Who they used to vote for...

[ganzer%trout@nosc.mil (Mark T. Ganzer)]

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Neil Calton writes:
> It still would still leave me wondering on the relationship of the
> last line to the underlying themes. If like the references to old
> banknotes it is purely a nostalgic remembrance of the past, is it
> the robber or Kate who is expressing this thought?

> If that last line is Kate interjecting her own memories does that
> mean she now votes for Maggie (surely not!) when she previously
> voted for Wilson or possibly Heath? (You'll notice there are a lot
> of questions in this piece and very few answers).

> As I've said, I cannot fathom why the gang member could care greatly
> about the political past.

Kate has said that this was a group of amateurs. This line would seem to
be an allusion to these people being ordinary working class blokes (and
possibly great believers in the Labor party) who had lost their jobs in
the high unemployment of the late 70's-early 80's, and who had become so
disillusioned and desperate that they attempt to pull a bank job and are
muddling their way through the job acting like a bunch of movie gangsters.
It is a rememberance of the "good times" triggered by the sight of an old
ten shilling note. Given the economic conditions in the UK in 1981, perhaps
this song was inspired by a news story about a similar crime?

MarK T. Ganzer
Internet: ganzer@trout.nosc.mil  
UUCP: {ucbvax,hplabs}!sdcsvax!nosc!ganzer
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