Doom and Gloom

I thought it was just me. Thinking that the world is going to pot. That there is war and violence in every corner of the globe. That the poor are still poor, that the rich are getting richer and that the gap between them is getting larger.

I suppose there is nothing new in any of that. It was ever thus. But what really saddens me and makes me feel increasingly despondent is the seeming collapse of standards in this country. I am not talking of table manners and common courtesy. I am referring to the increasing number of people in public life who are caught with their hands in the till, lying through their teeth, perverting the course of justice, paying themselves whopping bonuses while sacking people galore and so on and so forth.

England used to be a country where, on the whole people could not be bribed, where garden produce or Evening Standards were left unattended in the street and buyers left their money in a box. Where huge deals were sealed only with a handshake and nobody defaulted. Where people left their front doors unlocked. Where children played out in the street.

What has happened? Has integrity become an obsolete word? Has honesty become outdated? And isn't it sad that people much younger than me are also pessimistic about the state of the world.