Society in crisis: I blame the Regan-Thatcher legacy

Sir,
As a British citizen, residing in England, I can say that the United Kingdom is experiencing all of the social problems which are currently occurring in Cyprus (‘Society in Crisis’, Sunday Mail, June 5).

Indeed, the UK has had social problems since the onset of the industrial revolution in the 19th Century: you only need to reference classic novels by the Victorian author Charles Dickens to see that.

Admittedly, at that time in the 19th Century, there were few, and inadequate social welfare programmes in place in the UK. However, these slowly improved, especially during the post-war era. At the same time, liberalism was promoted in the face of the Soviet communist threat. I believe liberalism was used as a false mechanism to illustrate a so-called free Western democratic society as a comparison to the autocratic Soviet one.

However, as evidence suggests, liberalism has not brought the benefits of freedom to the average, let alone the impoverished UK citizen. Indeed, the western liberal ideal has only served the already advantaged few, especially during and since the Reagan/Thatcher era. In fact, it is the Reagan/Thatcher agenda which has caused all the social problems in its post era global capitalist world.

Sandi Small,

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.