No one said it was easy to plot the winds of change and the effort can bring heartfelt anguish. I suppose that economics, politics and social factors drove the change, but to quote Eric Morecambe: ' not necessarily in that order'.
Certainly many close knit communities were broken up by all three factors and to some extent Margaret Thatcher and her Tory Grandees had an influence in that: they weakened the Trade Union movement, failed to support much well paid manufacturing industry and left us with a lot of low paid, poor quality retail and factory work. Having achieved that both Tory, and until recently New Labour, have tried to convince us that 'we are all middle class now '.
It is not easy to define the class structure these days but one thing seems clear: we are not all middle class. Perhaps vested interests would like us to think that we are, if only to take out the sting that might come from class conscious anger. We do know that the mainstream parties are aware of the need to court and convince those of the middle class that are waverers; they know that there is no point in trying to take on board those diehards that have no intention of ever voting for them.
The working men's clubs in Ushaw Moor could not really survive without the hard drinking thirsty miners of days gone by but surely we are better off without pits: they were dangerous, dirty and unhealthy. The trouble is very little was done to provide viable alternatives.
It is unfair to expect government to sort all of it out but what is clear is that we require from it a new approach that acknowledges the working class, promotes social cohesion and brings back trust. We need a new code for living. We know many of the culprits that got us to this stage and the list is growing.
I am asking a lot but the action required is probably urgent.
WB
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Wilf,
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of what you say. Putting your wishes into place in this world would be asking for a hell of a lot. The banks, newspaper industry and politicians of all parties have lost the trust of ordinary people. I always have the impression that politicians cannot foresee the future beyond the result of the next General Election. No one seem to look at the country in 50 years time. Our rail network and rail industry was decimated in the 60s. The Thatcher Government got rid of the mines in the 80s & 90s and now were almost totally reliant on fuel from abroad from very volatile areas of the world. There is no large scale industry left on Tyneside. The areas wher shipyards once produced ships are now mostly exclusive housing. When I look at the future of this country with an ongoing explosion in population
I am pleased I was born in the era that I was born in
Enough of serious thought.
Brian Mc