Lucia, I don't know why I'm wasting my breath on someone who never, ever, makes any attempt to take on board another point of view... but here goes anyway.
My godmother was, in fact, in touch with people up and down the country. She was heavily involved in the Labour movement, as was her entire family. She talks about her experience of the war, indeed, but also knows a damn sight more about the wider experience of other working class people than almost anyone else around. Not just her own family, but the wider world.
Dismiss her as one person if you like, but she is MUCH more impressive and has a much more distinguished life than 99.5% of the people around today.
Unlike most of us lucky enough to be live in Western countries she has seen starvation up close. When she was a child, people who dared to get involved in the fight for political representation of the working classes were often thrown out of their jobs and homes. Including my godmother herself, when her father dared to stand for the council. (The mine owner was a Tory who told his workers how to vote.)
She also trudged the streets of Manchester with her mother in order to raise funds to set up the first birth control clinic there. Even though it was clearly intended for married women, people spat in their faces.
She also helped members of the International Brigade who survived the Spanish Civil War get back into this country, when the government was trying to keep them out.
But hey, I'm sure YOU know much more than her about the social and political history of the 20th century.