Apolitical dunce

We went to the Lawrence Batley Theatre to see Our Friends in the North on Thursday . The play was pretty good. It was first written in 1982 and this is a special 25 year anniversary production, a timely reminder of the origins and ramifications of political corruption. The story is quite a bit different from the t.v. version– there is loads about Rhodesia, which doesn't even get mentioned in the BBC adaptation. My friend reckons this is because Mugabe is all the media's fault as they bigged him up. Well I can't remember that amount of detail from the time, but it is interesting the way things get edited and distorted, innit?

I actually found it more depressing than the telly screenplay because, I suppose, of the politics and how much more apparent it was that things are just the same now – there was a theme running through that this was the beginning of political disillusionment among ordinary people, but I wonder if that is true. There's a lot of talk nowadays about apathy and alienation which leads to the British people largely accepting things, and not standing up for what they believe is right; they'd rather have a good winge (see non smoking law for details, as previously discussed) than change things. But with a very few exceptions, I think it's been that way for a long time.

We have currently been watching the BBC version of Our Friends in the North on DVD. This weekend we watched the episode covering 1984, the Miner's strike and all that. This made me think again what a bastard Thatcher was. Why does everyone have this rosy glow about what life was like under the Tories? I mean, Labour are just as shit but what happened to the miners was totally criminal – how could people vote that woman in again after what she did to them? Well, I guess they got their comeuppance with the poll tax riots; this really was the last straw for a lot of people. When the government starts upsetting middle class grannies, they really have to start taking notice so Gordy watch out! People can see past their shiny beads eventually if they're pushed hard enough!