World of Politics with Harry McGee

I can’t remember where I saw the cartoon – or even when – but it made me laugh at the time, and I still relate it. It shows a man and his kid sitting on a couch looking at television. The man is telling the kid: “When I was your age, I had to get up from the couch and walk all the way to the television to change stations.”

Past hardships are a relative thing.

I come from a generation whose fathers would never tire of telling us that they walked to school barefooted (or badly shod) with a sod of turn in each hand to light the fire in the classroom.

The message was always very clear. The next generation always lives a more cosseted and privileged life than the previous one – and does not sufficiently appreciate the hardships, and sacrifices that were made.

Ireland has been relatively prosperous for a long while now and the difference (in most cases) of lifestyle between parents and children is much slimmer than it was in the past.

The biggest contrast was between those who grew up in the 1950’s or before and those who grew up from the late 1960’s onwards.

The word ‘ration’ has featured prominently in many news reports over the past week, here in Ireland and throughout Europe.

The continuing war in Ukraine is now having a very deep impact upon our economies, and by extension, on our way of life. Russia announced this week that it is cutting off the gas pipeline to western Europe until sanctions are lifted.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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