That’s a lot of words to say: “things are still working in spite of a decade and a half of active destruction, thanks to the people getting crushed putting all their effort in to resist it completely failing”
I’m being flippant, but this reads pretty tone deaf to me, especially from the guardian
Literally only came to the comments here to say this. I almost expected there to be a recipe for some dish by the amount of waffle.
Austerity develops resilience in white middle class cishet women, but not without countless death and suffering of immigrants, trans children and racialised people in it’s wake. But if you just ignore those things as a premise for your piece then, yeah, things aren’t all that bad like everyone always says. Absolute zero sense of solidarity.>Using an app for medical care (unheard of back in 2009, when nobody I knew yet owned a smartphone – and still not routinely used in France), I’ve had to ask for clarification several times on how to get a repeat prescription. But staff have been friendly even in the face of my incompetence, and never once have I been made to feel the nuisance I probably am.The fact that even in the face of bad experience with a technology, this person’s techno-optimism just leads them to blame themselves for not being competent enough to use a technology… No! These apps are shit, they sell your data and they’re completely inaccessible to the increasing homeless population in this country, there’s no upside here.She just keeps pointing out a really shit thing, then says “but I’m shocked my supermarket hasn’t devolved into chaos and anarchy and people still make small talk at me.” Like what’s actually our standard? Oh it’s that that particular thing doesn’t affect the writer of the article, right.Edit: I guess I mostly don’t like that the Guardian considers this a valuable voice that merits featuring in their publication at a time when political grifters are grifting their hardest at the expense of every minority, but idk why I expect anything from that terf nest, so that’s for me to unpack
Hmm, I guess I agree with your critique. But still, the main reason I wanted to post this is because it counters the otherwise black and white perception of the state of things that reading the news has lead me to. IMHO you are overthinking a bit when you see techno optimism as their metric of progress, although this is something that spending time on Lemmy has also made me do.
I do think this isn’t a bad idea for an article, there are definitely things on the up and up - it’s just kind of infuriating to see a person with this perspective being the one doing it. I want to see a disabled/queer/immigrant/Roma perspective on what particular aspects of British society are improving, because any of those will much more insightful than a person comfortably cushioned from even some of the milder effects of brutal govt policy. My suspicion however, is that very few people from any of those groups would be willing to write something like this right now
a person comfortably cushioned from even some of the milder effects of brutal govt policy.
Ahh I understand what you meant now
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Fifteen years ago I moved to France with my husband and a burgeoning baby bump, lured by low property prices and the chance to quit our jobs as teachers.
After years of cuts, austerity and Covid, I’d begun to worry the place I’d be returning to might feel as alien as France did when I’d first arrived, with its unfathomable bureaucracy, shops that closed on Mondays and habitual lunchtime (and sometimes morning) drinking.
I was concerned about poor public services (with councils in England absorbing a 27% real-terms cut in core spending power since 2010, who wouldn’t be?).
I’ve noticed worn flooring and thoroughly chipped paintwork across the buildings in my children’s schools, and can’t help but worry about the effect this must have on pupil and staff morale.
Having arrived at my local surgery to register seven new patients, I was worried I might be given short shrift – the last thing overworked staff need is an increase in demand.
Using an app for medical care (unheard of back in 2009, when nobody I knew yet owned a smartphone – and still not routinely used in France), I’ve had to ask for clarification several times on how to get a repeat prescription.
The original article contains 1,016 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
