This isn’t the world I want to live in.

Bluebell. Agree with you 100%. Getting depressed reading all this. Get a grip

Grammargran. Agree with you 100%too. STOP watching the news, you will be more positive, get out,if you can, into nature

I really have no time for the ‘Fings ain’t wot they used to be’ trope.
Personally, I am so grateful to live now because our Boomer generation has enjoyed a very privileged time. We have benefited from peacetime, free healthcare, free education and in many cases, we have had much more comfortable lives than previous generations - whose lives were often short & brutal. We have often outlived our parents & had our lives improved or saved by medical advances. Both myself & my grandson owe our lives to the NHS.
I think OP should check her privilege..

If I had been born in times past, my son would have died during my obstructed labour and maybe I would have perished too. That gives me a perspective on how good the good old days really were. We have much to be thankful for today.

valdavi

yes we should rage - but I totally get what the OP means. All the kindness we were taught as we grew up "boys never hit girls" " gentlemanly behaviour". & "I'm alright Jack" was for spivs & ridiculed; "it's not the winning but the taking part" "virtue is it's own reward" "waste not want not".

Who would bring their kids up to these traditional precepts these days? A recipe for failure in today's "who's elbows are sharpest" personal & political landscape.And then you have the internet.... despaired of even by it's originator. And then, not so culpable cos till a short time ago we weren't aware but - we're wrecking the planet. For me the last is the biggy.

Really? All that slapping and smacking of children, cane and ruler in school, girls constantly being dismissed excluded and put down. Not to mention all those in WW2 who played the black market, and all those scrap metal men, who collected all those iron railings that everyone cut down and gave them for free, to help build planes, which they were no use for as planes are built of aluminium. After the war the iron was all sold to ironworks for a huge profit (for te scrap men).

There were plenty of people in the past who had sharp elbows and would do you down on the blink of an eye - now there is so much protective legislation that gives the consumer rights against cheating builders, inadequate handymen etc etc.

I am sure there were homes like yours valdavi where people lived on kind beliefs and aphorisms, but that did not mean the hyenas were not prowling the streets round your safe home.

I grew up in a home with high standards and strong beliefs, but my father was in the army responsible for stores and supplies, and had a reputation that went before him for honesty and incorruptability, why was it so well known? well because many around him were not so moral and a supplies officer who did not accept bribes, or sweeteners, all be it, not lareg ones, were not that common.

Because you were unaware of somethings does not mean that it did not exist.

Barleyfields

If I had been born in times past, my son would have died during my obstructed labour and maybe I would have perished too. That gives me a perspective on how good the good old days really were. We have much to be thankful for today.

I agree, it wasn't all sunshine and roses.

I think anyone who thinks that it was, may have been a child during very worrying and frightening times so probably was shielded to a certain extent from what was concerning their parents. There were no rolling news programmes and certainly no internet.

My post crossed with M0nica's excellent post.

I agree Allira. As a young (pre-secondary school) child I was not allowed to read newspapers or listen to the News, and my parents didn’t discuss potentially upsetting current affairs in my presence so I was blissfully unaware of much that was going on. That had a positive effect on my childhood.

Barleyfields

I agree Allira. As a young (pre-secondary school) child I was not allowed to read newspapers or listen to the News, and my parents didn’t discuss potentially upsetting current affairs in my presence so I was blissfully unaware of much that was going on. That had a positive effect on my childhood.

I did used to read my father's newspapers from quite an early age, heard anecdotes from the war, many positive stories too, but don't think it affected me that greatly as a child. The first couple of time I did feel fear at world events was when I was a teenager, still at college.

My father was in the royal navy during WW 2. He joined up as soon as he was old enough. The only time I heard bad things about was if he'd been drinking otherwise he was always positive. My mother was the same, she worked in a munitions factory and would talk about having a well paid job, fun with her colleagues, GI boyfriend etc. I suppose it gave me a rather biased view of it all, it all sounded tremendous fun but at least I was never scared or scarred.

valdavi

yes we should rage - but I totally get what the OP means. All the kindness we were taught as we grew up "boys never hit girls" " gentlemanly behaviour". & "I'm alright Jack" was for spivs & ridiculed; "it's not the winning but the taking part" "virtue is it's own reward" "waste not want not".

Who would bring their kids up to these traditional precepts these days? A recipe for failure in today's "who's elbows are sharpest" personal & political landscape.And then you have the internet.... despaired of even by it's originator. And then, not so culpable cos till a short time ago we weren't aware but - we're wrecking the planet. For me the last is the biggy.

How about don't hit anyone whether you're a boy or a girl

Oh I’m off to slit me throat now. After the red wine. Goes to my head these days ….

Oh hang on a bit longer, nanna8, I’m certain things will improve soon ….

Casdon

I’ve been thinking about this thread, and rather than the misquote that started it, I’m more of the mind of Dylan Thomas.

‘Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.’

I’m not giving way to melancholy or succumbing to the golden glow of the past, we have to live for now, and enjoy what we have - and burning and raving suits me better.

The ‘misquote’ was deliberate, did you think otherwise?

Wow - what a depressing thread! The fact that people can be so depressed in this country ,because of what is going on in the world right now, shows what an easy life we have all had. Some people live in poverty, under threat of war or in actual war zones their whole lives. They can't have the luxury of talking about 'depression'.

The depressive comments being expressed here are fed by feeling powerless - but we are all very powerful and it would change our attitudes to use the power we have. Blocking out the news is not the way to do it.

Make a difference - write a message of hope and support to someone, donate something to the charities supporting those in areas of conflict. Speak up as often as you can against them fascism growing around us - too often we listen without challenging for the sake of 'politeness'. Educate our children to recognise injustice and to never blame others for our ills - for instance that migrants are not to blame for our housing shortage or our crumbling NHS. This is what will reassure the next generation don't repeat the mistakes the older generation are in the process of repeating now. It's the inactivity and silence of the majority that allows evil to grow unchecked.

Grammaretto

That's why I quoted Edmund Burke Furret
It's important for us all to stand up and be counted. Even my rather conservative (small c) DS proposes to protest at Balmoral when Trump comes for his State Visit!

Good for you!

StoneofDestiny

Wow - what a depressing thread! The fact that people can be so depressed in this country ,because of what is going on in the world right now, shows what an easy life we have all had. Some people live in poverty, under threat of war or in actual war zones their whole lives. They can't have the luxury of talking about 'depression'.

The depressive comments being expressed here are fed by feeling powerless - but we are all very powerful and it would change our attitudes to use the power we have. Blocking out the news is not the way to do it.

Make a difference - write a message of hope and support to someone, donate something to the charities supporting those in areas of conflict. Speak up as often as you can against them fascism growing around us - too often we listen without challenging for the sake of 'politeness'. Educate our children to recognise injustice and to never blame others for our ills - for instance that migrants are not to blame for our housing shortage or our crumbling NHS. This is what will reassure the next generation don't repeat the mistakes the older generation are in the process of repeating now. It's the inactivity and silence of the majority that allows evil to grow unchecked.

Well said...

I think a few, just a few, have missed my point. Go for a walk, buy a bunch of daffodils, don’t watch the news, although I’m sure kindly meant does not take into consideration the 50,000 dead in Gaza - most of them women and children.

I can’t help but feel deeply for their suffering at the hands of Netanyahu and with weapons supplied by the U.K. I don’t want to be part of that mass murder but I am, we all are.

And that’s just one war. Many are raging around the globe.

pascal30

StoneofDestiny

Wow - what a depressing thread! The fact that people can be so depressed in this country ,because of what is going on in the world right now, shows what an easy life we have all had. Some people live in poverty, under threat of war or in actual war zones their whole lives. They can't have the luxury of talking about 'depression'.

The depressive comments being expressed here are fed by feeling powerless - but we are all very powerful and it would change our attitudes to use the power we have. Blocking out the news is not the way to do it.

Make a difference - write a message of hope and support to someone, donate something to the charities supporting those in areas of conflict. Speak up as often as you can against them fascism growing around us - too often we listen without challenging for the sake of 'politeness'. Educate our children to recognise injustice and to never blame others for our ills - for instance that migrants are not to blame for our housing shortage or our crumbling NHS. This is what will reassure the next generation don't repeat the mistakes the older generation are in the process of repeating now. It's the inactivity and silence of the majority that allows evil to grow unchecked.

Well said...

Exactly. Well said that person. I have stood up and protested as recently as last summer. And paid for it in pain afterwards (old lady body says ‘don’t do that again’ )🙃.

It IS the inactivity and silence of the majority that allows evil to grow unchecked but first we have to care really care and not just dismiss it. My OP was about the world we are currently living in. I don’t like it.

Barleyfields

I agree Allira. As a young (pre-secondary school) child I was not allowed to read newspapers or listen to the News, and my parents didn’t discuss potentially upsetting current affairs in my presence so I was blissfully unaware of much that was going on. That had a positive effect on my childhood.

It was very much austerity, make do and mend, waste nothing,
we were relatively well off too, lots of anecdotes about WW2, dad was in the home guard, special constable afterwards, my uncle was in the RAF ground crew, mum was a nurse, caring for wounded service men affected her a lot.
The only notable politics I remember was Cuban missile crisis, Kennedys assassination and the Profumo affair, it was an idyllic childhood, lots of freedom in a small rural village.

Not just rose coloured memories, it really was better

It's a very odd mix for me of emotions here. When I was little we didn't have a TV, far less be exposed to news. I managed to keep my own children away from this stuff. They played with toys, made puppet shows and lolled about under a blanket a fair bit!
I remember them being terribly upset about the death of Aslan for example. Some of the stuff they were exposed to at Secondary school also upset them, although by that time they had stopped telling Mum.

I know the 50's was a frightening time. I know I can enjoy nature and I know I can protest and take a stance.
I still can't shake off a feeling that so much has changed, so quickly and not in a good way.

Could I please ask that nobody insults me, as I think I am allowed to voice these thoughts if I wish. Thanks

Furret

I think a few, just a few, have missed my point. Go for a walk, buy a bunch of daffodils, don’t watch the news, although I’m sure kindly meant does not take into consideration the 50,000 dead in Gaza - most of them women and children.

I can’t help but feel deeply for their suffering at the hands of Netanyahu and with weapons supplied by the U.K. I don’t want to be part of that mass murder but I am, we all are.

And that’s just one war. Many are raging around the globe.

Furret, to put it bluntly, but I do not intend to sound rude 'So what's new?'

The world has always been racked with war, there are no more wars on at the moment that than there has been over the last 300 years, at least, no more people being killed, no more dying of starvation, or living in misery . Since the middle ages violent death world wide has been reduced by 3000 %. Look up the work by Stephen Pinker. he has shown time and again how violence has steadily decline through time from prehistory until now. We are living in a world that is quite remarkably peaceful compare with quite recent periods

I was born in 1943, during the Holocaust that killed 6 million people.

Since 1945 millions of people have died in wars round the globe. Have a look at the graph in this link, to see how peaceful our times are compared with many other times in our lifetime. Te figures shown are deaths per 100,ooo people. www.statista.com/chart/10054/share-of-war-dead-over-time-since-world-war-two/ 35,000 people dying in Gaza, no matter how horrendous, is really not many on a world scale.

Since 1970 there have also been many natural disasters where the loss of life makes Gaza look trivial. Three natural disasters that have each killed about 250,000 people. Another 4 have killed over 100,000 www.statista.com/statistics/268029/natural-disasters-by-death-toll-since-1980/ . Many more have killed over 50,000.

The difference is that Gaza is hitting the news, as are most conflicts these days. In the past they didn't and we could live in a fools paradise. I do not play down the horror of what is happening in Gaza, it is appalling, but on balance our times are far better than they have been for a very long time.

My interest in politics and current affairs started when I was 4. I could read and read the papers every day. My parents did try and stop me reading some of the worst things, but had little success. If I wanted to read some thing I did.

Someone, David, I think mentioned how few big events there were in his childhood, and completely forgets that through out that time we lived with the very real fear of nuclear war. Civil Defence sent leaflets to every house, films were made that the BBC banned because their graphic recreation of what was likely to happen was too terrifying.

There was the Korean War, the wars that racked Indo-China from 1945 to the end of the Vietnam war in the late 1960s. There was the Russian subjection of Eastern Europe; the Hungarian Uprising, of 1956, brutally repressed by Russian tanks, The Prague Spring of 1968, once again crushed by the Russians, the Suez Crisis, and these are just the ones that ocur to me with little thought.

Then there was the partition of India, the establishment of a Jewish state, that has left the Middle East destabilised ever since and led to several further wars, the revolution in CHina that brought Mao Tse Tung to power and the threat to caused to international stability, the break up of the Soviet Union.

So much has been happening that even the slightest intelligent perusal of reliable news sources, should make people understand that, at the moment we are close to being as peaceful as we have every been, although we are now facing a couple of large events in Ukraine and the middle east, that could destabilise the current peaceful balance.

So what's new?'

One of the 'new' things is that there is no clear demarcation between right and wrong amongst some of the world's leaders. It is difficult to distinguish between the righteous and the terrorists. World leaders like Trump and Netanyahu behaving like thugs.

We are seeing untold damage done to the Palestinian people in Gaza while the US President puts a video out with go go dancers literally dancing on the graves of innocent civilians, the wreckage of hospitals and schools, while he is sipping cocktails with the Israeli President. Grotesque. We now see electricity cut off to Gaza making it impossible for them to get water purified or cook food or get heat. I'm talking about the surviving men women and children, already homeless and bereaved.
This is an attack on everybody, not on Hamas.
All this while an arrest warrant is out for Netanyahu for crimes against humanity and while the US President is a convicted felon, proven liar who actually tried to incite riots to disrupt democracy in America.
As for Trump now siding with Putin, a former KGB agent, a corrupt and immoral man who tracks and kills his citizens who speak against him in our country, in the air or wherever he can get them.

Who are the good? Who are the bad? That is what is new - parts of the world that we considered 'civilised democracies' are being led by 'the bad' and they were voted in - and prepared to sell everybody out for their god - money!

I should add - we are seeing politicians like Farage touting to be in charge of our country. Have we forgotten how much he said he admired Trump? Have we forgotten how he wanted to work in his government and repeatedly visited him in the USA instead of ministering to his own constituents?

Have we forgotten his words and the summer riots fuelled by untruths and hysterical migrant blaming?
Can anybody mention any good done in his constituency? Unlikely - yet if he cannot improve his constituency, how can he run this country.

It is scary - but the good people need to speak up because our own press is far from a 'free press' and many of the voting public, just like in the USA, only interested in reducing their taxes regardless of the real cost to the country. If we cannot keep an accurate moral compass we are not likely to head in the correct direction.