Is all progress good?

By andrewwoodman - Posted on January 7th, 2008

This weekend used to be one of the most eagerly awaited weekends in the football calendar (sorry non footy fans but the politics does come later). FA Cup third round day not that long ago would generate great excitement as it meant so much to clubs and their fans. Now, stadiums are half empty and Premiership clubs play weakened teams in the hope of going out of the competition. All this in the name of progress. The Premiership and cash has become king with the side effects of non British players becoming the majority, and in some cases to whole of the first team staff, British owners are being priced out in favour of dubious foreign Billionaires and the big four clubs and the Champions League are now dominating the game.

Some would say what’s the problem with this. The world’s best players have made the premiership the best league in the world. I can’t help but feel we’ve lost the soul of the game somewhere along the line though. There’s so little to aim at for clubs outside the top 4 or 5 other than financial survival. This imperative is helping destroy what was once the best cup competition in the world.

How does this relate to politics? Well it’s got me wondering if we’re losing the soul of our society. David Cameron has often spoke of our broken society and what has happened to football could be considered to be a metaphor for this issue.

It seems the ever increasing pressures on people and in particular working parents is making finding the time for family life increasingly difficult. The pressure to maintain lifestyle with ever increasing taxes and inflation set against record house prices and student debt means real struggles for the families of the future. The impact of this will surely be less time with children as they grow up.

Will this benefit society? David Cameron has said that families are essential to repairing our society. That’s why they must be allowed to flourish and do their job of moulding the next generation into responsible members of society, and steer them away from pitfalls such as crime. Can this be done effectively with all the current pressures on parents to return to work so quickly after the birth. It will be interesting to see how Conservative Party policy is shaped in response to this.

Bookmark/Search this post with: