What was life like in the UK after World War 2?

Answer 1

Rationing got even tighter than during WW2. In January 1946, for the first time ever, bread(!) was rationed. Britain had lost its great power status, but hardly anyone was willing to acknowledge that for some years. The country was still closely regulated, as in WW2. For example, one could be asked at any time by a police officer on duty to produce one's government-issued ID card ...

On the whole, people were earning well but like in WW2 there wasn't much to spend the money on. Even buying luxuries wasn't really an option, as most of them were exported. For example, Wedgwood's, the well known English top-o'-the-range ceramics company, was ordered by the government to export 90% of its production, as the country desperately needed foreign exchange. For very high earners, the top rate of tax was 82.5% (plus a 15% surcharge on investment income). People were just told to be very brave and even more British than ever and just take it all on the chin.

To Americans, all this must sound utterly shocking. It's often said that George Orwell's satire "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was directed primarily at Britain in the 1940s.

The Attlee government expanded the welfare state that promised(?) to look after us all from 'the cradle to the grave'. (There was even a government grant towards the cost of one's funeral). The government made a really great official fuss of kids, gave them extra milk and vitamins, and at school they were told that if there were very bright and worked extremely hard, lack of money wouldn't be allowed to prevent them 'getting to the top'. (This referred to central and local government scholarships and grants for university).