yes they have and some parts of the world have had it a lot worse than others – but how much is because The West brought cheap stuff from countries allowing the regimes to cause issues.
Since Fred lives in England – technically they are a pest that humans introduced or reintroduced them as they were present before last ice-age, but there is no evidence of them during Iron Age, Roman or even Anglo-Saxon eras. Romans brought them over as pets but looks like they didn’t establish breeding colonies. You have to come to around 1235 AD to see evidence of them.
If you assume “Remember everything politicians tells you is a Lie.” is incorrect then there is no contradiction – anyway it should be “Remember everything politicians tells you is to server their interests only.”
So that’s one robot can opener, 9 life times supply of cat food, a dozen small heated, weather proof boxes spread across your territory …