Taken for granted

I don't want to come over all right-wing and reactionary.  But  I was astonished at a piece in yesterday's Guardian online regarding the decline in chapel attendance in Wales ("Census and religions: churches lose their appeal in struggling Welsh valleys" Guardian online11/12/12).

Chris Phillips, from a cultural centre in Ebbw Vale, was quoted as saying: "A hundred and fifty years ago everyone worked in heavy industry. It was hard, dangerous work and there was a fair chance you wouldn't be coming home. When you did get home safely with a bit of money in your pockets, you were prepared to go and say thank you to God. 

"Frankly there's f*** all to be thankful of these days."

I take into account that life in that area, now devoid of industry and with high unemployment, is no doubt a lot tougher than some parts of the UK.

But "f*** all to be thankful of..." ?

I'm sure there was much more of a community feeling around in those rosy Victorian days.  But what about some of the benefits we enjoy today, compared with our whiskered great-grandparents (sorry great-grandma)?

Free health care, free education, universal welfare benefits, pensions for all, emergency services a phone call away, laws to protect workers, minimum wage, massively reduced work-place accidents and deaths, social housing, central heating, comparatively cheap foreign travel, supermarkets full of food, entertainment at the flick of a switch.  

I could go on.

"F*** all to be thankful of..."?  Really?