But which generation is which? Well, it impacts me enough, but I pity my children. Their generation has been called the 'IPOD' generation: Insecure, Pressurised, Overworked and Debt ridden.
Well: I will explain it in these terms: in the UK the last generation (that of my parents) got wealthy by buying up all the housing stock (with the help and encouragement of a certain Margaret Thatcher who I see as a social Darwinist - who got rid of most of the social housing, forcing us into the rip-off private housing sector) while government policies keep those with equity wealthy and those without poor forever. The whole system rewards only assets, not work. The entrenchment of inequality is the modern manifestation of the old feudal system which began with the Normans in 1066, although that's going back a bit. But when I say that, it is exactly my point! It is where the origins of the British class system lie. It is highly symbolic of the problems facing the United Kingdom right here in 2025 - when now almost 1000 years on we still have not weaned ourselves off this nightmare. It is the British version of 'tall poppy syndrome'. This phrase originated in Australia; it implies that the lower social classes are to be actively blocked from ascent.
Of course, when I say this, it also shows why I might call the UK the land of the clueless in a manner akin to places in the former East Germany such as Dresden which were beyond the reach of West German television which the authorities were unable to prevent reception of. As long as British people continue to be a bunch of uncomplaining wimps, it will continue. After all, the French do not suffer in silence. I often ponder just what turned the 'British bulldog' of old into the modern British poodle.
I often ponder what Sr Winston Churchill would say about the shambolic state of the country today. If I were ever asked by one of my students whether I would be willing to die for my country, I would answer like this..
In 1939, the answer would have been an unquestioning yes - better to die fighting Hitler than to live under his rule if he had emerged victorious. But in 2025, I would say, why bother? If I am going to get my arse shot off I will do it for a cause worth dying for. My generation has been so let down by the whole system which does not have my generation's interests at heart.
Indeed, I recently had a discussion with my mother in which she said, if everyone left like me and did not pay (the UK's extortionate living costs) the country would be in trouble. My reply? You can be a willing slave to the 'Tory run state' if you want to, but there are those of use with vision who are not interested in receiving lip service when there is such a glaring elephant in the room. The hard reality is that, if my mother is thinking in these terms, then she has allowed herself to be conditioned to think in these terms. But I am poles apart from her. She admires the late Margaret Thatcher (because she was not disadvantaged by what she did - this is the Conservative party supporter's mentality through and through!). I refer publicly to her as the patron saint of inequality - and as you can maybe imagine, many other things in private. Ironically, the last time British people did stand up to injustice was over the poll tax in 1990! I think this is the trouble nowadays - British people can be counted on to be too polite and afraid of upsetting someone to speak their mind (with the sinister exception of racists and bigots with an I.Q below 50).
The idea of social housing tenants being able to buy their home was not in itself a bad one. If only it had not been part of a drive to do away with social housing; local authorities were prevented from replacing the social housing stock as the proceeds were treated as income for the local authority and their central government funding reduced accordingly. This, naturally, meant people were forced into the mega expansive private sector, where their wages could not cover the (extortionate) rents. This forced them to claim government help to pay their rents in the form of housing benefit; according to a certain David Cameron in 2010 the solution was the 'bedroom tax' - to incentivise people to downsize; yet there were was not an abundant supply of smaller housing units to relocate to thanks to the housing crisis(!) and of course, to cap housing benefit! And forget buying hour own home at an average of 285000 GBP and counting, in an age where jobs for life have been replaced by zero hour contracts.
So let me reiterate; the whole system is designed to keep the wealthiest wealthy, ensure that the poor remain poor and most of us working ever harder for less in real terms and to feel poorer no matter what the numbers on the payslip suggest. Inflation means that even if you get a numerical pay rise, the money buys less, as anyone working in the NHS will tell you. And then the powers that be cannot understand why they have a mental health crisis, an epidemic of street crime, an epidemic of drug use and entrenched benefit dependency from one generation to the next; to whom we may refer as the 'non working class'. And the benefit system tapers in such a way that you cannot escape from poverty by working harder. And why have food banks become a fact of life nowadays? In my time, these were unheard of. Naturally, this whole reality is paid nothing more than mere lip service on BBC Question Time.
In fairness to my mother, she might have been living in conditions which I would describe as medieval in a bid to avoid care home costs (currently in excess of 3000 GBP per month). But I think that prevention is better than cure. The care home costs whole generations their inheritance - if they are lucky enough to have any - and yet hard working care workers famously earn little more than the national minimum wage! And of course, you cannot get rich by working alone in the UK as explained in this brilliant video. It explains, in simple terms, what so many people are too brainwashed to recognise. In my view, a lack of resistance to brainwashing and the ability to think critically can be thought of as something which the people who lived through world war two referred to as LMF - lack of moral fibre. And as I write this, I feel sad that people have become so conditioned in the country which gave us George Orwell.
The truth: Why working hard will not build wealth for you in the UK in the 21st century: the facts exposed
And see also: Exclusive! The Great British Hidden Responsible Behaviour Tax (or, Scam/Swindle if you prefer) revealed. Don't gamble with your loved one's future. A must read for the Responsible in the UK... Anyone who assumes I will suffer in silence here clearly doesn't know me. Well, you will now....