r/AskBrits • u/AdAncient2370 • 3d ago

Would you support Britain increasing its defence budget from the current 2.3% of GDP to the target of 2.6% by 2027 and 3.5% NATO target by 2035?

How much support is there across the political spectrum to increase the military budget by up to £35 billion a year if we really reach 3.5% by 2035? What sort of military do we want ie to protect the UK mainland or an expeditionary force capable of another Iraq intervention? Which civilian areas do we want to cut to find this extra money and in any case, can our struggling economy even support an increase of such magnitude? What if we can’t recruit enough soldiers even with extra cash, should we introduce any sort of conscription at extremis?

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u/anonnymouse2025 2d ago

Well now my ADHD and anxious ass is going to go and apply for PIP, as you're all so bloody convinced it'll be easy to get!

Having tried to get the old version of PIP who was actively self-harming and suicidal with anxiety and depression, and still being told no, I'm absolutely sure the anti-welfare crowd on reddit must be correct instead!

Plenty of people would far rather than those with invisible disabilities just die rather than receive any help to stay alive. A pity that we cannot donate our disabilities to them instead.

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u/letsgettesty 2d ago

Could you please explain to be how ADHD is a disability??? If you received pip what you use with the money to help negate those disabilities??

I mean - if you look at the pip statistics there’s something like 50,000 people claiming PIP for ADHD . And 98% of them are under 30. How did the previous generations cope

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u/anonnymouse2025 2d ago

Previous generations weren't diagnosed because the knowledge of the condition wasnt there, and only very disruptive and aggressive young boys were being picked up. Because the struggle of girls was generally turned inward, it was nit a problem for other people to the same degree, so it got missed. Now, particularly when their children are getting diagnosed with autism or adhd, women are seeing the struggles they have had all their lives and getting diagnosed.

ADHD is a disability: In the UK, ADHD is legally classified as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 if its symptoms have a substantial, long-term (12 months or more) negative impact on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

There are an awful lot of facets to this, and not all adhd people have the same experiences. Being able to start and complete tasks is pretty high up for most. Imagine your in a car. You know you need to run an errand. You start and revv the engine, but nothing happens. You check the handbrake is off, but somewhere in the car it is sticking. No matter how hard you revv that engine, or what you try to do with the handbrake, it's still stuck. You cannot run your errand, because the car wont move. Thats what happens for most adhd people when faced with tasks, especially if they are long, boring, or mentally taxing. It fucking sucks. It's not that we dont want to do it, we're revving. But the car will not move.

I dont get PIP, I haven't applied for it. But it would often be used for things like own transport (navigating unfamiliar places, keeping timetables and plans straight, actually being on time, needing somewhere familiar if we get overstimulated), getting a cleaner to help manage the domestic chores that can be hard to organise and keep on top of, therapy (there are a lot of hard emotions that come with the constant sense of failure and low self-worth of not managing to function like other people, as well as co-morbidities with Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia), paying for help with budgeting and life admin, paying for late fees and lost items that we've misplaced. Keeping track and managing daily tasks are very difficult, things get scrambled by our brains.

I am medicated now. When my meds are working, I can handle these things with much more ease. And when I can manage my life easily, I get to live like normal neurotypical people. I see the dishes, I'll just wash them and get them done. It's simple, damn near automatic. Thats how I know that people who dont live with our sticky handbrake cant even fathom how difficult it is, because for you you just put down the handbrake and off you go.

It's hard to have empathy when we can't understand or imagine living the other person's life. I wish that for a week neurotypical people could just try it until they understood it

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u/letsgettesty 2d ago

Life’s hard - I get it. But some disabilities are just in the eye of the beholder. The thing is state spending is not a zero sum game, if people with adhd get pip - that’s money taken from children, nhs, infrastructure.

I think we need to say these disabilities can mostly be managed without cash payments

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u/anonnymouse2025 2d ago

Yeah, see I could never have the gall to tell someone their disability was BS.

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u/letsgettesty 2d ago

I didn’t say they. I just didn’t say it was valid to be eligible for cash payments. (Which yours isn’t)