Britain Is Much Worse Off Than It Understands

[wilts rover]

Good piece here on the current and developing social and economic problems in the UK today. And why some people are ignoring or belittling them.

Average real wages lower than 2004, less protection from the welfare state than any other developed country (including US), falling social mobility, young people without family wealth excluded from the housing market, public services in decline, rising excess deaths with the UK the only country in Europe to see rising mortality rates. Yet:

In a very unequal society, people with the influence to sustain narratives tend to be insulated from what is happening to most of the population. Many individuals genuinely think the country’s economic situation is better than it is because their personal circumstances are strong. They are among the higher earners and have wealth to cushion themselves against risk. In the U.K., they also tend to have generous private pensions and usually bought their houses before prices rose dramatically relative to earnings.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/03/britain-worse-off-1970s/

The poorest 20% of the country are now worse off than the poorest in most European, including east and southern European countries:

https://twitter.com/amanpour/status/1621219401713287174