There are many things we thought we’d fixed or were at least well on the way to fixing which have become inexplicably ‘broken’ again this century.
Post WWII gains for ordinary people have been under threat since Thatcher. 1979 began an almost unbroken chain of either Tory or private schoolboy rule in Britain which has left the lives of those lower down the social pile increasingly in tatters. Deference is still with us further whipped up as part of the jingoistic package of Brexit while the gap between the haves and have-nots, which increased exponentially under the Blair administration, has become a canker in our social midst with symptoms such as the spread of zero hours contracts.
Despite the MPs’ expenses scandal 2009, which saw the public aghast at things
such as an MPs claim for £30,000 garden expenses including the infamous ‘duck house’ - the
last decade has seen a catalogue of low-grade, no-consequence behaviour ending
in the gilded cage of Boris Johnson’s cabinet of the craven and the cretinous. Corrupt or vile behaviour by elected officials now barely causes a blip on the public’s Richter scale of disgust. But here are
just half a dozen of the things that we thought were fixed which are very
broken.
Workers’ rights.
Post war unionisation saw a huge increase in workers’ rights including safe
working conditions and fairer pay. Since Thatcher decimated mining communities
and snatched other working class benefits, the EU partly took over when it came
to things such as safety at work (something derided by the right wing as the
nanny state) and working time directives. This century, with the rise of zero
hours contracts and now Brexit – deregulation is again the holy grail of the
extreme capitalist right and we have seen the sad sight of, for example,
deliveroo workers fighting for rights we thought were ours already.
Racism. Despite
the government marking its own card on this one with the much derided
government report on racial disparity – just NO. So many reports have been
written so many recommendations made and ignored. Simply coming up with a
government issued document saying there is no racism when – apart from anything
– the PM himself has form in this field is beyond satire. As Doreen Lawrence
said – issuing such nonsense puts race equality back decades. Check out Dear British Black People
Poverty. Since
the Rowntree report Life &Labour of the people of London 1891 which first
scientifically measured poverty in the UK, Britain has been shamed as one of
the world’s rich countries where it is still possible for children to go
hungry. One of the pushes for the establishment of the Welfare State after WWII
was government embarrassment at just how poorly nourished and educated British conscripted
soldiers were compared to allied troops. And now – with austerity which we have
Cameron and Osborne to thank for – we have food banks as a regular feature of
our social landscape and declining longevity in the poorest regions.
Ireland. I was a
huge admirer of Mo Mowlam – the behind the scenes driver of the Good Friday Agreement
– a process begun under John Major’s administration. I spent regular and significant
time in southern Ireland in the 1980s and 90s and the way the country had been
held back economically and socially by what was euphemistically called The Troubles had to be seen to be
believed. And, despite the collapse of The Celtic Tiger boom – the country made
great economic and social strides in the intervening years. The unrest and
destabilisation we now see is beyond sad. It will rightly be put at the door of
no.10 Downing street’s current incumbent as the man who lied used into Brexit
and struck a ridiculous deal for the sake of saying ‘job done’. Now he refuses
to attend summit talks on the crisis. Ignoring crises and wilful ignorance are
blissful bedfellows for the man with no shame.
Sexism. I had a
view when I was a student – that this, at least – would entirely be a thing of
the past by the time I was a ‘proper grown up’ Well, I am a grandmother now and
I see misogyny thriving - see my recent post -
Misogyny is Alive & Kicking in Britain.
Pollution. I
would not go as far to say we even thought this one was on the way to being fixed but maybe we thought we'd got folk to the point where they care or were paying attention. We've had almost exclusive wall to wall
‘news’ of covid for over a year now. Recently and while the world is far from
over covid, all the UK middle class media seem to be doing is bitching and
whining about when ‘we’ can go abroad on holiday. Because we deserve it… Well it’s
worth remembering – as I’ve pointed out endlessly on this blog – and not least
at the start of the pandemic – that while covid is deadly, pollution is worse
by several miles. 12 months of covid brought a global death toll of 2.5
million. ANNUALLY according to the WHO pollution delivers a death toll of
4.5million. And many in the green movement regard that as a massive
underestimate. Remember that, here in Britain it took the mother of little Ella
Kissi-Debrah a long and painful fight to get her daughter’s untimely death
listed correctly as the result of pollution The Guardian
Our real rights and freedoms were under stealthy, successful
assault long before the pandemic arrived to act as a social catalyst.
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