Common People
On the front page of today's Guardian, under the heading "The human cost of the cuts", Amelia Gentleman writes:
"[The disappearance of these services] may not be noticed by anyone with a good income, in secure employment, in sound health, without caring responsibilities... [but] for the more vulnerable, the decision to close these bodies and cut these jobs will be sharply felt... Women, parents, carers, disabled people, teenagers and elderly people are likely to be most affected... From a Westminster perspective these may be easy to ignore... Viewed from Downing Street, they probably seem a fractured collection of regrettable but relatively insignificant services.."
And at the same moment, the iPod's shuffle chooses Common People from Pulp:
"Rent a flat above a shop, cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool, pretend you never went to school.
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night, watching roaches climb the wall
If you call your Dad he could stop it all.
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view, and dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do"
And I am fiercely reminded of the crushing inability of those that have been limousined through life to genuinely comprehend the consequences of their decisions for those that did not share their good fortune.
"[The disappearance of these services] may not be noticed by anyone with a good income, in secure employment, in sound health, without caring responsibilities... [but] for the more vulnerable, the decision to close these bodies and cut these jobs will be sharply felt... Women, parents, carers, disabled people, teenagers and elderly people are likely to be most affected... From a Westminster perspective these may be easy to ignore... Viewed from Downing Street, they probably seem a fractured collection of regrettable but relatively insignificant services.."
And at the same moment, the iPod's shuffle chooses Common People from Pulp:
"Rent a flat above a shop, cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool, pretend you never went to school.
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night, watching roaches climb the wall
If you call your Dad he could stop it all.
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view, and dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do"
And I am fiercely reminded of the crushing inability of those that have been limousined through life to genuinely comprehend the consequences of their decisions for those that did not share their good fortune.
[If there's a photo down here it was added
August 2017 as part of blog refresh. Photo is either mine or is linked to
where I found it. Make of either what you will.]
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