81–90 of 244 posts
First time i heard about SLS was from this DW documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK68yyrKUOA which i found very good
I'd love to know the rationale for why they geoblock the UK from watching this particular documentary.
The UK has typically had the highest levels of income inequality in Europe. A previous Prime Minister had been quoted 'A pound spent in Croydon is far more of value to the country than a pound spent in Strathclyde', Croydon being in London and Strathclyde being an administrative area in West Scotland that ceased to exist in 1975. The quote was from 2012. WFH has allowed me to continue working from rural Scotland, to…
That's how infrastructure projects are prioritised in the UK. Return on the pound. The south east returns something like 10x the investment versus the north of England. Just look at HS2 - everything north and north east of Birmingham has effectively been cancelled, leaving yet another "national" infrastructure project serving only London. This Government, or the previous one, or the previous one, ad nauseam, continua…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One day maybe TBH, I doubt it. Don't get me wrong, I sympathize with your values. Heck, I'm even called 'woke' by most people around me. Yet I understand that in this day in age, thanks to cryptocurrency, money is and will be a private matter. No government will be able to confiscate your wealth, at least to the extent that your wealth doesn't depend on assets related with the government (e.g. real estate is relate…
All assets depend on the governemt. You own land, that’s because the government allows it, you own a company, not if the government doesn’t let it exist.
This is so weird. Is it another way of saying "being poor is expensive"? Or poor people get sick more? If so then this some next level captain obvious stuff. Or do the authors have such a nice societal experience that this seems very peculiar to them? I mean, this is one if the top reasons people want money right? At least they have NHS in the UK, in most of the world and most of human history people either adapt or…
No, it’s more about pervasive lack of well being induced more lack of well being, including degraded health. It discusses poverty more, because it’s maybe a more encompassing topic and easier to identify, but they also mention abuse induced disorders and unwellness in general inducing SLS. I don’t think the wealthy or whatever are exempt from SLS, but you do tend to find more abuse and other factors in communities cr…
When you're somewhere that's more mixed by class, it's maybe easier to see your way back out of poverty in a way that you can't when you're never seeing anything else.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One day maybe TBH, I doubt it. Don't get me wrong, I sympathize with your values. Heck, I'm even called 'woke' by most people around me. Yet I understand that in this day in age, thanks to cryptocurrency, money is and will be a private matter. No government will be able to confiscate your wealth, at least to the extent that your wealth doesn't depend on assets related with the government (e.g. real estate is relate…
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This is quite darkly hilarious tbh. And consistent with my experience of Blackpool. I once went there on couple-week-long driving course when I was a teenager, hoping but eventually failing to get my license. I was put up in someone's house that was run as a sort of unlicensed b&b. The entire place, the curtains, the linen, the pillow,.. all smelled of old nicotine and damp. On my first evening I went out by myself t…
Amazing writing. If you have a book I'd read it.
I think that poverty really is a state of mind, and so SLS, as a thing separate from mental health, inadequate health care or material deprivation makes a lot of sense to me. Once you start seeing life as shit, something where no good change is possible and no effort is rewarded, you really are stuck in the shit reality. On the other hand, it’s possible to be materially very poor, but totally happy. To see life as fu…
And this is what neoliberalism does to a brain. Notice that when communists are discussed, the same sayings "communism has killed millions of people". Well, so has capitalism. Probably even more than communism. Except, capitalists always rephrase this to point blame towards the individual. Homeless rising? Should have worked harder! Don't have medical? Should have worked harder! Medical privatized and going to shit?…
There’s a communist version of every tired refrain you listed (but with more jail time and gulags), so I don’t see how it’s solving anything.
Maybe life in general is kinda shit sometimes?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From an Australian perspective the idea that "seaside" towns are especially susceptible to economic decay and being left behind seems quite odd - even in parts of country without year-round beach weather, coastal localities here are usually the desirable places to live with subsequently healthier economies. Are there other countries that have experienced similar patterns of development to the UK?
Most UK seaside towns lost out to cheap flights to Spain. There's very little reason anyone visit Blackpool over Málaga. For the price of a depressing hotel in Blackpool you can get a modern resort in Spain with warm seas and reliably sunny hot weather every day. There are a few seaside towns that managed to hold on, such as Brighton. They're mostly in the South where the climate and sea temperature is a touch more b…
The most severe deprivation in Blackpool is highly concentrated in a narrow strip just behind the seafront. The contrast is quite astonishing - Blackpool as a whole feels quite run down, but there are pockets that feel truly post-apocalyptic.
The UK has typically had the highest levels of income inequality in Europe. A previous Prime Minister had been quoted 'A pound spent in Croydon is far more of value to the country than a pound spent in Strathclyde', Croydon being in London and Strathclyde being an administrative area in West Scotland that ceased to exist in 1975. The quote was from 2012. WFH has allowed me to continue working from rural Scotland, to…
That's how infrastructure projects are prioritised in the UK. Return on the pound. The south east returns something like 10x the investment versus the north of England. Just look at HS2 - everything north and north east of Birmingham has effectively been cancelled, leaving yet another "national" infrastructure project serving only London. This Government, or the previous one, or the previous one, ad nauseam, continua…
As the other comment has pointed out, this is irrelevant: in practice, as with Brexit, a majority of 1 can let you do almost _anything_ in the British constitution.
No, the real constraint is either internal opposition - party infighting - or what the newspapers will hammer you for.
Many of the UK's most depressed towns voted for Brexit, seemingly in the belief this might mean funding diverted towards them. It did not, because why would it? Nobody cared about them before, nobody cares about them after. Only marginal constituencies matter.
It's not like their local MP is going to help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_South_(UK_Parliament... was sacked from the party after a bribery sting https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65193097
> Bringing Newcastle closer to Leeds by faster road and rail
"Fun" fact: Leeds is the largest city in Europe that doesn't have a metro, tube, or tram system.