As a young impressionable and idealistic council estate kid, looking at the world through naive eyes, I would occasionally think that maybe my father who'd had to take early retirement from the fire brigade because of severe chest problems, deserved more.
He died too young, probably as a result of 'smoke eating' and wearing asbestos hoods.
No elf and safety in those days.
I looked at what I thought was the inequality or imbalance of incomes, whereby the likes of estate agents,
and other toff's jobs could earn a lot more than emergency workers, miners etc.
In my young innocent mind, I thought there should be a system whereby everyone had a universal minimum wage, which was then added to with bonuses for the such things as risk, discomfort, public service, qualifications, responsibility, etc etc, so that those sorts of jobs were valued and rewarded accordingly.
Then I grew up, and facing reality soon realised that lots of things weren't fair, but the system was such that you had to be in it to achieve your dreams of reasonable affluence, security, family etc.
You also learnt that although the capitalist system could be very unfair, at least it gave you many hard earned freedoms and democracy.
You could still see some of the ideals of communism, but also saw the failings of such dictatorships around the world, particularly with threats on freedoms, democracy, enterprise and ambition, with often the result being an equality of the lowest common denominator.
Now as an old codger, I look back at my idealistic thoughts.
I look at the increasing wealth disparity.
I look at how our emergency services, our NHS and care workers and other vital workers are so undervalued.
I wonder what the future holds for our great grandchildren, with the advent of ever more automation.
So when novel ideas about universal incomes are discussed I'm prepared to have an open mind.
..............It depends.
