Learn about Kids: Robert Chesshyre: In 1987 I returned to a country beset by class and inequality. And it still is

In 1987, The Observer, Robert returned Chesshyre U.S. and was surprised by what Thatcher in Britain, who wrote a book on the subject. It was reissued in a time that is strangely similar

In 1987, three million people were without work, the "big bang" had revolutionized the city and only feared that wages distort broader exorbitant salary, as heavy industry collapsed , which became known as swollen subclass, there were riots in Tottenham, the gap between state and private education had become abyss beggars were back in the subways and doors West End of London. NHS was, as always, a political minefield

Until you read my book to prepare for the publication fresh, had forgotten the details of life in Britain for a quarter century. The similarities with today are impressive: add a few zeros to account for inflation, and what was written could, for the most by letter today. The difficulties we face when we face now.

What we have time to do something about the problems of old in recent weeks has been highlighted by the action late. Shareholders are promised control over executive compensation, and the Secretary of Education finally seems genuinely concerned about the low level, the country is faced with some, at least, the interests of the professional classes

late 1980s was the dominant figure, of course, Margaret Thatcher. She was re-elected with less than 30% of the vote available, however, she rode the country as a medieval monarch, establishing both the political agenda and the zeitgeist. His ghost hovered over my trip Britain: every man for himself became the dominant philosophy and expected ridicule a bus stop when he could not afford a BMW. Greed - and the lack of controls that allowed greed - had become not only acceptable but laudable

Born in 1940 and raised in a society that becomes more harmonious (the war had created a "we're all in the same" spirit has survived long after the last bombs fell Hitler), in 1987, was deeply concerned by what I found. Four months after the June election, Thatcher uttered the famous phrase "there is no such thing as society", words that probably even later, she must have attended, and the spirit of the game in the declaration of the tone of public discourse.

Thatcher reveled in the social differences that had been gradually restored fusion hereditary titles of nobility (his deputy, Willie Whitelaw), hereditary baronies (by her husband, Denis), and studied his son Mark ( Now, of course, after the death of his father, "Sir" Mark) to Harrow. When I traveled - often out of the way, largely ignored areas of the UK - There is no doubt that most people arrested:. Thatcher was one of "them" and not "us"

After the First World War, the government warned that the "ridiculous and dangerous ostentation of the rich" could create social unrest. In 1987, when the young and rich holiday privilege of the city and their salaries inherited this lesson has been forgotten. Sloanes were at their peak, and the

gilded youth

drunk insensitive than their elders marched in Ascot. My memories of encounters with the Hooray Henries 1987 jiggle every time I see the pictures of the royal family nightclubs young man staggered. As the poor, the rich ostentatiously are still with us.

Education is today as it was then. The division created by independent schools has, if anything, grown in general. George Orwell suggested that the government's post-war work have achieved greater social equality, and therefore greater social satisfaction, had used his influence and energies to abolish public schools instead of the nationalization of heights dominant economy. Melvyn Bragg was recently quoted as saying that public schools "are the basis of inequality that is crippling the country." Seven per cent of children go to school pay: never so little wagging tail as big as a dog? In 1987, as today, the middle classes were more agonizing complete. I visited one in Knutsford, Cheshire, whose father undoubtedly anxious passed the test.

But battered by the press and especially unloved, understanding finally got a firm thumbs down, therefore, academies and "free" schools, which are the enthusiasm of the moment. In 1987, Great Britain, social class and education today suffers prey. Choice, to defend public education said, is a kind word for a process often unpleasant.
spent my adolescence in a cabal Old Etonian, chaired by Harold Macmillan: More than 50 years later, re-live under Old Etonian clique. Before being elected, I asked a local election campaign now my MP, Zac Goldsmith Old Etonian, how is that, in terms of direction of the Conservative Party, we were back in 1950. Old Etonians all likely to be in a Conservative government was, I said, absolutely the best people among our 60 million people in positions of authority.