Were we better off 40 years ago?

[Tooting Gull]

Are you actually better off living longer, in the strict sense of happiness?

If you face spending 30 years living off a pittance, wouldn't you have been better off living it up and going at 60?

Overall, I'm not so sure. All the things the OP said are true, but with all that has come a lesser deep appreciation of good things in life across the board. People are in general less tolerant, more selfish, and in more of a hurry.

Is having more TV channels and working seven days a week better for us? Mind you, I don't really see what any of this has to do solely with immigration.

Good thread, though.

 

[GOM]

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

I rather like it when in France and all is closed on a Sunday

 

[Boroseagull]

I rather like it when in France and all is closed on a Sunday

Same here in Spain, families get together & head for the beach or countryside & picnic. Who really needs to shop 7 days a week?

 

[Notters]

And of course ALL football was on a saturday back then, none of this super Sunday bollocks.

 

[Norman Potting]

And Wednesday afternoons

.....And lunchtimes. I recall that Sainsbury's used to actually close on Mondays for some reason, can you imagine that now?

Materially we are better off but I think that everyone is becoming more isolated. Does having lots of friends on Facebook make you a happier/better person?

 

[Norman Potting]

I rather like it when in France and all is closed on a Sunday

How true. Some supermarkets open on a Sunday, but only in the morning. Bakers seem to be the only shop that always seems to open, unless you are in a coastal tourist town when most things are. I think the Intermarche supermarket chain still shuts for lunch but from my experience of French holidays in the Vendee more town shops are opening all day "Sans interruption" if you will excuse my French but still keep the 1900 ish closing time.

The lack of the abilility to shop 'til you drop hasn't caused the end of civilisation in France as far as I am aware.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Kit Napier.

Thread ends.

 

[glasfryn]

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?

disagree with that in red I honestly thought that racism and homophobia were definitely on the way out until I moved to rural Wales
other than that you have got it about right

 

[Gwylan]

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!

I don't know where you live but I still get milk delivered to my doorsteps in the morning. hardly any of my food is wrapped in plastic, I can make an appointment for a doctor for later in the day and I can get coffee ice cream - I had some last summer.

But, yes, some things were better, I said that at the start but over all, we're much better off.

 

[Icy Gull]

Offices used to close for about an hour or an hour and a half at lunch time, I don't recall the last time I took a lunch hour. Sandwich at my desk is now the norm. I used to LOVE going down the pub for a pint and a game of space invaders . You're looked at like an alcoholic with major issues if you have a lunchtime drink these days .Can you inagine the outrage if shops were closed at lunchtime these days. I'd also like it if shops were closed on a Sunday, I'd save a fortune.

Sundays used to be a day to go out to a country pub for a couple of drinks, suprised that there are any country pubs these days tbh with the drink drive issues.

 

[Gwylan]

Offices used to close for about an hour or an hour and a half at lunch time, I don't recall the last time I took a lunch hour. Sandwich at my desk is now the norm. Can you inagine the outrage if shops were closed at lunchtime these days. I'd also like it if shops were closed on a Sunday, I'd save a fortune.

There was a staff canteen in each of my first three workplaces - all subsidised. I wonder if any business has a subsidised canteen these days.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

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

When I was in Germany major shops and businesses closed on a Sunday. I liked it and Sunday had a special feel about it, and friends and family got together and did stuff as opposed to it being another day to buy more shit.

 

[glasfryn]

When I was in Germany major shops and businesses closed on a Sunday. I liked it and Sunday had a special feel about it, and friends and family got together and did stuff as opposed to it being another day to buy more shit.

good post and you did not have to be a Christian to like Sundays either

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I rather like it when in France and all is closed on a Sunday

A well-earned break after their ever-so-long working week

 

[Icy Gull]

A well-earned break after their ever-so-long working week

Yeah cos a shorter working week and more time at home with your family is a really stupid idea, I'd really hate such a thing.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

40 years ago people weren't up to the neck in debts , if you wanted a mortgage you had to see the bank manager and hope he would approve it. Everyone was paid in cash so no chance to bang it on the plastic. If you needed to purchase an expensive item and didn't have the cash it could be put on hire purchase but it wasn't interest free for a year plus a 12 months payments holiday. There weren't so many obese people because you ate less and burnt off the calories either working or walking about more. There was less stress , people still had worries on their mind but not to the extent of today.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

disagree with that in red I honestly thought that racism and homophobia were definitely on the way out until I moved to rural Wales
other than that you have got it about right

Does it really matter that they call you an English poof ? Wait until they find out you're selling the house to a large Nigerian family.

 

[Seagull kimchi]

Does it really matter that they call you an English poof ? Wait until they find out you're selling the house to a large Nigerian family.

Bloody hell mate - (no offence) but...if you're living in Grimsby you must still be living in the 1950ies?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Bloody hell mate - (no offence) but...if you're living in Grimsby you must still be living in the 1950ies?

Grimsby has progressed , its still the 1980's here.

 

[Seagull kimchi]

Grimsby has progressed , its still the 1980's here.

Sounds about right. To be fair, I had one of my best Albion away days at the Mariners back in the murky eighties and kinda enjoyed the bleak realism of the locals in the pubs before the game. A friendly bunch of supporters - and the best cod n' chips a drunken seagull monkey could want.