Action Equals Reaction

Every action has a reaction! So, has the action of changing the government had a reaction on your life yet? I ask because apart from the heavy duty PR programme that has us all breathlessly expecting something dramatic to happen, nothing so far really has. The pubs and eating places in our town were heaving as usual when I drove through last evening, the car parks of the out of town retail centres and supermarkets were still full, so were the trolleys in front and behind me when I was doing the weekly shop with my wife. The roads were still heavy with traffic despite the outrageous price of petrol, and the advertisements for tour operators looked no different from the same time last year. Even the strikers at BA, who seem blissfully unaware of the fact they are talking themselves out of a job, were enjoying manning the picket lines with barbeques, music, drinks and of course speeches from their leaders, all of whom have oblivion set firmly in their sights, even if to them it does look like the promised land. Oh yes and the UK government has offered millions of pounds to Gaza to help the ‘Middle East Peace Process’, and I thought we were supposed to be skint!

But I hear rumblings and see changes in the high street and elsewhere that send warnings to anyone who cares to think about them. It started long before the election of course, but is suddenly more obvious. Shops that served our town for many years have closed, indeed the number of empty shops seems to grow daily, I reckon something like twenty per cent of the shops in town are empty, and other towns I have driven through show the same signs. In the countryside, the number of really old pubs that have closed surprised me, as has the number of building sites that seem not to be manned. The bill for the weekly shop is suddenly much higher, electricity bills have risen, so have parking charges in council owned car parks. Even to purchase a copy of a birth, marriage or death certificate from the General Register Office has recently risen by over 30%. Local councils are taking a closer look at all the services they offer and rumours indicate many may soon be discontinued. I hear that the civil service in Westminster have welcomed the new thinking of their Ministers and are relieved that the ‘wonderland’ attitude of recent years has gone. Critical eyes are being cast on areas of the NHS where waste has been reported and a general tightening up is believed to be under way. Businessmen to whom I have spoken recently have reported a more realistic attitude amongst their employees and a new willingness to cooperate with fresh thinking so maybe there’s a lot going on that is not yet obvious.

I have lived through a number of recessions and financial crisis, but this time it seems different and will, I think, be more difficult to work through. The expectations held by most people now are much higher than hitherto. When I started work, to own a telephone, a television or a car marked you as a very successful person, to borrow money was frowned upon unless it was from a bank and to get a bank account was no easy matter. The most common form of loan then was known as Hire-Purchase and anything bought in that way required you to put down something like a third deposit. To repay any loan was a matter of great personal honour. Taking the annual holiday abroad was unusual and the amount of Sterling allowed out of the country when you did so was strictly controlled. The whole subject of your income was an extremely private matter between you and your employer. All that has changed.

Now everyone talks about income levels, lack of ownership of a telephone, television or car is unthinkable and the use of a credit card is perfectly normal; whether the loans incurred on them are to be paid back seems to be an area of debate though. Travelling abroad is commonplace and mostly seems to cost no more than a holiday in the UK. The world is everyone’s oyster now.

The politicians have sold us the basic message, that “Times are hard”. How hard we have yet to find out. I think a lot of their actions aimed at achieving vast savings will be in areas that the public rarely comes into contact with. The effects will of course be felt eventually but not all at once. But will it be so hard that less will be bought in the supermarkets? Or cause you to walk instead of using the car? Perhaps any holiday this year might not be possible? And eating or drinking out in a pub or restaurant, will that suffer? Will you drink water (from the tap) with your meal instead of wine? Will you still use a credit card or concentrate on clearing what you already owe on it? These questions are easier to ask than to answer. If every action has a reaction and everyone starts cutting down on their expenditure, businesses will suffer, jobs will be lost, there will be even less money about and the crisis will get worse. But if we don’t cut our expenditure we won’t clear our debts, that’s as true of each individual as it is of the Government. What’s needed is some sort of financial Houdini, let’s hope there’s one in H.M.Treasury. This, it seems to me, is not a good time to be a politician, whatever action they decide upon, the reactions could cause even greater problems.