This week I celebrate yet another birthday. Yep, that’s right folks, one more candle on the cake. With the number of candles on the cake, you can say it’s now a roaring fire. Often at these times one is left to ponder on the meaning of life, of ones on life, that of others and the interactions between family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances. One often assumes wisdom follows the aging process; however, wisdom is not necessarily confirmed just because one is getting older. Maybe we have just had more time to make the same mistakes time and again! I guess I am somewhere in between these two extremes, at least I hope I am!
I was then reminded (just in time), that it’s also the same week when I celebrate 40 years of marriage to my wife. That’s one heck of a life sentence!
In these four decades life in the UK, and I suspect globally, has changed dramatically.I have seen 10 prime ministers, seven Tories and three Labour. The Tory party was in power for some 27 years over two stints and the Labour party for some 13 yearsbeing the sandwich filler.In this time the only prime ministers who made an impact on me was the iron lady, Margaret Thatcher and the guy with the cheesy smile, Tony Blair. The worst prime ministers being Gordon Brown and Liz Truss. With the others scattered somewhere in between with various degrees of success and failures.
Inflation 40 years ago was 5%, today it is 2%. The highest it’s been in this time period was 11.6% and the lowest -0.5%. Yep, at one point we did manage toactually reducereal prices.
Unemployment was 11.3%, today it is 4.4%. The pound on average was worth $2.30 whereas today it’s about $1.26. Immigration and migration data shows that 40 years ago net migration was -55000. Yes, more people were leaving the UK than arriving. Today net migration is around 685000. Note, this does not take into account illegal migrants, though it’s safe to say that 40 years ago it was too low to register on the migration Richter scale, whereas today we have yearly earthquakes as monthly estimates are made public. The UK population in the 1980s was around 56 million whereas today it stands at around 68 million, a massive increase of 12 million.Of course, the visible ethnic groups command a lot of attention from the media who tend to ignorethe non-visible groups (white Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians etc). It’s fair to say, both these groups have increased massively. But one group will suffer the wrath of some in society because they are so easily identifiable.
In these four decades Britain has been at war with Argentina, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and Libya to name just the top headlines. If you dig deeper, you’ll see the British footprint of indirect and covert interference is quite widespread in many more nations.
So as I cut a slice of my birthday cake, I can’t help but reflect how life has changed in these four decades. Are we happier? Looking at the statistics on depression and suicide rates, I have to say that maybe the real meaning of true happiness has changed. Are we united? I don’t think so. We see right across our nation various groups whose only task seems to be to undermine the nation and its integrity. Are we safer? I don’t think so –on every crime statistic it is clear the miscreants in society have increased significantly.
I don’t want to end on a low. There are high points as well. In sports our achievements are now a lot more measurable and enjoyable. In times of difficulty like COVID, we all came out and banged our kitchen utensils to show appreciation to our emergency services. Let’s not forget that of all the modern western democracies, Britain can lay claim to having several women prime ministers as well as one,a person of colour.
I guess the lesson one learns with age, when life throws lemons at you, it’s a good idea to learn how to make lemonade. Cheers to you all.
