Soon, it'll be even grimmer up t'North, Condem stylee

diable

Generali wrote: »

It was Hartlepool:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_hanger

People from Hartlepool are correctly known as Hertlepudlians apparently.

They are known as "The Monkey Hangers from Hartlepool" ;o))))

robin_banks

bendix wrote: »

Correction: the proper collective noun for people from Hartlepool is Inbred Chavs.

Ever been to Hastings ?

robin_banks

Orpheo wrote: »

One thing I forgot to add was that while I was teaching in the school I mentioned in my previous post I was observed by a Nottinghamshire County Council inspector. His only criticism of my lesson was "your expectations of these children are too high, they are Mansfield children after all." I was horrified at this, the implication that they were predestined for failure. Children's achievement is judged by national standards not local ones. Children at this school used to strip naked and climb trees and refuse to come down, they would climb on the roof and throw chairs through windows. OFSTED graded the school as Good.

Has to be said Mansfield is a pretty bleak place. If yervgorrahtabahtyer pass your exams, then leave.

And never go back.

Orpheo

robin_banks wrote: »

Has to be said Mansfield is a pretty bleak place. If yervgorrahtabahtyer pass your exams, then leave.

And never go back.

Thiz note else forrit.

JasonLVC

bendix wrote: »

Correction: the proper collective noun for people from Hartlepool is Inbred Chavs.

That is terribly un-PC and just a bit offensive....and yet that made me smile for a very long time!.

robin_banks

Orpheo wrote: »

I used to live and teach in a primary school in Mansfield. I decided that it wasn't a town in which I wanted my daughter to grow up as it was mortally pessimistic. At the primary school I taught at (in a deprived ward so not representative of the whole town), the boys had literally zero repect for women, they would badmouth the women teachers just as they heard their dads, or more likely mum's boyfriend badmouth their mothers. I did move to another school in Mansfield where the kids were totally great.

The natives of Mansfield remain obsessed with the closure of the mines and the miners' strike. Hatred has been passed down the generations so that even the young are still bitter about it. There are feuds, assaults and murders happening today because of the strikes. My wife has an uncle who became a millionaire by importing coal during the miners' strike, I had to make sure that she kept that absolutely silent otherwise we would have likely had our house burnt down.

There were plans to build a massive technology park in Mansfield to bring science and technology jobs to the area. The council scuppered it. There are people, young people, who are waiting for the coal mines to open again, they have said it to me in so many words.

We had to leave.

These plans had been knocking around the County and district council vaults for years. I always thought they were a non starter.

Coal in that neck of the woods was mined at a pretty shallow depth leading to pretty major subsidence issues. No high tech industries would ever locate there.

Mansfield used to be the largest town in Europe without a railway station.

Also you need to consider that there is a far larger and more skilled workforce 12 miles down the road in Nottingham.

bendix

JasonLVC wrote: »

That is terribly un-PC and just a bit offensive....

Perhaps . . . . and yet that doesn't detract from it's inherent truth, does it?

Orpheo

Most recently we spent a year in Lancashire. We moved there due to a job change for my wife who his a horticulturist. She worked for a company that manufactured and marketed products for people who wanted to grow their own veg. It soon became apparent that the real market was scallies who were involved in a grow-your-own of a different kind. The company knew this, but it was not spoken of. The business was a success in spite of itself. The fact that money from gawd-knows what activity was putting food on our table was what led her to leave that company.

sammyjammy

JasonLVC wrote: »

The actual report makes reference of there being 42% (1 in 3) of people 'oop North' are employed in the public sector.

So it is obvious that public sector cuts will affect that region more harshly.

The bigger question to ask is, why were so many public sector jobs concentrated in the North rather than spread out across the country?

Chiefly because it was cheap and unemployment has throughout recent history been higher than other parts of the country. Another reason is probably partly down to the Lyons review, one of whose aims was to take the public sector out of expensive London when there is no need for them to be there. Not sure whether its still practicing but in DWP we still have thousands in London who have no geographical need to be there, another good reason is it's really hard to recruit good people into poorly paid Civil Service jobs in London and the South East.

ultrawomble

kabayiri wrote: »

Cheshire is considered very healthy

I take it you haven't been to Stockport lately :eek: