The Fairytale of New Britain (Lucky Man)
Once upon a time in a land long gone a boy grew up.
After junior and grammar schools he went to the university where the government paid for him to study.
At the end of 4 years he tumbled into a job. He got a mortgage to buy a house, married and started a family.
As his career progressed he enjoyed accompanying salary increases until, one day, he retired and took his company and government pensions.
His parents never did this and nor will his children.
“Oh, what a lucky man he was”.
M.C. Newberry
Fri 28th Dec 2012 16:44
There is a certain irony in the knowledge that
the "war baby" generation (that includes me)
that grew up during the post war years of real
deprivation and rationing that went on into the
mid-fifties, is now envied and resented for
what they managed to achieve out of a broken-down, bankrupt Britain, in hock for decades to
the USA, a debt only recently paid off.
Clearly, the parenting generation that followed
on didn't take to heart the reality of what had gone before and that you don't get owt for nowt. There was a distinct belief that they
were somehow "owed" and deserved things "now"
and this is easy to pass down the line so that
we have reached a stage where old folk are
ridiculed and talked of in "disposable" terms
and sinister obsessions with "kids" and their
"needs" become substitutes for the failings
of those holding the fort in modern adult society.
The "war baby" generation (mid-60s onwards)is NOT part of the disastrous failures in the
political oversight of our financial system, nor of the activities of those who occupied
the vital banking positions that served us so recklessly and so badly. Those failings come from the later "want it now and want it all" offspring that followed. But while they had recent history to learn from, they were sure
their way was best and ignored/despised the
lessons that history provides. Like Icarus,
they got above themselves and got burnt...and
the flames have engulfed the rest of us.