The quality of life -how do you rate it? Better or worse than it was for earlier generations?
Curmudgeonly journalist Fyfe Robertson considers whether – in spite all of the myriad technological and material advancements made over the course of his 73 years – people’s quality of life might not actually be any better.
He considers the rise of commuter culture, the increase in the pace of life, the incessant and expanding news cycle, the decline of public transport, the birth of new towns, vandalism, football hooliganism, the rise in homelessness and the falling standards of rented accomodation, the lack of imagination in urban planning, financial strain forcing families to send their children to daycare centres, and the proliferation of chain stores in town centres.
Of course, the opinions of Fyfe Robertson do not necessarily reflect those of the BBC Archive, much as we dearly love ol’ Robbie.
Clip taken from Robbie, originally broadcast on BBC One, Thursday 28 August, 1975.
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23 Comments
I loved the old Laird. He spoke such a lot of sense in my opinion!
I wonder if any of these people are still alive now
Well Fyfe. You got your wish. Housing is entirely at the mercy of those wonderful philanthropists, the landlords, now and so homelessness and inadequate housing in Britain has been entirely solved.
Welcome to 2025…
Yes, yes it is Fyfe – you died about the right time!
Someone like Fyfe Robertson wouldn't even get a job on the BBC now!
it seems the doomer mindset is not new
ohhh…. At risk at doxx.. this is my start point…
funny thing is, it sounds just like today but not amplified but social toss media
The faceless towns & cities., bloody awful. I'm glad i live in Penrith, a market town in Cumbria. Yes, the town isn't perfect, we could do with some men & ladies clothes shops, and we have empty shops and the town could do with a spruce up. But what we do have is good. Local shops that offer good, friendly service with a smile. You can walk into town on a Saturday and say hello to people you pass on the way. Stop in a local pub for a swift pint and speak to people you've never met before. Perhaps i have rose tinted glasses as a newbie from the south. My wife and i moved up our daughter and her husband and our 2 year old granddaughter, too. Life is good, its like going back in time to a nicer age.
The news is a drug as potent as pot!! Did i really hear that!!???!!😂😂
A wonderful commentator. So gd to hear his voice again.
Aye, we was 'appier then when we 'ad nothin'
i'm guessing this guy doesn't do social media
OMG if you could see Britain now!!
I remember 1975, it was a truly sh!t year. I'd far rather be in 2024 than 1975. You're all looking back with rose tinted glasses on
News is as potent as pot? Gosh!
Did anyone notice Fyfe bemoaning the lack of faith in the free market. The free market has had it’s way almost continuously since then……….perhaps Maggie took note.
It’s not so bad anyway. The old pendulum swung a bit too far to the right, for a bit too long. Let’s hope for a bit of redress.
Welcome to 2024.
Notice how few minorities are visible in this footage. These days it’s quite the opposite
the kid at 7:46 lmao
Before the beeb hated the brits
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. ~ A Tale of Two Cities
Neoliberal economics and corporate greed have made things much worse since the early 1980s for the.vast.majority of people