Ruthless capitalism leads to civil unrest

A NEW statue for Mrs Thatcher? A decisive figure back then and a revered or reviled figure today.

1979 was the only time I ever voted Tory, believing this would be a massive plus for female equality whilst bringing a much needed feminine perspective to the misogynistic politics of centuries.

I have regretted this decision ever since. I don’t believe in the convenient neat world of black and white, good and bad, and regard humans in the same manner.

She had undeniable qualities, yet I will always associate her with a legacy that unfortunately still thrives 40 years later.

Her speech that declared that society doesn’t exist unleashed the ‘I’m all right Jack’ mentality.

She cleverly released the inherent snobbery within many and married it to material acquisition as proof of superiority over one’s neighbour and called it aspirational, yet snobbery it mostly is. A million Hyacinth Buckets were created and they looked down upon the new enemy of social scroungers and single mums. Although the system is at fault, still today we are led to believe such people are milking the country, despite there being no comparison to the cost that the tax dodgers upon high cost us.

Socialist ideology of fair share has waned since and unrestrained ruthless capitalism reigns supreme and in its blind greed damages the planet and will lead to civil unrest and worse, as history shows us.

Divide and rule, the oldest trick of all, is apparent everywhere. Socialism is equated with communism yet is different; it produced the welfare state and workers rights (both sadly being eroded at a rate of knots). Communism is a 19th century phenomenon and ironically, like capitalism, only benefits the ruling elite.

Barbara Thornton (April 14) suggests we stop considering ‘rich and poor’ as ‘us and them’, which I consider a pipedream, for the poor don’t create this. Surely it is the obscene disparity between the risk takers and job creators, as she puts it. Yes, communism failed, but can you say that capitalism succeeds? Is the middle ground of socialism worth consideration?

Peter Lawrence Dursley, Gloucestershire