Do you ever receive a severe jolt, that makes you realise that history is repeating itself, the only question is whether this is as farce or tragedy. Let me explain.
This morning, I was doing what I always do when I feel down. I put "The Ramones Leave Home" on the turntable. For me it is the most inspirational album of all time. The album was released on the 10th January 1977 to almost no reaction. It made the Billboard chart briefly at 145 and did slightly better in the UK reaching number 45. Much as I'd like to write a whole blog about how marvellous the album is and why you should have it in your collection, that will have to wait.
What really struck me, on reflection, was just how much like 1977 the year 2019 is starting to become. Do you remember 1977? I do. I was 14 when the album was released. I was not particularly interested in Politics, but it was a hot topic in my household. Dad was an arch Tory and Mum was a Socialist. Dad believed that the Tories were pragmatic and good for business in the real world. Mum believed in social justice and fairness. Dad was a big supporter of Ted Heath, who he felt was a man who understood the world. He was pro European, although also strongly patriotic. He told me that structures like the EU were necessary to prevent wars. He also explained that when blocks came together, wars stopped, whereas when they fell apart, war was an inevitable consequence. He thought nationalism was the greatest curse. We didn't go to Spain, as he loathed Franco's fascist regime. When we went to France, he'd find out which cafe's owners had been part of the resistance, and we'd drink there. If they were owned by collaborators, he'd avoid them like the plague. These things were important to my father. Although I took my political leanings from my mum, I took my views of nationalism from him. As I watched the USSR dissolve and areas like Chechnya dissolved into civil war and we saw terrible ethnic cleansing and war in the former Yugoslavia dissolve into civil war, ethnic cleansing and war, I realised what my father was talking about.
But in 1977, the Soviet Union was a stable, powerful block. James Callaghan had become the Prime Minister when Harold Wilson stood down in 1976. Callaghan was propped up by the Liberal Party (forerunners of the Lib Dems) as he was running a minority government. Margaret Thatcher was the maverick leader of the Tories. The economy was in crisis, the country was in turmoil. In 1977 few took Thatcher seriously. She was most definitely not seen as a safe pair of hands. The view of many was that she was a very risky, hard right figure, who would bring economic turmoil and division to the nation. My parents were in a strange position. They actually knew her quite well, as she was involved in many charities that my parents were also involved in. As she was Finchley MP, she was active in the community and my parents attended many functions. Thatcher actually tried to persuade my mother to stand as a Labour candidate, stating that she was far more competent than many of the male MP's she knew. My father was not overly keen on Thatcher. He was a charmer and a ladies man, and the fact that Thatcher was not overly keen on his flannel did not go down particularly well with him. He changed his view of her when she was PM and quite liked her, but always stated that she was a cold fish. He got on very well with her husband, Dennis, who he thought good company and who he felt rather sorry for. Once my mother criticised Dennis for being drunk at a function. My father stated that he'd be drunk if he was married to Thatcher. My fathers main worry about Thatcher was that she was, in his opinion, someone who didn't get business. His view was that if business was successfull, the UK would be successful. He'd always state that without successful businesses, it would be impossible for Labour to pay for its policies. In 1977 however, he felt neither party were particularly trustworthy. He probably felt that James Callaghan was marginally better as a PM, as at least he was a man of experience. I suspect that his views may have been coloured by a degree of sexism. Whatever you may think of Maggie, she proved that women could manage high office ( I do wonder what he'd have made of Theresa May?).
So where are we now? The parallels are quite surreal. The nation is in crisis. The leader of the opposition is a maverick, who many, even in hos own party, don't trust. Like Thatcher, he wants to shake up the status quo. Like 1977, the government is propped up by a difficult alliance, that disintegrated. Like 1977, the Prime Minister is unelected. Interestingly, it also seems that Callaghan should have called an election as soon as possible and was damaged beyond repair by delaying until after the winter of discontent. In 1977, the problem for Labour was the Unions. In 2019 it is Europe. David Cameron created a seemingly impossible situation by calling the referendum in the way he did. In 1977, the issue of Union power was seen as equally problematic for our country by many. Ted Heath had called a snap election to show "who runs the country" and lost. In some ways, this is very similar to Theresa May's disastrous decision.
It seems to me that we are heading for another winter of discontent. I suspect that politically this could go on for at least a couple of years. I really don't think that Boris can win a majority if he holds an election. He has botched his strategy. The idea was that yesterday was a big day, when his spending review would kick start the election campaign. Sadly for him, it was completely overshadowed by the votes to stop no deal and to stop an election. Boris is trying the Cameron 'chicken' tactic on Jeremy Corbyn. This is a very silly tactic, as everyone knows why Corbyn has not fallen into the trap laid by Dominic Cummings as part of his cunning plan. Furthermore, Boris has alienated some very senior colleagues. Even his own brother has quit, making it plain that he doesn't think his own brother isn't up to the job. In 1977 the name for the UK was 'The sick man of Europe'. I've no idea what they are calling us now, but I doubt too many would disagree right now.
There are other strange similarities. Who were the top football teams in the country in 1977? Liverpool and Manchester City. Liverpool won the league by a single point, in a strange reverse of this years final table. And as for music. What was the single that spent most weeks at no 1 in this, perhaps most pivotal of years. It wasn't the Sex Pistols, it wasn't the Stranglers. Actually it was Brighouse and Rastrick Brass band with Floral Dance. I'm not sure if "I Don't Care" by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber is quite in the same league, but that at the mo is the single that has topped the charts longest so far this year.
Interestingly, with all the talk of 'Fake News', the whole conspiracy theory concept was launched in the UK as the result of a scheduling cock up by Anglia Television. They scheduled a spoof 'end of days' documentary called Alternative 3 for broadcast on April 1st. Strangely, they didn't complete it in time and it was broadcast on 20th June. Most people missed the references to 1st April in the credits. The basic premise was that scientists had determined that the Earth's surface would be unable to support life for much longer, due to pollution leading to catastrophic climate change. Physicist "Dr Carl Gerstein" claimed to have proposed in 1957 that there were three alternatives to this problem. The first alternative was the drastic reduction of the human population on Earth. The second alternative was the construction of vast underground shelters to house government officials and a cross section of the population until the climate had stabilised, a solution reminiscent of the finale of Dr Strangelove. The third alternative, the so-called "Alternative 3," was to populate Mars via a way station on the Moon.
Those of us concerned about a climate catastrophe can but wonder. I can remember at the time that I fell for the hoax, as did all of my family. When it was revealed as a hoax, we all claimed we knew all along. Perhaps it is time for us all to Swallow our pride and face up to the fact that sometimes life imitates art. If we'd actually started to consider the issues in 1977, maybe we wouldn't be facing a climate crisis and we wouldn't need Extinction Rebellion protests.
I'm sure you didn't expect to get away without a blast of the Ramones today. Enjoy
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