Were we better off 40 years ago?

[Gwylan]

On his anti-immigrant rant Goldstone says "Surely most people on here who are old enough to remember will agree that Britain was a much nicer place to live 40 years ago ..."

Is that true? While there are definitely things I miss about the UK in 1971 (local shops, proper cinemas, a 17-team County Championship, reasonably priced football and a competitive Div 1 etc) the good far outweighs the bad.

Just off the top of my head then, 10 ways in which life has improved.

The Internet/web - no more waiting until Sunday to find out the score if you missed Grandstand
Health - we live longer
Smoking - I remember the horror of top floors on buses, cinemas and public places generally. We breathe much better air
Music - I can listen to music from all over the world just by pressing a computer key. Music over 40 years was totally crap
Sundays - they were like hell: nothing open. When I became old enough to drink, that 5-hour gap between lunch and evening was murder
Food - Small selection of vegetables and fruit. Garlic was seen as exotic. Restaurants were generally poor. Nothing like the range and quality we have now
Racism - There will always be hard-core racists but the casual racism has all but disappeared.
Homophobia - Ditto.
Education - Kids leave schools far better educated. In 1971, 80% of kids went to secondary moderns and were treated like second-class citizens, large numbers left with no qualifications. Illiteracy levels were higher than than they are today
Cheap flights - Apart from package holidays, only the rich went abroad. Millions of us have travelled to other parts of the world

I'm sure there other things to mention but the general impression is that things have got a lot better over the last 40 years. Anyone but Goldstone disagree?

 

[bhaexpress]

I'm easily old enough to remember 40 years ago and no we most certainly were not. Three TV Channels, inferior roads and public transport, most of the above applies although we did have cheap flights then. Mind you, you'd have been hard pushed to get a curry back then, we only had Wimpy if you wanted a burger as well.

 

[acrossthepond]

You've never had it so good Gwylan!

 

[seagull_special]

I think life was simpler 40yrs ago and people expectations weren't strangling them. Quality of life is much higher now but people seem less satisfied with what they have.

 

[bhaexpress]

I think life was simpler 40yrs ago and people expectations weren't strangling them. Quality of life is much higher now but people seem less satisfied with what they have.

I think it's more a question of people being more aware of life's limitations as they have far better communications than forty years ago.

 

[severnside gull]

I blame mobile phones (said only partly with tongue in cheek

No, I'm totally with Gwylan on this. Nostalgia has it's place but it's not in the here and now

 

[1234andcounting]

I'm with PJ O'Rourke on this one. If you think things were better in the past, there is only one word to mention - dentistry.

 

[Gwylan]

I think life was simpler 40yrs ago and people expectations weren't strangling them. Quality of life is much higher now but people seem less satisfied with what they have.

I think this has hit the nail on the head.

I don't think anyone could seriously argue that life was better 40 years ago but I think it's certainly true that people are less satisfied with their lot now.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

40 years ago, England was closed on a Sunday. Grim.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

40 Years ago had its good points.....Milk delivered to door. A reliable postal servive. Roads less congested.You could ring someone up and get answered by a human instead of "Press2"...you now have four options...end up speaking to someone in India.You could tell jokes without someone taking umbrage. Much less political correctness. Petrol and football were cheap.There were plenty of jobs.Nurses were far more caring and did'nt have to reach targets,they were there to care for the patient and did so. There were far fewer faceless unelected committees giving out diktats..."You can'trt do this...can't do that. You could make an appointment with your GP and see him that day instead of next week sometime. Most food was homegrown and fresh,not wrapped up in plastic for a couple of days.Shopkeepers were more attentive, "Can I help you sir!" instead of the usual grunt. Yes there are better things about todays living,as mentioned dentistry.surgical and medical advances,computers and television,cars (dont' have to change the oil after 1000 miles).World communications like Skype there's others as well,there is good and bad points for both,all in all,we have to accept life as it is and try and move on.

Bring back Coffee ice cream!

 

[The Merry Prankster]

I don't quite know how to express this but people are much more machine centered than people centered now. A friend of mine in the States asked his Aunt on her hundredth b'day what the most significant event of her lifetime was. He expected Moon landing, MLK or JFK, one of the World Wars that kind of thing but she replied "Television - everyone went inside and they never came out again."

 

[KZNSeagull]

40 years ago, England was closed on a Sunday. Grim.

And Wednesday afternoons

 

[NMH]

Yeah life is simpler when there are way less choices, and perhaps some might say we'd be happy running around with spears living in caves.
Not me though.

 

[tinx]

It was safer back then for kids to be out on their own and kids actually went out an played together rather than sat in front of a tv screen playing computer games. Less obesity as a result.

That said things are so much better from a technology stand point and as a computer engineer who knows what I would have been doing if it was 40 years earlier.

 

[bhaexpress]

That said things are so much better from a technology stand point and as a computer engineer who knows what I would have been doing if it was 40 years earlier.

Thirty nine years ago I didn't know either

 

[Lord Bracknell]

40 Years ago had its good points.....A reliable postal service.

Don't you remember the 1971 postal strike? It lasted for SEVEN WEEKS. And there were no alternatives available for many people - most households didn't have a phone.

I was in Italy throughout 1971. I had no communication at all with the UK for a couple of months (apart from the opportunity to listen to the BBC World Service).

 

[Seagull kimchi]

Better off - yes, if you quantify our increased sterilisation from the earth as healthy..

Happier no, consumerism kills all of our innocent joi de vive.

 

[clippedgull]

40 Years ago had its good points.....Milk delivered to door. A reliable postal servive. Roads less congested.You could ring someone up and get answered by a human instead of "Press2"...you now have four options...end up speaking to someone in India.You could tell jokes without someone taking umbrage. Much less political correctness. Petrol and football were cheap.There were plenty of jobs.Nurses were far more caring and did'nt have to reach targets,they were there to care for the patient and did so. There were far fewer faceless unelected committees giving out diktats..."You can'trt do this...can't do that. You could make an appointment with your GP and see him that day instead of next week sometime. Most food was homegrown and fresh,not wrapped up in plastic for a couple of days.Shopkeepers were more attentive, "Can I help you sir!" instead of the usual grunt. Yes there are better things about todays living,as mentioned dentistry.surgical and medical advances,computers and television,cars (dont' have to change the oil after 1000 miles).World communications like Skype there's others as well,there is good and bad points for both,all in all,we have to accept life as it is and try and move on.

Bring back Coffee ice cream!

Agreed! Word for Word! mmm coffee ice cream

 

[Taybha]

nowts changed , still fighting other peoples wars , kids still starving to death in this country , n bruce forsythes still on the box on a saturday night ,the only thing thats noticable is how many brits seemed to have learned to speak polish

 

[Notters]

It was safer back then for kids to be out on their own and kids actually went out an played together rather than sat in front of a tv screen playing computer games. Less obesity as a result.

That said things are so much better from a technology stand point and as a computer engineer who knows what I would have been doing if it was 40 years earlier.

But was it really, or are people just more paranoid now?