"No tree can ever survive when we deprive its roots of future nourishment. Our tree of life will never be found naked in an eternal autumn of austerity if we keep its roots anchored in the wholesome soil of a real economy and do not forget or ignore the lessons of the past sixty years when looking out for our young. When, as a society, will we ever learn that burdensome debt weighs down heavy on all who have to bear it, but is felt heaviest of all when the person expected to discharge the debt didn't take it on in the first place!
Every person has a right to their own religious, political and moral view and it is not for me to question the views of others which I might not share. But even fair-minded people have a right to speak louder when they believe that much of society is on the wrong track.
As the youngest shop steward in Great Britain at the age of 18 years, I espoused the socialist cause with the most ardent of believers. Born into a working-class family where money was always short and material misery long-lived, it was the most natural thing in the world to vote as my mining father did, and his father before him.
After coming back from Canada however, in 1965, my political views gradually started to change. Like a number of people, I loaned my political allegiance to the Socialists, Liberals and Conservatives between one election and another. My political views changed most, not after I started to become more upwardly mobile after having obtained a post as Mill Manager with a good wage to match, but after my first child was born.
I wanted a more peaceful and prosperous life for my children than I had experienced. Being a political animal and an ardent reader and student of British history, the older I grew, the more I was obliged to acknowledge that every election that the Labour Party had won in my adult lifetime and became the Government of the country, when it eventually lost Office, it left behind a massive debt which took at least another full Parliament period to pay off a mere part of the interest borrowed!
Is it any wonder that the Conservative Party was eventually perceived by the British electorate as the 'Nasty Party' as the Government of the Day who was called upon to repay that debt? I recall attending a church in Mirfield for over thirty years. Every seven years, the Bishop rotates the priests from one parish to the next. I remember one priest deciding to extend the church building and redecorate it to the highest of standards. The entire work took just over six years to complete. I also remember the first words spoken by the new priest when he said, 'What a beautiful church you have built, but we must now knuckle down during my seven-year time here and start to pay the £200,000 your former priest borrowed for it!'
Forgetting for one post, the needy people of other countries, and instead focusing on the people of Great Britain today, it grieves me to see the Labour Party still up to its old tricks when it comes to economic management. It may sound good to give everyone who will vote for them a wish that will never materialise in a thousand years without wrecking the economy of the country once again and building the debt mountain ever higher. When will they realise that all things need to be paid for by someone and that the debt of the older generation always falls to the responsibility of the young to discharge!
In a fast-changing world where owning a house and having a job becomes farther from the reach of all but the wealthiest of our young people, not only is it cruel to make promises that cannot be kept, but it is wholly reprehensible to order a round of drinks at the bar and say, 'Those following me will pay!'
Let us embrace all the good things about our fellow man and wherever possible avoid the bad. The tree of life will never be found naked if we keep our roots anchored in wholesome soil and do not ignore the lessons of our forefathers and look out for the young of tomorrow. If however, we eat into the inheritance of our children and spend today their future profits yet unearned, we will leave them bereft of all the greenery we have ever known.
From all of the political mistakes I have observed over the past seventy years, the worst thing the adults of this country have done to the children of tomorrow is to saddle them with an enormous debt which they can never repay and to ensure that austerity will remain with them during their entire lifetime. However, did we become so selfish a society as not to care for those who come after us with the brush and dustpan?" William Forde: July 26th, 2017.