Rant #1

I grew up in the Britain of the 1960s and 70s and it was a pretty decent society. People seemed to look out for each other and the old Tories, even if they did represent the wealthy, had a sense of mutual obligation about them. They understood that to have a harmonious society everyone had to be able to participate socially and economically. But when Keith Joseph and his protege Margaret Thatcher took over the Conservative Party, and sent it in the neo-liberal direction, that old society was smashed. Since Thatcher, Britain has become a less fair place where the rich have become richer at the expense of everyone else. And where the new Tories went, New Labour followed - a massive sell-out of its old constituency!
We are no longer a society, but individuals. And the individual is powerless against the mighty. Our trade unions and other self-help organisations have been smashed and now we stand divided and alone. As a consequence our standard of living has fallen. This is as true of Australia, where I now live, as of Britain. I remember my dad, a skilled industrial worker, supporting a wife and four children, and owning a five bedroom house. My grandfather, a carpenter, owned a detatched four bedroom house - and my grandmother never worked a day in her life! Try that today. Today both partners are forced to work, and work more hours, and if they're lucky they might be able to afford a small flat. But apparently we are much richer now. Well the rich are anyway! Public services have been decimated, education dumbed down, and popular culture driven down to the lowest common denominator. Greed, selfishness and rudeness are now virtues and this is reflected in our greedy, self-centred politicians. The standard of public debate is pathetic, the mainstream media simplistic and one-sided, there is a lack of in-depth analysis and political debate is reduced to name-calling and sloganeering.
Pissed off? You bet I am!