Defeated and trapped. Young look on in despair at The Kingdom of the Boomers

PaulF81

i do like the sound of ruggedtoasts fantasy world if they were to throw in anasthetics and penacillin.

mayonnaise

ruggedtoast wrote: »

. In the 1870s people could buy opium, drunk laudnum, collude with a lady of the evening without being arrested, settle a grievance with a pistol duel like men, bare knuckle fight, go on a sea voyage fighting pirates with cutlasses and make their fortunes exploring darkest Africa while experiencing the thrilling certainty that logic and reason would create a perfect world.

Those 1870-ers had it all.

cheap housing

plenty of work, even for kids

and the most exquisite dishes served on a daily basis

Generali

ruggedtoast wrote: »

By that logic someone with a pair of google glasses and a monthly subscription to Jugz.com should transcend to nirvana.

I think there is more to life than owning a smartphone. I am not especially sure owning a smartphone even does make people happier. In the 1870s people could buy opium, drunk laudnum, collude with a lady of the evening without being arrested, settle a grievance with a pistol duel like men, bare knuckle fight, go on a sea voyage fighting pirates with cutlasses and make their fortunes exploring darkest Africa while experiencing the thrilling certainty that logic and reason would create a perfect world.

Or they could be looking at Facebook on a smartphone here. I know which one sounds better to me.

There is. There's the C21st pharmaceutical industry which has made people able to live in comfort, well into old age.

There's cheap travel which has meant that even the poorest Britons can expect to be able to travel more than a couple of miles from home on a daily basis. Something that was unknown to most of the population 100 years ago and something that was illegal for most 100 years before that.

Britons starve to death because of addiction and poor mental health in 2014, not because of a simple lack of funds as was the case 144 years ago.

Laudanum might have taken the edge of things but then so does a cheap roast dinner and a couple of pints in front of the football on a Sunday lunchtime.

Illness was basically treated by witchcraft in 1870. A cut from a dirty or rusty nail could kill.

ruggedtoast

Generali wrote: »

There is. There's the C21st pharmaceutical industry which has made people able to live in comfort, well into old age.

There's cheap travel which has meant that even the poorest Britons can expect to be able to travel more than a couple of miles from home on a daily basis. Something that was unknown to most of the population 100 years ago and something that was illegal for most 100 years before that.

Britons starve to death because of addiction and poor mental health in 2014, not because of a simple lack of funds as was the case 144 years ago.

Laudanum might have taken the edge of things but then so does a cheap roast dinner and a couple of pints in front of the football on a Sunday lunchtime.

Illness was basically treated by witchcraft in 1870. A cut from a dirty or rusty nail could kill.

Don't worry, I'm not going to make you go and live in 1870.

Unless I go myself and need extra people to go on my almost certainly doomed, but manly, expedition to chart both ends of the Orinoco.

CLAPTON

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Don't worry, I'm not going to make you go and live in 1870.

Unless I go myself and need extra people to go on my almost certainly doomed, but manly, expedition to chart both ends of the Orinoco.

the Orinoco was fairly fully explored in the 1950 by boomers' parents

ruggedtoast

mayonnaise wrote: »

Those 1870-ers had it all.

cheap housing

plenty of work, even for kids

and the most exquisite dishes served on a daily basis

Yes, but they are happy. Look at them.

BobQ

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Just to remind people before the university 'boom' in the mid-90s, 20% of the population was going to uni.

And in 1980 it was about 5%. Basically recession challenged Governments in the 80s and 90s allowed it to go up over several decades. It was largely a ruse to reduce unemployment at the time.

ruggedtoast

I suppose thats another thing in favour of 1870. There were no boomers.

Generali

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I suppose thats another thing in favour of 1870. There were no boomers.

And no millennials!

[Deleted User]

BobQ wrote: »

And in 1980 it was about 5%. Basically recession challenged Governments in the 80s and 90s allowed it to go up over several decades. It was largely a ruse to reduce unemployment at the time.

So nothing to do with competing against the rest of the world, in an attempt to create a 'knowledge economy' and a vibrant financial sector?