THE WORKING MAN - No.7 in the series 'Old Photos of Scotland'
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2024
- Seventh video in the series, 'Old Photos of Scotland', and we're looking at old photos of workers in Scotland.
And not just men. Many of the images show working women, and there are indeed probably just as many working women as men. We have photos of women making bombs during the 1914-18 Great War; women making aeroplanes in the same period; women making warships again during the same period, and women working in bare feet for a reason we can't quite fathom.
In the old days we made lots of things, as demonstrated in the photographs. Today, we make much less than we used to, and import much of what we need from abroad, thereby denying the British workforce a job. Indeed, it wasn't that long ago that that great British retail institution Marks & Spencer's turned its back on British workers and decided to get a lot of goods from places like India and China. In doing so, they probably put something like four-thousand-five-hundred British workers out of work.
Heavens, in the old days we even made our own gas, with every town and village supplied by a local gas-works. Today, not only are British workers shunned in favour of foreign workers making cheap goods abroad, much of the gas and electricity - and even water - is owned by foreign firms, with profits going abroad and to shareholders around the world. It's hardly surprising we're skint, with a UK economy rapidly going down the plughole.
This is old photos of Scotland, but it's really much more than that. It's a search for hope in a UK economy that has very little money for anything.
Brilliant video Eddie, really enjoyed it. I think if the members of the Government were paid the minimum wage, they would better understand the situation so many folks are in and would make better decisions. Too many Government employees are millionaires and are completely diconnected fom the lives of the people they represent.
Thanks guys.
Your studio equipment is definitely looking more and more badass and hi-tech. Won't be too long before you'll require your very own server!
Thanks for this wistful look back into the working lives of our forebears. Brings back memories of my own family history, of my grandmother coming home from the munitions factory with gunpowder still underneath her fingernails. Of one of my great grandmothers ending up in Woodilee Asylum because her husband was cut to pieces when he got caught in a machine belt. Those stories still live in my mind, but sadly no-one else in my family is interested in hearing about them. My poor g.g.mother lost her husband, her source of survival and her mind. Life can be so fragile, and can change so suddenly. I suppose health and safety standards now exist because so many died in tragic accidents at work. Anyway, I always enjoy your photo-montages and the music you create. It's a wee treat when a new Ed video appears.
Cheers Eilean. I suppose it's the well-used phrase about kids these days not knowing how lucky they are, although I'm just not too sure.
Another good one Ed , my first official job was in 1975 , I worked in a wool processing factory, everything came in and out in hessian and jute sacks, they were always reused , they were rolled up and inserted into cartons and addressed to each individual farm for them to fill again and send back , it was mainly women that were employed in the factory.
Cheers John.
Great video thanks Ed. Your preamble hit the nail on the head. We have become too reliant on other countries at the detriment of our own country. When will we ever learn?
I loved the photographs. They were certainly tough times, but where everyone had a purpose.
Health and safety and occupational illness was obviously not a consideration. I wonder what the life expectancy age was during these times.
Thanks again Ed.
Cheers Bryce. The good old days, perhaps.
Fab video Eddie with some great photos. Very interesting and natalgic. How the County has changed. Cheers
It certainly has. Cheers Andy.
I grew up in Haverhill Massachusetts when it was known as The Queen Shoe City of the World....the best women's shoes in the world. There were the supporting leather industries, tanning, dyeing, and all the satellite businesses that sprung up in a working class City. Groceries, tailors, cobblers, Mom and Pop stores, butchers, bars, theaters...a bustling downtown and Full Employment. That was the 50-60's.
Then the "Investment Class" moved the factories from the Northeast to the South....Cheaper Labor. Then From the South to Brazil...Cheaper Labor and every time the Investor Class increased their Bottom Line the End Product reflected their greed....A Cheap Product barely worth owning.
The factory Cities of the Merrimac River Valley that were at one time where people from all over the world came for employment and a good life faltered....all for the Greed of The Investor Class....The Few.
It's an Old Story repeated.
Well done Ed. Keep up the good work. Your right, essential services should be in public ownership. The world consists of great trading powers. Therefore, to thrive in today's world, we need an EU trade policy, industrial policy, and surplus redistribution policy. The first step is independence. You might be interested in what Yanis Varoufakis has to say.
I'll check Yanis out. Thanks John.
Great old photos Ed !
Cheers Maxine.
That's a fascinating and informative video, Eddy.
Thank you,
Charles in Sydney.
Thanks Charles. All the best to Sydney.
Another great video Eddie. Spot on with what you said aswell 👍
Thanks 👍
Great video eddie. The govt is directly to blame for this. Police scotland is looking at shutting down 19 police stations in scotland due to massive budget cuts from the uk and scottish government. These stations include paisley, kirkintilloch, saracen, milngavie and bishopbriggs
Cheers Andy. It's quite unbelievable what is going on. For Paisley to be without a police office is madness. It's only a matter of time before the whole country collapses around us.
My first station in 2010. Sad times👍 hope you are keeping well. Youre videos are a source of fun for people and they can forget the bad parts of life for a few minutes. Keep it up👌
Hi Ed, I remember when all around where we lived in parkheid was industry of all sorts. There were factories in Brigton where you could look in a wee side door that was open to let in some fresh air. It was wimman at machines as far as you could see, and the noise was deafening. It's all gone now, Beardmore's forge is now a shopping centre. I buy my y-fronts from M&S and did the same as you and looked at the label, they're £5 a pair but last for ages. But how much does it cost M&S to make and import them. Great video Ed, thanks for your research.
Cheers Colin.
I enjoyed your vlog, it was a bit of a shock to discover that I am now of an age that photos taken when I started working are now old (1974)!!
Know the feeling.
Great video. Life really was tough for so many people & I’m guessing where you’re auld drawers (😂) are made nowadays, the working conditions won’t be much better.
Absolutely. Conditions in factories in the likes of India must at times be akin to those we had in Victorian times. We often hear about tragic fires in factories in India.
Not even finished watching this..but as a joiner of 29vyears -based in Lanarkshire ....I'm absolutely thrilled with this episode. Another of changes in my game in that time.
We should never of stopped buying British., my parents always tried in the 1980s , if buying electrical goods in particular, to some ridicule.
Not too funny now thoug
Many thanks. I recently bought a toy stuffed parrot, as you do (it'll feature in the next video). Bought in Hamley's, Made in China! What sort of state is the UK in when we can't even make our own stuffed parrots!
excellent :)
Thank you.
Lovely video as always Ed
Thanks Alan.
Amazing Ed, you'd be surprised with the amount of metal from our industrial past i find metal detecting.....literally in the middle of nowhere. You think your the first one to walk over somewhere,how wrong we are..
Spot on Ed 🇦🇺
Cheers Kate.
Interesting video, thanks. It is fascinating to see the changes in technology and how it effects living and working conditions. The "industrial age" with it's leverage of coal/steam power changed so many things. Transitioning to oil, nuclear and now solar and wind all bring about profound impacts to all of us. The globalization of markets, global shipping, "free trade" also change business, jobs, economies so profoundly. Cost of labour around the world is not consistent, nor balanced, so how can a British worker compete with people making things at 1/10 the labour cost? Erecting trade barriers sound like a good idea, but what is the effect of doing so,Part of the reason for "free trade" is to sew the seeds of peaceful coexistence... We also move up the technology chain and by doing so become vastly more productive, It was the productive leveraging of coal that started this trend, or was it fire... Seems we have been on the path of making tools and leveraging them and knowledge for quite a while now. Are we training our youth for AI based living/production, agile manufacturing, a world of robotics? Where will the work be? Creation of products, or items of need/want? What will the tools/skills be for the future? Knowing how to forge, rivet, fit, weld iron and steel, knowing the magic of hydro-carbon chemistry were once the top of the leveraging food chain. They are still useful, but not as leading edge. IMHO the country should be making and selling the energy systems that are the fundamental building block of a modern economy, also the other tools as well(robotics, computer based manufacturing, bio-tech, ...)
Cheers George. Many thought-provoking points.
I have just finished watching this very interesting video, Ed. I live in Melbourne but spent the first 16 years of my life in Alloa, Clacks. My mother was a riveter building landing craft in Alloa on the forth during WW2. A lot of my family were in the mines or woollen mills before we emigrated. There was a mention of Linthouse in your video, my Grandparents lived there and we would visit once or twice a year. Great memories of Elderpark and going to the pics at the Lyceum iirc!
Cheers Robert. Yes, women were much more than just knitters of jumpers and cleaners of stoves. It took us long enough to appreciate them for their true worth.
Ed love watching your videos. What do you think of the Scottish parliament building you should make a vid of what you think of it William
Cheers William.
❤
The vast majority of politicians nowadays have never done a hard days work, they might go home hungry but will never go home tired. They have a contempt for the Working man & woman who do go home tired, those who can get work, that is!
The Yards, Linwood, The Caley at Springburn, once Springburn was the Locomotive building Capital of the world, now a dumping ground for migrants like Maryhill and Govan.
All parties are sadly out of touch and don't care about creating jobs, only caring about creating wealth, their wealth!
As the old Scottish Folk songs goes, 'The Working Class can kiss my A***!'
Let Glasgow Flourish, not today it doesn't!
Ah, the days when Scotland had 'working men'!