History?

[bainbrig]

Well in French, une histoire is a story, and it seems the original meaning is creeping in here.

A journalist, Babita Sharma, has currently got her book ‘The Corner Shop” on R4, in which she bangs on about life in England in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

Now, as in 1970 I was in my twenties, I can claim some first-hand knowledge of all those decades, and unless I’m going senile, it weren’t like that!

Queues for paraffin at my local shop? Nah. The 70s, a decade plagued by power cuts? Not in London, anyway. The 80s, plunged into deep economic recession? Well, no worse than now.

Turns out Ms Sharma wasn’t born until 1977,

But it makes you wonder just how much history is bull.

BB

[woofgang]

so what you are saying BB is that it wasn't as made as its being made out to be....ands your basis for saying that is that you didn't experience it as bad (or you don't remember is as bad which is a bit different)

[bainbrig]

Sorry, woofgang, just been reading Nailit (and respondents) comments on 'Chemo', and can't think of anything pertinent/witty/worth writing.

BB

[woofgang]

:(

[Zacs-Master]

Having lived fairly near Bradford in the 70s, there definitely were power cuts. And as for ‘keyboard operators’ being moved to the back of the building........keyboards, in the 70s ?

[bhg481]

Keyboards in the 70s - most certainly. Electric typewriters, punched card machines and I was using remote keyboards for computer input.

[bainbrig]

bhg, Quite. In the print, some typesetting rooms were known as ‘Comps’ (compositors), but ‘Keyboards’ had been creeping in for some time... after all Linotypes etc had been around for decades by then. (And wasn’t Handel a keyboard op?)

BB

[bhg481]

BB - I think Handel had a manual keyboard, not an electric one.

[jno]

if they crack down on What's App how am I ever going to become an Israeli spy?

[jno]

sorry, wrong thread.

[naomi24]

Wrong thread, jno?

[naomi24]

Ahh, you noticed.

[jno]

yes, definitely wrong thread

[bainbrig]

Remind us again which party instituted the National Health Service?

Remind us again of the Thatcher/Blair/Cameron extended debacle that culminated in the banker's crash a few years ago, leading to our current state of 'austerity'?

No, this doesn't matter one iota compared to the suffering only hinted at in the Chemo thread, but Naomi and her ilk really can't be allowed to get away with their inventions.

B

[naomi24]

Bainbrig, I've asked you this before but having never received the courtesy of a reply, I'll ask again. Have you ever seen, first hand, a Communist society in action, and if so what did you admire about it?

[naomi24]

ps. I don't have an 'ilk'.

[naomi24]

Oh, and pps. Since this is 'History' look up the history of the NHS. It might surprise you.

[bainbrig]

Naomi. Take a look at yourself, pal. “...never having received the courtesy of a reply...”! Is this just an act, or are you really turning into an elderly colonel from Tunbridge Wells? Don’t be so pompous!

And you’ll only get a reply from me if you stop trying to bully and hector.

Your ilk? We all have our ilks, even you!

I’d be interested in your alternative truth re the NHS not being something set up by a socialist government.

Alternative truth. What a joke.

[mushroom25]

//I’d be interested in your alternative truth re the NHS not being something set up by a socialist government. //

that's a fact, they won the 1945 election and got to implement it. but would any other party have done the same if they'd won the 1945 election? the answer isn't an unequivocal "no". the modern welfare state was the child of the Beveridge Report of 1942, and the necessity for change in its wake was acknowledged by all.