But my 90-year-old father lived through it, experiencing very real poverty through the '30s, significantly worse than what we are currently experiencing, or what most younger Brits could even conceive of. It has clearly scarred him psychologically.
I like that you brought this up. Honestly, I think many indigenous Brits (especially the youngers ones) are becoming more inward and serious with the harder times recently. They've worked out that we could be in serious trouble. They are trying to figure out what their future should be and they know they're going to have to dig deep. I see cockiness and over-confidence mostly in the immigrant population, who are glamourised and promoted by the mass media, and have the false confidence of having a Western civilisation simply handed to them on a plate.