Nostalgia and the great charity swindle

A pair of rose-coloured glasses can always ensure that things seemed better when we were young. But, Mike Oliver argues, when it comes to provision of services, things really have been on the slide

In 1962 I broke my neck and spent a year in the world-famous Stoke Mandeville Hospital which was about 100 miles from where I lived with my parents. For the whole of that year my parents visited me three times a week without fail. Their journey meant that they had to catch a bus to our nearest town of Rochester, a train to London, the underground across the capital, another train to Aylesbury and then a bus to hospital.

They were never late, never failed to get there and were always able to get home the same day.

Most of their travelling was done during one of the two worst winters of the 20th century. They never encountered the wrong type of snow, unprecedented temperature drops, leaves on the line or unpredicted levels of rainfall or, if they did, it never stopped public transport from running.

Today we are asked to believe that adverse weather of all kinds is the main reason why planes stop flying, trains and buses stop running, our taps dry up and sewage runs in our towns and cities as our drains can no longer cope. It seems to me that the only difference between now and 50 years ago is that public services used to be run for the benefit of the public, now they are run for the benefit of foreign investors and fat-cat managers who cream off the profits between them.

By now we must all be aware of our Government’s plans to create the “big society” even if no one, including those promoting it, seem to know what it is. Surely if we are to create a “big society” we need public utilities which serve us the public, public transport which enables us to get to where we want to go when we want to go there, public health services which keep us fit and well in order to enjoy all the benefits of living in the “big society” and social support systems which meet our needs when we encounter adverse circumstances.

While the Government is remarkably unclear about all this, it has come up with a suggestion of how we might fund the “big society” by making it easier to give to charity. If they have their way, soon we will be asked every time we make an electronic purchase of whatever kind, whether we would like to include a donation to charity.

Let’s remember that the original purpose of charity was not to help the poor, the hungry and the homeless but to enable the rich to buy their way into heaven. Let’s also remember that currently 23 members of the Cabinet are millionaires.

Now I’m not particularly religious but I like to think that when it is time for certain members of our Government to ascend to heaven, when they are asked what they did in the world below by St Peter, making it easier to give to charity will ensure that the pearly gates remain tightly shut.