There are def. signs that human suffering of substantial parts of the population has dramatically increased over the last years.
Here‘s what I can see:
- Substantial energy bill increases: For us at least 100% over last year. Media is full of stories of people not being able to heat their homes
- Dramatic inflation, with cost of food now approaching levels I know from Switzerland. For example, a regular weekly shop for 2 people used to be 100£, now it‘s typically 170£.
- Continous strikes of large parts of key sectors: Teachers, Uni staff, train/ tube drivers, nurses, doctors, public servants. They are mostly protesting the fact that pay has not kept up with inflation for the past decade.
- Huge increase in food banks: I think this is a clear proxy for human suffering. There are foodbanks in hospitals for staff.
- I specifically see the suffering of healthcare staff. Service levels are going down to scary/unsafe levels and most doctors I meet through my wife are talking about leaving for Australia or New Zealand or go to other industries (huge waste given that it takes a decade or more to train a doctor).
- Infuriatingly, the link to policy makers is broken. There is no plan or ideas in place from government to improve things. Given the poor quality of the media here, typically the ley workers themselves are blamed (tube drivers, healthcare staff, etc.).
- Obviously Brexit, which is a whole different post but reinforces the feeling over here that things are going in the wrong direction.
Don‘t get me wrong, if you are in software, finance, engineering etc. you can have a very good salary and will not feel the pressures I‘ve listed above (also if you‘re young and don‘t need healthcare services). The UK and London are still amazing places.
But for lots of people quality of life has gone down a lot.
