Russia vs UK

When i talk to people at work it would seem the majority are not happy with heir lot, most hate the Tories due to what they have done over the last 14 years, lack of wages rises and the high cost of living seem to be the main reasons, if we had a similar pie chart we would get anywhere near the Russian 42% that voted rather happy?

I don't believe we would.

Christ I thought I was going in the Wrexham on Sea Home Defence Force...

Clint said:

Christ I thought I was going in the Wrexham on Sea Home Defence Force...

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We haven't got there yet Clint

Chippy_Tea said:

When i talk to people at work it would seem the majority are not happy with heir lot, most hate the Tories due to what they have done over the last 14 years, lack of wages rises and the high cost of living seem to be the main reasons, if we had a similar pie chart we would get anywhere near the Russian 42% that voted rather happy?

I dont.


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Was the question "How happy are you with the price of vodka"

The 2023 World Happiness Report placed the UK 19th and Russia 70th.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/how-happy-are-brits-world-report_uk_64186cbde4b01ea5cd8f448b

Chippy_Tea said:

if we had a similar pie chart we would get anywhere near the Russian 42% that voted rather happy?

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Probably not. Because we probably wouldn't have the fear of being silently taken away by the state if we have the wrong answer

Agentgonzo said:

Probably not. Because we probably wouldn't have the fear of being silently taken away by the state if we have the wrong answer

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You reckon? It's just around the corner.

The 2024 World Happiness Report is now out, and sees the UK slipping one place to 20th and Russia is down two places to 72nd.

https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2024/

Well couple of points who actually takes part in these polls? have you been asked in last few years for example?

I am not going to say this country is great it has many issues the Tories and corporate greed but that's another rant!

In general and i use this term loosely we have freedom of speech, simply put you can not say that about Russia at this present time if being honest.

Elephant in the room tho how can Russia who are meant to be cut off from trading with the western world be posting such impressive financial figures? well scratch the surface and look at the trade including UK to Russia's closest neighbours, it has rocked in the last 18 months, the sanctions are hollow and allow free trade though other countries

min rant over back in my box lol

old dog new tricks said:

Well couple of points who actually takes part in these polls? have you been asked in last few years for example

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Exactly.

Chippy_Tea said:

When i talk to people at work it would seem the majority are not happy with heir lot, most hate the Tories due to what they have done over the last 14 years, lack of wages rises and the high cost of living seem to be the main reasons, if we had a similar pie chart we would get anywhere near the Russian 42% that voted rather happy?

I don't believe we would.


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Who published this, and what question did they ask?

"Are you happy to be alive?"

I'm quite reluctant to believe statistics that come out of an authoritarian regime whose press freedom ranks lower than Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Palestine, and just ahead of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Cuba.

JockyBrewer said:

Who published this, and what question did they ask?

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I saw the pie chart in google images i have now found where it came from -
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1061158/level-of-happiness-in-russia/

I have done a bit of searching and it would seem Russians are much happier since Putin took over and are happy he is still the leader (though there wasn't a choice) having listened to prime ministers questions today i feel they may have a point.

Think the whole of the western nations are in the same boat...the same story of rising inflation, stagnating wages, and all the other things we're feeling...we''re not unusual or unique and that is not surprise since our economies are so closely tied together. We may ebb and flow relative to each other, sometimes in phase, sometimes out of phase, but the general trends are going the same way...and it's all self inflicted and totally politically driven - a process of self inflicted slow decline.

There has been a significant decline in the quality and ability of our politicians these days. If you're a clever, motivated high flyer why on earth would you want a career in politics these days, earning a paltry wage and getting abuse on a daily basis when you could be CEO of a multinational company on a tens if not hundreds of million pound package, or a self made entrepreneur? So as a result we get the failed leftovers who couldn't make it in a proper job in the real world.

The situation in Russia is complicated and Russians have a completely different mindset to us so we cant understand them. My sister in law is Russian. They are a people who have never had true democracy and freedom in their entire history, have constantly been oppressed and see the state running and interfering in their lives and spying on them as totally normal and OK. They know nothing and have never experienced anything different. It took my sister in law 15 years of living outside of Russia to really 'get it' and when she speaks to family and friends still in Russia she gets upset at the lives they lead and often has 'arguments' about Putin and Russia's activities on the global stage. It's an odd thing to observe - especially when she tells us of the awful things that happened when she was going up I Soviet Russia, the queues for shops with empty shelves, general depravation, people 'disappearing' around them on a regular basis - all the Soviet era stereotypes are true, and yet in some ways speaks fondly of the 'good old Soviet days' - I guess in those days they had a stronger sense of family - though not community as you never knew who were the KGB spies. We all take so much for granted in our lives as bad as things may seem at any given point.

Also the people in Russia who live in Moscow, and maybe St Petersburg who do lead a reasonably comfortable life in terms of material things do have a different view and are more critical of Putin and the current regime, though they might be scared to say anything out loud. Those in rural Russia who are still old school and by and large love Putin and see him as an old school soviet era dictator who will restore the previous greatness of soviet Russia - or the perceived greatness. So again, if you do a survey in Moscow you'd get a very different outcome than if you did they survey in more rural Russia. They are literally two different populations.

hoppyscotty said:

The situation in Russia is complicated and Russians have a completely different mindset to us so we cant understand them

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What a coincidence as I was reading their a guy from the BBC was interviewing a Russian women he asked if it was unfair they only have one person they can vote for her answer was basically why do we need more than one choice when Putin is doing so good and our lives are so good.

Think thats the dream of our current 'political elite'...scaring us to vote for alternatives. Saw that tactic played out during Brexit on both sides. Politics of fear.

hoppyscotty said:

Think thats the dream of our current 'political elite'...scaring us to vote for alternatives. Saw that tactic played out during Brexit on both sides. Politics of fear.

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This scary, the only way out of this mess were in, nhs railways, dentist and a ton of other stuff is get rid of the torys, all i will say is any one working on a good income who votes labour will pay through the nose i darn't even think what lib-dems will do, i am taking a punt put on reform i think

Well my personal opinion is that we need to get away from the greed and clamber to privatise everything.

Not saying it is possible now but basic essentials of live should either be publicly owned or run on strict not for profit basis.
Water - this is scandal and never should have been allowed to happen, living in Scotland I am not subject to this madness in the same way but given this is essential human survival how can it ever be acceptable to make profit on it
Energy - again essential, of course if needs colossal investment as we move away from oil and gas, but this should be public owned or not for profit as the insane profits last few years show the utter nonsense of the current approach
Trains + Buses - public transport should be just that I agree industry can sometimes do this better but make it not for profit

Pre covid there were some really interesting ideas from Scandinavian think tanks that trade unions in this country started to investigate. As we move towards further automation, it is predicted that 40% of jobs will be redundant in the next 20 years. A novel solution to this was to completely rewrite the system, remove all benefits and gargantuan departments to manage them.
State to pay every person the same basic allowance - enough to survive, pay a modest rent or mortgage, energy, food etc
Tax to be one single charge applied on earnings only nothing else
Those who want to or able to work if their jobs still exist get same allowance but significant tax figure suggested was 50% for those who earn above the allowance threshold.

At first I was eh how does that work, but when dive down into it removing the entire benefit system alone would generate such huge savings that the free money approach works some how.

This was against a back drop of massive loss of jobs as automation takes place and how society would cope with such huge unemployment.

Think about it if you only needed to top up your income via work the huge tax burden is not as big an issue, it would also drive away from the UK insane long hours 7 day a week work culture.

Yes I know its very left wing in approach but once i looked into it, I was shocked how much sense it made

thats the problem with polarising politics...it swings between extremes and extremes of anything is bad...tories...labour, they're each as bad as each other. The answer is not full on privatisation or full on nationalisation. There are many reasons why some privatised ventures have failed and not one of them is because of the fundamental concept of privatisation. It's just privatisation done badly by a bunch of incompetent cretins looking to lining their own pockets. Private companies work to contracts. They're very simple entities. It's the contract and nothing more or less. totally predictable and shouldn't be surprised by anything. Of course parties will look to maximise benefits of their contract and that is the point of negotiations before signing them and you have to try to anticipate any and every way a contract could be interpreted and exploited so you can protect yourself. If you start with a bad contract then you're going to get a bad outcome, and we have some pretty terrible contracts with companies running our services and that is the fault of the incompetent people who negotiated the contract...or the limitations placed on them by their political bosses. The airline industry has gone from strength to strength once it was privatised and those airlines that are still in the clutches of their governments today are inefficient and not providing good value to their taxpayers or their customers.

The problem with politics is many people think politics is all about principles and ideals, when in actual fact politics is all about solving real life practical problems and challenges and its when you introduce idealologies and principled dogma into it then your route to the best outcome becomes derailed.

The NHS is a classic example. The future of the NHS is not totally public like it has been, that cannot work in the modern world not matter how much money you throw at it, nor is it totally private, but a blend of the two. the question is what is the best blend of the two. Having just come back form a holiday in Europe where I got injured and experienced the public/private hybrid health service of Austria where I received a 'service' that made our NHS look positively 3rd world, its clear to me the NHS cannot and should not continue in its current form. The NHS is becoming a national embarrasment. The sooner we recognise this and start having sensible adult discussions about our future health service the better.

hoppyscotty said:

thats the problem with polarising politics...it swings between extremes and extremes of anything is bad...tories...labour, they're each as bad as each other. The answer is not full on privatisation or full on nationalisation. There are many reasons why some privatised ventures have failed and not one of them is because of the fundamental concept of privatisation. It's just privatisation done badly by a bunch of incompetent cretins looking to lining their own pockets. Private companies work to contracts. They're very simple entities. It's the contract and nothing more or less. totally predictable and shouldn't be surprised by anything. Of course parties will look to maximise benefits of their contract and that is the point of negotiations before signing them and you have to try to anticipate any and every way a contract could be interpreted and exploited so you can protect yourself. If you start with a bad contract then you're going to get a bad outcome, and we have some pretty terrible contracts with companies running our services and that is the fault of the incompetent people who negotiated the contract...or the limitations placed on them by their political bosses. The airline industry has gone from strength to strength once it was privatised and those airlines that are still in the clutches of their governments today are inefficient and not providing good value to their taxpayers or their customers.

The problem with politics is many people think politics is all about principles and ideals, when in actual fact politics is all about solving real life practical problems and challenges and its when you introduce idealologies and principled dogma into it then your route to the best outcome becomes derailed.

The NHS is a classic example. The future of the NHS is not totally public like it has been, that cannot work in the modern world not matter how much money you throw at it, nor is it totally private, but a blend of the two. the question is what is the best blend of the two. Having just come back form a holiday in Europe where I got injured and experienced the public/private hybrid health service of Austria where I received a 'service' that made our NHS look positively 3rd world, its clear to me the NHS cannot and should not continue in its current form. The NHS is becoming a national embarrasment. The sooner we recognise this and start having sensible adult discussions about our future health service the better.

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I fully agree a blend is required but I stand by my comments that basic services should be not for profit.
No issue with NHS becoming a hybrid model, but not there to make money that is against the core principles, I agree private sector can do get somethings right but the culture of greed and profit needs to change before we return to the dark ages the gap between the richest an poorest is widening this is not sustainable