I was in the UK in 2006 and 2007 after not having been there since 1967

Lydia Leftcoast

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Tue Aug-09-11 10:03 AM
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I was in the UK in 2006 and 2007 after not having been there since 1967

and the change that struck me most was the development of a huge gap between the rich and poor.

When we were there in the 1960s, the UK was a relatively poor country, still recovering from World War II and the loss of its empire, but the impression was that most people were getting by on the same working class level, except for the hereditary aristocracy, who were a small minority.

London was a shabby-looking but exceptionally safe city. We stayed in a B&B in one of the areas currently beset by riots. On one occasion, we missed the most convenient train back from one of our day trips and phoned our landlady to say that we'd have to take a circuitous route back to London and wouldn't be in till nearly midnight. "Oh, that's quite all right," she said. "I never lock up." This same landlady provided very basic rooms and a massive breakfast for 14 shillings ($1.96 at the prevailing rate of exchange, exceptionally cheap by American standards even then) a night.

As a British expat of my acquaintance has remarked, "I grew up in a low-wage, low-price society."

Coming back in 2006 and 2007, I couldn't help noticing how much the affluent and middle class parts of cities had been spruced up, both inside and outside the buildings. Prices were extremely high, especially given the exchange rate that prevailed at the time. And yet, riding the trains between cities, I couldn't help noticing the horrible public housing developments, the "council estates," isolated, rundown, and filthy with trash and grafitti. These had not existed (at least they had not been noticeable) in the 1960s.

I also saw that almost all the service jobs in hotels and restaurants were filled by people with Eastern European accents, and that rural communities had notices about English classes for Eastern European farm workers. Even then, I thought about the council estates and wondered how an ambitious young person from such an environment could find a leg up in the British economy if such traditional entrees into the workforce were being taken by foreigners.

Thinking about the riots, which of course are stupid and counterproductive, I have come to the conclusion that the rioters are Thatcher's children. Margaret Thatcher once said, "There is no such thing as society. There are only individuals and their families." She also destroyed the unions and presided over the dismantling of Britain's industrial base. Many people prospered under the Tory government, especially the bankster and speculator types, but just as many people fell out of mainstream society.

So put yourself in the place of a young person from a council estate. Nobody you know has a well-paying job, and most have no job at all. Criminal gangs control your neighborhood. You see the affluent on TV, and they have all this attractive Stuff, and you have no idea how they got it, only that they have it and you don't, and that they openly despise you and call you a "chav." Pop culture portrayals of working class people reinforce the stereotypes. There is no one you respect. The attitude of "there is no such thing as society, only individuals and their families," has trickled down to you.

Civil unrest breaks out. People are smashing store windows. You see your chance to get some of the Stuff that you've seen on TV. Why not? There are only individuals and their families, no such thing as society.

I'm not justifying the rioters. Only explaining what I think their mindset is. You cannot spend thirty years denying the concept of social responsibility and then act surprised when both banksters and council estate dwellers carry on like outlaws.