Andrew Marr: The 2020s feels like the 1970s but with worse music

24 March 2022, 18:12

'How do we stop the 2020s feeling like the 1970s but with worse music?'

Andrew Marr has compared the 2020s to the 1970s but with "worse music" as he warned we are living through history whether we like it or not.

In his opening monologue, Andrew said there are days when having some sense of history is useful, adding that today is certainly one of them.

He looked back at the 70s era, which saw the Watergate scandal, the energy crisis and the Vietnam War and drew parallels on the world we see today.

"Politicians of left and right are thinking hard about the early 1970s. Back then, some fifty years ago, unemployment was running at 4.3% - a million people," he said.

"Today it's running at just under 4%, a bit better but not much. Back then inflation was becoming a problem, over 7%.

"Today it’s 7.4% and just like our parents and grandparents, we're all going to notice it.

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"In the early 1970s, the age of Kipper ties, flares and heavy rock, there was an energy crisis, caused by an overseas war.

"Today? Well, look around. I'm not saying that what happened then, is going to happen now: then much of Britain was fuelled by coal and there was a confrontation with the miners. There was energy rationing, factories working only three days a week, people freezing cold, washing and shaving by candlelight… and huge political turmoil. But the only point of knowing your history is helping you try to avoid repeating it.

"I guess we're not going back to kipper ties but as we digest yesterday's statement by the Chancellor - and that went down well didn't it? We'll be talking about how we stop the 2020s feeling like the 1970s, but with worse music."

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He went on: "And another thing today which felt like history - that NATO summit in Brussels as the west tries to maintain its unity against Russia. NATO was founded in 1949 - it's even older than I am - to glare across the Iron curtain at the Soviets.

"In recent years the Americans became distracted by the rising threat of China and looked East. Well all of that has stopped.

"President Biden is telling people in private that there is now a new world order which America has to lead. Back where we started folks.

"You can choose to bone up on your history, or choose not to.

"But like it or not, history is what you're living through right now."