You’re born here.
You did what they told you. School. A trade. Graft. You got a gaff that took every spare pound and you still called yourself lucky. Two kids. Packed lunches. Never asked anyone for a thing.
You thought if you kept your head down the country would keep its end of the deal.
It didn’t.
Your old school’s got a waiting list for English classes and the playground sounds like a different postcode. You mention it and you’re the problem.
The park you grew up in, you’d let your kids out till the lights came on. Now you drive round the block twice before you let them out the car. Same swings. Different country.
Your daughter’s seventeen. You still wait up. Not because she’s out late. Because walking from the bus stop to the door shouldn’t feel like a roll of the dice on a British street you pay for.
First job at her age was stacking shelves and it meant something. Now the applications go into a hole and the shifts go to whoever’ll take less and not complain. She’s done everything right. Same as you did. The ladder’s been kicked down and they still call it opportunity.
You pay the rent. You pay the tax. You pay the leccy. Then you watch a hotel down the road with a security hut and a taxi on tap, all on the bill you already settled.
Forty years of National Insurance. Never took a handout. And they look at you like you’re greedy for noticing.
GP? Three weeks if they pick up. Dentist? Forget it unless you’ve got the cash.
Ambulance for your old man sat on the kerb while the call handler reads a script. Meanwhile someone who landed last month has a roof, a card and a number to ring.
You used to think hard work bought you a bit of peace. A Saturday with the kids. A street you recognised. A future that belonged to them.
These days you just want them to get home. That’s the ambition now. Get home.
Years of doing it properly. And that’s the country they grew up in.
This is Britain in 2026.
We didn’t fail them. The people in charge did. And they still talk to us like we’re the ones who don’t understand.
@LisaBritton The bottom 5 subjects dont make a lot of money. Not compared to the top subjects.
So they'd rather cry until theyre allowed to do the top subjects badly and society crumbles
@ReformedStoic Hes just a guy who knows how to fight. Hes not shouting. Hes assessing.
When he goes, he goes all in. And he doesnt do it unless he needs to.