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I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

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Re: I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

#121

Post by teamonkey »

jl6 wrote: post #87
JimDabell wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I was going to say. Back then, a book like this would have been perceived as the UK making fun of itself. Now it’s perceived as being cruel to those less fortunate. I think it’s worth putting into context that the economy was doing great in the era this book was first published and huge progress was being made with things like homelessness, inequality, and poverty. It felt like the country had turned a c…

The Gini coefficient of the UK is about the same now as it was then: https://equalitytrust.org.uk/how-has-inequality-changed/ What has actually changed? A whole bunch of other economic malaise, but also perceptions, amplified to your personal taste by social media.

Gini coefficient usually only measures income inequality. Wealth inequality is hard to measure for various reasons but…

https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk/

“for the UK as a whole, the WID found that the top 0.1% had share of total wealth double between 1984 and 2013, reaching 9%.”

“If the wealth of the super rich continues to grow at the rate it has been, by 2035, the wealth of the richest 200 families will be larger than the whole UK GDP.”

Etc.

Re: I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

#122

Post by incangold »

jl6 wrote: post #87
JimDabell wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I was going to say. Back then, a book like this would have been perceived as the UK making fun of itself. Now it’s perceived as being cruel to those less fortunate. I think it’s worth putting into context that the economy was doing great in the era this book was first published and huge progress was being made with things like homelessness, inequality, and poverty. It felt like the country had turned a c…

The Gini coefficient of the UK is about the same now as it was then: https://equalitytrust.org.uk/how-has-inequality-changed/ What has actually changed? A whole bunch of other economic malaise, but also perceptions, amplified to your personal taste by social media.

“About the same” is not “the same”, and there are tipping points. The gini coefficient has still seen a decent bump.

But anyway, gini is a coarse measure. Look at the chart below that, showing income percentages going steadily upwards for the top 10 and 1%.

Most worryingly, look at the decline of the middle 40%. A healthy middle class keeps countries stable. You need a good chunk of society who feel like the system works for them.

And it’s not just perceptions, it’s fundamental stuff. A teacher could afford a house in the 90s; they can’t now. For all the boomers bang on about mobile phones and flat screen TVs, in the end those are luxuries compared to clean, secure accommodation. The days of getting a mortgage on one income, or having access to nice council housing are gone.

Re: I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

#123

Post by uwagar »

the book author says "There’s a website (I won’t link to it) that has kept on running a survey of the worst places in the UK for years and years- and, honestly, when I look at it, I hate it. Partly because I feel like they’re ripping off my project"

this is why we should cherish the [indie] web. we can still almost publish anything in incredible detail, keep it alive for a long time and not worry about being canceled.

plus i have low opinion of people that wont share a link they know is relevant to the topic.

Re: I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

#125

Post by arrowsmith »

a_dabbler wrote: post #120
arrowsmith wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Poverty is through the roof. More people using food banks than ever. More people on zero hours and low paid contracts. Is that supposed to prove me wrong? I said that everybody is getting poorer. > Wealth inequality is through the roof. Wealth inequality, while high, is still roughly where it was in 2007. (Source: https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk/ ) > If you think the problem with the UK is…

"Wealth inequality, while high, is still roughly where it was in 2007" This is not whats represented in the source you cited? In the graph titled "Top 10% and Bottom 50% Wealth Shares in The UK 1900-2020" you can clearly see the wealth owned by the top 10% increased from 54.4% in 2007 to 57% in 2020 and likely even higher now 5 years later.

Yes, that's only a 2.6% increase. I don't think it's unfair to call that "roughly where it was".

In fact, according to that chart wealth inequality today is much lower than it was in the 1970s, although it increased throughout the 1990s.

The same link shows that the UK has unremarkable wealth inequality by the standards of developed countries: we're bang in the middle of the OECD, with lower levels of wealth inequality than Sweden, Denmark, Finland or Norway. (That's funny, I thought the Nordics were egalitarian utopias?)

I'm not saying that wealth inequality is low, or that it's not a problem. I'm merely responding to the claim that "wealth inequality is through the roof", which I take to mean that wealth inequality has increased substantially in recent years. As far as I can tell that's not true.

Personally I think we need more economic growth, not more taxes. We already have the highest taxes since WWII, soon to be the highest taxes in the entire history of the UK, and all it's doing is strangling the economy and making productive people flee.

Re: I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

#126

Post by stavros »

a_dabbler wrote: post #120
arrowsmith wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Poverty is through the roof. More people using food banks than ever. More people on zero hours and low paid contracts. Is that supposed to prove me wrong? I said that everybody is getting poorer. > Wealth inequality is through the roof. Wealth inequality, while high, is still roughly where it was in 2007. (Source: https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk/ ) > If you think the problem with the UK is…

"Wealth inequality, while high, is still roughly where it was in 2007" This is not whats represented in the source you cited? In the graph titled "Top 10% and Bottom 50% Wealth Shares in The UK 1900-2020" you can clearly see the wealth owned by the top 10% increased from 54.4% in 2007 to 57% in 2020 and likely even higher now 5 years later.

Right, but the maximum is 92.7% and the minimum is 46%. A 3% difference seems small enough to be noise.

Re: I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

#128

Post by mvdtnz »

labrador wrote: post #49
Apocryphon wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s also his standup career of being extra atheist as if the world has never seen a famous lapsed Christian Brit

I concluded Noah's Arc was bollocks when I was 8 so I don't know why he goes on about it at his age

Have you not been following the news this week? A tremendous number of people still put a huge amount of stock into their silly superstitions.

Re: I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

#129

Post by magic_hamster »

The sense of self importance and overanalysis in this writeup on a silly book called "Crap Towns" is almost as hilarious as the book itself.

I still think the idea of the book is funny. There's a certain art to taking something bad and hilariously describing its terribleness. For some reason this has always made me laugh, but honestly not everyone gets it, and this has always been the case.

This kind of book can only happen in a place and a community with enough confidence and stability to handle it. Of course you can "get away" with it today, it's easier than ever to publish just about anything - but humor has changed and I don't expect it to go "viral" the way it did. Not all old jokes age well and we have all made products that no longer fit after some time.

But the author, oh boy. Dear sir, your tongue in cheek picturebook from 20 years ago is not as important as you imagine.

Re: I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time

#130

Post by tempaeay4747274 »

svat wrote: post #15

Loved the fact that this post didn't go where I expected it to (or at least, didn't remain there). That a book like this probably wouldn't be published today, or would be less popular today, is a point that has been made many times by many people, about many different books, TV shows, jokes, etc. But the author actually moves on from there; the observation is that even in his own opinion , the same joke isn't funny t…

This is a good question..it just occurred to me that perhaps its because its so much easier for the people who would be the target of the joke to answer back now?

Social media gives the possibility of instant reply, whereas if you publish a book in 2003 called 'crap towns' how can the so-called chavs answer back? Publish their own book? Write to the local paper?

So its a side effect of how we can all hear each other better now (for better or for worse)

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