Thursday 11 July 2013

The Victorian Era is Called "The Good Old Days" I Don't think so. Not Much Better Today.

I have heard in the past from people, mainly elderly relatives that they were born in "The Good Old Days" and I seriously wonder if they truly believe it. The good old days lacked for instance, indoor sanitation, a national health service, union representation, holiday pay, sick pay. I could go on but those examples will do for starters. If we go right back to Victorian Britain, we would have experienced cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, diphtheria, polio, to name a few killer illnesses. Housing was primitive to say the least, with large families living in two roomed and three roomed tenements with little or no sanitation or washing facilities. My great grandmother said that when she was a child, her and her brothers and sisters were bathed once a week in a galvanised metal bath with the eldest child first and the rest in order of age, in the same water because he mother and father could not afford to heat more water. Health care had to be paid for. You couldn't just turn up at a doctor's surgery and consult him for free. I think I have made the point that it wasn't a bed of roses living in the past. My point for bringing this up is the fact that our society is rapidly heading back into that bygone era. The austerity measures being used by our government are pushing our standard and cost of living back into the dark ages. Our health care system is being undermined by corrupt managers and MP's. There have been numerous cases of patient mistreatment and at Mid Stafford health trust, around 1,000 patients were found to have died unnecessary deaths due to poor levels of care. More and more health care services are being put out to private tender. Privatisation by the back door. There is virtually no chance of our children, once they grow up, of having access to affordable housing. The cost of food nowadays is forcing at the last count, at least 300,000 families to rely on food banks. I could go on and on but I think I have made my point. There will undoubtedly be more to follow on this subject.
Till next time.