An unusual post this one as I didn't want to contaminate a photographic mountain/ outdoor post by going off at a tangent into something else. Also, its far too important to be watered down. Brexit doesn't mean much to me compared to this as it may not change anything at all in the long run. For the last 30 years or so I've had the view that Britain is intrinsically unfair and going in the wrong direction. Sometimes it might appear if I go on a verbal crusade in a post that I've got a chip on my shoulder and its simply a case that I hate anyone that is rich or better off than me but that is completely wrong. I,m just not explaining myself properly. Although not well off I've had a great innings, got around a fair amount, and will pop my clogs happy and content that I've had a full life. I'ts not jealousy or love of another political party that motivates me- I just hate it when people blatantly lie to the country and myself every day and get away with it. That's my Achilles heel. Mostly I'm not political and can't be bothered with it but when I watch the news at night and see mission statements like " We're all in this together." or " Building a better country for everyone." I can't see any truth in these mission statements at all. In my half blind, fumbling, but instinctive way it always flashes up as something else on the bull**** meter. I suppose it depends who "we" are and "everyone." If that means a very select exclusive club at the top then yes- it is a true statement of intent.
Maybe I'm very naive and not the brightest bulb in the box but decades of lies without a challenge gets to me. One programme I watched recently confirmed everything I've been thinking about the last seven years of austerity cuts, the so called 'recession' of 2008, the growing north south divide and how its only one section of society that is shouldering the full burden of the national debt. In short the least able to afford it are paying back money to the richest people in society that have doubled or tripled their wealth, thanks to successive government tax cuts, loop holes deliberately left open, and have been doing that for the past 40 years, not just the last seven.
This documentary explains it all far better that I ever could. If you live in the UK and only watch one episode of this enlightening series it should be this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xw2x8
An excellent series also explaining how taxpayers money is completely wasted every year by handing it to private companies...(See.. Who's Spending Britain's Billions? by the same team) why Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester have lost one million people... how they may intend to repopulate them ( not good news for Brexit supporters :o) and why Britain is now the most unequal country in Europe and the new Switzerland for billionaires buying up ever increasing chunks of our cities to lie empty and unoccupied despite a housing shortage that may never be resolved. Anyone in the way of that will no doubt be removed by 'social cleansing.' All things I've seen for myself travelling around so why has it taken so long to come out?
12 comments:
Well written Bob and agree 100%. This same "sentiment" manifests itself in my business life with phrases like "our employees are our biggest asset" and those detestable Mission Statements of things like "to give our customers the best service". Employees are the biggest cost and are dispensed with at the drop of hat when required, not a care for how they are affected. Every business objective is simply to make as much money as possible, if they could do that by sitting on their backsides with no employees and never having to deal with the public they'd do it. The vast majority of the population as seen by the rich elite are just a rather irksome source of easy money
I'm not going to get into a debate with you about this Bob, because my A Bit About Britain project is not the place where I want to air politics and recent, bitter experience, on social media has made me wary. Also, I think you and I might disagree - though we have much in common, too, I believe. BUT, firstly, good for you for airing your views. I do agree that there is much wrong with our country and that it is all too often unfair. There is what I call (and I am actually thinking of writing about this) what I see as a new serfdom in our society, though we are all partly to blame for it. I can't see any political party addressing this - they don't actually come near to identifying it. I used to vote for positive reasons - now I find myself voting for the least inept.
Britain IS intrinsically unfair not to mention undemocratic in many ways. (House of Lords - biggest unelected legislative chamber outside China. Outrageous.) Brexit will make it much worse in my opinion - I’ve given up on political optimism. I was the one last year saying Trump couldn’t possibly be as bad as he seemed and, anyway, there were checks and balances to keep him under control. Now I laugh at my naivety.
I watched all the programmes presented by Jacques Peretti and consider him to be an excellent journalist who is endeavouring to unravel what has been happening to our society and country.
I fear for our young and feel sure that they are not going to let the injustices they are experiencing continue without some far reaching consquences.
The news is so depressing, I want to bury my head in the sand.
I don't understand why people are so greedy for more and more when so many others have so little.
The capitalism we have needs a complete rethink - it is both unfair and unjust.
Not just in your country, sadly I see it happening here in the US too. And our current "so-called president" is not helping things in the least!
Hi All,
Thanks for your comments. I'm doing a joint response here as I'd only be repeating myself five times. Obviously everyone will have their own opinions on this subject like everything else in life, but I certainly found these programmes interesting and informative- a refreshing change of tack after seven years of poverty TV shows usually featuring somewhat exploited chaotic individuals instead of normal people and a general slant in many cases of the old trick of demonizing the poorest on the ladder or setting workers against unemployed.
I do think capitalism has to change and that we can't just keep buying stuff we don't really need at an ever-increasing rate only to toss it away a few years later but I'm not bright enough to think of anything else to replace it :o)
It gets even better... with more jobs likely to be automated in the future thank to AI or outsouced through remote working, the only people left to profit will be those who own the robots and the capital.
The ray of hope for the future is that it will be middle class jobs that disappear. These are the people who vote and change governments. They were happy enough to see working class communities decimated but will fight tooth and nail for their own rights. So maybe capitalism will meet its match in the members of the NTS and the WI...
Hi R.C.
Yes, I've done a couple of posts a while back on A.I. and a shirking middle class. A few years ago I noticed how advanced robots are getting but also games technology is now so close to being both vast (creating entire 3d world landscapes and a multi-universe on a CD.... that some have speculated they could recreate the world we live in today in perfect detail in the near future and you would never notice the swap- matrix style. Young folk today are already connected and can't live without smart phones and gadgets 24/7 in their hands so the next logical step is smart implants to be permanently connected to the net. After that anything can happen. People will line up to be turned into cyborgs just like they are presently standing in lines to buy £1000 phones. I think a squeezed middle class and jobs disappearing, while important, is the least of society's problems. May sound far fetched but if you told anyone 30 years ago that your work could contact you 24/7, whenever they liked, in seconds, and that you would spend all your time looking at a hand sized screen for no real purpose they would think that a crazy concept as well.
There are other models to capitalism which haven't been tried but are good - but... it's a very big step to change a country from one economic model to another and would probably cause huge problems during the changeover so I'm sure we're stuck with capitalism with all its faults.
As to the rich developers sitting on all that city land - they're the ones who are ruining our countryside with all the greenbelt building - grrr!
oh yeah - and my work can't contact me 24/7 as I keep my phone turned off unless I want to use it! :-) and I can't see anything on a hand-held screen and, if they want us to work until we die, nor will any of the other oldies!
Hi Carol,
an increasing number of people are on call nearly 24/7 as a condition of the job as I know of at least three and I don't have a wide circle of friends. Went through to Edinburgh recently and no one on the bus paid cash, everything was contactless cards, smart phone swipes or over 60s cards. Once on the bus hardly anyone looked out the windows, busy with tablets, smart phones or making calls. I did feel like one of the last humans in a world populated by alien creatures. Even saw a girl pushing a child on a swing in a park,from the bus window, presumably her own, who didn't look at her once, just used her foot while watching something on her phone while the child was looking at her to gain her attention, being too young herself to be gadget addicted. If they had internet implants inside them they would not notice much of a difference. Probably think it was more convenient that way to have it. 20 years from now who knows what will happen...
I hate people glued to phones. I hate them even more when they site on a train, plane or whatever in 'my' window seat and then block the view I want to see out of the window. Why bag a window seat if you have no interest in the view or your surroundings - grrrr! And the lack of supervision of that child on the swing - even more grrrrr!
We have paople on a call-out rota but they only do one week in maybe 4 or more. We don't employ anyone (except management) who have to be available 24/7.
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