<story><title>Queen Elizabeth II has died</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>orobinson</author><text>I feel the same. I think it’s because it really represents the end of an era. The 20th and early 21st century ushered in unprecedented improvements to quality of life in Britain but it has felt of late that that has peaked and the country is facing a serious decline: Brexit, the increasingly visible effects of climate change, the aftermath of covid, the possible break up of the union, rising costs of living, recession, possibly even war. The death of Elizabeth II coincides with the end of a long period of stability and comfort and is not only a poignant point in history itself but a marker for a transitional point in history for our country.</text></item><item><author>saberience</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s weird, I&amp;#x27;ve never considered myself a &amp;quot;royalist&amp;quot; but this news has affected me quite strongly. I just burst into tears unexpectedly on hearing this news and I don&amp;#x27;t quite understand why I feel so very sad. I guess I have grown up and lived my whole life (as a Brit) seeing and hearing the Queen, singing &amp;quot;God save the Queen&amp;quot; etc, and this news made me suddenly feel very old, very nostalgic, with the sense that all things pass in time, which makes my heart ache deeply.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rikthevik</author><text>My understanding is that the late 70s and early 80s in England was a hopeless place.  As evidence I submit Alan Moore&amp;#x27;s introduction to V for Vendetta and Ghost Town by the Specials.&lt;p&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;slendertroll.tumblr.com&amp;#x2F;post&amp;#x2F;66114152363&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;slendertroll.tumblr.com&amp;#x2F;post&amp;#x2F;66114152363&lt;/a&gt;
- &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ghost_Town_(Specials_song)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ghost_Town_(Specials_song)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Naivete can also be detected in my supposition that it would take something as melodramatic as a near-miss nuclear conflict to nudge England toward fascism. Although in fairness to myself and David, there were no better or more accurate predictions of our country’s future available in comic form at that time. The simple fact that much of the historical background of the story proceeds from a predicted Conservative defeat in the 1982 General Election should tell you how reliable we were in our role as Cassandras.
It’s 1988 now. Margaret Thatcher is entering her third term of office and talking confidently of an unbroken Conservative leadership well into the next century. My youngest daughter is seven and the tabloid press are circulating the idea of concentration camps for persons with AIDS. The new riot police wear black visors, as do their horses, and their vans have rotating video cameras mounted on top. The government has expressed a desire to eradicate homosexuality, even as an abstract concept, and one can only speculate as to which minority will be the next legislated against. I’m thinking of taking my family and getting out of this country soon, sometime over the next couple of years. It’s cold and it’s mean-spirited and I don’t like it here anymore.&amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Queen Elizabeth II has died</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>orobinson</author><text>I feel the same. I think it’s because it really represents the end of an era. The 20th and early 21st century ushered in unprecedented improvements to quality of life in Britain but it has felt of late that that has peaked and the country is facing a serious decline: Brexit, the increasingly visible effects of climate change, the aftermath of covid, the possible break up of the union, rising costs of living, recession, possibly even war. The death of Elizabeth II coincides with the end of a long period of stability and comfort and is not only a poignant point in history itself but a marker for a transitional point in history for our country.</text></item><item><author>saberience</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s weird, I&amp;#x27;ve never considered myself a &amp;quot;royalist&amp;quot; but this news has affected me quite strongly. I just burst into tears unexpectedly on hearing this news and I don&amp;#x27;t quite understand why I feel so very sad. I guess I have grown up and lived my whole life (as a Brit) seeing and hearing the Queen, singing &amp;quot;God save the Queen&amp;quot; etc, and this news made me suddenly feel very old, very nostalgic, with the sense that all things pass in time, which makes my heart ache deeply.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>FiberBundle</author><text>It seems as if you judge the past too positively. The 70s and 80s were also perceived as pretty dark at the time and anything but stable. The sentiment at the time was quite similar to the way you describe the present. You had stagnation in the 70s similar to what is happening today and a general view that the welfare system was losing its viability. The Cold War also became more serious again in the 80s and the geopolitical threats were comparable to today&amp;#x27;s.</text></comment>