Stephen RoyleRemembered a conversation with a long-in-the-tooth academic 10 years ago.
He said “things are bad, so bad. I've never known a situation like this in all my career.” Hilarious really given that, back then, grant success rates were better, we were still in the EU, the madness of world events & COVID was yet to happen.
I suppose with continual decline, it will always feel at (that point in time) like things are the worst its ever been.