Why the poor don't move

[Spacecadet]

Following on from this:
http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...ml#post1765189

BBC News - The unbearable sadness of the Welsh valleys

"Why don't you leave?" I ask some unemployed men in their 50s. "Because we are valley boys," comes the reply. "This is home." The green, green grass…

[sasguru]

They should get on their bike. Or let them eat cake.

[SimonMac]

The unbearable sadness of the Welsh valleys

I thought this was "The unbearable sadness of the Welsh valleys"

[northernladuk]

I thought this was "The unbearable sadness of the Welsh valleys"

Unbearable yes, sadness they have to be appear on our screens yes... So 2 points to Simon Mac

[BoredBloke]

Following on from this:
http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...ml#post1765189

BBC News - The unbearable sadness of the Welsh valleys

I saw that on TV last night and to be honest it sounds like a cop out. I've not had a job that's within 200 miles of home in the past 4 years. Its just an excuse so that they can justify their benefits existance. There was a bit saying that a large proportion of the population were on anti depressants and this is linked to poverty. They then spoke to a woman wh had been on pills for 40 years!! That's 1973 - were the pits closing then? Were the valleys the poverty ridden dumps they appear to be these days.

[KentPhilip]

"Why don't you leave?" I ask some unemployed men in their 50s. "Because we are valley boys," comes the reply. "This is home." The green, green grass…

Some species of birds fly thousands of miles every year in migration in order to survive. All we're asking these taffys to do is to hop onto the Megabus a couple of hundred miles.

[Pondlife]

It's a strange place is the vallies.

My first job was for an exhaust manufacturer just outside Tradegar which was an hours drive from my home the other side of Cardiff. Some of the views around Brecon are absolutely spectacular and there are some lovely towns in the area (Crickhowell & Abergavenny for example). The problem is that other parts are just bleak in every sense. I wouldn't live there. It's too far from civilisation IMHO.

In the words of one of their own

One afternoon from a council school A boy came home to play,

With paints and coloured pencils And his homework for the day.

'We've got to paint the valley, Mam, For Mrs Davies Art.

What colour is the valley, Mam? And will you help me start?'



'Shall I paint the Con. Club yellow, And paint the Welfare blue?

Paint old Mr Davies red And all his pigeons too?

Paint the man who kept our ball - Paint him looking sad?

What colour is the valley, Mam? What colour is it, Dad?'



'It's a colour that can't buy, lad, No matter what you pay.

But that's the colour that we want: They call it Rhondda Grey.

[BoredBloke]

There's tidy then.

Yes, the pits were closing in 1973.

But there were others still open that you could transfer to.

Also, there was a steelworks in Ebbw Vale that employed many.

Dunno what the answer is, places like Glyncorrwg (Afan Valley rather than Rhondda/Ebbw etc.) only exist because of the pit.

I think the pit closed in the early 70s, so really & truly there's no reason for Glyncorrwg to stil be there.

Those with get up & go have got up & went.

Those who can't are still there.

Rather them than me.

I don't think it's 'can't' but more like can't be arsed. They moan that there is nothing there for them....well what's keeping you there then? Move! So the pits were closing in 73, but it was more the association that the beeb gave that poverty leads people to anti depressants and here is a woman whose been on them since 1973 - They should have used her as some kind of poverty indicator of things to come as she was very sensative to the inpending poverty!

[doodab]

You could also argue that if a large proportion of the populace needs to travel 200 miles to work that this reduces productivity, places unnecessary strain on infrastructure and has a negative effect on their health and their children's health and education.

It's all very well saying get on your bike but just saying get on your bike doesn't work, and when this is allowed to happen on a grand scale, resulting in huge bills for the rest of us, then at some point you have to stop blaming individuals and hold the government to account for decades of taking the easy option and persisting with policies that clearly aren't working.....

[VectraMan]

It's all very well saying get on your bike but just saying get on your bike doesn't work, and when this is allowed to happen on a grand scale, resulting in huge bills for the rest of us, then at some point you have to stop blaming individuals and hold the government to account for decades of taking the easy option and persisting with policies that clearly aren't working.....

Like the welfare state? It's a good example of how welfare helps keep the poor poor, not to mention depressed in more ways than one.

There was a story last week how contractors and tenants are the heroes of the economy (it may have been on The Register, not sure). The point being that the more flexible the work force the better for the economy (no argument there). Britain's obsession with home ownership holds us back, but worse than that are the housing associations and councils. If you've had to wait three years on a waiting list to get a council flat, you're not going to give it up in a hurry. So perhaps one thing the government should do is make it easier to swap a council house in one area for a council house in another if you have a job offer.