Will ethical values ever be rediscovered?

THE huge sacrifice of the lives of the bravest and the best in World War Two inspired most to a higher level of beliefs, concerning what nationalism should mean, in every mind.

That produced the dedication of the NHS. Youngsters could never afford to attend university, but the citizens of my nation believed it was sound economic sense to invest in youngsters, to benefit the nation.

Nationalism then meant a shared devotion to every citizen, which was the complete opposite to the Tory nationalism of today, the Brexit resentment of foreigners, the hatred of the helpless refugee, and the deliberate destitution of the British underclass, never to be able to escape, from birth to death, to own anything of his nation.

The Conservative media attacked all socialist values of a united nation, to return to Tory values, privilege and poverty, as in the Great Depression. That mental journey has travelled through Thatcherism back to the equivalent of the USA Republican Party, of billionaires and beggars, where shareholders own and control every privatised part of the nation, and the NHS is the final target.

Media, commerce and advertising are wholly dishonest, but social media has now produced something even more extreme, a psychological menace in some of the rising generation, increasing in influence.

There appears no possibility that today’s youngsters will ever rediscover any ethical values in Britain.

C N Westerman by email