Hats off for Luton!
And I am afraid hats ARE off. Luton was once the milliners’ paradise. Not any more – there’s hardly a hat mould, outside a museum, in the place.
Whilst, like the Campari girl, I have often been to Luton Airport, I have never spent time in Luton itself. To do so is to experience something of a roller coaster.
One moment you are on a leafy bowling green taking gin and tonics with the Committee; the next you are on one of the most dispossessed housing estates imaginable; and the next you are buying nectarines on a street bustling with business – with shops selling saris, pots and pans, hi-tech produce, and littered with excellent Indian restaurants.
So, why bother spending time in Luton? Well, ahead of the budget and the general election, I wanted to find out what a deficit of £178 billion looked like from street level. I wanted to see what the present Government’s injection of tens of millions of pounds to try to regenerate Luton looked like and whether it had succeeded.
Above all I wanted to take the temperature of the place. Is the town yearning for change? Is it a town seized with a vision offered by one of the alternative parties vying for power?
Luton was once a white British town dominated by the massive Vauxhall car works which in its heyday employed 22,000 people.
Today Vauxhall is a rump, making vans and employing little more than 10% of that number. Many of the surrounding manufacturers who supplied Vauxhall have long since gone to the wall.
Today Luton is a Mecca of many races. One of the days I was there, the streets had been taken over for St Patrick’s Day by the town’s earliest immigrants, marching through the town with their shamrocks, their bands, and their greens. Even in this parade there was a strong sprinkling of the multi cultural: Afro-Caribbean drummers and percussionists, and even a full-blooded samba band.
But what you will see from my report tonight is the deep segmentation of the town, the Asian area booming; the white middle classes, still attending their old golfing, Masonic, and bowling clubs – but having moved out to the edges of the town and beyond.
Above all you will see the daunting challenge of Luton’s sink estates, where 70% live on benefit and where whole families have no one who has been in dependable work for a generation.
I found spending just a few days talking and listening to the people who eke out an existence here harrowing. Hope is in very, very short supply amongst the tens of thousands of people who live in such circumstances. And as I reported from Hull last night, those estates are not peculiar to one English town.
I believe that I have encountered merely the tip of a very British reality, a snapshot of a country with vast social challenges extending far beyond what we mainly talk about – fixing the deficit.
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There are 36 comments on this post
Jon, you are highlighting a problem that seems true of most towns and cities in the country – affluence and poverty just a few miles apart.
I can’t believe that everyone on these estates is feckless and unwilling to help themselves. There is something more nuanced that is wrong with our society. Personally I believe it is that the majority measure worth in money and goods more than what someone contributes. Bankers ‘need’ big bonuses as an incentive rather than the knowledge that their services are helping society.
And who can be surprised when the people leading the country think £5000 is a suitable reward for one day of their work but believe that firemen, policemen, nurses etc are worth so much less?
The trap of poverty has little to do with society measuring worth or contribution in goods and ownership. I’m not saying we don’t, just that its not relevant. The people on the estates of Luton want the same trappings: they just don’t know how to get them.
You’re right that its nuanced. Good parents inculcate their children with values centred around achievement through hard work and education, they teach that life is an opportunity to be seized. They try to give their children ‘a good start in life’ and they set an example.
On the estates this is much tougher to do. Family values are over-ridden by peer pressure which sees knives, gangs, drugs, teenage pregnancy and drunkeness as normal.
The answer to this cultural poverty is not redistributive tax. It is not benefits which remove the incentive for work. It is not even a mimimum wage (though this helps). The State is ineffective in tackling cultural poverty – Left and Right.
What it can do is police the estate properly – put a station in the center of it and man it night and day. Reduce the time between arrest and a court appearance (its years) and put money into community groups led by the people themselves.
Saltaire you are right,it is that belief in money that has made the majority of us poorer.When i started work i earned£4 per week and sent some home to mum .I was quite happy .10 s was 5 pints of scrumpy and an oggie. The fact that we earn more and the average wage is over £300 per week (not what i’m getting) has made us much poorer .It has priced away millions of productive jobs that have been replaced by non productive ones .It has allowed our industries to be taken over by economies such as India and China , where greed has yet to start losing those jobs.It has given us a left wing government that wants to tells us everything we must do from schooling,working retiring.That restricts the ability to think, tries to make us all equal with its rediculous equality laws.Stops real effort with its Health and Safety Laws .Has tied us to Europe in an even more restrictive way.You will never see these towns regenerate into a mecca of industry again without a radical change in direction .I can not see any of the parties providing that change
I have 3 degrees, am a professional, have injected clinical expertise into the nhs for 40 years and for the last 15 years have not been able to get a job. The only thing a mature person with qualifications can get are working hours where we have to run around with arthritic knees for those who have just come into the profession and think that they are ever so superior when they get a salaried post.Then they try and tell us that a few months at university equates to 40 years learning as they destroy the workplace.and everyone doing the job is the same, whilst they incompetently tap our expertise which we have built up over a lifetime, asking us if we can do the same things we trained for in the 1960′s .Then those with inferior qualifications look down on us and the spivs try and manage us.
How many industries is this typical of? and we wonder why things were mismanaged.
Margaret ,
In your post of March 23 pm – u are so right – after leaving collegee – it took a good few years for the farmers to really train me – and the crowd at the top – who gobble up so much of the resoureces – they cannot be questioned – but shaould be . There is no use whinging at coffe break – then going into a meeting with these ” spivs ” as u rightly call them – and staying stum silent – but that is waht happened all too often . Too much Obedience is a very bad thing ..
From the blog, the mental picture I conjured up was similar to the scene as Hugh Grant walks through the seasons in ‘Notting Hill’
The ideal of muticulture is charming; colour , contrast , lifestyles juxtaposed. In reality it is ethnic tension and a refusal to change.The gentle folk carry on in the only way they know and the groups trying to dominate walk through the crowds with their obtuse ideas and elbows out.
Large parts of Britain are suffering from an ‘I’ve lost mummy syndrome and the bullies have trampled their way in.’Even in poverty the Brits were genteel.My grandma polished the brass doorknobs on her council house, she donkey stoned the step , the house was immaculate. Her account box had separate compartments for the odd farthing and Mrs Beeton knew how to stretch one joint of meat for one weak.
She was a tailoress of the highest quality and worked for hours in the dark making clothes for the neighbourhood.Her husband, my grandfather was an engraver ,taking care with his artisic designs on silver ware. He even meticulously engraved the alphabet on a pin head.
So much pride in the Council home. That area is now wrecked.
Just replying to myself.. a freudian slip…we were not weak even though the joint lasted for a week.
Just seen a couple of cowboys on the road though, they must get their stetsons from somewhere…Probably Blackpool , but no-one is going to kiss them quick with the tricks these boys get up to.
Luton was a very important town for the car industry. Just to name one of our countries big problems, is that our police force now drive around in BMWs.
You can’t blame a lot of caucasian Brits for feeling resentment towards foreign minorities. It’s not the minorities fault as most of them are hard workers. The fault lies soley with our politicians, who in the face of profit, have speared us right to the heart.
adzmundo The Venus Project & CND
Im sure the minority are hard workers – but are they undercutting the wage struture of the British workers – this is one of main aims of immigrant labour . Yes I know many in UK have a right to be there . But the divisions that occur do as someone said spawn hatred – much to the delight of the bossses – who can play one against the other – while they count the profits . Dont expect anything from politicina – they sre chosen by the Big Boys .
To repeat myself: Poverty & inequality, right across Britain and the world, is driven by predatory capitalism.
There will always be a degree of inequality but, unrestrained capitalism breeds greed and indifference. It’s become the scourge of the western world and it’s spreading. Those that defend it are usually the benefactors of its evil ways. There is no greater evidence to its consequences than to see how vast swathes of people in UK, US & EU are now in poverty and festering with hatreds.
The root system that has allowed this emanates from the UK Government, corporate scum, Banks and rich individuals.
It’s not rocket science to deduce that if there is no restraint on predation of resources, land & media, you end up with the rich corrupt gentlemen’s clubs colluding to look after themselves.
The elitist education est eg. Eton, Oxbridge, Cambridge, Oxford & Private schools, are much to blame for their promoting an ethos that ‘greed is good’ and arrogance, indifference & ability to vocally down tread people via literary manipulations, are qualities sought by the British Government.
They don’t know what altruism means. They just look forward to their mansions.
Anthony i wish you were right but i am afraid the old socialist dream is exactly that. a dream.We have had left wing politics for 12 years now(maybe not left enough for you) Show me where are all the new jobs? I mean jobs in the private sector , jobs that provide wealth , not public sector jobs that take from the limited wealth there is .You decry the Capitalist system , but they provided the wealth and the jobs .Where are the hat makers ,the car manufacturers the steel makers , the ship builders,the coal miners ??? All moved abroad because the workforce is cheaper.The Left and the Unions have literaly priced themselves out of employment.Take Jon’s blog.Why are the Asians prospering ?Because they work long hours for low pay.Who is happier?? Those who blame the Capitalist system or those without work
Which is why I studied philosophy and literature, so the ar******* couldn’t ever repeat theft by literature and con tricks, however ,then you find that the majority havn’t got any idea about language and the only two universities that exist don’t understand the language , only the money they take.
I don’t half like Prof Brian Cox though, on science and astronomy.
Adrian, you are defeating your own argument. If to create wealth, more of us have to take lower paid jobs, who does that benefit? It’s the same old same old. We need to value labour as much as we do capital. We need to value contribution more than just the market. Currently it is more important in this country to be a professional footballer than to be a teacher. John Terry is more valuable than the most inspirational teacher. That’s madness..
You certainly can’t judge socialism on the last 13 years – Blair turned out to be a neo-con, the true son of Thatcher. The turn out in the next election will probably be a record low because all three main parties are so similar you couldn’t put a fag paper between them (haven’t used that expression for a few years!)
What we deperately need is an alternative, a party that will offer a market based economy where all the profits don’t end up in a few pockets.
Adrian, I am affiliated to no political party nor do I favour any of their beliefs or policies.
I’m a individual who has watched the demise of the West at the hands of unrestrained capitalism.
What a presumptuous statement to proclaim that Asians are prospering as a result of the left and unions pricing themselves out of this evil slavery!
The simple truth is, corporate scum will continue to drive down standards of living and favour slavery every time. Capitalism is the foundation on which the evil sweatshop slave creators receive their money. There is no low to which the rich won’t stoop with their unrelenting greed. They’d be happier using prisoners or children to do there dirty work.
Those Asian slaves aren’t the joyous benefactors of the transfer from the lazy Brits. They are the modern slaves of the new Victorian/Dickensian Employer & creators of misery, inequality and hatreds in the world. Many of these bast***s are from the West esp. the UK & US.
The emerging economies of the East are the precursors of tomorrows hatreds & today’s slave culture.
The corrupt rich, British politicians, corporate scum, rich individuals & Bankers are today’s true terrorists.
Wow! Just listening to people in this country and, reading all the frustrations, absolutely beggars belief. We are in 2010 and presiding over the worst recession in history, unemployment over 8 million, a fraudulent government, misery all over this western capitalist country, debt at staggering amount, the rich abusing the poor, the government eroding
civil rights, phoney wars creating hatreds for tomorrow, a bonus culture that’d warrant hangings, family breakdown, population growth, poverty & misery in 80% of the country, the union of the UK under threat (who can blame ‘em not wanted to be ruled from corrupt Westminster) and a general election that’ll bring about more cuts & misery, as a result of the rich scum Bankers & their government cronies.
The government know there will be riots in the future and, they’ve got plans in place to shut Brithish protesters/rioters up, that’ll make Iran, North Korea and so called ‘Pariah states’ look tame.
What’s the count for people leaving this country for pastures ‘greener’?: Very high indeed.
Britain, the sinking ship of Europe & the dictatorship round the world.
Adrian , we have not had left wing politics for many years – certianly not in the new Labour era – I dont rememebr any true left wing govt. in UK . Saltire Sam has summed up well .
Sounds like u had a better Patricks Day Parade than here in Wexford [ 20,000] . Was in Luton once many years ago just for a few hours on way to a meeting on ”Mechanical Harveting of Soft Fruit ”- when I told that to a security guard , he waved me thro – anyone who could think that one up — .
Problems u have In Luton / Hull etc are same as here in ROI [ just the scale is bigger ]- but the individaul hardship is the same – and it is the refusal to tax the rich that is one of underlying causes – the banks pay 13.5 % tax on profits here – most peopel are on 21- 41 % tax – and poor/ non existent services for such tax . Was in Wexford town this morning . Shops now open – not at 9am but 9.30- 10.00 am . Many are shut down altogeter – and virtaully all the rest had everlasting Sales on – 50% off / 70 % off etc . People have less money to spend – so the whole thing is in a state of disintegration – and we are told the only way forward is to take less by way of pay and work longer hours – not a mention of incresing that ridicluos 13.5 % tax on the rich – this is Capitalism out of control – yet there appears 2 b little real ” fight ” in the people which is really sad ..
Not sure it is the refusal to tax the ‘rich’ and not quite sure what you mean by ‘rich’. Higher earners do pay higher % rates, and because they earn more, more in total. The truth is we’re all being stiffed.
For a long time, I worked for a Dutch company with offices in the UK. The company was immensely profitable, but charged back the UK operation a sum for the use of its brands which eliminated the profit on paper. The result was no corporation tax.
The ROI has a low corporation tax to encourage companies to place their head office there – like Google, who avoid hundreds of millions in higher UK tax rates by having the head office in Ireland, even though their sales are all here.
Governments have little choice – high tax, means no HQ. No HQ means no tax. Us at the bottom pay the price in higher personal taxation.
You are just after giving an example of how the rich corportaions swindle the system . As for ROI corportain tax – it s just a race to bottom again . As soon as some other country offers a lower one and lower paid workers – the capiatlists go there . Do u think it is ok for banks here to make billions – pay little tax – and when they get into trouble run to the State for help – like all capitalists do when in trouble . If u dont know who the rich are – I cant help u .
Just watched the story on the 7 pm news. I find it exasperating where ‘people’ who are on benifits can set up their own ‘club’ where they can have an influence on how £50 million of tax payers money is spent on their estates! If 200,000 Poles can come to England and get a job in a matter of days I have more respect from them then these ‘people’ who’s answer to creating more jobs (12) is to open more takeaways. Why doesn’t this group get out of discussing building yet another failed, vandalised community centre and get a job like all the eastern bloc migrants manage to.
Yes – but the eastern bloc immigrants will work for a lower wage – and if a national says ok I will work for that wage – the immigrant will go lower still and work lonegr hours . Its just another race to the bottom . No- one except a tiny miority want 2 b on welfare – its sould destroying – would drain any normal human .
Ivana
If it wasn’t for this “club” of people you refer to, there would be have been very little meaningful consultation with local residents about how the £50m NDC funding would be spent, no community building in Marsh Farm (which will be the largest of it’s kind in the country), there would be no indoor children’s playpark, there would be no local builders employed at the community centre site, and there would be no prospect of the creation of 67 (not 12) jobs for the most hard-to-reach unemployed on the estate, in a variety of social enterprises whose profits will be reinvested back in to the community.
It is a great shame that there will always be short-sighted, bitter individuals whose only contribution to the world around them is to snipe anonymously on internet message boards, but thankfully there are also committed, caring local activists who prefer to get out and do something more constructive.
Just watched the report. Yes I understand the benefits trap and its time to do away with unemployment benefit (job seekers allowance). Instead the government provides an opportunity to work for everyone who wants to. No more, no work and £50. You, work get maybe £165 a week, pay rent, taxes like everyone else. Getting a job outside the government scheme just means a step up the ladder. Britain gets the jobs done that are currently not being done; clean streets, buildings built/repaired, child care, helping the elderly… Anyone who chooses not to work, finds a way to support themselves and good luck to them.
That is basically an acceptance of slavery – would Murdoch work for £ 165/ week or John Terry or Brown or Cameron – or doctors , soilictors etc etc etec – its an abysmal wage.
Saltaire , strangely i agree with you.I was not saying that we should take lower paid jobs to enhance the incomes of the rich or providers of those jobs .Put it this way if the japanese can produce a car for £50 a worker , why pay an english worker£100 to produce the same car? No the manufacturer goes abroad.It is cheaper to ship coal in from abroad than to mine it here.If you have to pay a worker to be on maternity leave , it is cheaper to go abroad.Every person in health , education, police , local government has to be paid from wealth producing jobs.Those jobs only produce products that can be sold on the open market.What is needed is the money produced to be used for the benefit of all and not a select few individuals .We have to be able to sell in a global market place .Either that or complete isolationism, on a Kibutz s type sharing system or co operatives .Yes total communism.I do not advocate either of the latter systems .So in a market led system we have to produce goods that sell.I agree totally about the stupid incomes of sportsmen .Add to that musicians and film stars and Bankers Let people earn as much as they can but tax them at 100% on earnings at a set level,
I agree with some of waht u say . There has been too much emphasis on the Serives – better try to explian . Health Education etc are sanrosanct – but in last 10-15 years there have been [ here anyway ] more Devolopment Boards , financial advisors etc etc , than one could count – all sorts of non essntIAL services – basically they serviced themselves – with plenty wages – contributed little or nothing.
Somewhere someone has to manufacure something be it Iphones , computers or 6 inch nails – wahtever is need by society – [ not necesarrily waht the market wants ] ..
Saltaire we definately need an alternative party.One that gets us out of Europe if a referendum says that is the wish of the people .Brings tough sanctions and punishment for law breakers.Restores our manufacturing base and yes does not allow people to become rich at others expense .A tough task and difficult for a party to get established with those aims
I live in a small village outside of luton, but I travel in every day to work there. I work for the local newspaper, which I would like to feel is a pretty worthy part of society. I find it very frustrating to read peoples opinions when they “pass through” luton, or any similar towns. It saddens me that people make assumptions on the town because of certain areas, and seem to ignore the good points. We have some beautiful open spaces in Luton, fantastic walks around the town and people who live there who are trying to make a difference. Luton has received a LOT of bad press recently, and it seems that everyones minds have already been made up as to their opinions. Yes things have changed, but things have changed everywhere. The recession has hit the entire county, if not the world, but please try and look beneath the faded and worn out exterior, stop bad mouthing places because they could do with a bit of tidying up, and be open to the idea that underneath that, there may be some very valuable or likeable parts to certain places.
I watched your report on Luton. The contrasting views expressed were those of the old and young rather than one race and another or the committee and the dispossessed. You report didn’t seem to include the 25′s to 55′s who perhaps have more homogeneous views?
Have just watched the report– it is important to acknowledge that even though a greater supply of workers does have a downward pressure on wages, one is still paid what one basically deserves. The key issue is skills, training and education and the real division is not among the different races but rather the persistent class division. The underprivileged have lack of access to certain opportunities, therefore it is necessary to create opportunities for the younger generation whereupon they can obtain skills and earn a higher wage to break away from the ‘benefit cycle’.
America has taken a different stance by encouraging the migration of high-skilled labour and I agree with that. Economies can only progress with an effective labour force. Looking at the top universities, it is very multicultural, proves that the immigrants are not living off benefits but rather contributing in a major way to society. In the long run creating more competition in the labour pool might produce better results in the future as people will be forced to be more employable.
Love Jon Snow!!
” One is paid waht one basically deserves ”- are u serious . So u agrre that the footballers etc – the politicinas – the overpaid bank bosses – their pay is ok . And a South African miner who risks his life for samll pay to get gold for his employers – and the swetshops of SE Asia – they get waht they Deserve . The US — allows immigartion eg of Mexicans at fruit picking time – it uses illegal immigrants to keep down wage cliams from US workers . You seem to have swallowed the Globalistaion/ New World Order totally .
Get real.. one earns what one has stolen from their better peers.You call that competition: what a strange view.
Anthony i love to read your diatribes against the so called rich scum.Some i could agree with , if you explained how the country is to produce the wealth to pay for the poor who do not aspire to great wealth .If my statement about Asians is presumptious that they are prospering through hard work and long hours , what is your answer? What is your answer to the absurd statement of “wage slavery” Do we use a Mugabwe system of printing useless money and dole it out to everyone making them millionairs of fresh air.You criticise the job produces and the wealth creators ,yet do not supply any answers as to how the country and individuals survive
Jim we are much in agreement lol.I do not support the greedy grasping members of society , be they bankers businessmen ,footballers sportsment or whoever .Having said that unless we produce saleable articles , that sell on the global market we will become a third world country.Somehow that has to be as loosely regulated as possible to allow competiveness.The problem doesnt lie there it lies with the wage structure.Wages have to come from profits , but also those in charge need to be closely regulated to prevent them amassing fortunes at the expense of the workers
Anthony I made your speech about this Country 10 years ago , I broke my heart for weeks, trying to get people to realise what was going to happen, the more I cried , the more they laughed .I tried every approach to get the message over.I watched the corruption and took the flack as they bounced it around to me. It is survival of self now.
I don’t have holidays, dont drink or smoke , very rarely go out, but I have a roof over my head and a house for my children if anything goes wrong in their life.
Communism, Fascisim, Nazism, Monarchies and so called “Democracy”, all have the same mound of “top” worms profiteering off the weak at the bottom.
True socialism was never implemented because the very humane idea was taken and distorted to the advantage of who was in control.
We are controlled by men who wear $5000 suits(which cost less than $50 to make).
The planet is ruled by financial emperors not elected politicians, they are just criminal puppets.
More than 40% of the WORLDS fate, is controlled by 1% and that number grows by the day.
Something is wrong ladies and gents.
adzmundo The Venus Project & CND