Winter has come

Blair McPherson

There is a constant threat of decline and sense of wrongness in the world. There are kings and king makers, trial by combat, scheming and betrayal and a delicious habit of bumping of the biggest names. This is not some medieval fantasy or an episode of Game of Thrones this is Great Britain after the "Vote" this is the UK following a period of prolonged austerity this is our country in a period of great uncertainty.

Temporary alliances form and reform, local authorities group together to enhance their power, hospitals merge in order to dominate a region, social services and health pool budgets and join forces. Old hostilities are put a side, at least for the time being. Old structures are torn down and new ones built, people are forcibly moved, men and women with experience and wisdom are denounced as heretics and dispensed with, a cull ensures only true believers occupy positions of power. The budget cuts are bloody, they fall disproportionately on the poor and there is no end in sight.

Things are bad up north, things were always bad up north. The North is cold and wet, life as harsh as the climate, the poverty is more visible, food banks and pay day loan companies abound, life expectancy is some ten years shorter. The public sector was the biggest employer, the public sector was hardest hit by budget cuts. Things are grime up North. The Wall is in disrepair, those beyond it are bold and getting bolder. Soon their influence will be felt in the capital. The city where the climate is sunny and life is good for the elite may soon find itself bending to the will of those beyond the wall. Winter has come.

www.blairmcpherson.co.uk

Blair, it may well be 'grim up north' but "fings is tuff daarn saarf, too"! The 'pockets' of deprivation aren't so much 'pockets' as they are ghettos, huge, sprawling estates of poorly maintained, high rent, 'private estates' that were once, yet pitifully few still are, 'council estates'. Cheap housing for the working poor is not rich pickings for private landlords. The 'jobs for life' in the public sector have long gone and the 'contractorised' jobs, that replaced them in the rush towards 'outsourcing' were short-lived and poorly paid. Life in Britain is not so much Game of Thrones, it has become a headlong dash into a remake of the 'Dark Ages'. The titled 'Robber Barons' and dictatorial monarchy are replaced by corporate 'robbers' and corrupt politicians. Yes, we can draw parallels to engrossing TV shows and movies but we are really talking about the exploitation of real lives by real people who show no compassion and little understanding of their impacts upon the disenfranchised populous. The sun is not shining on all those "in the city". It shines brightly for those who "have" and" do" but, like their brethren 'up north', the winds are chill, the rainy is stony cold, the clouds dark and menacing and the future is anything but bright, for way too many.................

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