The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )

[Del]

There seems to be a case here of fitting the facts to suit a narrative as much as anything. I live in Elephant & Castle for instance. It isn't a salubrious part of town, and no doubt had it remained as such, there would be many chastising the 'awful' conditions people have to live in. Yet they're knocking down the Heygate estate to have newer houses on it. There are buildings popping up all over the place to significantly add to the housing stock. The park has recently been revamped, and there's a new leisure centre being built on the Elephant roundabout.

All of which is great, but it seems inevitable that this will lead to a degree of gentrification in the area. They're damned if they do bugger all, damned if they try and improve things.

Just walk down the Walworth road and tell me the place lacks social diversity

You live in a castle? I frigging knew it

 

[Coach]

There seems to be a case here of fitting the facts to suit a narrative as much as anything. I live in Elephant & Castle for instance. It isn't a salubrious part of town, and no doubt had it remained as such, there would be many chastising the 'awful' conditions people have to live in. Yet they're knocking down the Heygate estate to have newer houses on it. There are buildings popping up all over the place to significantly add to the housing stock. The park has recently been revamped, and there's a new leisure centre being built on the Elephant roundabout.

All of which is great, but it seems inevitable that this will lead to a degree of gentrification in the area. They're damned if they do bugger all, damned if they try and improve things.

Just walk down the Walworth road and tell me the place lacks social diversity

They are not improving it with a view to being inclusive though

When the vast Heygate estate in Elephant and Castle that once housed generations of ordinary Londoners is rebuilt, only 79 of 2,500 new homes on the site will be available as social housing.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/social-cleansing-londons-council-estates-4076556

That's just 3% of the 'regeneration' being done with the poor in mind.

As I asked earlier, in relation to child poverty, about the Tory slogan 'Securing a better future' - better for whom?

 

[rascal]

PM says plans for £3bn-a-year cuts are better than reducing benefits for wealthier pensioners

 

[Donald Twain]

It is social cleansing.

This is not far off the truth! Folks in London, who've lived there for generations being jettisoned oop north because of their social standing. Terrible

 

[Blue 1]

PM says plans for £3bn-a-year cuts are better than reducing benefits for wealthier pensioners

'Course he bloody does. He knows which side his bread's buttered, doesn't he?

 

[rascal]

'Course he bloody does. He knows which side his bread's buttered, doesn't he?

Not only is he trying to divide the classes but he's also trying to divide the ages. It's as if the conference is based on Paul Dacre's wet dreams.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

They are not improving it with a view to being inclusive though



http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/social-cleansing-londons-council-estates-4076556

That's just 3% of the 'regeneration' being done with the poor in mind.

As I asked earlier, in relation to child poverty, about the Tory slogan 'Securing a better future' - better for whom?

That's what I mean though. The park, for instance, has been greatly improved, with a number of low cost facilities for locals, and it is incredibly well used. The leisure centre will also be affordable you would imagine.

What you're saying though is you want cheap and poor quality housing done away with and replaced with higher quality, and thus more expensive, housing at the same price as the poor housing that came before. Is that really rational?

 

[Coach]

That's what I mean though. The park, for instance, has been greatly improved, with a number of low cost facilities for locals, and it is incredibly well used. The leisure centre will also be affordable you would imagine.

What you're saying though is you want cheap and poor quality housing done away with and replaced with higher quality, and thus more expensive, housing at the same price as the poor housing that came before. Is that really rational?

Affordable for whom? The poor are being moved on.

 

[Donald Twain]

The war on the poor, welfare and low paid workers has nothing to do with cutting deficits or balancing books. It will never end when targets are met! ( constantly shifted) This is how its going to be under the current custodians of the conservative party, its policy and its here to stay. Another 5 years of these and this, and you will see civil disorder on an unprecedented scale I kid you not! Which is what they ultimately want, but that's an argument for another day.

 

[EFCNIK]

I think they've realised they made a mistake with e+c and are trying to clean the place up. Do not blame them in the slightest. BW might paint you a picture of multicultural harmony, like someone from luton would, or someone from Bradford.

It defo isn't like that.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Affordable for whom? The poor are being moved on.

See, it's that kind of misunderstood rhetoric that doesn't help matters. Elephant & Castle is regarded as a poor/working class area right at this minute. It's regarded as a poor and working class area when the Heygate is nothing but rubble on the ground.

So how on earth do you believe the construction of several thousand new homes make the area lose the number of 'poor' people in it compared to none of those homes existing right now?

It's madness. The housing bubble is largely caused by a lack of housing, yet within a couple of minutes walk from my house there are probably 4 housing developments under construction. And you still spin that as a bad thing because those houses won't be affordable enough. Ffs.

Harriet Harmon is the MP for Southwark. Maybe you should drop her a line.

 

[rascal]

Funny how they've managed to find enough spare change from beneath the sofa for another war isn't it?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I think they've realised they made a mistake with e+c and are trying to clean the place up. Do not blame them in the slightest. BW might paint you a picture of multicultural harmony, like someone from luton would, or someone from Bradford.

It defo isn't like that.

With respect Nik, you don't live here so I don't see how you can comment? Without doubt, it is naive to think that people aren't going to socialise with those with similar interests, maybe even similar backgrounds, but I wouldn't suggest it is not harmonious.

Go to the park of a weekend for instance, and you'll see blokes playing football, kids playing tennis or whizzing round the bmx track, families gathering together for a BBQ, lads having a game of cricket. All sorts of things going on. Does it matter that it's mainly the Indian kids playing cricket or that the BBQ area is loved by the Latino population? Of course not.

That isn't to say that crime is non-existent, but E&C is way below trendier areas such as Shoreditch, Soho, Brixton and Camden.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Funny how they've managed to find enough spare change from beneath the sofa for another war isn't it?

I might be wrong, but I believe all governments have a fund that is set aside for certain things, of which military action is one. Nothing to do with the budget really.

 

[Donald Twain]

Funny how they've managed to find enough spare change from beneath the sofa for another war isn't it?

This is a great point!