How did this proud country get in such a mess?

Mala591 · Post by **Mala591** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 6:25 pm

Ed Balls

Vegas Claret · Post by **Vegas Claret** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 6:28 pm

PC Brigade

Lord Beamish · Post by **Lord Beamish** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 6:29 pm

Bankrupting ourselves to fight and defeat the twin foes of European Fascism and Japenese Imperialism in the Second World War, then failing to 'Win the Peace' in the subsequent decades immediately after the War, probably.

ClaretAndJew · Post by **ClaretAndJew** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 6:30 pm

White people

evensteadiereddie · Post by **evensteadiereddie** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 6:32 pm

Public school ponces who have never done a real day's work in their lives and who treat government as an extension of their schoolday japes.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 6:38 pm

If you can't afford to buy your own home you should be made to live on the street.

The rental market will see this country on it's knees.

ClaretAndJew · Post by **ClaretAndJew** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:06 pm

Diesel wrote:If you can't afford to buy your own home you should be made to live on the street.

The rental market will see this country on it's knees.

What age do we start throwing people out on the streets? 18?

Somethingfishy · Post by **Somethingfishy** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:18 pm

By people believing that queue jumping is acceptable and we should show such queue jumpers common courtesy

Imploding Turtle · Post by **Imploding Turtle** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:19 pm

Vegas Claret wrote:PC Brigade

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:20 pm

When people started drinking Coffee instead of Tea.

Somethingfishy · Post by **Somethingfishy** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:23 pm

When they stopped making Toffos and Spanglers

BertiesBeehole · Post by **BertiesBeehole** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:25 pm

The Tabloid Press

Lancasterclaret · Post by **Lancasterclaret** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:32 pm

When people started looking at the past without remembering the bad bits of it

Pstotto · Post by **Pstotto** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:40 pm

Germaine Greer

karatekid · Post by **karatekid** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:44 pm

The integration experiment

bobinho · Post by **bobinho** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:50 pm

Spangles.

It's spangles.

I liked em.

bfccrazy · Post by **bfccrazy** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:58 pm

All it'll take for this country to be great again is Tarkowski in CM but you all scoff at the idea.

Somethingfishy · Post by **Somethingfishy** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:59 pm

Sorry...must have been getting them mixed up with Wranglers. I liked them too....Spangles..not Wranglers...

ClaretMoffitt · Post by **ClaretMoffitt** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:12 pm

Blair.

ElectroClaret · Post by **ElectroClaret** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:14 pm

When they got rid of the Keep Britain Tidy campaign?

LeadBelly · Post by **LeadBelly** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:20 pm

When the stiff upper lip got all wobbly. (Round about the time of the death of "The Princess of Hearts" (TM).)

South West Claret. · Post by **South West Claret.** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:25 pm

The continuous relaxation of credit, firstly by Thatcher followed by governments since.

All this just feeds the "I want" society.

Rowls · Post by **Rowls** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:25 pm

5th October 2004

Rowls · Post by **Rowls** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:26 pm

South West Claret. wrote:The continuous relaxation of credit, firstly by Thatcher followed by governments since.
All this just feeds the "I want" society.

I want to see an immediate end to this.

jurek · Post by **jurek** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:07 pm

I was born in 1951 and although too young to be aware of certain, if not most things
up until the 70's and later it seems fairlyy clear to me that this country has been in decline
for a number of decades if not more.
By then our influence and exploitation of the empire was in decline, if not at an end.
The Second World War didn't help and proved to be a huge drain on our resources and wealth.
I think also that our attitude if I can put it like that, post the Second World War was still rooted
in the past and our so called glory days.
We failed to innovate both in manufacturing and other areas.

The best example I can give of that is the car industry where we continued to believe
we built the best cars in the world (as we may well have done before in the early parts of the century)
but, as we all know over a period of 10-20 years afterwards other countries, notably Japan and Germany
developed their car industries and rapidly overtook us to the point where in the 1970's, I recall, we
started buying Japanese cars because they were much better than our own cars and then German cars for the same reason.
Our manufacturing base declined and we started importing more goods than we sold - by a significant amount.

We did, however, create and produce things that could still suggest we were a proud nation.
Notably the NHS and in my view, The Open University.
We also invested in education and I remember being a student in the late 1960's/early 1970's and receiving
a maintenance award/grant whilst I studied.
The opportunity to enter Higher Education gave a lot of young folk a great starting point
to go into a whole range of different areas/professions unlike their parents generation who had little, or no
such choices. It did mean, as a consequence, that a large number of young folk left the area
in which they were brought up in and they ventured far and wide.
I recall telling my mum that I was off to London in seek of 'fame and fortune' once I'd finished my studies.
This was 1971/72. I had £20 in my back pocket, a large and an extremely heavy suitcase but had no worries or concerns
about not being able to find a job or somewhere to live. Employment opportunities were still relatively good
back then and my area of interest (creative arts and design) were just beginning to 'take off'.
In that sense and, in comparison to today, I was extremely fortunate.
I was able to become a house owner and get on the first step of the ladder
relatively easily albeit it wasn't until the early 1980's.

We've still a lot to be proud of but it's difficult not to reach the conclusion that we have been in
decline as a country both in terms of our wealth and influence and other abilities for a number of decades now.
It could be argued that inherited wealth has kept this country going and home owners of the last 30/40 or so years
have never had it so good or could imagine making more money on their houses, in many cases, than they have managed
to actually earn in their jobs over a lifetime.
Even though we may have to spend much of that on our future care home fees. rather than pass it on.

tim_noone · Post by **tim_noone** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:08 pm

Facebook.... mobile phones.....and drunken women. They kind of all relate.

boatshed bill · Post by **boatshed bill** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:15 pm

I think we spend far too much on class warfare. Could be so much better used.

IanMcL · Post by **IanMcL** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:24 pm

Delusion of Empire.

boiledclaret · Post by **boiledclaret** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:26 pm

The ever growing norm (reinforced by media and TV) of the wealthy being hard working and flawless whilst the average man/woman gets duly shat on more and more.

Lancasterclaret · Post by **Lancasterclaret** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:46 pm

Every empire has its decline and fall, we've had it, struggled with it, and were just getting our heads around it as we moved in a different direction, with a new outlook but people do like clinging on to the past.

I somehow don't put Theresa May and Boris Johnson in the same boat as Flavius Constantius and Aetius though, and even they failed to hold an empire together.

Damo · Post by **Damo** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:55 pm

Snowflakes

SammyBoy · Post by **SammyBoy** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:56 pm

The Instagram mentality, where the bee all and end all is documenting your six pack, designer clothes, Audi and nights out in 'exclusive' bars whilst paying for it all on plastic.

Although on reflection the above is probably more of a symptom than a cause of present societal issues.

LAM · Post by **LAM** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:07 pm

This country isn't in a mess, despite some wishing to describe it as such to suit their own agendas.

Lancasterclaret · Post by **Lancasterclaret** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:10 pm

Its taken 33 posts, but someone has actually nailed it.

boatshed bill · Post by **boatshed bill** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:10 pm

LAM wrote:This country isn't in a mess, despite some wishing to describe it as such to suit their own agendas.

No, it's thriving.

When I was a young man the only people sleeping rough were those who chose to!

RalphCoatesComb · Post by **RalphCoatesComb** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:14 pm

Liberals and the end of discipline for kids (of all ages) !

Lancasterclaret · Post by **Lancasterclaret** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:25 pm

making people like this an MP?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-39749203" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

starting_11 · Post by **starting_11** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:31 pm

When they started reducing Stella from 5.2%...

It's all been downhill ever since

tim_noone · Post by **tim_noone** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:34 pm

Lancasterclaret wrote:making people like this an MP?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-39749203" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When we lost the freedom of speech possibly?

Mala591 · Post by **Mala591** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 12:47 am

This country is in a MASSIVE mess and we can either try and 'turn back time' to a more insulalar and self sustaining country (similar to Switzerland) or we can carry on with an idiotic liberal globalist philosophy which will result in total anarchy and chaos.

mdd2 · Post by **mdd2** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:00 am

Since the crash and mid 2009 this country has had 29 3 month periods of growth and two where GDP fell. Despite all of this last year we borrowed £52billion and of course now have a debt of over £1.5 trillion and all this despite trying to get a grip on public expenditure with the top rate of tax kicking in for some high earners at 45%+ at £33500 given the loss of personal allowance.
Anyone still think we are not in a mess-wait until Brexit is finished with, for some of us we don't have to wait.
We got into this mess by living collectively beyond our means.
Post 25 I would not put the NHS in the good category given that no other country has adopted it. Whilst we have adopted production methods for our car industry (now owned by foreign firms) to take us back to the front at some plants, our NHS remains a millstone around our necks as no Government or Party is prepared to think the unthinkable.

Claretlad · Post by **Claretlad** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:08 am

It always has been...being entrenched in a class system and its beginnings don't help matters..

CaptJohn · Post by **CaptJohn** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:12 am

When people stopped respecting the rule of law and order and Policemen in general. (I am not a Policeman BTW) I can remember reading an article once that said that when a nation stopped respecting its own Police, it would soon be forced to respect that of another country.

CaptJohn · Post by **CaptJohn** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:18 am

If one considers the mess to be purely financial then the blame can be laid at Browns door when he was PM during the crash in 2008. Instead of letting market forces prevail and for the system to correct itself (Banks to crash, savings to be lost and mayhem on the stock markets) the government embarked on this policy of QE which effectively transferred personal debt into government debt that will beggar this and future generations for decades to come.

PWBFC · Post by **PWBFC** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:28 am

I'm yet to see a single issue here that's unique to the the UK.

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 9:09 am

Hasnt it always been anarchy since roman times? Just different types of chaos and some worse than others?

In most ways we are better off than ever. The only thing I would change is the antisocial media addiction. But thats not unique to england / uk. Nor is the want it and want it now attitude. Most of us have been or are guilty of one or the other if not both.

BFCmaj · Post by **BFCmaj** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 9:14 am

X Factor/Britain's Got Talent/The Voice etc

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 9:18 am

Cant disagree with that.

KateR · Post by **KateR** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 9:31 am

People who are on chat boards talking inane sh*t instead of actually going out and doing something about it!! ohhh wait, hang on, how the hell do we delete things on here?

And if you are not proud of your country or seriously think there are much better places you obviously don't get out very much, are you typing from a cell for example?

Great country, which am proud to tell people I and my family are from, we travel a lot and so many other nationalities admit to wishing they lived here, the queues in France and people risking their own (and other family members) lives to get here are a testament to it .

And just to help you further clarify your thoughts, we are still the nation everyone looks to in terms how we manage the country, including freedom and this means you are free to leave anytime you wish, bye

Cleveleys_claret · Post by **Cleveleys_claret** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 9:39 am

When Clare.ts.mad main men left and formed their own site it. Showing no care for the proud history and willing to just throw it all away