted us in things like telephone services and other utilities...

I agree with Sobernow about trying to bring up our own children to treat others "as they would be done by" - there's really nothing more we can do. I know what Bugsy means about feeling her quality of life going down the toilet - Bugsy, a wild guess, do you live in London? - but I think we just have to try to look out for positive things and ignore the crap - we can't do much to change it...

[Ailsa]

janh - I have to disagree on the education funding issue. Education has been underfunded for quite a few years, and has got considerably worse under labour, unless you live in one of the better funded areas.

[jasper]

Arghh! Rhiannon, don't get me started! I agree wholeheartedly with you.
As for the 14 year old car scratching girl needing understanding rather than a good kick up the jacksies...AAAAARGH!!!!
Don't we all feel isolated from society ( whatever that is) at age 14? We positively cultivate our isolation in those secondary school years. I had bugger all material wise at that age but would never have damaged anything or hurt a flea.It did not even strike me as particularly unjust. I just happened not to be one of the well off kids.
Right, I have said my piece and am going to have to back right off this thread out of respect for my blood pressure....

[Rhiannon]

Me again, head lice seem to be a never ending problem at schools but no one is allowed to touch the children to see if they have them. Gone are the days of the school nurse and nitty nora!

No doubt if my neighbour had held on to said 14 year old girl and rang the police, it would be him in trouble not her. For touching, talking or daring to breathe next to her.

Recently my lights on top of the posts at my gate were both smashed. Two neighbours watched it happen (I was told by a 3rd neighbour) and yet no one said a word or did anything. R

[janh]

Ailsa, I don't know if our area is "better funded" or not; I just know that when I became a parent gov, in 1995, our primary school's staffing budget had been cut repeatedly until it was lower than our staffing costs and we had to lose a teacher and limp along, one short in KS1, getting by on Nursery Nurses and NTAs until after May 1997 when the financial situation improved anough to do it right again.
Our secondary school, which was Grant Maintained, is not any more, and tends to whine that it's not fair, but it had more than its fair share for several years with vast amounts of capital expenditure on new windows, science blocks, music rooms, computer equipment etc.
Living in a "shire county" obviously things are not comparable with inner cities, but schools' performances around here appear to be improving so unless it's all lies, damn lies and statistics something must be going a bit right.

[debster]

Rhiannon - for what it's worth the Fire Service had scrapped the 5'6" minimum height requirement to encourage more women to join and therefore IMO she had every right to expect to be able to carry out all her duties regardless of her height.

I also have a rant. Why, when you are earning money whilst in a job (regardless of salary), are you entitled to receive Child Benefit but as soon as you start getting Job Seekers Allowance it is deducted?! My partner and I were both made redundant and are now having to claim. When calculating how much money we were to receive they actually deduct the C.B. from the total amount at a time when you need it the most. This has made me so mad that I am thinking of contacting my M.P.

[Rhiannon]

Keep it going girls, I agree. It seems crazy that so many people don't bother getting a job as they'd be worse off as their benefits are so good!

Why does it seem IMO that every asylum seeker on this planet seems to be heading this way? There are nearly 60 million people in Britain today, France has twice the space for the same amount of people. Why does this country seem to reward people for coming here and draining the already stretched resources even more? Benefits, homes and handouts make people believe they don't have to earn their own keep when they get here. And it's people like my poor old DH that's helping to fund it all.

Here we go, I feel a riot coming on. R

[bossykate]

oh rhiannon i was not going to rise to it but here goes...

why do you assume that asylum seekers are a drain on resources? if they were processed more quickly, allowed to get jobs, who's to say they would not make a very positive contribution to our national resources. goodness knows we are short of nurses, teachers - i could go on.

this country is built on waves of migration from neolithic times to the present day.

asylum seekers - welcome, say i.

now rhiannon are you just trying to get a little excitement going?!!

[jsmummy]

bloody hell, where's our tolerance gone? As parents we should have loads! I think you'd have to be mad to think that living on benefits was a barrel of laughs - it's not enough to live on!

I'm not on benefits, but if I suddenly couldn't work or support myself I'd hope, that since I've done my share of paying 40% tax, I'd be entitled to some help while I sorted myself out/found another job/retrained/whatever.

Rhiannon, asylum seekers are hardly rewarded: they're often kept in huge detention centres awaiting a decision about whether sending them back means that they will be killed by their governments... In the meantime they are given vouchers to be able to buy food and drink, which is a basic human right. And I'm pleased that at least we do that little thing because we are supposedly a civilised country.

[Croppy]

Rhiannon was simply asking why Britain attracts so many asylum seekers relative to other countries. A valid question as the numbers testify.

[Rhiannon]

What I find brilliant about this site is how diverse everyones views are on an issue. I am not setting out to wind anyone up or stir up trouble but can't see why a government with so many problems is happy to let the Sangatte situation at Calais continue. IMHO this country is already full and perhaps the EU should be getting together to decide the safest country to put these people would be.

Today I found out that my local hospital Chase Farm in Enfield has closed one of it's two maternity wards. Due to I don't know what, this country is unable to cope with the numbers it has draining it's services already.

That's it, going shopping. R

[TigerMoth1]

Talking of visitors to this island, I'd like to know where all the butterflies, robins and starlings have gone. When I first lived in London in the early '80's, robins, especially, were really common. Now all you see are pigeons.

And, what on earth has happend to the pop charts in the last twenty years? Boy bands, dancers who cannot play their own instruments, I spit on them! Being 'interesting looking' was a positive advantage in the 70's and 80's. Not to mention actually writing your own songs, or having ideals and beliefs. Why are the charts just full of insipid love songs that sound all the same? Britney Spears - Yuk! What passes for teenage pop music is rubbish!!

Also, talking of teenagers, I hate how the teenage phase begins earlier and earlier, and how much more susceptible they are to marketing. Pop concerts for pre-pubescent children and little girls of eight in T shirts with suggestive writing on them. No No No!!

And I hate the fact that it is increasingly not the norm for children over 8 or so, to play out, make their own way to school or go on a bus with friends to the library or the cinema, without an adult in charge. So there they sit, in front of their computers and gameboys, or watching TV, with ads telling them what to eat and what toys to get, wanting more and more expensive stuff, not learning to amuse themselves without vast amounts of cash being spent on their entertainment, not making friends and exploring their surroundings, or learning some responsibility and common sense through being out in the big wide world.

End of rant!

[SueW]

All the robins are in our garden in Nottingham, along with the various types of tits, collared doves, the occasional woodpecker and pheasant and some of the fattest wood pigeons you have ever seen - so porky I watched one the other day wondering how it was going to fly!

We also get blackbirds and sparrows.

And we have regular visits from foxes - a couple jumped over our front wall the other day, ran down the side of the house and spent quite some time in the back garden. Not as cute as the three fox cubs that used to come and play in the garden when we first moved in 3.5 years ago though.

Then again, I've always been lucky on that front - in London I lived opposite Battersea Park and across from Wandsworth Common. I actually feel Nottingham is less private in terms of people being able to see into/ go past my house than London was!

[SueDonim]

I'm depressed at house prices and all the newspaper articles advising people to buy second homes in order to rent them out while my son and many others of his generation don't have a bat in hell's chance of ever getting onto the housing ladder.

[TigerMoth1]

SueW, so that's where all the birds have gone.

Suedonim, agree with you on house prices. What with that and paying college tuition fees (unheared of when I did my degree)twentysomethings are getting a raw deal.

[Rosy]

Thinking about this last night, I was thinking of posting a cheeky comment about Rhiannon having not mentioned asylum seekers (without starting all out war). I see I didn't need to bother! (If anyone's interested in this argument, see "Gas masks etc" on another thread).

BTW, Bugsy, if your salary, like mine, has increased in the last ten years, then your tax burden will have increased as a percentage of your salary, but I think that's as it should be, it's called progressive taxation. As for tax on petrol increasing, I think that's broadly a good thing (though there is the issue of people in rural areas relying on cars more, and the buses having been greatly reduced of course). VAT: as far as I remember that was increased by Norman Lamont in the late 80s.

Glad to see that tolerance is still alive and well in the majority of mumsnetters!