One of my great loves is cycling. I love the relaxation which comes from just being on my bike out in the back of beyond. Many of my routes make use of the railway lines which have been disused since the axe of Dr Beeching fell upon them. With their gentle gradients they make for great cycling, but one part of me always feels a hint of sadness. As a cyclist I'm all for sustainable transport and I can never get away from the feeling that the Beeching axe in its reactionary short-sightedness robbed us all of a future which would have been a bit better than today.
As I hear more and more political rhetoric piling up about cuts, the savings which need to be made, the fact that it can't go on like this, there is no alternative... this is the future. Part of me can't help thinking of Dr Beeching. Is this the fate which awaits the welfare state?
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Yes.But,Only if we let it.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I'm more than a bit saddened by the kind of support the cuts have been getting, but that sadness is nothing compared to my anger that the Govt have been turning once again to the tactic of demonising and stigmatising anyone who receives a modicum of state support (apart from the state pension of course as everyone gets that.. and the NHS as everyone gets that too -which proves the argument that universal benefits are harder to tak an axe to).
ReplyDeleteI live in hope that when the rhetoric becomes reality and the 'big society' is exposed for the smoke-cloud it is that the support drains away.