anti social behaviour,, Ashton Under lyne, baby, benefit repayments,, benefit sanctions, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, child poverty, confidence, conservative government, Cookery, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, disability, DLA, domestic violence, domestic violence,, DPAC, DWP blog,, dwp debt, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, food poverty, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, funeral plans,, G4S, government, Green Party, high street retail, Homeless Manchester, Homeless women, homelessness, homelessness,, Housing, hunger, Hygiene Poverty,, International Women's Day, Ireland,, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, liz truss, Manchester, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, NHS, NHS dentist, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, PIP claim, poverty, pre paid funeral plans,, pre paid funerals,, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, prime minister, public transport, Republic Ireland budget 2023, Republic of Ireland,, rishi sunak,, safe hands,, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Television Licence, Television Licence fines, Teresa May, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, wilkos, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

Life in a northern town.

Hi there I hope you are all ok and are trying to cope in these godforsaken awful times. Just when you think it’s got as bad as it can be the government comes up with something else to torment us.

I’ve decided to write a blog similar to the ones that I used to do when I started out all those years ago. Back in the day things were bad but it’s a whole lot worse now.

Life has certainly changed beyond recognition, services that we had to support people and communities are long gone, working class labour controlled local  authorities have had their funding stripped and it’s now virtually impossible to heat and eat.

I often find myself walking around my local town remembering how lovely it used to look compared to now.

It’s run down in parts mainly because the funding that used to be available isn’t available any longer. The government has provided some funding but it can only be spent on designated projects and not urgently needed ones. 

It’s the same in most working class towns. Shops are shutting because people no longer have any spare money and have to concentrate on essential things.

A good economy can’t be created by not investing in communities something the government fails to realise

It’s easy to be quick to blame local authorities for the decline of our town centres whilst forgetting that it’s essentially the governments fault for denying much needed funding. If they don’t have the money it can’t be done can it.

Anger should be directed towards the government for their part in the destruction of local communities.

It’s a class war for sure.

Back in the day myself and fellow campaigners DPAC and Black Triangle predicted that things would get bad and we weren’t kidding. I remember being called an extremist and I was making it up.

We weren’t wrong were we.

One thing I do know is that we’re all struggling at the moment and with autumn quickly approaching the worry of keeping warm is upon us.

How will we manage? God knows but I predict there’ll be many casualties this year. It’s soul destroying but I fear that this too is becoming normalised just like foodbank usage has been.

Despite all of the above I like the town that I live in, I can escape to the countryside by walking up the road and I appreciate it now that I’m able to do this.

Keep strong everyone we can get through this because we’ve got each other and they can’t take that away from us.

My photo

4 thoughts on “Life in a northern town.”

  1. Charlotte I love your phrase keep strong we have each other. It resonated today. I don’t have much, but I stopped today to give change and chat for a minute to an elderly guy, who I’d notified earlier picking up cigarette ends for tobacco probably. I’m in pain again with my discs and obviously must have winced as I picked up my cat litter again. He was up immediately: it’s too heavy, let me take it to your bus bay!! I thanked him and said really he didn’t have to, but he insisted so I accepted,it obviously made him feel better and it did help me. Certainly us government victims have each others backs. I just hope he gets sorted soon. Stay strong all.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. Here in Inverclyde (the poorest region in Scotland), the council has again raised business rents and rates, which in turn has seen business owners shut up shop. The owner of the haberdashery has until November to decide what she will be doing. She has customers from further down the coast who if she decided to cease trading would have to go to Glasgow. We are waiting on the flood of fentanyl to take hold and begin killing off the many addicts we have here. The problem that Scotland has is two fold – Westminster & Holyrood who both have mismanaged and wasted £billions between them. So much for the oil. 80% is sold off on the international market by China, Norway and other shareholders. It never has or ever will be a benefit to Scotland/UK. I see that Richy Boy’s in-laws signed off on a £1bn oil deal with BP before Richy Boy announced that home produced oil and gas exploration would continue to benefit Britain…lies lies lies.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment