There was a time when people used to claim that they wanted a better world for their children to grow up in, I remember it well, which makes me wonder why no one else seems to these days? Let’s be honest, this today is not the best of all possible worlds. For a certain minority, the wealthy families, it might appear to be a wonderful time, as their money acts like a buffer between reality and their existence, but for the majority of people, working people, that is not the case. Poverty is on the increase and those in charge do not seem to care.

In Britain today it truly feels like the maniacs have taken over the asylum. While our neighbours in Europe appear to be trying to tackle the problems of the worldwide economy, our errant leaders seem only determined to reveal how incapable and how out of touch with reality they all are. Parliament feels almost irrelevant after the antics of Boris Johnson, a man who brought the position of Prime Minister down to a new low, one that his replacement, Liz Truss, seems to have responded to with a ‘hold my beer’ moment so that she could crash the British economy even further.

Of course, preceding this was the pandemic that plunged most of the world into a hysteria never seen in our lifetime before. The zombie apocalypse never happened, but events still led to an internet wit posting a meme that pointed out that George Orwell’s ‘1984’ was a warning, not a blueprint. It did not stop people surrendering their freedoms readily enough and forming lines to have an untested vaccine injected into their arms and their children’s as well. Today, most countries are abandoning the Covid travel restrictions that were imposed and a vaccine passport, initially claimed to be the product of conspiracy theorists until they actually appeared, are going the same way. We are having to live with Covid-19 as some argued way back in 2020 and were attacked for voicing an opinion that went against the herd mentality.

The world we live in now is the product of the last two years. It is a place where critical thought is not encouraged and right-wing tendencies flourish. People seem far less tolerant and more insistent that others are either with them or against them. Constructive criticism is not encouraged, often openly attacked, or rather the person who makes it rather than the argument that they offer. While the rich get richer, the smallest part of our society, the poor get poorer, and those inbetween desperately try to convince themselves that they are closer to being richer than they are poorer. They want to belong to a club that will most likely never let them join because they believe the lie that it can happen to them. Perhaps that is the reason why they turn a blind eye to the rampant greed of those already wealthy enough that is pushing even working people into poverty, a state that should not exist in the 21st century.

I am an egalitarian. I want to live in a world of equality of opportunity and where treating others in the same that I would like to be treated is the norm, not the exception. I do not think that a love of money is going to bring about such a world. I do not love money; I use it as a necessity because it is an economic necessity. I do not want to be a millionaire let alone a billionaire, I just want a level of financial security that means I do not have to worry about being made homeless or having to choose between heating or eating and I think that should apply to everyone, not the just the select few. Over the last two years it seems like people have been encouraged to forget such ideals, get with the program, don’t ask questions, and prove you are one of us by shooting down those who would rather stand out from the crowd. That is not the world that I wanted for my children. It might not achieve much but I am going to continue asking questions and criticising decisions because it is better than just giving up!