Awaiting the eruption!

Living in a Cornish beauty spot and this being August, I’m reminded that my mother liked a summer holiday. She inherited this from her father. My maternal grandfather was a cashier at the Midland Bank in Leeds. He lived in a house, employed a housemaid and drove a motor car (a Humber) that was way beyond his income – due because his wife, my grandmother was the daughter of a very wealthy self made man. Each year the family took a holiday, often abroad. Something that only well to do families could do in the 1920s and the 1930s.

My mother enjoyed her holidays – as did her parents and her elder sister. However, there was always an aspect that served to put a damper on things. You see, my grandfather was a cashier at the Midland Bank and he was holidaying in the company of professional persons and minor members of the gentry. This was socially awkward – especially on passenger liners for since they were booked in First Class accommodation they were entitled to eat in the First Class restaurants and take advantage of the First Class lounges and other exclusive facilities!

It was not unusual for my grandfather to be offered a change of accommodation by the ship’s purser. The offer would comprise moving out of their first class accommodation into second class accommodation with financial compensation that more than offset the saving in the cost of the downgrade.

The reason why this offer was made was for reasons of “sociability”. You see, barristers, company directors, military officers and landowners were not terribly impressed to sit next to a “bank clerk” at luncheon and dinner!

Such offers were also made to the occasional “non white” passengers as well.

The ship’s purser was terribly polite and “understanding” suggesting that the family would be happier in the other restaurants and lounges.

My grandfather would have taken up the offer. However, his wife refused. My grandmother had been brought up in the grand manner and expected to continuing holidaying in the manner she had grown accustomed to!

Times change and whilst a summer holiday with Dad and Mum was part of my childhood, being subject to social discrimination was not.

After I had grown up and moved away and Dad retired, I would often take and pick them up from the airport of cruise terminal. One place they liked visiting very much was Pompeii.

Strangely, given the serious developments taking place in the UK at this time, my thoughts turn back to when I’d collect Mum and Dad from their Italian holidays in Campania.

Of course, Pompeii’s “claim to fame” is to be found in the ruins of it’s sudden destruction from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

You see, Mount Vesuvius will have had a number of minor eruptions accompanied probably by some minor earthquakes before the “big one”. These warnings were ignored and the citizens of Pompeii perished as a result.

I have this warning to the mainstream media and politicians supportive of Kneeler Starmer’s crackdown on the white working class “far right thugs” now occupying some of HM’s Prison accommodation!

The modest (by French standards) eruption of disorder following the murders in Southport should be taken as a warning of severe social unrest which if the present policies are continued with will only lead to worse happenings in the future.

The portents are terrible!

We have a seemingly unstoppable stream of migrants to these shores. A determination to accommodate these people that can seemingly prioritise their needs over the needs of the settled population – this being the perception of many of the white working class.

Anybody voicing criticism of this policy are branded as far right racists – and were any to “take to the streets” the harsh and peremptory punishment is now clear for all to see!

Were this situation not bad enough, it is made even worse by a stupefying obsession with “Net Zero” that can only increase the cost of heating and power to the populace and limit economic growth.

What is plain to see is that despite his authoritarian approach, Kneeler Starmer is NOT in control of events. Events are in control of him!

The longer his policies are in effect, the greater the pressure building up with the disadvantaged white working class will be. All it will need is another spark – which might be another terrorist attack carried out by a member of a “certain demographic”.

Times change and here is a “blast from the past” if you don’t mind parting with £6.75 for the DVD of the 1971 movie “Up Pompeii” (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Up-Pompeii-DVD-Frankie-Howerd/dp/B004EMS070/ref=asc_df_B004EMS070/). This could not be made in today’s Britain! It is a demonstration of just how much we have changed as a society.