The Hidden Problem Destroying the UK

Chapters

Why Economic Inequality is Destroying the UK - 00:00 - 04:02
The North South Divide - 04:02 - 07:39
The Level Up Myth 07:39 - 09:45
Poor Connectivity 09:45 - 14:34

[mcchuff]

The UK isn't a rich country. It's a middle income country attached to a very rich city.

[IM]

Literally costs more to get a train down to London from North West than to fly out of the country...

[anirudh_s]

being poorer than Mississippi is insane as someone from America

[novacaine_]

Thank you for this video, we need more voices talking about this! Britain... 6th richest country in the world where healthcare staff are using foodbanks while not being able to heat their homes while the richest hold more than half the wealth, absolute disgrace

[nicks]

Investment down, income down, trade down, health system collapse, opportunities lost. How did the conservatives help us? Anyone?

[CLaw-tbgg]

I’ve thought about this a lot recently, and I think there’s basically two problems here:

1. We’re a phenomenally backwards-looking country that just doesn’t want to engage with the modern world or future, content to just tread water. Not one of the top 100 tech companies in the world are British. We’d much rather sit around talking about WW2 and how great we /used to/ be. We are slowly rotting away because we have no vision of a Britain that isn’t going backwards.

2. We find ambition embarrassing. If someone says “I want to start my own business, I want to do something amazing”, we cringe. We see it as a bit empty-headed and American and chavvy. We’d much rather keep our heads down and just get on with it. Perhaps it’s due to the class system.

We need to reindustrialise, desperately. We need a generation of people who are aggressively, desperately futuristic in their thinking, don’t care what Britain was, and only want to build. Imagine if the entire North was covered in multi-billion-pound factories building world-class AI chips and scientific equipment. We have the education system, we have the manpower - that’s where we need to be.

[mikehunt]

Britian is Romania with Monaco attached

[georgecaplin]

“If you are more productive…you’re going to receive a higher salary”.

Oh, my dear sweet summer child.

[johnmunro]

This isn't a It's a feature. It's deliberate. This is how things have been for most of history. It's really only post ww2 when the ordinary workers had a sniff of the good life. Since then capital has been working overtime to push us back into the gutter.

[scacchiereglobale]

Thatcherism in the 1980s fundamentally shifted the UK’s economic landscape towards free-market capitalism, deregulation, privatization of public assets, and a reduction in the power of trade unions. While these policies aimed to boost economic growth, they also significantly increased income inequality by favoring the wealthy and large corporations. By reducing social safety nets and public investment, the gap between the rich and poor widened, creating a more polarized society that still affects the UK today. Thatcher's legacy of neoliberalism set a precedent that continues to influence government policies and exacerbate inequality.

[PeterMullinger]

As an ex-Englishman the problem is dumb policies of central government. I was lucky enough to be accepted to live in Australia at the age of 55!

[christopherspriggs]

Main reason for the inequality is the collapse in nationwide manufacturing in favour for London services but on top of that for over a decade we have had a government that either believe trickle down economics works when it does not or are corrupt and therefore favour policies that move money from the working class to the rich. They do this through the tax system, privatisation of services, unfettered cheap labour through immigration, weak regulations against business owners unloading dept, crashing companies whilst withdrawing huge profits and allowing tax loopholes holes for the rich.

[bencooper]

And this is why so many people from the UK are moving to Australia.

[dbz]

Something has to give in the UK, people are watching their wages remain stagnant as costs go up every year, public services no longer work, a post code lottery whether you get a good gp, rents increasing, house prices increasing, less jobs out there, hundreds competing for one job. This country is well and truly broken. There will reach a point where the youth leave the UK because how bleak their future looks

[chrisdavidson]

Speaking as a Northener who was born in the 1970s, the idea that the people who run the country think that everything north of the M25 can go to hell really doesn't come as a surprise.

[garethrussell]

This is a real issue. I live between Manchester and Liverpool. I work in Liverpool it takes me 2 hours and thirty minutes to get home.

[grimegarageisplop]

Its not hidden, the problem is massive migration, low skilled workers being exploited and black economy not paying taxes... the indigenous folk who are priced out of buying their own homes, longer waits for health care and public services.. is a massive strain on the standard of living.

London statistics are not broken down correctly... You fail to mention how many people living/working in London with the High Cost of living means they're living in worse relative poverty than the rest of the country...

I'd rather have average wages and live in the north than average wages and live in London..

Yes most of the wealth is in London and the southeast, but it doesnt mean if you live in London youre more wealthy or better off...

[skaracaesar]

The UK has enough money for their population to live well, but nine tenth of the cake, if you like, is consumed or hoarded by the ones sitting as the biggest welfare beneficiary of the country. The one tenth is divided amongst the have nots.

[robhingston]

My friend who is a Doctor Moved away from a posh part of Richmond to Stoke on Trent
1 Gets the same wages with the NHS
2 Housing is Vary Cheap
3 Pint is Cheaper

[petc]

In London every bus journey is £1 no matter the length. Where I am in Scotland it's just under £6 for a bus return ticket to the next town only 2.5 miles away. Working people can't afford public transport.