"What has the modern world to offer the child born into it in a humble family?" (1959)

From the April 1959 issue of the Socialist Standard

   “What has the modern world to offer the child born into it in a humble family? After reading the staring headlines in the newspapers, we might be tempted to answer, 'Not very much.’ 

   “The Cold War, revolutions, armed intervention, and the ordinary course of power politics now make up so large & part of the international scene that we have become almost indifferent to them. Scientific discovery has given us so many dangerous toys and conveniences that we accept disaster and sudden death as almost a daily occurrence. 

   “But apart from what we read in the newspapers, life in many corners of England can be anything but green and pleasant. Overcrowded cities, unplanned living and substandard housing are still the lot of many millions. However much has been delivered since the war, much remains to be done before life can be enjoyed to the full by everyone—as a matter of course. And until the world has been made a better place for him, the child of to-day is still denied a rightful part of his heritage.”—(Radio Times).