Beginning to See the Light: ‘No Future’

 

‘God save the Queen 

We mean it, man 

We love our Queen’ 

 
Firstly, this column would like to extend its congratulations and thanks to Her Maj for 70-yrs of service to the country. Whilst readers will recollect that I am not a monarchist, I can recognise and acknowledge a job well done when I see it. 

The choice of opening lyrics, ‘God Save the Queen’ by the Sex Pistols isn’t a criticism. The song originated in 1976, and was entitled ‘No Future’, it was released to coincide with the Silver Jubilee, and the bands management changed the title to irritate people and garner publicity. The song was neither praising or criticising Her Maj, it was a statement of dissatisfaction by young people who felt the ‘system’ left them with No Future’. The predominant system in 1976 was the class system which favoured middle and upper class white people. I would add heterosexual too, but there were ‘no’ gay people then! 

This article isn’t a review of 70-years, it simply looks at the current situation and compares that to yesteryear. 

We start with poverty, the base measurement for any society 
 

• 22% of the population live in poverty. 
• 8.1 million are working-age adults, 4.3 million are children and 2.1 million are pensioners.  

 
This is based on the relative poverty rate, after housing costs, to measure poverty unless otherwise stated. See the link below for more information on poverty definitions. 

Child poverty continues to rise. The latest data shows that 31% of children in the UK live in poverty.  Nearly half of children in lone-parent families live in poverty, compared with 1 in 4 of those in couple families. 

Twenty-five years ago, a third of children lived in poverty. This fell to 28% by 2004/05 and reached its lowest level of 27% in 2010/11 to 2013/14. Since then, child poverty has been rising, reaching 31% in 2019/20.  
 

‘the class system which favoured middle and upper class white people. I would add heterosexual too, but there were ‘no’ gay people then!‘

 
The class system that ‘No Future’ derided still dominates, C.66% of the current cabinet went to public schools. Politically, the country currently has a more right-wing government than at anytime since the queen ascended the throne. 

Whilst the country can be described as more liberal than at any time in the past, there is a regressive attitude being fostered by the government. 

One area that has consistently been problematic is race and racism. While liberalism has seen this decline there are still numerous issues. 

For example, policing. There has been several reports on the issue of racism within the police force, one even took the line that it was ‘institutionally racist’. Despite best intentions they still leave much to be desired. 

Only last week the press carried reports of a black social worker, Edwin Afriyie, who was Tasered and knocked unconscious during a roadside stop says police treated him like a ‘wild animal.’ 

He was driving 3-friends back from a party in east London when he was pulled over by police in the City. During the discussions that ensued, he was Tasered and fell backwards, hitting his head on a stone window ledge. 

Ironically, Afriyie spent much of his working life trying to improve trust between young black Londoners and the police. He believes he was singled out because he was a black man driving a Mercedes coupe. 

There seems to be a theme here, if the police see a black person driving a nice car they immediately stop them, perhaps its jealousy, or just racial profiling? 

In fairness to the police and the country in general, racism is rising globally as the world embraces more right-wing politicians. 
 

‘racism is rising globally as the world embraces more right-wing politicians’

 
This increase in racism is based on the ‘white replacement theory’, which is actually made up of two sub-conspiracies: ‘the great replacement’ theory, which originated in France, and ‘the white genocide theory’, which comes from the US. Together, the theories are among the most widespread ideologies in far-right spaces, and the primary catalysts of far-right mass violence. 

The great replacement can generally be understood as two core beliefs. The first is that ‘western’ identity is under siege by massive waves of immigration from non-European/non-white countries, resulting in a replacement of white European individuals via demographics. The second is that replacement has been orchestrated by a shadowy group as part of their grand plan to rule the world – which they will do by creating a completely racially homogenous society. This group is often overtly identified as being Jews, but sometimes the antisemitism is more implicit. 

Politically, I believe that Brexit will prove to be one of the key moments in the Queen’s 70-year reign. Whilst the campaign was based on several big lies, such as £350m a week extra for the NHS, and ‘taking back control’, the underlying drivers were nationalism, racism driven by the EU’s open-borders facilitating immigration, and British exceptionalism. 

The final outcome was the hardest Brexit possible, with the country exiting anything to do with the EU, including trade agreements. This, allied to Covid and supply chain issues, has left the UK uniquely vulnerable to current economic headwinds. 

Whilst it isn’t possible to predict how history will view Brexit, it is hard to imagine it being seen as anything other national self-immolation. Brexit was perhaps best summed-up 4-years ago when Jacob Rees-Mogg told people not to panic at the Brexit chaos, on the basis that Brexit would be a success ‘because it is a Conservative thing to be doing’. 
 

‘left the UK uniquely vulnerable to current economic headwinds’

 
Economically, the first 20-years of the Queens reign were fairly stable as we re-emerged from WW2 and rebuilt the country. By the 1970s worker were demanding better pay and conditions, unions were as powerful as government, and we saw stagflation enter the dictionary. 

50-years on unions power is in tatters, as a result many workers are worse off then pre the 2008 GFC, and stagflation is once again rearing its ugly head. 

Much has changed over the last 70-years not least the size of the Commonwealth the Queen reigns over, as countries continue to want their independence. 

When Her Maj came to the throne Britain was still a manufacturer, however, globalisation has seen new economies come to the fore who are able to produce more cheaply. Even ‘prestige’ manufacturers such as Rolls Royce and Bentley have been swallowed by overseas rivals such as BMW and Mercedes. This has left areas in the midlands and north bereft of jobs and impacted the political picture in the country. 

In their place we have a focus on ‘service’ industries, including the City of London, however the overseas earnings of industry have never been truly replaced. This has led to a constant balance of payments deficit. Initially, when this first became prevalent in the 1970’s it was front-page news, now it is just a fact of life. 

Alongside this has been the decline of Sterling. Now we are closer to parity with the US Dollar than we are ‘2 to the pound’. I can remember the uproar in the 1970’s when the pound first fell below two, now reaching two would be a cause for national celebration. 

Although, as a country we were right to not join the Euro, but its emergence has further diminished the global role of Sterling. 

The Queens first PM was Sir Winston Churchill, the current one thinks he is Sir Winston Churchill. When you think of Churchill adjectives such as pugnacious, and inspirational apply, whereas, for the current PM, liar, and cheat seem more appropriate. 
 

‘One had gravitas, the latter is just greedy with delusions of grandeur’

 
One had gravitas, the latter is just greedy with delusions of grandeur. For example, the latter has £840 a roll wallpaper, one roll of which costs more than the average weekly wage of £598 ⁽¹⁾.  Even then he had a party supporter pay for it, and then lied about it. 

Overall, as a government the current incumbents plumb the depths. Last week an MP from the governing party was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, abuse of position of trust and misconduct in a public office. 

The PM has the dubious honour of being the only PM to be found guilty of breaking the law whilst in office. The law he broke was one that he created. Yet he hasn’t seen the need to resign, unlike the 1950’s Profumo Scandal. 

Somehow, Johnson has emerged virtually intact, despite the fact that No10 was the venue for 126 breaches of the law committed by 83 people. 

As Adam Wagner, the leading authority on Covid law, puts it, the Met’s position amounts to a finding that Johnson ‘attended six illegal gatherings but attended five of them legally’. Others, who lacked the PM’s power, have been fined for their presence at the very same events, so why not the PM? 
 

‘Johnson ‘attended six illegal gatherings but attended five of them legally’‘

 
The Tory’s moral bankruptcy was summed up by Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, who suggested that Johnson had shown ‘full accountability‘ by paying his fixed penalty notice. It had to be explained to Raab that handing over £50 hardly counts as being held accountable for presiding over a culture of serial lawbreaking in the very building that drew up the laws that bound the rest of us. 

Tory MPs, hell bent on self-preservation have decided that his misdemeanours are now ‘priced in’, although this will be further tested in the two forthcoming byelections. 

The reasons for the byelections sum up much of what is wrong in the party; the first is because the previous MP repeatedly watched porn in the Commons chamber, whilst the other is because the previous MP was recently convicted of child sexual assault. 

Moving on, following are some random thoughts and observations on how things have changed in the past 70-years. 

In sport we continue to flatter ourselves. Our footballers won the World Cup in 1966, and we haven’t stopped talking, or singing about it since! 

Football changed forever in the 1990’s when the top-20 clubs broke away and formed the Premier League, which is now the richest and most competitive league in the world. The enormous sums paid for TV rights led  to changes; clubs are no longer owned by local businessmen but by Oligarchs, private equity investors, and sovereign wealth funds. £100,000 is no longer a transfer fee it is the average weekly wage. Transfers  >£50m are increasingly common as are weekly wages > £250,000. 
 

‘there is a feeling that as a country we have become less relevant’

 
Cricket has been miniaturised, from the traditional 5-day test match to 100 ball ‘slogfests’.    

Music has moved on from Jazz, to rock ‘n’ roll, through glam rock, soul/disco, punk rock, hip-hop is now the dominant genre. The way we consume music has changed totally we no longer buy but ‘rent’ via streaming servers. Reproduction has gone from records (‘Vinyl’) to cassette, CD’s and now streaming, although records are making a comeback albeit niche  

Innovation has continued apace. Man conquered space and the US put the first man on the moon (along with ‘REM’), the internet has shrunk the world to the size of a ‘postage stamp’, and we how have smart phones with greater computing power than the behemoths of yesteryear. 

The impact of industry and fossil fuels is becoming more and more of a concern and ‘Climate change’ is now a recognised term. Unfortunately, governments, for numerous reasons continue to promise change but its mainly talk. 

I am sure there are numerous things missing from the above but these are just my thoughts and recollections. 

In summary, there is a feeling that as a country we have become less relevant. Not only are we diminished in size, but in importance. Perhaps that was the driver for Brexit, a need to feel important, British exceptionalism. Whatever it was, I believe it will be viewed as the key even over the past 70-years. 

  
 

‘I got no feeling, no feeling, no feeling 

For anybody else 

Except for myself 

My beautiful self-ish’ 

Notes: 
 

1. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/april2022#:~:text=Average%20weekly%20earnings%20were%20estimated,(COVID%2D19)%20pandemic. 

 
A Platinum Jubilee special from Philip this week, and a retrospective encompassing, politics, socio-economics and sport. Whilst relatively few of us may have personal recollections of the 25 year-old Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor becoming Queen Elizabeth II, many more may remember the Silver Jubilee in 1977 and lament the fact that so many structural and societal challenges remain.

And as Sue Gray’s report hits, Tory MPs are being shoved in front of cameras left, right and centre to ensure that we get on with the things that ‘really matter’; of course to some, it ‘really matters’ that the PM has consistently lied to them, that Downing St seemingly has a culture of boozing, bullying, drug abuse, tax avoidance, sexual assault, fiddling expenses and cronyism.

So what was Philip thinking?: ‘It is somewhat random, but I have tried to keep it topical with this week’s events.

In the UK the obvious one is Johnson’s seemingly magic trick of coming out of “partygate” virtually unscathed, whilst pictures continue to prove he was up to his neck in it, I can only assume the police didn’t have the balls to do the job properly. Just imagine if he had been black!

When I summarised everything there was an overwhelming feeling of a country diminished. I don’t believe we ever fully recovered from WW2.

In many ways I believe this feeling of diminishment was a driver for Brexit. Taking back control is national self-empowerment, negotiations with the EU centre on British exceptionalism. “Leavers” wallow in a glorious past, rather like our football fans. Immigration led to increased racism as the country turned inward.

The GFC might have been the straw that broke the camels’ back but this resentment has been festering under the surface for many years.

We end with random thoughts on sport, music, and innovation. Inevitably, over 70-years so much has changed making it impossible to document them.

Lyrically, it’s the Sex Pistols. Inevitably, we start with what became known as ‘God Save the Queen’, but was actually ‘No Future’ because that is how many young people felt in 1977. Disappointingly, 45-years hasn’t really changed that. We end with ‘No Feelings’ because it sums up this government. Enjoy!’

 
A well-earned rest for Philip next week as he dons his budgie smugglers, but we look forward to his return w/c 6th June.
 
@coldwarsteve
 

 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

 

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