Changing times . . . and so much still needs to change
I hope you had an enjoyable Festive Season.
One of my New Year’s resolutions has been inspired by a Christmas gift.
It’s a book by Dominic Sandbrook about Britain in the era of my childhood, the 1970s. It’s a great read but it struck me just how dramatically we’ve changed, what has stayed the same and the danger of making predictions too hastily.
In 1972 less than 10 per cent of homes had a freezer ; only 1.7 per cent had a colour T V and a staggering 16 per cent had outside toilets.
In 1974 we had the OPEC oil shock, the three-day week and soaring i nflation. The Play f or Today would get audiences of 10 million.
West German Chancellor Willy Brandt quit because one of his assistants was an East German spy. Three months later, Richard Nixon resigned over Watergate.
Dozens of people were killed by political extremists i n Italy, eight people were murdered at t he Mitsubishi plant i n Tokyo, TWA flight 841 was blown up en route from Tel Aviv to New York, violence in Lebanon was rampant and closer to home there were triple figure fatalities every year in Northern Ireland.
Against that turbulent backdrop political scientist Stephen Haseler predicted the destruction of s oci et y, ci vi l war and t he end o f d e mo c r a c y i n t h e U n i t e d Kingdom.
None of t hat c a me t o pas s. Society has developed, our economy has grown and changed and we have as well.
Sadly the violence has not gone away.
Back t hen t he merchants of doom premised their forecasts on two competing forces: excessive expectation among the public and the pursuit of self-interest in the market place.
Pa r t o n e o f my Ne w Ye a r ’s resolution is that we maintain our expectations because that’s why nearly everyone now has fridgefreezers, colour TVs and indoor plumbing.
But the pursuit of self-interest in the market place is still an issue.
Our society’s wealth creators t ake r i sks, create j obs and pay taxes.
I don’t grudge them their profits.
H o w e v e r, c o m p a n i e s a n d organisations, private and public, which provide our nation’s infrastructure have let us down. Energy prices are sky-high and many banks still don’t get it.
Organisations like NHS Lanarkshire shouldn’t be exempt from scrutiny.
We c her i s h t he pr i nci pl e of medical care f ree at t he point of need. But the dithering bureaucracy which oversees large public sector financial decisions leaves much to be desired.
Nearly a million pounds of your money went on refurbishing a health centre that will soon be demolished and a further £200,000 of your money will go on art.
Additionally, there is a lack of coordination of capital investment. We’ll have a new Hunter Health Centre stuck plumb in the middle of three buildings built before the 1970s.
Meantime, our local hospital is criticised for being dirty and GP and specialist services are under pressure.
So part two of my New Year’s resolution is to hold these people to account.
If we do that, think what we can achieve 35 years from now!
To the News and all its readers, have a great 2015.