It’s interesting to read these sentiments, and it’s good to read a positive spin on things but let’s look at all the things you’re conveniently ignoring in your selective recall:

Accident rates. Last year death rates on UK roads are at the lowest they’ve ever been, yet you’re willing to pretend it was all wonderful 50 years ago, and people are willing to whinge about speed cameras today.

Child mortality. Advances in medical knowledge have drastically increased the survival rates of premature babies and cut things like cot death. But of course, we can freely ignore these advances, complain about MRSA and celebrate how wonderful it was to have no NHS, and risk low survival rates when your children were born. Hoorah!

Survival rates from diseases and conditions that are now treatable. Again, damn that NHS and those pesky doctors and scientist who work hard to save lives so we can whinge about how much they get paid. Let’s go back to no health insurance, so the poor can all die from easily treatable conditions! Hoorah!

The crimes that weren’t reported because “no-one said no to their parents”. Just imagine the child abuse that went on but was unreported… – is the letter writer saying that this is a good thing because those abused children are respecting their parents? Damn these pesky police officers trying to protect the public and intervere with our rights to fiddle with our children and beat people up without consequence – let’s go back to the good ol’ days!

Working conditions of the majority of people in factories etc. These pesky Health and Safety people interfering in the rights of rich industrialists to maim and injure workers so they can cream off the profits. Let’s go back to breathing in asbestos and coal dust, because life was so much better 50 years ago!

Employment prospects for the majority of people born to working class backgrounds. I mean, all these poor people getting good A-level results and going to – heaven forfend – Oxford and Cambridge, it’s disgusting. I want to go back to good old days when the poor knew they were poor and didn’t say boo to a goose, so rich idiots can continue to being rich idiots and no-one complained.

Social stigma and abuse given to people who were different to the majority in anyway shape or form. I’m sure you didn’t cheerily wave hello to homosexuals, illegitemate children or couples who weren’t married, and probably muttered about “darkies” moving in. Let’s go back to 50 years ago and throw away 50 years of diversity, tolerance and respect, I want to live in a world where everyone’s the same and I don’t have to deal with people who look or thing differently to me and my family, god damn it.

Nostalgia such as this is dangerous, seditious nonsense. You remember the “good” things that your guilt has conditioned you to recall them as being good and not to question them, when the reality is you were denied access to basic health care, education, prospects because you were born who you are.

Give me today’s medical, educational, economic, environmental advances ANYday, rather than the bliss of ignorance that people like the writer of this letter continue to delude themselves about.

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True, 50 years ago you wouldn’t get mugged for a mobile phone.
But would get mugged for a hat. A scarf. A coat. A watch.
Or simply your pay packet – cash.

I’m not so sure people had more time for each other. Took more time, yes. Still 24 hours a day then and 24 hours a day now.

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Rebecca – as usual is a little ray of sunshine.

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Rebecca I think the writer was saying that people respected each other in the old days, unlike this day and age when thuggery, murder, rape, burglary, abuse by youngsters, behavioural problems, rudeness, arrogance, binge drinking etc. seems to be the norm. The good old days weren’t always good, but my goodness me 99% of the British people respected 99% of the British people.

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Ah yes, 99% respected. The other 1% being those who were gay, had a child out of wedlock, were coloured, or who was seeing a coloured man. Or were disabled in some way.
Oh, and including people who disagreed with the union at their workplace.

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Hello you argumentative lot, we are heading back to the 50s thanks to the 2008 credit crunch.
and inevitable recession.
welcome back the good old dark days.

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This Rebecca! … Guy/Gal is right about one thing …….. we are much better informed today by virtue of the “Super Highway” and are able to be more able to discern fact from BS! ……

What this Rebecca does not understand is the fact that we, who were born in the early thirties and who were educated during the dark days of WW2 and who achieved our majority in the grim post war years witnessed a way of life that would put this pseudo life of so called excellence in the new century to shame! …………. As a boy I could walk the streets of my Black Country home town without fear or apprehension, one did not have to nail everything to the floor in ones absence, and one could leave ones doors unlocked …… and very often did! ……. The local area Copper walked the beat and one glimpse of the button on his uniform would ensure that a nere’do well would be long gone!.

I no longer reside in the UK …… Thank God! ………. and it is interesting that I chose to leave only when we reached the utopia that this Rebecca cackles the grease about! ……..

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I agree with Sassy the credit crunch is man made but unfortunatelly made by us the public. Too many greedy years of i must have no matter what the cost. New cars on credit,houses that we have paid the asking price for and helped to increase these prices to an over inflated price now unaffordable by most people on poorer wages.

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