Submitted by a reader.
People often ask ‘what has the left ever done for us?’
There’s actually a long list of things the left did for us.
Everything is relevant to me but the NHS, council housing and education always strike a chord.
I was born in 1953 in what was pretty much slum conditions in bomb-ravaged Islington (very different to how it is now!). We lived in a one bedroom cottage, one living room, a scullery and outside toilet. No electricity, gas lighting and a tin bath in front of the fire once a week.
When I was six we were given a new ground floor, two-bedroom council flat between Manor House and Clissold Park – I remember going with my parents to view it and my amazement seeing a fridge for the first time! And turning lights on and off!
We lived minutes away from a brand new NHS health centre with doctors, a dentist, health visitors all under one roof. Mum got vitamins for us, we were vaccinated and it was all free.
I was lucky to have a good primary school. I passed the 11+, went to a girls’ grammar school and my parents scrimped and saved to buy my uniform. But the school gave me much more because it was multi-cultural and taught me more than French, Latin and English….it taught me that without the richness of diversity, we become limited in our thinking, of how we understand the world.
I’m both furious at and ashamed of the behaviour of so many of my generation.
Not only did I have everything I’ve spoken about but also got a 100% mortgage from (what was) London County Council and bought my first home for £11k when I was 22.
And that’s what so many oldies forget…how lucky we were! And by snidely suggesting young people today could have a home “if they worked harder” or ”stopped going to Starbucks” is shameful.
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