Balance is needed
Nigel’s (Hastilow) prejudice was let loose on history this week as he sought to explain to the young why the 1970s were such a bad time. Also, how lucky we were to have Margaret Thatcher to save the nation in the same way he insists Theresa May is going to save it again.
I am not sure I lived through the same period as he did or the 1980s which followed.
Yes I remember the strikes, but since the unions have been deprived of their power the gap between the rich and the poor has got wider. The ‘Big Bang’ on the world stock exchanges when neo-liberalism economics got started was a creature of Thatcher and Reagan. In fact Theresa May is completely at odds with Thatcher’s philosophy, rejecting ‘untrammelled free markets’ in their manifesto just as she rejects the single market which Thatcher created.
Did privatisation give us cheap power, cheap railways, cheap telecommunications and plentiful housing or a share-owning democracy? These were the promises on which the fire sale of state assets was conducted. I also remember that the banking crisis had more to do with the banks’ lending policy than government borrowing. In fact it was everything to do with untrammelled free markets and light touch financial regulation, ie cut out the bureaucracy.
Maybe if the young need some caution about the good ol’ days we should apply a bit of balance to the accounts given them.
Maybe Labour’s bills don’t add up but then Theresa May hasn’t given any for people to check.
Patrick Bentley, Wolverhampton
