At the end of each year and the beginning of the next, Philosophers, Pontificators, Publishers, Politicians and People in general , muse a plenty upon the effects on their relevant society the impact of the world’s events .

I am in full agreement that Covid is still having its impact. I am fortunate enough, to have been able to talk to various people, over the last few months, from all over the world . There is one common string and that Covid has and is still having an impact on their society. Within that one subject there are also a lot of similar patterns. For example , working from home, wanting to change work/life balances, not wanting to do certain jobs and these few examples are from very disparate economies. But that is where I stop.

I think what prompted my ire was call on the radio saying life had not been normal since 2008 and the Financial crash. So nothing much had happened before that and life was pretty normal !

• 1914 -18 World War 1
• 1917 Russian Revolution
• 1929 The Great depression
• 1933 The beginning of Nazi Germany
• 1939-45 World War 2 -(UK subject to food rationing until 1953)
• 1945 The dropping of 2 Nuclear Bombs
• 1945 -1991 Cold War
• 1947 India/Pakistan partition
• 1950-53 Korean war
• 1951 Chinese revolution
• 1955 -75 The Vietnam War
• 1956 The Suez Crisis
• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1967 -1974 Greece run by Military dictatorship
• 1973 Six day War
• 1973 Oil Crisis
• 1973 Watergate
• 1974 UK – 3 day working week for 2 months(miners strike)
• 1975 Spain becomes a democracy having been run by a Dictator since 1939
• 1980 Iran/Iraq War
• 1982 Argentina invades the Falklands
• 1987 Black Monday -Financial Crisis-Markets collapse world wide
• 1991 Desert Storm -1st invasion of Iraq
• 1992 Bosnian War
• 2001 9/11
• 2001 Invasion of Afghanistan
• 2003 The 2nd Iraq War

So nothing there really, that would much alter the course of society then……

I will not go on. There is much more in between times and 2003 brings us close enough to 2008 . It would be so easy to go back even further and talk about British Colonialism, Spanish & most of Western Europe’s adventures in World Colonisation, Napoleon, The Reformation, The Plague and the 100 years War . The point is that within the last two thousand years world society has been constantly changing because of massive and connected world events . There never has been a ‘Normal’.

There could be a case for saying that Society would not be as it is today if it were not for a continuous flow of life changing events. Actually there isn’t a case to answer. It is quite clear Society evolves because of linked events. Nature evolves, humanity evolves, as a consequence of world events ergo Society evolves.

Before I go onto the good things that may have happened in recent years, I want to shine a little light on the comments about How bad are our current politicians are in the UK . I hold no candle for any of them , indeed I believe most of them are worse than a barrel load of monkeys and that is doing the monkeys a disservice . However let’s take a peak at some of the antics of UK politics over the last seventy years .

1910’s – Major scandal over allegations of insider trading including Lloyd George

1920’s -Once again involving Lloyd George and giving Honours for large campaign contributions – Where have we heard that before ?

1960’s -John Profumo affair with Christine Keeler who was having affair with a Soviet Spy. The Robert Boothby (Tory), Tom Driberg (Labour), Kray brothers affair and consequent cover-up involving senior politicians of both parties.

1970’s -Labour MP John Stonehouse’s faked suicide . He did not resign as a Privy Councillor until after he had been convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud.

1990’s – Cash-for-questions affair involving Neil Hamilton. Bernie Ecclestone was involved in a political scandal when it transpired he had given the Labour Party a million pound donation – which raised eyebrows when the incoming Labour government changed its policy to allow Formula One to continue being sponsored by tobacco manufacturers. The Labour Party returned the donation when the scandal came to light.

2001- Geoffrey Archer found guilty of perjury.

This by no means exhaustive, and only confined to the UK. It just illustrates that there were not even the Good Old days in Politics .

And now the Good stuff ….(from 2023). Much of this comes directly from an issue of the Sunday times Magazine December 31 2023.

The First New baby beaver born in London for 400 years

A 20 year project has taken the world population for mountain Gorillas from 650 to 1,063

The Global population of Rhinos has increased to 27,000

The Hole in the Ozone layer is on track to healed by 2040. 99% of ozone depleting chemicals have been eliminated under the Montreal Protocol

Within the last 10 years the % of UK adult population smoking has decreased from 20.2% to 12.9% (in the sixties it was over 50%)

The number of women in the UK dying with Breast cancer since the 1990’s has been reduced by two thirds

Within the space of a single generation child mortality rates for the under 5’s has fallen globally by 59%

123 Countries now have paid paternal leave as against only 46 in the 1990’s

The number of nuclear weapons has declined by 80% since the Cold War (that said there is a more than enough to blow us all to smithereens)

Globally there 50 million more Girls in school than there were in 2015

So if Mummy & Daddy Beaver and Mummy & Daddy Gorilla feel it is right to bring more babies into this world , perhaps it is not quite as bad as we think it is.

I am of an age , where I have sufficient years behind me to say stuff like

“Them was the good old days”

“It wasn’t like that in my day”

“Fings ain’t what they used to be”

But I can’t, won’t and would never do so . Because in context there were no good old days.

What I do know was that there was rampant misogyny, virulent homophobia, extreme racism, and an equal level of dubious political shenanigans, covered up by a more acquiescent media. Domestic violence was rife but never reported . All this and more still exists but nothing like it was in the mid to late nineteen hundred’s .

Even as late as 1967 it was estimated that 25% of residential properties did not have serviceable indoor bathroom/toilet facilities. Most properties (even middle class suburbia ) had draughty windows and no central heating . There was little social mobility. Up until the 1980’s corruption was endemic in London’s police (and more than likely through most U.K. metropolitan police forces).

Being unaware of the past , is not an unusual occurrence . But when it is one of the world’s most powerful individuals it is very scary. Elon Musk was heavily criticised for expressing antisemitism ( or denying there was) via his private platform X/Twitter ( I also thought he should have bought Mars which make the chocolate bar of the same name . It would tie in so well as he wants to go to Mars, then calling it TwiX) . However, he apologised accepting he was wrong after visiting Auschwitz with his three year old son.

“one of the most foolish” things he had done on the platform.

Elon Musk -BBC

It may seem this was a bit out of kilter but it is a good illustration of not being aware of what has happened in quite recent history clouds the way society views the present.

According to Mental Health UK there were 8 million people with anxiety issues in 2023 . I am quite sure this showed a big increase on the previous four years . Yet what was the level of anxiety in the U.K. in 1938 just before war broke out. Or in Japan immediately after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Or 1946 post war Germany . Or Europe in 1918, the years of the Great Depression in the USA and Europe. Nobody had a ‘scooby doo’. Mental health was very stigmatised and people often viewed as ‘defective’.

Yes things are tough , but hasn’t it ever been thus… just different kinds of tough .