Why Everything is Going to Get Worse Before it Gets Better
December 18, 2024 by Doctor Vernon Coleman
In 2004, exactly twenty years ago, I wrote a book called `Why Everything is Going to Get Worse Before It Gets Better’.
The subtitle was `And What You Can Do about It’.
I was reminded of the book when Britain’s Prime Minister `Free Suits’ Starmer used the phrase to warn us about the bleak times ahead.
The truth is, of course, that the bleak times shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. The people in charge have, for years, been deliberately destroying everything that matters. Nothing is happening by accident. Everything bad happens by design.
In `Why Everything is Going to Get Worse Before it Gets Better’ I explained why things were so bad, why I believed things were going to get worse and how I thought we could rescue ourselves.
I explained what we could do to protect ourselves and our loved ones.
In the book I explained why our health service is so bad that asylum seekers were going home for treatment when they fell ill. (The book was published in 2004, remember. Twenty years ago!)
I explained why our education system was so bad that illiteracy was commonplace, why millions no longer respected the courts or the police and why virtually no one trusted our financial institutions.
I explained how we had been betrayed by our Government which had taken away our freedom and our privacy and which was using fear to promote its policies.
I explained why our lives were run not by people but by organisations and why I thought we were living in a fascist state – where the rights of individuals came second to the demands of the system.
When it was first published the book was described as `both terrifying and reassuring’.
`Vernon Coleman shines light into dark corners, explaining precisely what has gone wrong and why – and offering original solutions.’
`Why Everything is Going to Get Worse Before It Gets Better (And What You Can Do About It)’ has been republished.
You can buy a copy from the bookshop on www.vernoncoleman.com
Just CLICK HERE
Copyright Vernon Coleman December 2024
Progress
Dr Vernon Coleman
The story below is taken from `The Young Country Doctor Book 6: Bilbury Pie’ by Vernon Coleman. (There are 15 books in `The Young Country Doctor’ series. All can be bought via the bookshop on www.vernoncoleman.com)
Progress
I had lunch last Tuesday at the Gravediggers’ Rest in Braunton. I confess I don’t normally stray so far from Bilbury but I went at the invitation of a friend of mine called Ed Hunter whom I hadn’t seen for quite some time.
Ed is a Director of Human Resources for an American company and he normally works in a city where the traffic jams are endless and the air so polluted that breathing is a dangerous business.
(To be honest I still get confused by phrases such as ‘Director of Human Resources’, though I know that such jargon is all the rage these days. I have heard army spokesmen refer to dead bodies as ‘non effective combat personnel’. On the radio, I heard a housewife described as a ‘life support consultant’. People over sixty are no longer ‘old’. These days they are ‘chronologically enhanced’. Dwarves are ‘vertically challenged’ and tall people are ‘vertically enhanced’. Ed once told me that no one who works for his company is ever made redundant these days. Instead they have to endure ‘management initiated separation’. I think I’d rather be sacked.)
Ed has always been a bit gadget conscious and was the first person I know to have a portable phone. Sadly, however, his gadgets don’t always work. I know for a fact that he has not been able to put his car away in his garage since he had an electrical opening device fitted. His garage now resolutely resists all attempts to persuade it to open and his car stands out in all weathers.
Ed pulled a small computer out of his pocket as we sat down. He couldn’t wait to tell me all about it. ‘It’s brilliant!’ he enthused. He always gets excited about his new gadgets. ‘It’s an electronic notebook, diary and calculator all rolled into one.’ Like most city folk he always thinks that just because I live in the country I live a primitive, rather backward existence. He pressed a couple of buttons and showed me my initials and telephone number on the computer’s tiny screen.
‘There you are!’ he said, triumphantly. He suddenly sniffed as though his nose had been assaulted by some noxious smell. ‘What’s that?’ he demanded.
I sniffed too. I couldn’t smell anything.
I am not over keen on computers. I have an enduring suspicion that much of the time they offer answers to problems people don’t have and wouldn’t be bothered about solving even if they knew they had them. My idea of high technology is having a rubber fixed on the end of my pencil. I put my hand in my pocket, pulled out my old-fashioned pocket diary (29 pence in the January sales), opened it and showed my friend his name, address and telephone number.
‘It’s quicker my way,’ I pointed out.
‘You’re such a Luddite,’ he exclaimed. ‘You’ll have to buy another diary next year. My computer comes complete with a 199 year diary.’
I looked at him in quiet amazement. ‘Why do you want a diary for 199 years?’
He had the good grace to look slightly uncomfortable.
‘What appointments do you have for the year 2087?’ I teased him.
He muttered something about long-term strategic planning and then wagged a finger at me. ‘My little gadget will tell me the time in 126 different places all over the world.’
‘How many places can you be in at any one time?’ I wanted to know, genuinely confused and unable to discern a purpose for this excess of knowledge.
Ed was beginning to get angry. ‘Now you’re just being deliberately difficult,’ he said. He tapped away at his tiny keyboard. ‘There!’ he said proudly, a few moments later, showing me his tiny screen. ‘I’ve written myself a memo. When I get back to the office I can copy that out.’
He sniffed again. ‘Are you sure you can’t smell anything odd?’
I pulled a 20 pence notebook out of my pocket, found a stub of pencil and scribbled a memo to myself. As I scribbled I realised what the smell was. Silage. My shoes always smell of silage.
‘Me too!’ I countered, showing him my note.
‘But your diary and your notepad are so ...,’ he paused, searching for the right words, ‘old-fashioned’.
‘I know. And cheap.’
He suddenly bent forwards and peered at his new toy. He looked worried.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said. He turned the computer round and showed me an empty screen. ‘I think the battery might have gone.’
I offered him my notepad. ‘Do you want to make a note to get yourself a new battery?’
Note
Taken from `The Young Country Doctor Book 6’ (Bilbury Pie) – by Vernon Coleman. To purchase a copy please CLICK HERE
Copyright Vernon Coleman 1995 and 2024
BREAKING SPENDING BILL IS DEAD!
House GOP leaders scramble for Plan B after Trump, Musk lead conservative fury against spending bill.
"'Shutting down' the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill," he suggested.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-gop-leaders-scramble-plan-b-after-trump-musk-lead-conservative-fury-against-spending-bill
House GOP leaders are working toward a backup plan after an initial bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown on Friday was killed by an avalanche of conservative opposition.
The legislation angered conservatives in both the House and Senate, as well as President-elect Trump's pick to co-chair his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk.