Fraternity

The late 1940s were not a particularly kinder time nor could it be viewed as a time of innocence, coming as it did so soon after the horrors of war.

Certainly there was less consumer envy, simply because not many working class people could afford luxuries. What the 1940s did have, however was a strong communal thread of fraternity, fostered perhaps by the general deprivation of the war years.

My father, having been badly wounded at Dunkirk, was a prison guard at Swanwick Hayes German POW camp.

During the immediate post war years we lived in a Nissen hut and like Jimmy we were one of the first to move into a new council house, with a garden, hot water and, best of all, indoor toilets.

What makes me really sad is the feeling that this sense of fraternity no longer appears to exist.

The callous comments on The Northern Echo website in response to the imminent and shocking introduction of a “bedroom tax”, are truly dreadful and a sad indication of the lack of fellowship in today’s working class.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland.