Inheritance of ideas

I like many others blame Thatcher for a great deal that went wrong in the UK during her time in power and since. Of course that it grossly unfair to her as some of the things she is reputed to have done were already in place before she ruled the roost, some were sadly necessary although very unpleasant to those on the receiving end, and of course political friends and foes of hers have hung all sorts of praise and guilt on her for things she did not do. She has become a talisman for whatever political or social point we want to pontificate about. Never the less I still can't accept what her government did to the social order and aspiration in this country, nor her for what she stood for, even if it was on occasion necessary.

These changes, if not initiated during the Thatcher years were certainly encouraged and fuelled by her policies and deregulation of the finance industry. People were encouraged to go out and fend for themselves, this of course presumes they are in a position to do so and are not knocked back by those better able, suited, positioned to scramble up the greasy pole of ambition, wealth and achievement. In any race there need to be, by definition, losers if there are to be winners. Just as so ably illustrated in the Victorian era where wealth, especially great wealth, is built on the labour and backs of others. Arguably the entertainment industry is one area where this is not true, but that is not the province of the bulk of the population.

I do remember when the historic class system of upper, middle, and lower in this country was the standard norm of judging people and am so very glad that seemingly, in inverse proportion to my growing distaste for it, it has fallen away over the last 60 years. I am not sure I know enough about the reasons for that to draw any worthwhile conclusions, but those perceptions and prejudices seem to have been replaced by an equally cruel way of dividing people up into social enclaves. We are so judgemental, I wonder why we find it necessary? Money seems to rule supreme now, especially as exemplified by the phrase so beloved of social commentators, the haves and have nots. Then there are the increasingly frantic fights over education policy and methodology in this country. Sadly all people are not created equal or brought up equal, their natural talents or lack of them will leave them at the mercy of their family circumstances and education opportunities. But in the "bad old days" there was a great variety of work available for the bulk of the people. Sure there was a lot of the work I would have hated to do or would be supremely incapable of lasting even five minutes doing, but there was something that we could all find or fall into to provide some income and some sort of life. Its all very well saying people should come off benefits and find gainful employment but that needs jobs for them to do and income sufficient for them to survive on. In these times where industry has been minimised in this country there are not the mass employment opportunities necessary to support the numbers looking for it.

Before, during and after Thatcher's time heavy and manufacturing industry was declining in this country as we fell behind other countries in terms of our production costs, innovation and competitiveness. That was probably inevitable given our history and social attitudes but the results and corrective treatments took an enormous toll on the workers in those industries as they found, despite being told to "get on their bikes" to find work, that there was little or no work to be had. It did not even matter if you had failed the education system or it had failed you, skilled or unskilled, gifted or not, you were unemployed and often unemployable. You were sacrificed, be you a type of worker, a social group, the economy of a nation if you supplied the raw materials. In some ways it seems that it is a right of passage of development/progress that large numbers of people, unassuming multitudes of private lives, will be abandoned, dare I say sacrificed, in the name of progress.

And now we are in one of the worst and longest running financial crises the developed world has experienced and all those without the where with all to manage their own destiny are again being sacrificed to the future. What makes it more unpleasant, if that were possible, is the deliberately weasel words that purport to tell us that our politicians and bosses care when they either do not or can't do anything about it. How many more generations of people in so many different countries for so many different reasons will be abandoned and sacrificed in the names of progress and a so called better future.