The good old days

[january_bug]

Seeing as how so many people here seem to believe that the country is falling apart and that we are now in an absolutely pitiful state of affairs, I was just wondering which decade of the 20th century you'd prefer to rewind to, given that things were so much better in the "good old days". Which ones WERE the good old days?

[libertie]

Well Jan-Bug to be honest I'm quite happy with my lot today....despite having the usual moan about things! I'm in fulltime employment doing a job I enjoy and being quite well paid for it, I have access to health care as and when I need it for free, I live in a nice area with nice neighbours. My children are both healthy and working and have been well educated by the state and none of my immediate family has ever been assaulted, mugged, burgled or had their homes / cars vandalised........don't mean to sound smug, but sometimes we forget that for many thousands of UK citizens we have a decent standard of living and its not all doom and gloom! So to sum up although I do get upset about things I read about in the press and see on the news and I do sympathise with people who are treated badly and get frustrated about lots of things I'm glad I live in the UK!!

[january_bug]

YAY - someone else to join the happy minority! :-) Libertie that is EXACTLY the answer I was hoping someone would give!!! (Although I expect, and welcome different views!) That we all whinge now and then, but that on reflection, we're mainly happy, healthy and reasonably wealthy (relative to other people in other countries).

I'm glad to see that not everyone has lost touch with reality! :-) 3 stars! :-) :-p

[jno]

60s. Better music.

[surfer mike]

Seriously its always been thus, i remember the back end of the thatcher years, and you heard the same sort of thing then, this country is in the mire etc, but then at least there was some sort of justification to the moans, high levels of unemployment and high interest rates which led to record levels of repossessions, but even then peoples lot was a whole lot better than previous generations, the same applies today, yes this country is not perfect, but show me a country that is utopian in its scope and i'll show you pigs that fly in the air..

[qapmoc]

Hi jan bug, well probably the ''good old days'' were not so good anyway if you had to actually live there compared to today, I am sure that the images most people have of the past don't bear much relation to the reality as it was. If you imagine yourself as you are today and then remove 75% of the modern amenities which you take for granted it might be about right.

[Loosehead]

Well, JB, Nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

[Dom Tuk]

Oh dear a Labour party love fest.

No Jan bug dont get your hackles up.

I would rather be transported to a time (you tell me what decade that would be) when there was proper punishment for a crime, when children could be disciplined at home and school, when there was respect for teachers/education and elders, when politicians did not think they ruled the world and when winters were proper winters.

[jno]

2157BC for you Dom Tuk.

[qapmoc]

JNO, get your numbers politically correct please, it should not be 2157BC (before christ) but 4162BP (before present). deduct 10 points for that, but wait!! you might get upset if that happens so lets give everybody 20 points just so there is no discrimination.

[libertie]

Well as far as I'm concerned Dom Tuk thousands of children still do have respect for their elders / teachers and are disciplined at home......tend to agree about the politicians though!

[louadams6]

have to agree with libertie. Im glad I live here too for much the same reasons.

I have to say jan-bug when i first read the question my first thought was "when i was 16!" But they were only good old days because I was young, carefree and didnt care what state the country was in!

Dom Tuk, no disprespect, but take off your rose tinted glasses! We'd all like to live in a perfect world! lol

[maggie01]

I think the late 50, early 60's were pretty good. Although we had no phone, outside loo, no bathroom, never had holidays abroad, although we did always have a holiday every year. We had no car either or central heating. Discipline in schools were far better so the teachers had respect. When I left school you had quite a lot of jobs to choose from. You were not afraid to go out at night. Children were allowed to be children whereas these days they seem to grow up far too quickly and miss out on a lot. People are a lot better off these days on the whole but the more you have the more you want. People work longer hours and don't have time for family life. So I think people these days miss out on a lot.

[jno]

qapmoc I remember that thread about the vanishing BC, but can it really be true that things are to be dated by how long ago they were right now? It would mean updating every sign in every museum every year. In most cases I think they just label things 'BCE' - before the common era, or something similar.

Am still a little baffled by Dom Tuk's complaints that politicians think they rule the world. Um, isn't that what we elect them to do?

[Andy008]

In the 1800's, Britain was the strongest, most powerful nation on earth.

Britain today is overrun by illegal immigrants, which has nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with this country's ability to cope with an influx the size of Manchester every six years.

The majority of Britain's cities are dirty and full of litter. In most German cities, there is no graffiti, no litter, and the air is quite breathable.

Tony Blair sinks billions of pounds into stealing Iraq's oil, on the basis of looking for WMD's. Of which there never were any.

There is nothing "great" about Britain any more. Apart from music and advertising, we have no enviable industries. That wasn't the case 200 years ago.

I imagine that beer was probably cheaper as well.

So yeah, the 1800's definitely.

[shaneystar]

Well I have to agree with jno about the music..but I certainly don't hark back to the old days of an outside loo,a tin bath ,no central heating etc.In the 50's there were a lot of men out of work after the war.In fact it was quite depressing at times.
The 60's were my golden days,footloose and fancy free and you could walk in and out of jobs .It was all quite liberating !
I am quite content with my lot but do feel that many people are discontented and the more they have the more they want.It is a rat race these days.I think people should wake up and smell the coffee,stop moaning and enjoy what they have.After all most of us know where our next meal is coming from. You will never have the ideal society so you have to make the best of it.

[shaneystar]

In the 1800's Andy, we were still sending boys up chimneys and people were dying of typhoid because of bad sanitary conditions.The industrial north was blasting pollution into the atmosphere and people lived in hovels.Our Empire was gained on the back of slavery and opression of other nations.

[maggie01]

Having no central heating meant that as a family, we did things together, or at least we spent time in the same room as heating was limited to one room. It was much more family orientated.

[libertie]

Oh dear, yet another interesting thread being hijacked by some people intent on using every opportunity to have a go at immigrants......just for the record Andy its a fact that 8.5% of people here in Britain were born outside Britain and in Germany 12.5% of their population was born elsewhere!!

[qapmoc]

Well actually JNO I thought we elected politicians to run our countries and their institutions etc.... as we would do it ourselves, we only elect a few individuals because we can't really be bothered to do it ourselves and anyway who would make the coffee if everybody was the boss.

The problem is that the politicians confuse civil servants in theory with civil masters in reality.

[Typhoid]

mmmwaaaaahhhh hahahahahahahah :-)

They are ALL good old days if you drink enough ;-D

Although now is pretty good for me, k I'm not a millionaire or drop dead gorgeous but life is ok .... gorgeous OH and good relationship, fantastic dog and cat :-) good job, ok money, not in debt, what more could a girl ask for?? I'm happy with my lot as it is ta JB ;-)