12 November

When we watch period dramas, I’m guessing most of us identify ourselves with the main characters, because that’s how the shows are written. But in historical terms, we’re actually the servants in these shows. It’s 2022 so we don’t see it as clearly, but that tiny wealthy elite that are the focus of these shows is not us. Many of us work for ‘service industries’, and ‘service’ is the old name for being a servant. It’s actually, literally, what we still are. There’s a very important difference though. In the period dramas, the servants lived with the rich families. They were provided for, given a roof over their heads, food etc. They were the ‘downstairs’ inhabitants. It’s a concept that was called ‘noblesse oblige’, meaning the obligation on the rich to help those who weren’t. None of that has survived. Now we servants are left to our own devices. To a ‘free market’ where we have to sell ourselves. (Like on the appalling Linkedin.) Again we haven’t noticed this because of one thing - debt. Personal debt has allowed us to maintain an illusion of progress since the times of these period dramas. That’s crashing down now. Interest rates are being used to smash ordinary people to curb the excesses of the wealthy. And as icing on the cake, everybody is being forced to become infected with a pandemic virus. If you don’t feel like a servant, look a bit harder.