I grew up in the 60s, a decade of endless optimism and staggering achievements, which is the way I care to remember it, enshrined in iconic moments like the moon landings, and progressive legislation on women's rights, racial discrimination, abortion rights etc. The economy was a bit shit, but the UK led the way in popular music with The Beatles, The Stones, The Who and many others leading the way, and England won the World Cup, so that was all right, even if the Scots couldn't quite bring themselves to celebrate that particular achievement. It was also the time when aspiring working class children could at last access a higher education without their families suffering staggering economic hardship, offering the opportunity for a fulfilling life for the many and their children, a pathway hitherto the preserve of the few, the wealthy and the privileged.
It wasn't paradise, of course, but there was an air of hope around that things were improving for the mass of the people. Laws were being framed that protected them and their interests, and trade unions flourished to fight for the ordinary man in the work place. A welfare state had been built that supported the old and the unfortunate, providing benefits for the unemployed, pensions for the aged, and universal health care, free at the point of need, and much more. No longer did the general populace have to suffer (quite so much) the exploitation and repression of the "ruling classes", or accept succour wholly dependent on their whims. The rich and powerful were still with us, still are, but we no longer had to scrape and bow before them.
By 1979 the UK was by many measures the most equal, equitable and happy country in the developed world. The economy was still a bit shit, but when is it ever otherwise, really. The 60s left and the 80s arrived in May 79, along with Margaret Thatcher, and so began another decade renowned and revered, in some quarters, as hugely successful. After a rocky start, enough people were convinced our slightly shitty economy was actually really shitty, and it was all the fault of the liberal do-gooders recklessly providing decent education, health care and social support for everyone, and what was really needed was a full frontal assault on Britain's welfare state - i.e. a serious reduction in its breadth and depth - and a concomitant dismantling of what we used to refer to as "the mixed economy". Privatisation was the thing, along with a deregulation of the money markets. The economy would be put whole-heartedly into the hands of Eton educated, ludicrously privileged spivs and charlatans and their ilk, who had been progressively restrained over the years by those ridiculous progressive liberals and socialists. The City banged big - and guess what? - the economy was still a bit shitty. Only difference was, far fewer had any real stake in it any longer.
There was an interregnum of sorts provided by the relatively gentler face of Major's government and the Blair/Brown administrations that at least seemed populated by people who actually cared about governing for the good of the many, to use a hackneyed phrase. The mistake made, I believe, was the timidity shown in retaining so much of the Thatcher legacy and the whole shit-show remained ripe for further expansion and exploitation, by which I mean when the grubby Cameron, Dim May and gangster Boris and chums got hold of the national reins the rape and pillage of the land could resume relatively uninhibited, by which I mean the systematic abuse and robbery of the masses went unhindered. The slobbering, repulsive super-rich got, and are getting, ever more repulsively wealthy while great swathes of the population are transported back to Victorian-like levels of destitution, with nothing much more than smart phones to console them in their plight.
The economy is still shit, or it isn't. It's all about perspective. For Boris Johnson and his chums, his Tory supporting, cheerleading, flag-waving bunch of dodgy, very rich, over privileged gits, things couldn't be better. The working class have been put back in their place and are left without an effective political voice to represent them. The welfare state has been rolled back to resemble something akin to the charitable parish and workhouse model of the 1920s and 30s, with a hollowed out NHS in good shape to be finally slaughtered. Taxes for the rich are pleasingly low and might even get to effectively zero, while there's a whole new multi-billion-pound kitty called the public purse which can be dipped into with impunity. Thank you, Boris, don't mind if I do have a few hundred million quid for my new shell company, which I can personally trouser while failing to provide anything remotely worthwhile in return.
That's the state we're in, and I mean state in all its various meanings.
Unemployment is high and set to rocket higher still. Millions scrape along on incomes barely capable of sustaining them in their basic needs. Shamefully, millions fail to reach even this level of provision. Far too many school children go hungry (hungrier?) out of term time. Far too many of the employed are in insecure positions and earning minimum or near minimum wages. From the perspective of these people the economy is shit, really shit. It's not serving them, never has, and never will as long as we allow the rogues, thieves and vandals to continue running the show. The bottom line is, those cunts don't fucking care, at all.
We are, as I've said before, a nation divided like never before. Now, if this sounds like I'm painting a picture of a 3rd world, banana republic, that's because I am. That's the fucking state we're in.
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