Reading this again long after the first time I read it will keep me going in working against the current political dispensing of poor and disabled human beings like so much trash. I refuse to submit to the idea that social welfare was a brief window, a glimpse of a better life for so many people, that's now gone forever into the greedy maw of an even worse form of capitalism.
The stark contrast between the experience of your father, born and brought up in extreme poverty, and that of my father born in 1917, the youngest son of a lawyer, is shocking. By the time I listened to your father's powerful speech to the 2014 Labour Party Conference, about 3 years after he made it, I was very concerned about the future of the NHS but I never imagined how soon we would be facing its demise. Even in Scotland, where we haven't had the underhand privatisation that the English NHS has been subjected to for some time, the system is broken. People, especially politicians, should have paid more attention to your father's words of wisdom and taken action to prevent what is unfolding. I heard someone describe what we are living through as refeudalisation. I'm sure that is exactly what is being planned for us by the 'uncaring elite'. I hope 2023 will be a year of improving health for you, John, and a better one for all of us than looks possible at this point in time. I believe that, together, we can turn things around.
This is utterly heartbreaking. My grandma was born in 1921 and I can only imagine the hardships she endured as a working class woman. She never spoke of her parents or siblings. I am disgusted at this government and at all the people who have enabled them to do what they have done so far. We must continue fighting!
Reading this again long after the first time I read it will keep me going in working against the current political dispensing of poor and disabled human beings like so much trash. I refuse to submit to the idea that social welfare was a brief window, a glimpse of a better life for so many people, that's now gone forever into the greedy maw of an even worse form of capitalism.
Hear, hear!
The words just flow right off the page. It’s like it was written today when I read it. Thank you very much for sharing it.
Thanks for sharing this John. This is as powerful this evening as when I first read it in the book. Hope 2023 is good to you.
Cheers and I hope 2023 is good to you as well. Take care, John
The stark contrast between the experience of your father, born and brought up in extreme poverty, and that of my father born in 1917, the youngest son of a lawyer, is shocking. By the time I listened to your father's powerful speech to the 2014 Labour Party Conference, about 3 years after he made it, I was very concerned about the future of the NHS but I never imagined how soon we would be facing its demise. Even in Scotland, where we haven't had the underhand privatisation that the English NHS has been subjected to for some time, the system is broken. People, especially politicians, should have paid more attention to your father's words of wisdom and taken action to prevent what is unfolding. I heard someone describe what we are living through as refeudalisation. I'm sure that is exactly what is being planned for us by the 'uncaring elite'. I hope 2023 will be a year of improving health for you, John, and a better one for all of us than looks possible at this point in time. I believe that, together, we can turn things around.
Thanks for this! Take care, John
This is utterly heartbreaking. My grandma was born in 1921 and I can only imagine the hardships she endured as a working class woman. She never spoke of her parents or siblings. I am disgusted at this government and at all the people who have enabled them to do what they have done so far. We must continue fighting!
😥😥