Satire and swearing

The House of Commons 1979
(image from Wikipedia)

When James Kelman published A Disaffection it was 1989, Margaret Thatcher had been prime minister for 10 years, train drivers were involved in industrial action, a recession was being predicted, house prices were falling, ambulance workers were on strike, inflation jumped and there was a flu epidemic. 

I was going to hypothesise about swearing. The free use of 'fuck' in print, on TV, family streaming shows, by anyone and everyone. And I was going to mention that novel, A Disaffection, and Kelman's liberal use of 'fuck' and 'fucking' as in 'fucking bastards' 'fucking right', 'fucking box of chocolates' and so on.

I'm prone to swearing myself. I allowed the children a swearing hour at home when they were little because I knew they'd heard it all in Brighton and might as well overcome the naughty novelty. 'Fuck' has become a mandatory exclamation all over. Even in what I've always thought of as a very prudish US culture. 

But instead of drawing any more conclusions about what used to be called obscenity, or swearing (both words seem redundant), I'm more intrigued by parallels between the Thatcher years and whatever we call the five headed fantasy beast, CaMaJoTruSnak that's been in power since 2010. Political history falls before and after Thatcher. 

James Kelman's novel ends
'Ah fuck off, fuck off.' 

Forgive me for repeating myself but I remember sitting round an open fire in those Thatcher years laughing with my landlord and landlady and friends about the absurd suggestion social services could be privatised. We were used to a high quality of satire. Where's it gone? Last seen on the red list of about to be extinct. I'm nearly at the end of the available episodes. Its name? The Good Fight. Watch as you'd sneak a peek into a nest of fledglings. 

And yet we have so much to satirise in this small island, cut off from everything.