‘Past and Present’
by Harry Riley
We in Britain are facing an uncertain future in Election Year.
With the choice of the three main parties we are asked to trust one of them to get it right or perhaps if the outcome is not conclusive maybe there will be a ‘Hung parliament.’
At my age I have the luxury of being able to look back over the last fifty years and my own personal opinion is that although the ordinary working man and woman has better living standards with more luxuries we are not as happy and contented with our lot as we were then.
And why is that I wonder?
Well in the late 1950’s we were emerging from the austerity of the war years and the land was sparkling with promise, you could feel it as a tangible thing, there was excitement in the air. Where is the promise now? I cannot say hand on heart, that babies are coming into a safer, more stable, more caring world.
We expected continuous employment and invariably we got it. These days even a degree is no guarantee of employment with whole families thrown on the scrapheap, subsiding on state benefits.
We had respect for our neighbours, Respect for our parents and respect for the elderly. We had not much money but we had the family to fall back on in times of trouble, hardship and stress. Nowadays so many youngsters come from dysfunctional families whose parents have had so many partners that even the kids are confused as to their real father. Now we have so little respect for one another with knives and guns and drugs and alcohol on the streets that hard-pressed police officers cannot cope with the never-ending violence and carping criticism.
And who is to blame?
I blame the politicians for complacency and lack of long term vision and for squandering the legacy our fathers fought and died for-to make a Britain fit for hero’s.
‘Labour’ says the depression is a world problem so we shouldn’t blame them.
‘Labour’ wants us to trust them to get it right in the future…they have a plan! Okay what else do they plan to close?
‘Labour’ the party of the ‘working-man’ has failed to tackle crime and punishment and our gaols are full to bursting so they want to let them out before their time is up. Is this more Care in the Community?
New Labour came in with so much promise. Yes we said! Yes! Show us the way. And they did…their way of so much spin and so little substance.
They left the door wide open for sleaze and corruption with every man out for himself and took us into two costly wars, wars that we cannot win! Where is the leadership in that?
America is a staunch ally but we do not have to follow their every political move. We did not slavishly follow them into Vietnam and we should not have followed them into Iraq or Afghanistan. If they want to police the world then let them do so. We have done our bit.
America had 911. It was a tragedy of truly earth shattering proportions…but it was their tragedy not ours!
We were right to be supportive but we should not have gone to war in Iraq over it.
We should have retained the independence of being honest friend and sympathiser. Terrorism on the streets of Britain is a direct result of our mindless adventures into Iraq and Afghanistan and has cost the lives of too many brave British soldiers.
So will I be voting Labour on May 6th 2010? No, I think not.
Who in his right mind would vote for a party that advocates putting up the cost of National Insurance when commercial businesses are struggling to maintain their present staffing levels against falling orders…forcing many companies into bankruptcy. Deregulating the banks so they could do what they liked without government interference, selling off vital utilities to foreign companies so they could shut down UK Plants, throwing thousands out of work, closing down many of the Nation’s Post Offices and sticking an extra ten pence on income tax in one foul swoop, selling off the gold reserves at bargain basement prices, What sort of addle-brained thinking is this? Do they not listen for God’s sake?
So what is the one big thing missing in our enlightened modern lives? What is causing the cancer in our midst?
We hear the answer in almost every case of street violence and often from the most disenfranchised, inarticulate young criminal as he utters the words “Respect man! He disrespected me, so I shot him or I stabbed him.” Respect is what people of all ages seek but seldom get and this goes to the heart of the problem. How can a person have respect for others when the government that controls our lives shows no lead…no respect for anyone but themselves.
