In the post-WWII-1950s when I was a child, an almost hysterical attitude prevailed towards right and wrong. Wrongdoers were severely punished, and the importance of ‘doing right’ was instilled into young minds over and above almost everything else. As a result, life might have been seen to be simpler, but its rigidity and lack of sympathy could be brutal.
What has happened now? I believe generations of people since the 1960s have been brought up very differently, have not been taught the same creed, nor read the same literature, and as a result ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ have become forgotten words. Or have they?
Politicians are terribly keen to be seen to be ‘doing the right thing.’ Rishi Sunak often told a barely heeding public he was carrying out measures ‘because it’s the right thing to do,’ a phrase which Sir Kier Starmer has picked up and, surprisingly, continued to use. I say surprisingly, because of its sanctimonious tone – a real turn-off when Rishi said it, and perhaps even more so under the current Prime Minister. Somehow Starmer infers admonishment as well, and this is, I feel, provocative.
Is there a danger that the Labour Government is, in its self-righteous and puritanical attitude, turning the ‘minions’ against it? Are its ministers really doing ‘the right thing’? I fear the next few years will be tough on all of us, not necessarily because of the draconian measures which will be inflicted upon a confused public, but because of the resentment which will – and perhaps has already started to - fester among ordinary people who thought they knew right from wrong. And if the Prime Minister, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and various other pious individuals in public life tell us that it’s the right thing to do, will we believe them? You tell me!