Bullshit Britain
Sixty years ago today, Britain voted out the great wartime leader Winston Churchill and gave power to a Labour government for the first time. The loss was a huge shock to the Conservatives who had campaigned on Churchill’s war record (when he led a National Coalition) and his ability to inspire and motivate the population. Against this was Labour’s radical agenda for change and the Beveridge Report, which together led to the creation of the welfare state and the National Health Service.
Soldiers returning from war decided that they did not want more of the same; they had fought for the freedom to bring their families up in a society that would provide for its needy, care for its sick, help the disadvantaged. It was planned and implemented with great care and Britain really became a model for what a modern social democracy could and indeed should be.
I look around Britain today see none of this. We have become a society in which the individual puts his or her own needs above those of the greater society. And we have become a worse place because of it. Economically, the promise of Thatcherism (and indeed the promise of capitalism) was that a free unregulated market would benefit us all; money would ‘trickle down’ from the wealthy to the poor. Has it? Of course not. The rich have simply grown richer, the poor poorer. The tax burden on an individual earning less that the national average has increased not decreased although the very poorest have seen their position improve slightly since 1997. The rot set in before Thatcher though with greedy union bosses betraying their members by demanding from the government unrealistic pay rises, then holding the whole country to ransom when they were not met. We had weak leadership and a clash of fake ideology. But I digress.
This economic mindset of ‘greed is good’ has now transposed itself nicely into the social fabric of Britain. Social greed is the new black. I’ll drive my kid to school in a nice safe Land Rover. Safe for me of course, but the chances of your kid dying if I happen to run into the poor chap as he’s crossing the road is increased greatly because of the great big steel bumpers. And because speed limits apply to other people. Not me. My Land Rover produces the same pollution as two of your small cars. Keep up you oik. It’s the same in the old ‘working class’ communities. It is other people’s kids who cause the trouble not mine. My kid only set fire to that car because his school is so poor at disciplining him. I told him it was wrong but what can you do eh? The working class used to support itself, it is one of the things that made it strong but now prefers to close the door on neighbours, draw the curtains on the decaying community. The foundations of society are cracked and failing. Apathy is replacing activism.
The people in power have seen this all happening and done nothing to stop it. Why should they? Blair’s invasion of Iraq followed the biggest demonstration in the history of the UK. But our listening PM ignored it and went ahead anyway. It has been a disaster. He is failing in most of the significant promises he made in 1997. Billions are being wasted on PR, consultants, PFI, wars and waste.
Look at the shit they have dug for themselves over Jean Charles de Menezes. Every story put out so far to justify his execution has been proven wrong. He was a terrorist. No he wasn’t. He was an illegal. No he wasn’t. It was a proportionate response. SEVEN bullets to the head, after YOU the police chased him onto a train. This after you allowed him onto a bus first? Lenin says it all, read his post. Still have any faith in the police or the government? They’re liars. We all know it. They’re incompetent. They prove this to us daily. They were re-elected. Errr……… The price of lying and cheating – 5 more years in power.
There’s no organised opposition now is there. The Tories still think we have an empire, and any credibility the Lib Dems may have had has been destroyed by them following the herd over the current shambles. Wouldn’t it be great if Charles put his little ginger head over the parapet and challenged Blair on the ‘no link to Iraq’ lie? There’s a huge amount of evidence proving the link, but he doesn’t have the balls. Wouldn’t it be a revelation if Charles stood up in parliament and asked if seven bullets to the head is proportionate? Too scared he’ll be called unpatriotic, too lazy to spend the 30 seconds it would take to rebut the accusations, too unsure of the mood, too unsure of ‘something’ to do ‘anything’. The left, the proper left who, as always, have the best ideas will never achieve anything because, as always, it is too busy fighting itself. If the left united against a common enemy instead of bickering at the factions within it would be such a powerful force for change. But it won’t and it isn’t.
I really don’t know where I’m going now (with this post anyway) or what I can do. Am I the only person who no longer recognises Britain? No longer loves what it has become, with its greedy, idle populous, its fatuous, self serving leadership? How have we got here? Where are we going? And – why do I still care?
Soldiers returning from war decided that they did not want more of the same; they had fought for the freedom to bring their families up in a society that would provide for its needy, care for its sick, help the disadvantaged. It was planned and implemented with great care and Britain really became a model for what a modern social democracy could and indeed should be.
I look around Britain today see none of this. We have become a society in which the individual puts his or her own needs above those of the greater society. And we have become a worse place because of it. Economically, the promise of Thatcherism (and indeed the promise of capitalism) was that a free unregulated market would benefit us all; money would ‘trickle down’ from the wealthy to the poor. Has it? Of course not. The rich have simply grown richer, the poor poorer. The tax burden on an individual earning less that the national average has increased not decreased although the very poorest have seen their position improve slightly since 1997. The rot set in before Thatcher though with greedy union bosses betraying their members by demanding from the government unrealistic pay rises, then holding the whole country to ransom when they were not met. We had weak leadership and a clash of fake ideology. But I digress.
This economic mindset of ‘greed is good’ has now transposed itself nicely into the social fabric of Britain. Social greed is the new black. I’ll drive my kid to school in a nice safe Land Rover. Safe for me of course, but the chances of your kid dying if I happen to run into the poor chap as he’s crossing the road is increased greatly because of the great big steel bumpers. And because speed limits apply to other people. Not me. My Land Rover produces the same pollution as two of your small cars. Keep up you oik. It’s the same in the old ‘working class’ communities. It is other people’s kids who cause the trouble not mine. My kid only set fire to that car because his school is so poor at disciplining him. I told him it was wrong but what can you do eh? The working class used to support itself, it is one of the things that made it strong but now prefers to close the door on neighbours, draw the curtains on the decaying community. The foundations of society are cracked and failing. Apathy is replacing activism.
The people in power have seen this all happening and done nothing to stop it. Why should they? Blair’s invasion of Iraq followed the biggest demonstration in the history of the UK. But our listening PM ignored it and went ahead anyway. It has been a disaster. He is failing in most of the significant promises he made in 1997. Billions are being wasted on PR, consultants, PFI, wars and waste.
Look at the shit they have dug for themselves over Jean Charles de Menezes. Every story put out so far to justify his execution has been proven wrong. He was a terrorist. No he wasn’t. He was an illegal. No he wasn’t. It was a proportionate response. SEVEN bullets to the head, after YOU the police chased him onto a train. This after you allowed him onto a bus first? Lenin says it all, read his post. Still have any faith in the police or the government? They’re liars. We all know it. They’re incompetent. They prove this to us daily. They were re-elected. Errr……… The price of lying and cheating – 5 more years in power.
There’s no organised opposition now is there. The Tories still think we have an empire, and any credibility the Lib Dems may have had has been destroyed by them following the herd over the current shambles. Wouldn’t it be great if Charles put his little ginger head over the parapet and challenged Blair on the ‘no link to Iraq’ lie? There’s a huge amount of evidence proving the link, but he doesn’t have the balls. Wouldn’t it be a revelation if Charles stood up in parliament and asked if seven bullets to the head is proportionate? Too scared he’ll be called unpatriotic, too lazy to spend the 30 seconds it would take to rebut the accusations, too unsure of the mood, too unsure of ‘something’ to do ‘anything’. The left, the proper left who, as always, have the best ideas will never achieve anything because, as always, it is too busy fighting itself. If the left united against a common enemy instead of bickering at the factions within it would be such a powerful force for change. But it won’t and it isn’t.
I really don’t know where I’m going now (with this post anyway) or what I can do. Am I the only person who no longer recognises Britain? No longer loves what it has become, with its greedy, idle populous, its fatuous, self serving leadership? How have we got here? Where are we going? And – why do I still care?
posted by phylos @ 13:57
2 Comments:
I'm whith you Phylos. The chat down the local is "what can we do as individuals." There is so much bullshit being churned surrounding these acts of terrorism yet no-one is asking the questions we are. The politicians are spinning it the other way, the papers are scare mongering and the radio is agreeing with every new piece of information as if the last didn't exist!
Short of personally grabbing Bliar by the throat and shaking him like an unwanted ginger step child, What can we do!
We need a strong leader to take the publics voice! We need to be organised and agree on what we want to know and what we want to be known. We need an organised protest big enough that it can't be ignored and organised enough so that it can't be miss-interpreted!
Or we find the plans for the houses of parliament and sell them on the internet!
Sod that, this York boy is willing to finish off what another York boy failed to do 400 years ago!
Hate to sound like a trekkie (cos i'm not!), but didn't Spock used to say "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".
I couldn't agree more that the current obsession with the Right of the individual .... and bugger the rest of you, has pushed this country further and further down the spiral of social decay!
I'm not surprised that the populace hates the thought of getting more involved in Europe, as it would mean recognising that socially, the Brits are at the very bottom of the pile (along with the Yanks). It's time that respect and social responsibility was brought into 21st century Britain before we tumble and self destruct!
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