UK Moving Backwards: Half a Century of Social Progress Reversed in Last Decade

The findings from the Institute for Fiscal Studies conclude that those born in the 60’s and 70’s ‘are facing a triple whammy of meagre pay rises, inadequate pensions and soaring property prices’. All of which means that they will have less financial security in their old age, than their parents or those born in the decades before them.

There is a very simple reason for that.

Rather than extending the benefits, rights and freedoms won by UK citizens in the post WWII period, subsequent generations sold them away instead.

UK Moving Backwards: Half a Century of Social Progress Reversed in Last Decade

An interesting article - it concentrates on eth role of unions as a check against the power of large companies, and points out that they have been pretty much the only way "the ordinary people" have had of effectively conducting any oversight of large corporations.

I know a lot of people on ATS are anti union - however they still remain (IMO) the only practical means "ordinary folk" have of influencing corporations - clearly Govt's these days are more interested in appeasing corporations than reigning them in!!

And the "conspiracy movement" (for want of a better term) might do well identifying many of the excesses of corporations, but it fails to effectively oppose them, and also often muddies the waters with a vast amount of BS concealing the real issues.

That applies to half the jobs in the US too. S&F

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


From what I see here in the US is that the Unions are firmly in the pocket of the DNC along with many of the RNC, which are firmly in the pocket of the Banks and Corporations. It's a vicious circle here.

reply to post by TDawgRex


Unions have always had strong connections to parties on het left of the spectrum, and some have been deliberately cultivated by the "other side" to counter that - so yeah, they do often have very strong political links.

That can be for good or bad IMO - large unions "ruled" by the leadership where the members "do as they are told" are just another political tool.

But I have been in a union where the members have told the leadership to pull their head in and the leaders would do what the members say and not vice versa - that was quite interesting!!

Edited to add:
It isn't just unions - they are used as an easy illustration of the erosion of the position of the people vs that of corporations.

reply to post by TDawgRex


Everything depends on the implementation. Inherently, unions are very necessary for employee rights. Although the bad implementation of them in some countries has ruined the idea of the them for the public in these countries.

At the end, I do not believe in fully free markets within job market, as that can often lead to exploitation of employees, especially during worse economic times, when there are a lot of people, who prefer low-paying job to none. Although the low-paying job does not leave room for saving up for the retirement fund. No company in the world should earn their profits from paying less to their employees. That is simply wrong in my eyes and is exploitation of employees, not paying them fairly.

When something like that is legal, there is always a company who will start such business model. This gives them an advantage to opponents, who are paying their employees well, which leads to gaining the market share eventually. Cheaper same-quality products are extreme advantage in the market and others have not much choice to follow.

Unions are something that can stop such absurdities. In Germany employee rights are written in the constitution, which is one of the arguments behind their economic success. Workgroups and unions make the win-win clockwork work.Employees who are paid reasonably well and get the benefits are more productive.

To OP.

I have noticed the decline of UK. For whatever reason UK during recent decade/two has preferred to US direction to the direction other European countries are moving towards. In my eyes, it will be costly in the future, not for the top (who will benefit from it even more), but to the middle/lower class.

reply to post by Cabin


Thank you for the post on how other countries do business with unions. I will have to do additional research. But recently, here in the US, unions have hurt more than they have helped their members. Just my opinion.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


The decay actually began when one politician in the early 1980's (Say no name) whom hated the working class (Then the bulk of the population) and whom thought of herself as of superior stock because her father had a shop, whom changed actually the law allowing ice cream (and many other products) to sold by volume rather than weight and artificial substitute based on homogenised fats to be called ice cream (Ok mrs T) and whose husband had massive investments in artificial food enhancers we now call E's (thanks to the fact they begin with E followed by a number making there nature opaqe to the public like her speeches) as well as international mineral and blood diamond investments (but then mysteriously dennis appeared to be a humble millionaire in England while in fact he was a multi billionaire whom dealt with the worst dictatorships and juntas such as Pinochet).
Anyway I digress but as I remember the bad times of the 1970s we had street sweepers twice a week, litter pickers, a flag stone was fixed within a few days of being reported, utility's bills payed back into the public purse which meant the money (like subsistence benefits to the poor which in actuality help to drive the economy as they are spent almost immediately on food and utility costs so go in a circle - but note government sold of the utility's meaning that money that went back to them suddenly did not) actually helped to drive the economy (but not the individual wealth of the ultra elite).
We had a working sustainable and fully viable system in great Britain which was destroyed on behalf of short term international interests and greedy power hungry individuals and corporate entity's, nothing about our system was communist but it was socially driven with Christian based ethics at its heart.
In order to sweeten there actions at the time like the poisonous chemical flavour enhancers and heart disease and obesity causing false ice cream, they and those whom followed them would create short term unsustainable boosts whose caustic long term degradation of the British economy and social structure are now fully realized, but sadly only those of us old enough to remember can see what evil they have done.

Like America we have a two party system and since the late 1980's (to a lesser extent long before as well) we have been told 'oh well You voted for them so it's your own fault', When in fact there is no choice as both party's work for the same international money broking entity's and to the same long term goal and that has not ever for about 30 years now truly been in our interest as a nation, indeed as you know they have for the past twenty years been trying to actually abolish national identity in favour of corporate control, in America Monsanto now has a private (fully military) Armed force.

The problem is Voters have only a short political memory or the MPs and Party's now in power would actually not exist as they are little more than vultures killing our own future in favour of there own.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


I've repeatedly stated my belief that Cameron's long term intentions are to take us back to a Victorian like society and all the social injustices and inequalities that go with it.
Previous administrations did the spadework and now that almost all effective opposition to the power and influence of the bankers and industrialists has been eliminated and the MSM propaganda machine is in full flow he is free to take this country back to those 'halcyon days' that both he and many of his predecessors so openly admire.

Along with the introduction of The Welfare State the Union movement was an integral part of the advances and improvements in living and socio-economic standards for the ordinary, everyday working people in the UK.
The Unions protected these rights and actively opposed the excesses of corporate bosses and the influence of the banksters.

Perhaps the Unions did become too powerful - I can just about remember the 3 Day Week etc - but the systematic demonization and destruction of the whole Union movement has gone way too far and to an extent that they now have relatively little power or influence.

I always maintained Union membership, even when attaining a relatively senior management position.

Workers rights are continuing to be eradicated and it is to Labour's eternal shame that they have not only been compliant in this but also actively complicit in this ongoing process.
We are now seeing the full effects of these policies including the predominance of low paid jobs and employers being given greater power to dismiss employees.

Whilst the power of the Unions are increasingly diminished we are also witnessing the increasing demonization of benefit recipients and now the 'sacred cow' that is the NHS being vilified at every opportunity.
How long till we see the return of the workhouse and the privatisation of the NHS?
And no Union power to prevent either.

And then how long I wonder until the poor, needy and vulnerable are disenfranchised with only those who 'contribute' given the 'right' to vote etc.

I'd suggest a good dose of Dickens for those who wish to see what the future might have in store for this country.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


People don't understand why I hate Thatcher. She sold us out! Never forget The Battle of Beanfield...

Freeborn

I'd suggest a good dose of Dickens for those who wish to see what the future might have in store for this country

I remember saying years ago that I thought the sudden success of Downton Abbey was in part due to it being pushed predictive programming to get people slowly used to the way the UK is going.

Great thread and some excellent, albeit terrifying pposts.
It's quite obvious that social progress is not only being stifled but reversed.
And sadly thanks to media campaigns and worried/stressed voters, most are welcoming the 'Austerity'
I think the Occupy protests were a real eye-opener & test for govt and population.
It just showed how targetted news, false reports and the demonization of 'lefties & socialists' stopped the general public supporting and getting involved.

It showed, in real time, the awesome and unbeatable power of the 24hr, rolling news propaganda machine.
We've seen with students, disabled, nurses and many other sections of society, that protesting just doesn't cut it any more.

Sadly, the Tories have won and sadly Labour & the general public have helped.

Got to agree with the poster above, the Tories goal does indeed seem to be a return to Victorian Britain, with a small handful of elites at the top of the pile, and everybody else reduced to serf status.

Saw Cameron yesterday banging on about how household income is actually rising. And it's just baffling, what planet does he live on? Thankfully the Daily Politics afterwards were talking about where he got his figures from, and he's using economic statistics that nobody else recognises the validity of.

(Basically he's looking at average household incomes, and because the super rich are getting increasingly super wealthy, and because there are new houses being built all the time, household income appears to be going up. Even though people are actually getting poorer.)

I have come to the opinion that it is all part of a coordinated plan to take back all the social advances gained partly after WWI and more so after WWII with the implementation of the recommendations of The Beveridge Report.
en.wikipedia.org...

The Union movement pursued improved conditions in the workplace that saw massive improvements in pay, employee rights, health and safety and other related issues.
At the same time legislation was introduced to address the "Five Great Evils" that were identified in The Beveridge Report; Squalor, Ignorance, Want, Idleness, Disease.
Acts introduced to tackle these included;

Family Allowances Act 1945, National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946, National Insurance Act 1946, National Health Service Act 1946, Pensions (Increase) Act 1947, Landlord and Tenant (Rent Control) Act 1949, National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1948, National Insurance Act 1949.

All these are currently under attack.
Of course I recognise that reform of many is required, everything needs to be updated to meet changing requirements. But in essence the core remains the same.

Today we see the unemployed and other benefit recipients are constantly vilified as scrounging layabouts, the ill are portrayed as ignorant and whose ailments are a result of their own abuses or lifestyle choices, those on low incomes are sterotyped as uneducated or unintelligent.
Our education system produces drone who are actively discouraged from independent thought and critical reasoning. Higher education is increasingly becoming perceived as something only available for the more affluent in society. We still shamefully have a system where public education promotes mediocrity whilst those fortunate to afford private education have open access to doors, careers and opportunities unavailable to the vast majority.

MSM has increasingly become a tool of those with control and influence. And it projects images of banality and acquiescence is expected. Anyone who chooses an alternative lifestyle is instantly labelled a crackpot and a threat. Individuality is frowned upon.

We occasionally get offered the sacrificial lambs, the Jimmy Saville's and Rebekah Brooks, whilst the most amoral and despicable remain free and safe in knowledge that they are protected by their 'old schoolboy' networks and lodge affiliations.

We have an electorate that is increasingly either apathetic or marginalised whilst our outdated parliamentary system is governed by more Eton / Oxbridge types than at any time since the 1800's. Senior positions with the Civil Service, Judiciary, Police, Armed Forces, Clergy are all dominated with people from the same background as of course are the major corporations and banking institutions.

These people continue to enjoy all benefits as befits those with a select upbringing.
Enormous privileges are enjoyed by those so fortunate.
Many amass obscene amounts of wealth very little of which they choose to invest back in this country.

All at the time when we see an alarming rise in food banks, more and more people struggle on what is nothing more than subsistence level conditions.
Ordinary men and women who wish for nothing more than a fair days wage for a fair days work are increasingly exploited and taken advantage of or have no work at all.
And we are force fed the lie that austerity is necessary and 'we are all in it together'.

Our forefathers went to war under the express understanding that things would change, and they did for a while. But every single thing they gained for us is slowly being handed back, and willingly so.
It both angers and frustrates me.
Cameron openly states he admires 'Victorian values' and wants to go back to such times.
Times when the poor had little or no relief and lived in squalid and inhumane conditions whilst a privileged few lived above the law and with virtual impunity.

I apologise for the doom and gloom like nature of this rant - it's been a very bad day so far and there's nothing like venting.
Tomorrow all will be rosy and I'll join everyone else walking blindly towards yesterday safe in the knowledge that X-Factor will be returning soon, the government is protecting me from all those horrible people out there, there's a bottle of cheap wine chilling and it's the time of peace and goodwill to all men.

Only the white british are labled scrounging chavs but immigrants are double plus good.
All the ills on this thread just happen to occur with the influx of immigrants. Foodbank charities are already advertising on T.V.
Why and who are they doing this to us,because whoever it is ,they are not British.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

The current "reducing the defecit" is a smokescreen for the real activity, namely, the ideology of rolling back of all state institutions back to the victorian days. Over 100 years of social progress dumped in order to ensure the rich get ever richer.

To any die hard tories please explain this : If the purpose of the current government financial policy is to improve the "purse strings" why are they intent on privatising the east coast railway? Reminder : ALL private franchises that ran that line failed, made a loss, poor service and cost the taxpayer money. The current public railway company is for the first time making money, improving the service and giving money back to the taxpayer! There is only one reason to privatise : Ideology.

The ONLY reason a private company is better than a public one is that a public one MUST publish a true account of itself, everything is on the table for all to see. A private company hides details behind corporate policy making it look better than it is. Hence the "shock and suprise" when a supposed profitable company suddenly goes bust having made real losses for years ......

yorkshirelad
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

 

The current "reducing the defecit" is a smokescreen for the real activity, namely, the ideology of rolling back of all state institutions back to the victorian days. Over 100 years of social progress dumped in order to ensure the rich get ever richer.

To any die hard tories please explain this : If the purpose of the current government financial policy is to improve the "purse strings" why are they intent on privatising the east coast railway? Reminder : ALL private franchises that ran that line failed, made a loss, poor service and cost the taxpayer money. The current public railway company is for the first time making money, improving the service and giving money back to the taxpayer! There is only one reason to privatise : Ideology.

The ONLY reason a private company is better than a public one is that a public one MUST publish a true account of itself, everything is on the table for all to see. A private company hides details behind corporate policy making it look better than it is. Hence the "shock and suprise" when a supposed profitable company suddenly goes bust having made real losses for years ......

i have said it before-the country is now 1 big stafford hospital,. www.telegraph.co.uk...

symptomoftheuniverse
Only the white british are labled scrounging chavs but immigrants are double plus good.
All the ills on this thread just happen to occur with the influx of immigrants. Foodbank charities are already advertising on T.V.
Why and who are they doing this to us,because whoever it is ,they are not British.

To be honest I think I disagree with that. The portrayal of immigrants in the media is pretty awful, you'd think they were a legion of Hitlers coming to Steal Our Women from what the papers all say about the evil layabout immigrants coming here to sponge off our benefits.

I think the truth of the matter is, and there's pretty solid economic data to back this up, that immigration actually nets a positive effect into the governments coffers. Most immigrants come here, work, pay taxes, and as a result immigrants pay more into the system than they take out.

Painterz

symptomoftheuniverse
Only the white british are labled scrounging chavs but immigrants are double plus good.
All the ills on this thread just happen to occur with the influx of immigrants. Foodbank charities are already advertising on T.V.
Why and who are they doing this to us,because whoever it is ,they are not British.

To be honest I think I disagree with that. The portrayal of immigrants in the media is pretty awful, you'd think they were a legion of Hitlers coming to Steal Our Women from what the papers all say about the evil layabout immigrants coming here to sponge off our benefits.

I think the truth of the matter is, and there's pretty solid economic data to back this up, that immigration actually nets a positive effect into the governments coffers. Most immigrants come here, work, pay taxes, and as a result immigrants pay more into the system than they take out.

Who have told you that? I invite you to take a bus ride through sheffield. Thousands of immigrants stood about all day,sitting and drinking till the sun goes down. You never saw indiginous people do this. Everyone in sheffield have seen them have you? www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by symptomoftheuniverse


The open door immigration policy of successive governments certainly hasn't helped things, but to blame all the country's woes on immigrants as a whole is pretty wide of the mark.

The influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe has more to do with the illegal transfer of sovereignty to the EU. It is EU policy that allows this.
The British people voted to be a part of a Free Trade Asscoaition and has never had a say on political union, something each and every one of us should be demanding.
If any future vote goes in favour of continued membership then we should take a principal role in shaping policy rather than meekly accepting French / German dictates.
Most Eastern European immigrants fully intend to work - but they drive down the hourly rate for British workers, which obviously benefits employers and they drain money out of the UK economy by sending so much money 'home' instead of in the UK market.

Do not confuse the worrying trend of creeping Islamification with immigration as a whole.
Many Muslim immigrants simply want to work and care for their loved ones, the same as anyone else.
Yes, a few do scrounge and they need to be rooted out - the UK can not be seen as a soft touch any longer, but blaming the many for the acts of the few is simply wrong.

We spend billions on arms and foreign wars.
We send billions in aid to foreign country's - some deservingly so, some not so deservingly.

The UK has always been a safe haven for the truly oppressed and in danger, and it should remain so.
Immigrants of all races and creeds have been a vibrant and refreshing addition to UK society and culture.

The harsh reality is the UK needs to put its own house in order. Part of that should require the immediate cessation of the open door immigration policy and an urgent review carried out whilst ensuring that those in dire need or those who have something positive to offer the UK are not denied.

Blaming everything on 'the immigrants' is classic deflection tactics, don't be fooled.

reply to post by Freeborn
its directly propotional to immigration. The poor pay for the immigrants,the rich profit. Number of immigrants is directly propotional to 1,loss of benefits,2,breakdown of the community,social cohesion,3,destruction of unions,4 the taking away of free speech.5,the state of social housing ,6,house prices and unaffordable rents!,7,Tuition fees.
To name a few.