Banging the same old drum.

I feel I may have to retire from the world for a few weeks until it all comes back to it's senses. I'm sick to death of people banging on and on about Thatcher in a shill, hysterical babble of nonsense and bullshit.

If one more person tells me she 'ruined' the country I'll scream. I might moan about things from time to time ( well, most of the time... ) but the country isn't ruined. This is still one of the best places imaginable to live. We have ( regardless of whether you believe it or not ) complete religious and political freedom, I can believe anything I chose and express that belief in any way I wish -It's perfectly acceptable to put 'Jedi, Jew, Atheist, Catholic, Scientologist, Mormon, or Druid next to my name - and generally - nobody gives a fuck. I can have complete sexual freedom if I chose - managing the social politics might be a bit harder but at least gay men are not hung from lampposts and gay women are not regularly subject to corrective rape - as they are by some of our 'allies' and trading partners.

If I've been a bad boy, we have a justice system that generally works and is generally fair - I am still innocent until proven guilty  and still have access to right of appeal - unlike some of even the richest and most advanced nations who cheerfully stone, hang, dismember, behead or shoot people - often without a real trial as we would understand it. The legal system is so comprehensive that even terrorists and mass murderers have rights. We don't have restorative justice - as much as many people might wish for it - so I'm not going to get my arm chopped off if I steal bread.

The gender balance is better in this country than almost anywhere in the world - it might not be perfect - but it's going the right way - unlike other states. I have access to a national health service - yesterday one of the people I worked with told me of the trauma of a recent holiday to the states with his American wife who became ill and NOBODY was interested in the extensive travel insurance they had bought, it was cash, credit card or nothing. Prescriptions might be a bit high at nearly 8 quid - but 90% of all prescriptions in the UK are administered free and that covers everything from a packet of Paracetamol to thousands of pounds of cancer treatment medication that some people I know need weekly. We still have access to education, libraries, social services, community services - the streets are lit at night, someone takes our rubbish away from our house and makes it vanish - the water in my tap flows freely and is always clean and safe - even if I refused to pay the bill I would still be legally entitled to enough water to drink.

Nobody is going to tell me I can only have one child, or select it's gender for me - nobody is going to tell me I can only have one dog - and I don't have to walk past a restaurant that serves them for dinner.

I have complete control over how I chose to live my life and I'm happy to exercise that right every day - we have access to the Internet so pretty much anything I need to know is easy to find, I can wear what I like - no woman needs to cover her head or face, no man needs to grow a beard or conform to set standards. Children are not routinely mutilated before puberty and everybody gets the chance to go to school. We have a free press so the state does not control our thoughts and I don't ever have to watch anyone burn books. I can travel freely without needing permission or paperwork, and I still don't need an identity card to be presented on demand.

If something is wrong, generally - it gets fixed. The bloody poll tax was a stupid idea that was ill conceived, poorly executed and destined to fail - and it did, that's the point of democracy - it failed - so why no celebrate the fact that as a people we were able to right a wrong - instead of bleating about something pointlessly.

I think that as a nation - we just like moaning, and looking at the past through rose tinted glasses. Things get better - it's the natural order of things. We were talking about the past in the studio yesterday - and all of us had to agree that everything we ever really wanted when we were students, we have achieved in some form or another - I may not have the perfect life - but it is the life I wanted, and I'm very grateful for that.

General health and quality of life in this country are pretty bloody good - I'm 46 - I know hardly anyone who has died and can expect to live another 40 years, mortality rates are tiny compared to elsewhere, the biggest killer of young men in this country is accident or suicide, followed by HIV - and the death rates for HIV are TINY.

We are happy to buy our clothes in the knowledge that they were made by children or graduates who slave away in factories on the other side of the world because the alternative is living on mountain high rubbish dumps and swimming in sewage.

I had a row recently with someone who lives in a big house because her daughter cannot find the kind of work she wanted, The fact that she was only interested in working in 'performance' art ( not 'performing' arts - that's different) and was currently spending time in the Priory being treated for 'cry for middle class help' heroin addiction - seemed not to matter.

The police don't have guns here - there are no armed guards in every shopping centre or school - and there are no handguns, assault rifles and pistols hidden in every home.

Life in this country is generally very difficult and often unfair for most of us - there are many injustices and society has many failures - so rather than bleating and bitching - do something about it. If one more person mentions bloody school milk again I will SCREAM - the bedroom tax is far more unjust and cruel - and may well be this governments 'poll tax' moment - and anyway - my memory of school milk is very different - sitting in a classroom, watching the crates bake and curdle in the sun in the sure and certain knowledge that the teacher was waiting until the milk was off before forcing us to drink it.

Perhaps they should try a week in Syria, or Gaza, or Uganda, or Russia where corruption and bribery are rife, or America where they spend their lives fretting about the cost of illness. or any number of states where the world we know is an impossible dream to many.