Summary
Thrift: Through the strictures of the global financial downturn and its aftermath citizens have been urged to ‘keep calm and carry on’. This slogan, first coined in the 1940s and revived in the 2000s, found its way into political rhetoric and popular culture. Laurie talks to Rebecca Bramall, lecturer in media and communications at the London College of Communication, about the cultural politics of austerity. Also, Alison Hulme, lecturer in International Development at the University of Northampton, surveys the history of 'thrift' from the early Puritans to Post-war rationing and into consumer culture. What are the overlaps between thrift and austerity?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.3 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:36.2 | I'm Lori Taylor and this is a podcast for BBC Radio Force thinking aloud. |
| 0:41.2 | Is there any value at all in thrifts? In living a simple life free from the |
| 0:47.3 | constant necessity to consume new products and services? Or is this ideology completely at odds with economic rationality? |
| 0:57.3 | Find out. |
| 0:58.3 | Hello. |
| 0:59.3 | In my early childhood there were always four mouths to be fed at mealtime, my father, my mother, myself, and the pig. |
| 1:07.0 | I should explain that the pig, an apparently happy little fellow who lived in a converted garage next to the Corona cinema was part of an official |
| 1:15.3 | wartime scheme to produce more food for domestic consumption. Provided you fed your pig |
| 1:21.2 | regularly with your domestic leftovers, then you were entitled to half of its carcass when it was finally slaughtered. |
| 1:27.0 | It meant that family meals were routinely accompanied by parental injunctions. |
| 1:31.0 | Lawrence, save something of that for the pig, he has to eat as well as you. |
| 1:36.5 | Well I remember that family pig, or more precisely our half of that |
| 1:46.6 | family pig, as I was reading a very fine new book entitled A Brief History of Thrift, |
| 1:51.3 | which, among other matters, chronicles the influence of such |
... |
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