By Tim Murgatroyd

NOW is the winter of our discontent, says Shakespeare’s Richard III, a notable ex-resident of York. I’m not referring to the Bard for historical reasons. Is it just me wondering if summer 2017 is developing into a veritable summer of discontent?

First, let me apologise for such a gloomy opening. The sun is shining – most of the time – and there are always reasons to be cheerful. For example, inspired by an article in The Press (People’s art gets star billing at York central library) I visited the central library and was amazed by the quality of the artwork produced by ‘amateur’ artists at adult education classes. It reminded me nothing is more natural to humanity than our instinct to grow and create.

Let’s face it, acts of generosity, love and kindness by ordinary people will always trump mankind’s propensity for cruelty and malice. Nevertheless, I do fear we are entering a summer of discontent. Here is why...

No one who follows the news can be unaware of the huge challenges facing the UK right now. Indeed, it feels as though a perfect summer storm is brewing. And like all storms many factors are coming together at once.

Take Brexit. The Government are playing their negotiating cards so close to their chest many of us are beginning to wonder if they haven’t thrown away the whole deck. Or worse, that they are willing to gamble with our prosperity and public services in favour of a Hard Brexit motivated by ideological conflicts in the Tory Party. It is therefore crucial negotiations take place in the most transparent manner possible. We need to know what post-EU future is being dealt out by our elected politicians.

Then there is the issue of Northern Ireland. Those of us old enough to remember the horrors of the Troubles can only regard the slightest threat to the Good Friday Agreement with deep, deep concern. Summer is the traditional Orange Order marching season that has so often led to violent clashes between the Protestant and Catholic communities. A government’s first duty is not to stay in power but to keep the peace. Whatever agreement is made between Mrs May and the DUP must honour that.

Other pressures raising the temperature have been building for decades. Most notable is the shocking inequality between rich and poor revealed by the Grenfell Tower tragedy. As the rapper Akala pointed out: “The people who died... this happened to them because they are poor.”.

York Press:

The burned-out shell of the Grenfell Tower

Years of privatisation and under-investment mean that key public services are far from functioning properly, let alone serving those who need them most. The NHS is an example, but the Grenfell fire also revealed that some politicians are not listening to the people who put them there.

Fanning the winds sweeping across our nation is a growing realisation the economy faces a slowdown. Not only has our national debt been deliberately swollen to maintain a consumer boom, but rising inflation, low wages and job insecurity for ordinary people, coupled with tax giveaways to the wealthy, threaten genuine economic hardship. It is tempting to think the storms won’t blow York’s way. But no city is an island.

Today, in the Queen’s Speech, the Government will outline how it plans to tackle our country’s dilemmas. They need to be radical, bold and transformative. Put bluntly, UK PLC is not working for far too many of us.

Is 2017 our summer of discontent? It is too early to say. But unless those in power get a firmer grip on some real and urgent problems the temperature can only keep rising. As Shakespeare put it in another of his masterpieces, Romeo and Juliet: ‘For now, [in] these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.’ We need compassionate, capable government if the UK is to stay safe and cool.