Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

I have always embraced change as it comes along... some things are better some worse like pats said music clothes people.
One of the reasons I like to be in my rural village in France is that it is just like the village I grew up in in Cornwall as a child .... peoples values here are are amazing especially the way they trust you ....

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

Yes Bags - some things should never change - the village in France, a good example - may it always stay as it is - why change....

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

Sometimes change is at the discretion of others, and much to an individuals abhorrence, change happens, that is the roller coaster of life.

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

we watch a program here called Global Village - it does what it says and France used to feature many times - well rural France. But what amazed me was how rural practices/skills were still used and maintained. and then one day it struck me there was always someone around to carry on - son, daughter, friend etc - that's how rural life doesn't die - and France seems particularly good at it. And maybe rural Germany, Belgium, Holland etc

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

mindbender - we probably aren't as badly off as the UK in some aspects but I still think things are going downhill here to some extent compared with what they were which is what I guess we were saying.

I was probably thinking in terms of Tasmania too which is much worse off than the other states. Our health system is in complete disarray, unemployment is at a record high, our economy is going rapidly downhill and the whole state is moribund. WA is a very different story as a result of the mining boom. Like the US it depends where you live.

And I agree with your last point.

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

I think you are being a bit hard on Britain, things change, prosperity ebbs and flows. It is only a few centuries since Bristol (or Rome) was the the centre of the universe. Now the centre is moving east and we all have to learn how to deal with it.

Britain has a big opportunity with the devaluation of the pound to spring back economically BUT it will need good leadership something it has lacked badly since the war. What it doesn't need is the slash and burn politics of another Thatcher and her ilk. That appalling woman destroyed Britain's sense of community and probably directly led to the social problems there now.

I am not so pessimistic about the west and its future. Australia has problems too but nothing insurmountable, we just need a new economic niche and serious planning for when the mineral boom ends as it must. It was a pity that Howard squandered the wealth we had in futile tax cuts and middle class welfare but that is the past. Fiscal responsibility looms large.

(Yes Tasmania is a basket case but the mainland is not)

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

One of the problems I see is the need to change just for the sake of it with out looking at the long term affects .... Take farming . In Cornwall farmers for years have ignored nature and used chemicals blasting all the goodness out of the country side, so they could grow more, bigger and faster. which maybe because we are a small country less fields than people to feed has been the reason why, who knows ... But the result is they are killing off wild flowers insects killing waterways and polluting the soil for ever. In my life time I have seen the decline in nature in The UK.
In my village here organic has all ways been a way of life its not some new fad for them. fields are still ploughed with the same machinery that has been handed down from father to son.... the tractors here are ready for museums they use no chemicals people work by hand and hard. Every field is rotated on a 3 yearly basis when every 3rd year its left to go wild and planted with grass and wild flowers, the result is I walk in a country side here the air is fresh the wild flowers are everywhere many types of insects and wildlife roam the paths with me. the waterways are clean and full of life. and some thing I havnt seen much of in the UK for a while is the wild fugus, mosses, and algey's are eveywhere here.

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

yes your right forgot about poor old Tassie on the end of the map. could not believe that cold wet Tassie could catch fire like it did. I think it's a great pity that the whole of OZ doesn't share in the wealth of WA - but even WA thinks it is poorly done by from the East coast!

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

Absolutely spot on Jay - people may, as individuals, be better off but as a society? My feeling is no - we've taken a few steps backwards in that respect.

Re: Post War Britain Circa 2013

Couldn't agree more Pats