New Statesman article

[Marsaud 10]

:hihi: Blame Thatcher , standard . Don't blame the failing ,inept , amateur councillors , they are great . Its all Thatchers fault

 

I think that inequality in society has far more to do with national government than local government.

 

Thatcher’s laissez faire economics have ultimately led us to our current position. Aided and abetted by Blair and Cameron/Clegg.

 

All the council can do is to put sticking plasters on the gaping wounds caused by the big boys and girls. So yes, it is all Thatcher’s fault, in that she started it and her acolytes continued it.

 

Space left below for you to ask another inane question.

[Mister M 1,625]

:hihi: Blame Thatcher , standard . Don't blame the failing ,inept , amateur councillors , they are great . Its all Thatchers fault

 

Thought you might be salivating, like a cat sniffing catnip, when Thatcher's name is mentioned

[Guest makapaka]

It’s just the opinion of one internet blogger - it’s not fact.

 

Why is everyone getting out of their pram over it.

 

Who is Sam Gregory? Do we have any information as to how he’s qualified to make this statement about the city?

 

Personally the article reads like utter opinionated tosh but it’s up to others to form their own view.

 

......a Berlin Wall across the city - what utter rubbish.

[tinfoilhat 11]

yeah, i probably would but the major damage was done during the thatcher years in the 80s

 

True but was 30 odd years ago. Hiroshima has recovered quicker. Liverpool has!

 

---------- Post added 18-09-2018 at 23:27 ----------

 

It’s just the opinion of one internet blogger - it’s not fact.

 

Why is everyone getting out of their pram over it.

 

Who is Sam Gregory? Do we have any information as to how he’s qualified to make this statement about the city?

 

I'm guessing not very qualified. But it's kicked off another Thatcher thread so there's that

[paula4sheff 10]

It’s just the opinion of one internet blogger - it’s not fact.

 

Why is everyone getting out of their pram over it.

 

Who is Sam Gregory? Do we have any information as to how he’s qualified to make this statement about the city?

 

Personally the article reads like utter opinionated tosh but it’s up to others to form their own view.

 

......a Berlin Wall across the city - what utter rubbish.

 

 

I've never heard anyone before suggest such a thing. Sure there are areas of the city that are nicer than others....as is the case in every other city in the country, if not the world.

 

The Brexit comments are ludicrous too- as if whole areas of the city voted differently to others! What rubbish. I know that among the area I live people all voted differently- they even did in my own house!

 

I do agree with criticism of a complacent and incompetent council though....but I wonder how much this writer actually knows about the city....

Edited September 18, 2018 by paula4sheff

[Funky_Gibbon 42]

The Brexit comments are ludicrous too- as if whole areas of the city voted differently to others! What rubbish. I know that among the area I live people all voted differently- they even did in my own house!

 

I partly agree with you given that there's no breakdown of how we voted by area so no way to prove it one way or the other but all the other evidence of how the Brexit vote was divided across various demographics would tend to suggest that they're probably not a million miles away from the truth.

 

 

I've never heard anyone before suggest such a thing. Sure there are areas of the city that are nicer than others....as is the case in every other city in the country, if not the world.

 

I don't think anyones ever described it in those exact terms but lets not pretend that nobody has ever said that Sheffield isn't socially and economically divided between North and South. We've all been arguing that one since Sheffieldforum started.

[Ontarian1981 10]

Hasn't the author just described most big cities? Posh bits and poor bits?

 

That is so true worldwide, the posh folks have fancy home alarm systems, the poor have a baseball bat beside the bed.

[Anna B 1,414]

Hasn't the author just described most big cities? Posh bits and poor bits?

 

No, I don't think so. As it says in the article, in Sheffield the rich and poor are not mingled, or living in adjacent communities side by side as they are in many cities. Many in Sheffield A will probably never have even ventured into Sheffield B - why would they?

 

I often go through the leafy suburbs of Shef A when going out into Derbyshire and the Peak district, but there is very little reason for anyone to travel through Sheffield B to the North side.

 

I've mentioned this divide myself before on other threads, and I think it is so obvious on SheffieldForum that some posters have very little experience of the way poorer people live (in some of the poorest areas of Europe) even though they are only a few miles away.

[primemover70 10]

Wow! That prompted some comment . . . My old man was editor and publisher of the daily business paper of the richest (ie cash cow) city in the country in the late 40s and early 50s. My now S postcode city. At beyond retirement age I have an idea of what I'm on about. As long as our democratically positioned reps are trying their best, then so be it. Like it PROVED tho, with itemisf council tax/poll tax bills please. Thatcher connection is interesting, for a mere shopkeeper's daughter and co-inventor of annther great con - " whipped " ice cream. More(on) her later.

 

---------- Post added 19-09-2018 at 04:42 ----------

 

Once upon a time there was a shopkeeper's daughter charged with the ultimate responsibility of running a rophistiated Western economy. One day, an

Near

Eastern dictator wandered in to Maggie's corner shop and requested help with his " defence " re-supply after the 1984-1989 Iran/Iraq conflict. " Of course we can help Mr Hussein " came the reply, conveniently forgetting that his name backwards, was Maddas. " Cheers Margeret " came the reply. " Can you put it on the slate ? ". Needless to say, the guy didn't pay and said S W Economy was left with a bankrupting hole to fill. Poll tax did not work, the country degenerated in to rioting and MT was sacked. But, hey, so long as the " elect your own dictator " " democrats " are SEEN to be trying their best, show me a better system.

[The Joker 10]

:hihi: Blame Thatcher , standard . Don't blame the failing ,inept , amateur councillors , they are great . Its all Thatchers fault

 

once again, you have nothing worthwhile to contribute to the discussion.

 

Please, give it a rest.

[alchresearch 214]

Many in Sheffield A will probably never have even ventured into Sheffield B - why would they?

 

Spot on Anna. When I lived in Woodhouse I never often ventured West, other than to travel to the Peak District. Aside from the occasional drink with friends in Broomhill, or a walk in the Botanical Gardens there wasn't much else in that end of town I needed to go there for.

 

I didn't feel like I was excluded for not being posh, nor that there was a psychological "wall" barring me and my type.

 

Same with the North end of town. The last time I went to Hillsborough was to visit IXL or Maplin when they only had one branch!

[Cyclone 10]

Hasn't the author just described most big cities? Posh bits and poor bits?

 

Exactly what I was thinking. What city exists that doesn't have this same split?

 

---------- Post added 19-09-2018 at 10:27 ----------

 

I've never heard anyone before suggest such a thing. Sure there are areas of the city that are nicer than others....as is the case in every other city in the country, if not the world.

 

The Brexit comments are ludicrous too- as if whole areas of the city voted differently to others! What rubbish. I know that among the area I live people all voted differently- they even did in my own house!

 

I do agree with criticism of a complacent and incompetent council though....but I wonder how much this writer actually knows about the city....

 

I don't know if brexit breakdowns are available at the constituency level, but it's almost certainly true that there was a strong east/west split in the city in how people voted.

http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/idmap.html

Zoom in on the map, the areas of greater deprivation will have voted for brexit, they were angry at the government, mislead by the leave campaign and so on.

 

---------- Post added 19-09-2018 at 10:40 ----------

 

Spot on Anna. When I lived in Woodhouse I never often ventured West, other than to travel to the Peak District. Aside from the occasional drink with friends in Broomhill, or a walk in the Botanical Gardens there wasn't much else in that end of town I needed to go there for.

 

I didn't feel like I was excluded for not being posh, nor that there was a psychological "wall" barring me and my type.

 

Same with the North end of town. The last time I went to Hillsborough was to visit IXL or Maplin when they only had one branch!

 

Why WOULD someone go to residential areas if they didn't live there?

 

I'm sure there are entire areas of Sheffield that I've only ever passed through briefly. I expect that this is the same for people living in other cities in exactly the same way.

I lived in Birmingham for 3 years at university and didn't visit the vast majority of residential areas, even when I had a car in my final year.

I lived in Portsmouth as well, and despite it being very small there were still areas I had no reason to go to.

 

---------- Post added 19-09-2018 at 10:44 ----------

 

I do find the North/South description annoying though, given that it's clearly an East/West split.

 

http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/idmap.html