WHEN a politician is recorded without their knowledge making comments at a fringe event or gathering, there normally follows a PR disaster over their controversial utterances.
But I was far from disappointed to learn on this week’s Sunday Politics Show that Conservative Party representatives had made recordings of me without my knowledge.
What was particularly pleasing was how the attempt at political mischief making backfired calamitously, with even Sunday Politics Show host Andrew Neill describing the ruse as “far from impressive”.
In fact, rather than cause me any embarrassment, I was pleased the comments were given air time – even though the first I knew of it was when I was watching the show live on Sunday morning!
The recording featured me detailing many of the great successes of 1970s Britain that made our country anything but the “sick man of Europe” that some would have us believe during that era.
And the facts back up the point I was making.
While the government boasts today about an economic growth which tells half a story as public services gasp for air, the 1.33 per cent growth achieved to 2013-14 is nothing like
the average 2.255 per cent achieved in the 1970s.
Manufacturing represents just 12 per cent of the UK economy today, as opposed to 30 per cent back then.
We are desperately in need of new homes today, and the 135,550 per year managed during this Government’s mid-term is not a patch on the 365,000 achieved at the start of the 1970s.
The list goes on, with unemployment in 2014 more than double what it was 40 years earlier.
Now I’m not saying we should hark back to the old days. Times move on and politics has to move with it.
But I do know that as a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer in the 1970s, I was able to afford to buy my own comfortable home, something of a pipe dream for many highly qualified professionals starting out on the job ladder today.
What I do believe is that we can learn from our past – be it our successes or our failures – and there is no shame in remembering either from that particular era.
So while those responsible for releasing the recording sought to paint a picture of regressive politics hankering for a return to the dark old days, the truth is somewhat different on both counts.
Reflecting on the past as we seek to move forwards is absolutely essential, and remembering history for what it was rather than what political cowards paint it to be is vital.
And I can’t deny there was something hugely satisfying about watching a panel of analysts and commentators treat the attempt to cause embarrassment with the contempt it merited.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Well Done, There is ever only one Story with he Truth. I started work in 1976, You literally did walk from a job to another job if it wasn't right for you.
ReplyDelete400 yds from the Comp school, was a Colliery,
A number of my friends had jobs on the way home from last day of school. Gone. All gone. Dont want them Back, we live in a green and pleasant land now. Clean, But the manufacturing jobs and other native industries went as well. It was Tory dogma and economic malaise of Privatization and the robbers paradise of Oil Revenues, that wasted the Assets, that previous Governments had struggled to invest and manage for the benefits of the People. Thanks for reminding the PR cloud that spins this floss that, actually, You were wrong and, Thanks for proving me right. Nice one.
That was my experience too Russell. I had at least half a dozen apprenticeships.
ReplyDeleteI worked in factories and on building sites. I left school at 15 with no qualifications, but that was no impediment to me finding a job at that time.