Why is Sheffield Disproportionately Insignificant?

[Jim Graham 10]

No Jim I don't look back on pride with what unions have done, I'm talking about general pride in where I originate friend. Unions have also contributed ruin as well as good to our working life, but we'll not get too political (lol).

 

I do agree with your comment concerning the left, you'll never change my opinion of Thatcher tho, so there we'll agree to disagree.

 

I am not bad thanks I am home resting I am not allowed to go to games any more as I have heart failure & not allowed to attend any more so after 40 years I had to stop going in 08, I cant even go to Wembley. I'm just hoping I can watch it on sky.

 

Can I also say it's nice to converse with someone with an inkling of an IQ for once cheers m8.

 

 

OK, let's agree to disagree on Thatcher. You can join that not very exclusive club of other Forummers who disagree with me on that one. Sorry you won't be at Wembley. I'll be there but, to be honest, it'll be more in hope than expectation. Three times and not a goal to show for it. After last night it could be four times. It's a great day out until a ball gets kicked. Take care.

[Bypassblade 10]

OK, let's agree to disagree on Thatcher. You can join that not very exclusive club of other Forummers who disagree with me on that one. Sorry you won't be at Wembley. I'll be there but, to be honest, it'll be more in hope than expectation. Three times and not a goal to show for it. After last night it could be four times. It's a great day out until a ball gets kicked. Take care.

 

I know been the bridesmaid far too many times, it's about time we played the bride & took home the bouquet.

[Unisol 12]

I hope you didn't miss the match and are feeling better now.

 

You are confusing pride and attitude. I am proud of the city and its heritage but I live in the 21st century with a forward looking attitude. I look back with pride at the achievements of the industrialists and artisans who made the city but I look forward with a can do attitude. Too many in this city, and you are one of them, look back with pride at the destruction caused by trade unions and socialists looting local companies and the tax payers. Too many have an attitude that the world owes them a living and given the chance they would do exactly the same today. That is pretty much what they are doing to the public services today.

 

It is this attitude that stops the city from moving forward. Too many are still fighting a 19th century class war and looking for any opportunity to wage it. Any international investor looking to set up a business sees Sheffield as a city with a reputation as a socialist/union heartland. They see a people who still think the de-industrialisation of western economies was an evil plot by one female Tory PM. They see local politicians with anti business agendas perpetuating the myth for personal gain.

 

There is nothing wrong with having pride in past achievements but the Left are taking pride in their part in destroying the city's industry, blaming Thatcher and anyone else they can think of and perpetuating the stereotype of the city as a place where business and culture are not welcome. You are living in the past, not the present.

 

Excellent post. I agree entirely.

 

I also believe that if parents back in the 70/80's had more ambition for their kids other than drag them down the pit with them and encouraged them to do something more ambitious, Sheffield and the surrounding areas would have become much more prosperous places today. But no, it was the easy option that paid buckets in the short term, often at the expense of their health.

 

We should be thankful the steel/coal industries went the way they did because if not we'd have no digital industries, world class sports facilities and many other diverse industries we have today. If people had more ambition 20/30 years ago we may even have more jobs say in the banking sector. We only have ourselves to blame, but of course, it's much easier to blame Thatcher.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Unisol

[green 10]

How many people have heard of Creative Sheffield? http://www.creativesheffield.co.uk/

 

Have a read about them and their budgets to market our fine city, and then tell us how well you think they are doing?

 

http://www.creativesheffield.co.uk/AboutCreativesheffield

[Jim Graham 10]

Excellent post. I agree entirely.

 

I also believe that if parents back in the 70/80's had more ambition for their kids other than drag them down the pit with them and encouraged them to do something more ambitious, Sheffield and the surrounding areas would have become much more prosperous places today. But no, it was the easy option that paid buckets in the short term, often at the expense of their health.

 

.... blaming Thatcher was also an easy excuse when things went t**ts up.

 

All the kids I went to school with had ambition. As far as I can tell only 2 of the 30 in my class still live in the city. The rest have gone on to a variety of careers, many of them overseas, most of them down south. No surprise I went to a grammar school before they became unfashionably educational. In those days we had bright kids from council estates who could make something of themselves with a good education. Nowadays the brightest in poor areas have to go to the local cesspit and are lucky to get out being able to read and write. Judging by the standard of spelling on SF not many do.

[Schewy 10]

Didn't it all start with us not with us not wanting the railways!?

[Jim Graham 10]

How many people have heard of Creative Sheffield? http://www.creativesheffield.co.uk/

 

Have a read about them and their budgets to market our fine city, and then tell us how well you think they are doing?

 

http://www.creativesheffield.co.uk/AboutCreativesheffield

 

Who are these people kidding but themselves? The only positive news they have to offer is Kraft Foods expanding by an undisclosed amount. So probably not much but they do mention it twice on one page. Oh yes, and a cake shop opened in town.

 

The rest is about themselves and what they are doing. It's a typical quango website. "We aren't achieving anything but we are spending lots of tax payer's money trying very hard to look as though we aren't wasting it, which we are. " and "We have shamelessly latched onto someone who is achieving (Jessica Ennis) to make ourselves look important"

 

There is the inevitable and always disgraceful Comrade Dore demanding private business "Stand Up For Sheffield". That is about as hypocritical as it is possible to get given that the city's education is the bottom of the heap (her responsibility) along with every other council function.

 

And here's their advice for anyone thinking of coming here: "Are you looking for a great quality of life? You're in the right place! A vibrant, friendly, safe city surrounded by some of the most breathtaking countryside in the UK" .................... just don't breathe the air in the city.

[green 10]

Who are these people kidding but themselves? The only positive news they have to offer is Kraft Foods expanding by an undisclosed amount. So probably not much but they do mention it twice on one page. Oh yes, and a cake shop opened in town.

 

The rest is about themselves and what they are doing. It's a typical quango website. "We aren't achieving anything but we are spending lots of tax payer's money trying very hard to look as though we aren't wasting it, which we are. " and "We have shamelessly latched onto someone who is achieving (Jessica Ennis) to make ourselves look important"

 

There is the inevitable and always disgraceful Comrade Dore demanding private business "Stand Up For Sheffield". That is about as hypocritical as it is possible to get given that the city's education is the bottom of the heap (her responsibility) along with every other council function.

 

And here's their advice for anyone thinking of coming here: "Are you looking for a great quality of life? You're in the right place! A vibrant, friendly, safe city surrounded by some of the most breathtaking countryside in the UK" .................... just don't breathe the air in the city.

 

Eloquently put

 

I was down in Brighton last week for the Great Escape festival. Brighton have a month long festival that brings together various arts & music. The hotels and restaurants are all buzzing and chocka and i didnt count a single shop unit that was closed or shut down.

 

Now, back in Sheffield i count numerous units closed down/empty.

 

Where is Brighton on the top cities map?????

[green 10]

btw....i would hazard a guess that a good 50% of units were local and independent, which is a far cry from our city!

[1978 14]

All the kids I went to school with had ambition. As far as I can tell only 2 of the 30 in my class still live in the city. The rest have gone on to a variety of careers, many of them overseas, most of them down south. No surprise I went to a grammar school before they became unfashionably educational. In those days we had bright kids from council estates who could make something of themselves with a good education. Nowadays the brightest in poor areas have to go to the local cesspit and are lucky to get out being able to read and write. Judging by the standard of spelling on SF not many do.

 

I too went to a grammar school in another northern city. Most of my school mates moved south or abroad - although a few seem to have retired to places like the Lake District.

 

Until my job brought me to Sheffield 35 years ago I'd never been here. Passed it on the M1, but never had any need to call in. The same went for Bradford and many other places. Hull was a backwater I'd moved to 5 year earlier, even more so than Sheffield. I disembarked from a ship in Liverpool one very wet morning in June 1961, and returned 30 years later as a witness in a trial held in their massive law courts - I wasn't impressed!

 

The one memory I have of Sheffield is that every knife, fork and spoon came from Sheffield. So did the garden shears. I still irritate my wife when I sit down to any table and examine the cutlery! Sadly, both the canteens we were given for our 1970's wedding have not proved to have been of the same quality my parents used daily from my childhood.

 

But the cutlery trade isn't the only industry to have gone. Shipbuilding, fishing, engineering, lead mining, coal mining and quite a few others.

 

Sheffield needs a replacement for the cutlery trade. Crucible snooker used to be a good image builder, but has lost it's audience in the UK. We have two good universities, but universities are now ten a penny.

 

What is to be Sheffield's 21st Century USP?

 

If it's to be positive it surely can't be chip on the shoulder anti-capitalism, anti-Thatcherism, anti-low pay, much as many share those views.

 

In this recession the significant cities will be those who get off their a***s and work at it. It may not pay as well as in some of the more fashionable parts, but hard work can move mountains. Once Sheffield is seen to be a city on the move by working hard (that includes voluntary work) it will bring significance. Better paid work will follow.

 

Doom and gloom only brings more of the same!

 

Stands back to let the knives go in!!

[CorkerSWFC 10]

Sheffield wouldn't be so insignificant if people respected the place a bit more and that goes for every walk of life...

[Wezzle 10]

If people are complaining about Sheffield being a backwards, parochial backwater that's because that's what it is. All you have to do is go on the train and spend a day in Leeds or Manchester and coming back to Sheffield is like coming to an entirely different era or country or something. It is just weird here. I am moving mountains to get out of this city and am even considering moving abroad.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Wezzle