Saturday 3rd August

It s very difficult to judge the path of human progress, especially from any one point on that line.  Looking back we can see progress, and the temptation is to see it as a straight line, when in reality it has always been a somewhat bumpy ride, with often the grestest leaps forward coming after the worst troughs.  Certainly in the Twentieth Century this would appear to be so; after the horrors of two World Wars, both were followed by real and tangible improvements in the vast majority of working people’s lives.  The rich and privileged may have seen things in a different light however.  Both wars were a form of revolution; after the hardships and loss of life there was a determination that things should never be the same again – and so, the political will was there for vast changes to take place.

Solzhenitsyn commented that each generation had to learn for themselves.  He was lamenting that the young in Russia in the sixties had taken for granted all the achievements of the Revolution and now wanted to return to some sort of Capitalism, free choice, the chance to be rich.  I wonder though looking back if some of those now lament the old Russia as they look around at Putin and his coterie, and all the billionaires who have stolen the resources that once belonged to the people.

And in survey after survey when people are asked if their lives are improving they tend to be pessimistic, ignoring the vast improvements in health and education, and looking instead at the value of their house or how many foreign holidays they can afford.  So, it is very difficult to really ascertain if things are getting better or worse.  And who for?  For the poor it seems that things are going to get a whole lot worse.  For the rich life always gets better, recession or sunshine.  For the rest of us, somewhere in the middle; I don’t know.  Materially yes, but at what cost?  It seems to me that we are becoming more selfish again.  When most people think that benefits and immigration are their main worries it means the pendulum has swung back to the right again, how far further it will swing before correction sets in and a more socialist, selfless mood takes hold again we do not know.  But I suspect it still has some little way to go.