As leaders in Davos debate inequality, on Davos Drive people are living it

There’s no snow and no sign of any champagne.  My Davos is a very different experience from our Faisal’s, by the sound of it. While he’s taking soundings from the great and good in the Swiss ski resort, I’m in Davos Drive, in Biddulph, just north of Stoke on Trent.

I’ve been hearing what life is like for  the people who live and work – or don’t work – in and around this “Davos” and the  disconnect between the two couldn’t be more stark.

World  leaders and the global elite may be debating issues like poverty, hardship and inequality, here,  in and around Stoke, people are  living it.

Stoke is England’s 16th most deprived area. The region was hit hard by the loss of the two industries which shaped its history – mining and the potteries.  And though the loss of the so called “pits and pots” happened many years ago now, many here feel the local economy has never really recovered.

More from Channel 4 News on Davos Drive

Liam’s a 19-year-old lucky enough to have some work but it’s not really enough to get by. So he still has to live in Davos Drive with his mum and stepfather – despite the fact he’s about to become a father himself. He simply can’t afford to move out.

Mark Statham is a 52-year-old law graduate who’s been jobless for a year. He now spends his time looking for work and helping those worse off than himself – the use of food banks has risen “exponentially” he says. From being an emergency measure used once or twice for families in crisis, he says, in his village of Bentilee, it’s now part and parcel of every day life.

So what can Davos do for people like Mark and Liam? What relevance does it have? And as for it’s bold claim that the World Economic Forum – which  is the formal title of the Davos get together – is looking to “reshape the world”, how is that going down here? Well there are a lot of blank looks… and then people just get on living their lives.

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