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The Grapes Of Wrath .

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John Steinbeck wrote an  iconic account in his 1930's book The Grapes of Wrath, 

It was about poor workers in Oklahoma America starving due to the economic situation at that time .

 

I opened todays Sheffield Star paper this morning and was saddened to read seven pages dedicated to poverty in our City .

 

Workers who cannot afford to eat or heat their Holmes ,mothers and fathers who are down to there last few pounds despite working at jobs that pay just the minimum wage , 

Disabled people struggling to survive due to a benefit system that does not cover the basic cost to the care they need and so on '

And last but not  least folk being evicted for not being able to afford the rents demanded by the property speculators who now run the buy to let system in our land .

 

The last comment above is the one that made me me sit up and take notice as I turned to page 26 in our local rag .

 

The heading on that page , Fabulous  Barn conversion for sale , Followed by a asking price of around ,one point eight million quid ,  This is a recurring headline we see in the Star most days, property's pictured costing many thousands or even millions of pounds marketed by the Star showing photo's of fantastic views, lounges that are as big as tennis courts , double or treble garages that are as big as  terrace house at Walkley or Sharrow , .

 

Now you may think so what ,Its Life , !!!!! but is it,!!!!! how can a society exist when the gap is so massive , on one hand property being bought and sold for millions while on the other side people being evicted for the sake of empty pockets .

 

The Grapes of Wrath is alive and kicking in  our City just as it was all those years ago in the Mid West of America.

 

 

Edited by cuttsie

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1 hour ago, cuttsie said:

John Steinbeck wrote an  iconic account in his 1930's book The Grapes of Wrath, 

It was about poor workers in Oklahoma America starving due to the economic situation at that time .

 

I opened todays Sheffield Star paper this morning and was saddened to read seven pages dedicated to poverty in our City .

 

Workers who cannot afford to eat or heat their Holmes ,mothers and fathers who are down to there last few pounds despite working at jobs that pay just the minimum wage , 

Disabled people struggling to survive due to a benefit system that does not cover the basic cost to the care they need and so on '

And last but not  least folk being evicted for not being able to afford the rents demanded by the property speculators who now run the buy to let system in our land .

 

The last comment above is the one that made me me sit up and take notice as I turned to page 26 in our local rag .

 

The heading on that page , Fabulous  Barn conversion for sale , Followed by a asking price of around ,one point eight million quid ,  This is a recurring headline we see in the Star most days, property's pictured costing many thousands or even millions of pounds marketed by the Star showing photo's of fantastic views, lounges that are as big as tennis courts , double or treble garages that are as big as  terrace house at Walkley or Sharrow , .

 

Now you may think so what ,Its Life , !!!!! but is it,!!!!! how can a society exist when the gap is so massive , on one hand property being bought and sold for millions while on the other side people being evicted for the sake of empty pockets .

 

The Grapes of Wrath is alive and kicking in  our City just as it was all those years ago in the Mid West of America.

 

 

Never mind "The Grapes of Wrath" Cuttsie..

Just read "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist"

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Good post.

The sad thing is there are many on SF who simply refuse to believe the levels of poverty visited on ordinary citizens in this country/city.

 

When food banks first appeared the Tory faction on SF said it was fake news, then when the huge uptake was revealed, it was, 'well who's going to refuse free food.'  Even now, in spite of the oft repeated proven fact that people have to be referred to foodbanks by a reputable authority that recognises individual need, they still hold that most people using foodbanks are not in genuine need. Beggars and the homeless are all charlatans, and that real poverty doesn't exist.

If genuine, then they have the very victorian attitude that it's all the fault of the victims.

 

When people start dying of hyperthermia and starvation this winter they won't believe that either.....

They also think that their superiority makes them safe from such an eventuality befalling themselves.

They're not. And it's only when such an event happens to them that they'll believe it. Then it's too late. 

 

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23 minutes ago, Padders said:

Never mind "The Grapes of Wrath" Cuttsie..

Just read "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist"

Read it over and over again , Robert Tressel  a joiner wrote it his only book .

I was in the building trade from 1958 and things were just as bad then, no safety on sites , they  then  brought the lump in , Blokes would wait Around in pubs inc  Lion on Holly Street and Adelphi where the snooker theatre  now stands , A gaffer would walk in and say "there is a job at so and so ,its five pounds a thousand laid " some had to take it , some would tell him to go forth and multiply . 

Saw blokes injured and killed on sites , Remember one incident on Hyde Park Flats where a bloke died the gaffers covered up the scene to make it look better when the so called safety team came in to inspect . I my self was on a scaffold that collapsed while working on the Bank on Glossop Road now a Sainsbury store , When asked no body saw ow't as usual , sill limp on a bad day just to remind me .

Riding on the backs of lorry's out to sites miles away in mid winter you were wet through before you even got to the job , The building trade was ****tte even then in the early fifties , sixties and seventies , much improved now .

Edited by cuttsie

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17 minutes ago, cuttsie said:

Read it over and over again , Robert Tressel  a joiner wrote it his only book .

Excellent book. 'Ragged Trousered Philanthropist' should be on every schools reading list.

Edited by Anna B

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3 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Excellent book. 'Ragged Trousered Philanthropist' should be on every schools reading list.

Along with The Grapes of Wrath Anna .

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28 minutes ago, cuttsie said:

Along with The Grapes of Wrath Anna .

Yes.

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It’s all God’s fault.

 

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate;
God made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

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well its all down to mr bungles and those that believed his leveling up rubbish,hes not a honest man,remember the 50 pound note he burnt to prove he could?

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On 19/05/2022 at 13:17, cuttsie said:

Read it over and over again , Robert Tressel  a joiner wrote it his only book .

I was in the building trade from 1958 and things were just as bad then, no safety on sites , they  then  brought the lump in , Blokes would wait Around in pubs inc  Lion on Holly Street and Adelphi where the snooker theatre  now stands , A gaffer would walk in and say "there is a job at so and so ,its five pounds a thousand laid " some had to take it , some would tell him to go forth and multiply . 

Saw blokes injured and killed on sites , Remember one incident on Hyde Park Flats where a bloke died the gaffers covered up the scene to make it look better when the so called safety team came in to inspect . I my self was on a scaffold that collapsed while working on the Bank on Glossop Road now a Sainsbury store , When asked no body saw ow't as usual , sill limp on a bad day just to remind me .

Riding on the backs of lorry's out to sites miles away in mid winter you were wet through before you even got to the job , The building trade was ****tte even then in the early fifties , sixties and seventies , much improved now .

The working class who built the prosperity of this country and made other men rich, have always been treated with contempt. You would think things would have changed in this day and age, but we still see abuses daily.

With the demise of the Unions there's little they can do. My Grandfather, a big Union man in the early years of the movement, will be turning in his grave to think how little things have changed. 

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11 minutes ago, Anna B said:

The working class who built the prosperity of this country and made other men rich, have always been treated with contempt. You would think things would have changed in this day and age, but we still see abuses daily.

With the demise of the Unions there's little they can do. My Grandfather, a big Union man in the early years of the movement, will be turning in his grave to think how little things have changed. 

The building trade union was always not fit for purpose Anna , We were often told to do as the gaffers ordered or get the sack .

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On 19/05/2022 at 08:17, cuttsie said:

Read it over and over again , Robert Tressel  a joiner wrote it his only book .

I was in the building trade from 1958 and things were just as bad then, no safety on sites , they  then  brought the lump in , Blokes would wait Around in pubs inc  Lion on Holly Street and Adelphi where the snooker theatre  now stands , A gaffer would walk in and say "there is a job at so and so ,its five pounds a thousand laid " some had to take it , some would tell him to go forth and multiply . 

Saw blokes injured and killed on sites , Remember one incident on Hyde Park Flats where a bloke died the gaffers covered up the scene to make it look better when the so called safety team came in to inspect . I my self was on a scaffold that collapsed while working on the Bank on Glossop Road now a Sainsbury store , When asked no body saw ow't as usual , sill limp on a bad day just to remind me .

Riding on the backs of lorry's out to sites miles away in mid winter you were wet through before you even got to the job , The building trade was ****tte even then in the early fifties , sixties and seventies , much improved now .

There are a few of us still around

 

Who worked high up in the sooty rafters of the rolling mills standing on an overhead crane railing replacing light fittings, trying to drill a 3/8ths hole in a girder above, without any safety equipment whatso ever. Eyes closed to avoid the drill shavings. Wearing the same pair of slidy shoes you wore for the last waltz at the Locarno last night.

 

Or on the Gleadless Valley building site, circa 1956, where I severed an artery and tendons in my wrist. Miles from anywhere, no first aid kit, no transportation, no phones. My pals did what they could, and eventually got me an ambulance. I don't know how long, I had passed out from blood lost. 

 

The good news. The Royal hospital did an amazing job, and recoonected the veins and tendons, and after all these years it is still as good as new.

 

My employer was worried about his liablity, so he arranged to pay my wages for the 5 month's or so I was off work, and that was added to Worker's Compensation, so I finished up living the life of Riley on double my normal wages. Got to enjoy the finer points of Skegness and Blackpool.

 

Don't let anybody try to tell you, that a worker who can get paid to stay home, REALLY  "wants to get back to work". That's a Big Lie!

 

Lol

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