We are certainly four decades later, so there was some sort of a future, at least a short term one. But the news is currently all about doom and gloom. Collapsing economy, serial killers on the run, global warming, and even the serious threat of a comeback album by Cliff Richards. We are indeed not so far of the late 70s. The petrol may not be the cause of the current turmoil, but finances have taken over... And in this context the British public is adopting a very distant stance towards those who amplified the social and economical tensions on the altar of profit.
I am interested in the fact that the once most rebellious country in Europe, home of the Sex Pistols, is now taking a step back and not joining more actively movements like the Anonymous. It is all the more surprising that London, as one of the leading banking capital in the world, is at the epicenter of the current situation. It is probably easier to rebel yourself against the remote and unknown than against your cousin or next door neighbours. This may explain the success of the resurrected poster "Keep calm and carry on" that is selling fast.
Personally, I am rather of a positive nature. So I think that we have a bon future ahead of us assuming some serious changes in our behaviours, whether social, cultural or consumptions. But unlike the advertising said, if the future is bright, the future is probably not orange:
“A man is not an orange. You can't eat the fruit and throw the peel away” Arthur Miller (1915-2005)