London Calling...
The first time I went to France in the late 60s, it came as a surprise that everything came from Paris: the government was there, the president was there, the big companies had their offices there, the arts, movies and TV really only mattered if they were from Paris. Policy decisions - education, health, etc - were taken in Paris.
Most of France - not forgetting its overseas territories - was governed by people appointed by the French government in Paris. This was a heavily centralised country and there was deep resentment at how little say people had in their own lives. Yes, they elected local mayors and councillors but their powers were limited. Things have changed a bit but I still get the feeling that one of the reasons people have repeatedly taken their grievances onto the streets in France over the years is that they feel their views are still not taken into account.
It took me a while when I came back to Scotland to realise that this was exactly how Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the northern counties of England were being treated. Money was sucked into London and passed back a little bit at a time. If you wanted a new road for Ayrshire (maybe a fast link between Glasgow and 'The South' and the ferry ports to Ireland - a road which we're still waiting for by the way), you had to ask London. For a while in the 70s, Labour governments tried dispersing industry to 'other' regions of the UK, but that really stopped when the Conservatives took over.
As London exerted its influence as a financial centre from the 80s on, nobody worried too much about what was happening outside the M25 ring road. Unemployment rates outside the south-east of England shot up. There was 'social unrest' and it was dealt with swiftly and sometimes violently. The UK is not a place given to rioting, so you can imagine how bad things were. (And I'd still like to know if - as some said - rioting in places like Dundee and Glasgow in the 90s was not reported as a deliberate policy by the Tories).
This isn't leading up to a plea for either the Union or Scottish independence.
No, I'm after something much more radical and that's to restore our sense of history. Not folk history: not guising, Mary-Queen-Of-Scots and black bun history.
I'm after an understanding of our social history: what happened in the last 50 years or so to ordinary people. If we can understand that we'll stop behaving as if our communities belong to politicians, who seem to be able to discard any events that happened during previous governments and treat everything as new.
By the way, the only other political organisation that did that was the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, which declared all history obsolete and tried to re-start the nation from Year Zero. It didn't end well for the people of Cambodia.
So what's on my list of things that we need to remember?
Let's start with the loss of trades unions. I'm always amazed at the shrug that accompanies this topic: it's as if we don't all owe our safety at work to trades unions. As if safety at work has become less of a concern now the trades unions have all but disappeared. As if one of the aims of the current Conservative Government wasn't to abolish workers' last rights in law.
Then there are the major 'accidents' that have scarred the memories of many of us, starting with Aberfan, moving on to Piper Alpha, the Herald of Free Enterprise (has anyone ever commented on the irony of that ferry's name?), Hillsborough, Ibrox, Bradford City stadium, the London bombings - and that's not even mentioning all the mine disasters and factory fires that have devastated families and communities through the centuries - including this one. And the utterly pointless Middle East wars that have left us with a generation of our young people injured beyond repair - and rapidly forgotten about once they come home. And are we any further forward in bringing those responsible for all that to account?
Then there's the inheritance of people from the industrial age: asbestosis, white finger, miner's lung, etc. And we need to remember the lack of support offered to these people and their families and communities, and the blight of early death caused by industrial injury, poverty and insecure employment.
Finally - and I'll call a halt now, because this could go on and on - there's our failure to understand what the loss of the NHS will mean for many of us, if the Tories are re-elected and get their wish to sell it off.
Pre NHS, my grandmother died at the age of 35 of TB. Tuberculosis - a disease of poverty - is back. My father then spent 2 years in a sanatorium because it was thought he might have got it too (he was about 4 when his mother died). The cost of caring for them both drove my grandfather to emigrate to Canada. My mother got diphtheria at age 19 and almost died. My granny had to borrow money to get a doctor to visit. I see diphtheria is also back.
Post-NHS, my wee brother (aged about 4) had a stoppage of the bowel. The doctor came, called an ambulance and he was operated on within 2 hours. More recently, my great-nephew was in hospital within an hour of the first phone call, suspected of having meningitis.
We are in danger of being written out of our own history. Of allowing the neglect of the NHS by the current government to fool us into thinking somehow the model is defective and an American model would be better. But we - ordinary people - created the NHS and we maintain it through our taxes. The model we have is a masterpiece. We can criticise the management all we like but the model (free at the point of delivery) works - but only if it receives enough money. And we've allowed the current government to starve the service of money.
It'll be on us if that happens.
Most of France - not forgetting its overseas territories - was governed by people appointed by the French government in Paris. This was a heavily centralised country and there was deep resentment at how little say people had in their own lives. Yes, they elected local mayors and councillors but their powers were limited. Things have changed a bit but I still get the feeling that one of the reasons people have repeatedly taken their grievances onto the streets in France over the years is that they feel their views are still not taken into account.
It took me a while when I came back to Scotland to realise that this was exactly how Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the northern counties of England were being treated. Money was sucked into London and passed back a little bit at a time. If you wanted a new road for Ayrshire (maybe a fast link between Glasgow and 'The South' and the ferry ports to Ireland - a road which we're still waiting for by the way), you had to ask London. For a while in the 70s, Labour governments tried dispersing industry to 'other' regions of the UK, but that really stopped when the Conservatives took over.
As London exerted its influence as a financial centre from the 80s on, nobody worried too much about what was happening outside the M25 ring road. Unemployment rates outside the south-east of England shot up. There was 'social unrest' and it was dealt with swiftly and sometimes violently. The UK is not a place given to rioting, so you can imagine how bad things were. (And I'd still like to know if - as some said - rioting in places like Dundee and Glasgow in the 90s was not reported as a deliberate policy by the Tories).
This isn't leading up to a plea for either the Union or Scottish independence.
No, I'm after something much more radical and that's to restore our sense of history. Not folk history: not guising, Mary-Queen-Of-Scots and black bun history.
I'm after an understanding of our social history: what happened in the last 50 years or so to ordinary people. If we can understand that we'll stop behaving as if our communities belong to politicians, who seem to be able to discard any events that happened during previous governments and treat everything as new.
By the way, the only other political organisation that did that was the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, which declared all history obsolete and tried to re-start the nation from Year Zero. It didn't end well for the people of Cambodia.
So what's on my list of things that we need to remember?
Let's start with the loss of trades unions. I'm always amazed at the shrug that accompanies this topic: it's as if we don't all owe our safety at work to trades unions. As if safety at work has become less of a concern now the trades unions have all but disappeared. As if one of the aims of the current Conservative Government wasn't to abolish workers' last rights in law.
Then there are the major 'accidents' that have scarred the memories of many of us, starting with Aberfan, moving on to Piper Alpha, the Herald of Free Enterprise (has anyone ever commented on the irony of that ferry's name?), Hillsborough, Ibrox, Bradford City stadium, the London bombings - and that's not even mentioning all the mine disasters and factory fires that have devastated families and communities through the centuries - including this one. And the utterly pointless Middle East wars that have left us with a generation of our young people injured beyond repair - and rapidly forgotten about once they come home. And are we any further forward in bringing those responsible for all that to account?
Then there's the inheritance of people from the industrial age: asbestosis, white finger, miner's lung, etc. And we need to remember the lack of support offered to these people and their families and communities, and the blight of early death caused by industrial injury, poverty and insecure employment.
Finally - and I'll call a halt now, because this could go on and on - there's our failure to understand what the loss of the NHS will mean for many of us, if the Tories are re-elected and get their wish to sell it off.
Pre NHS, my grandmother died at the age of 35 of TB. Tuberculosis - a disease of poverty - is back. My father then spent 2 years in a sanatorium because it was thought he might have got it too (he was about 4 when his mother died). The cost of caring for them both drove my grandfather to emigrate to Canada. My mother got diphtheria at age 19 and almost died. My granny had to borrow money to get a doctor to visit. I see diphtheria is also back.
Post-NHS, my wee brother (aged about 4) had a stoppage of the bowel. The doctor came, called an ambulance and he was operated on within 2 hours. More recently, my great-nephew was in hospital within an hour of the first phone call, suspected of having meningitis.
We are in danger of being written out of our own history. Of allowing the neglect of the NHS by the current government to fool us into thinking somehow the model is defective and an American model would be better. But we - ordinary people - created the NHS and we maintain it through our taxes. The model we have is a masterpiece. We can criticise the management all we like but the model (free at the point of delivery) works - but only if it receives enough money. And we've allowed the current government to starve the service of money.
It'll be on us if that happens.
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