The 70's then and now

History is my current enthusiasm and comparing my memories and experiences from the earlier parts of my life with how those times seem now is, for me, a particular part of that and a fascinating way of passing the time. I have just competed reading the book "When the lights went out" by Andy Beckett and, of course, we have just had all the talk, adulation, criticism etc of Margaret Thatcher following her death. She seemingly rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the 70's, the decade the book covers and particularly lays bare the back and detailed story of those times. In all the adulation that poured forth about the blessed Maggie, I need to point out here I was never a fan of hers, so many people credit her with "rescuing" the UK from socialism, economic disaster and anything else that can be strapped onto the battle bus. 

But apart from the fact that a lot of those economic, social and financial trends were in their early stages before she won the 79 election, the 70's for me never seemed as bad as everyone is so keen to point out. I was starting out in my career and independent life as the 70's started, getting my diploma in architecture and marrying in 1971, getting my professional qualification in 1973, buying our first house in 1974, and working for the rest of the decade in a cash strapped British Rail learning the architectural business. 

Yes money was very tight when we bought our first house but, because of inflation, the mortgage repayments soon became an increasingly reduced part of our outgoings. Despite capped incomes we still managed to put some savings aside. Neither of us had well paid jobs, rarely got away for holidays or bought major costly items, but we, by comparison with similarly placed young people these days, did relatively well with stable rewarding jobs easy to come by. So it is fascinating to compare those times with now, with the detailed information in such books as "When the lights went out," as well as with what I remember of those times, and my experiences of income, society and expectations. 

And then there is what they were all saying recently about how Thatcher saved the UK. It did not feel like it then with whole industries withering and dying. Social strife, combative politics, and the rise of selfish affluence for the few. But it was not Thatcher who started those trends they were already under way before she came to power. I left British Rail architects just after she came to power, seeing the writing on the wall for nationalised industry and in house architects departments. But before then, travelling round the Midlands in the late 70's I saw devastated industrial landscapes. In BR there was the timeless justification by the bosses for their substantial pay awards while we office fodder got little or nothing, "it will trickle down" and it never did.

So what was this watershed of the end of the 70's and the coming to power of Thatcher.  Nothing as dramatic as current politicians and romantics for the 80's would have you think. That ideology developed in the late 70's blossomed in the 80's and did for us now, giving us deregulated finance and avarice, the seeds of our current problems. This is not to say that those times were all good or all bad, there were great and beneficial social changes, increasing understanding of different peoples and cultures, the liberation of thought and endeavour, all arising out of the escape from dark days of the immediate post war years and the constraints of thought, and expectation before then. It all depends where you stand and what your version of the truth is.