Lord Young of Graffham (picture left) has just resigned as a government advisor. Quite right too.
What he said was not only deeply offensive but showed how unaware he is of so many people’s plight. Here is what he said:
“For the vast majority of people in the country today, they have never had it so good ever since this recession – this so-called recession – started, because anybody, most people with a mortgage who were paying a lot of money each month, suddenly started paying very little each month. That could make three, four, five, six hundred pounds a month difference, free of tax. That is why the retail sales have kept very good all the way through.”
This is not a “so-called” recession it has been a severe recession. The chart on this page shows that it has been the worst since the 1930’s. This is not something to be spun away real people are suffering as a result.
There are plenty of people having a really tough time. People who are struggling to make ends meet. Most normal people know people like this. I certainly do. Often at their wits end. Don’t even start on how they will face Christmas.
Never had it so good? Don’t make me laugh.
It is just not good enough to have rich people such as Lord Young saying we have never had it so good. For many its a living nightmare.
Goodbye, Lord Young. We shan’t miss you.
Will Cookson's Blog 
I am not rich, I am not a businessman, I am not a Lord, but I agree with Lord Young on this one: I am tired of hearing the whining of people who have a house and a car and a pension. This is a welfare state, and nobody ever had to starve or die out of need. And the alleged spending cuts are no cuts really: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/uk-budget-what-cuts/
I have travelled many places, and one thing I have learned is that we Europeans moan and whine at a very high level. While others, who are truly in need, are forgotten by us.
A civil servant who loses his job and has to look for one on the free market with his experience, connections and references is not in a terrible situation. A farmer in Bangladesh is after a flood. Or a refugee in Kigali who doesn’t know where his family is.
Think about this, next time you warm up with a coffee at Pret-a-Manger after a protest in London.
Oh I don’t like whining either… and I agree that we’re loads better off than those in the Third World who are literally facing starvation but just because one person is starving to death doesn’t mean antoher person’s hardship is invalid.
And yes, when I warm up after a protest I drink tea from a flask I took with me….
Will,
Lord Young has quite rightly resigned for his “so-called” recession remarks.
However the majority of his statement was dealing with the issue of mortgages and he was quite correct in what he said. With interest rates at such a low level, mortgages for many households are considerably less than they were a couple of years ago.
Lord Young was forced into resigning because of the insensivity of his remarks. I found your statement really hypocritical for the following sentences. “What he said was not only deeply offensive but showed how unaware he is of so many people’s plight. ”
John 8 v7.