'That is no country for old men....Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unageing intellect.' W.B.Yeats 'Sailing To Byzantium.' 1926
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Britain is a country where old men no longer recognise the country and the London they once knew when they were young men
As a teenager living in London in the 1960's I would have been familiar with these street scenes as seen on Flickr :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasleso/sets/72157600522533831/show
As an old man living outside London, 50 years later in 2011 these are the street scenes of a London I no longer recognise as seen on the BBC :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14460554
What has happened in the intervening years ? :
* christian values, reinforced by the Church and Education, which once underpinned British Society have almost disappeared.
* respect for the authority of teachers and police is now absent from the mothers and fathers of the adolescents who are out on the streets.
* the consumer society has triumphed.
* tweeting technology has provided communication and coordination of criminality.
Result : a blaze of fire and looting by feral youths.
What a sad country Britain has become.
The Gaurdian newspaper :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/london-riots-kids-parents-police
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