It has been a dreary start to the year and trips to Glasgow, Dundee, Perth, Stirling, Falkirk, York, Wakefield, Carlisle and Brampton have made me realise how our urban centres are in serious decline with empty shops, commercial buildings and the urban realm all looking in need of extensive repair. Only York has had a sense of vibrancy with the tourism attractions generating lots of visitor expenditure from home and abroad on a bitterly cold February day.
Presumably, there are more towns in the south that are thriving. Certainly, during visits over the past couple of years to Oxford, Hemel Hempstead, Sevenoaks, Brighton and surrogate southern towns like Chester and Harrogate, I have been pleasantly surprised to find them exempt from the dilapidation that has afflicted northern towns and cities.
Towns in the Midlands and North already look like they are broken in the way the remain camp are predicting for after Brexit. The urban fabric is a mess with street furniture and signage cluttered, broken and dirty, pavements and roads a tribute to the failure of the power, telecoms and water providers to restore the public realm, and business premises showing an ever increasing number of vacant properties. Pubs, banks, independent shops and restaurants have closed; it is only charity shops, poundshops, fast food outlets and betting shops that seem to be surviving, if not thriving. There are notices for the reduction of bus services, future shop closures and travel agents suggesting that we escape the depressing UK winter. They serve to confirm the sense of urban decline and pending recession. People are looking sad.
The rundown of our towns and villages is not surprising given the wage stagnation and benefits reductions of recent years. These have been exacerbated by the most severe cuts in public expenditure since the war, an ever-accelerating switch to online shopping and a failure to regulate the street works effectively.
I have spoken to several local businesses in recent weeks and they have all made the same comment. They need to know what is going to happen post-Brexit and they all say that orders have slowed down. The uncertainty is beginning to strain their resources and plans are being put on hold or abandoned. The 14 directors that I have mentored this year are almost all dealing with reducing or closing services, disposing of premises and laying off staff. Only two or three are looking at developing new or improved services and even then there is uncertainty about funding for making the changes. Experienced managers in their 50s are being retired with little evidence that their knowledge and experience will be replaced. Austerity is the mother of a fake economy.
I watched I, Daniel Blake and it reinforced the scale of social injustices that are being perpetrated by 6 years of austerity. Even in 2015, 29% of children were living in poverty and 14% of pensioners were living on less than 60% of median incomes. These figures are increasing year on year. The post-truth announcements from government focus on the record number of people employed and the FTSE 100 increases. But these fail to acknowledge that many jobs are part-time, non-permanent or self-employed and they often lack pensions and sick pay, there are a lot of false jobs in the count. The FTSE is soaring on the back of a £ that has depreciated by 20% or so. The UK has become a takeover target for global corporate companies and other businesses are being sucked into mainland Europe in anticipation of Brexit.
As a lifelong optimist, I am struggling to find the upside in all of this. Housebuilding is in further decline and unaffordable; the NHS is in meltdown; education expenditure in England is focused on free schools or academies rather than targeting the shortage of pupil places or much needed investment in existing schools, and sustainable energy initiatives have been sacrificed on the altar of fracking and nuclear deals. The government are still 12% ahead in the opinion polls. It makes you wonder what other damage they can get away without denting this lead.
But even some Tories are now beginning to worry that 2018 could be the year when the public says enough is enough. The convergence of 10 years of austerity, heartless benefit reforms, the ever rapid dismantling of the NHS, the lack of decent affordable housing and the pension deficit have conspired to create an "inequality of wealth that is grosser than any European country", This is what George Orwell had said in 1941 in his essay, the Lion and the Unicorn'. It is probably even more apposite today.
The fruits of three decades of neoliberal policies coupled with the dystopian policies emerging in the United States and the loss of trade links following Brexit could generate a perfect storm that sparks a groundswell of despair arising from the skewed affluence within the UK. There could be a showdown with the government if the electorate could find an alternative that they trusted. The calls for an early election before this happens may not fall on deaf ears.
And 2018 is the Chinese year of the dog.
Presumably, there are more towns in the south that are thriving. Certainly, during visits over the past couple of years to Oxford, Hemel Hempstead, Sevenoaks, Brighton and surrogate southern towns like Chester and Harrogate, I have been pleasantly surprised to find them exempt from the dilapidation that has afflicted northern towns and cities.
Towns in the Midlands and North already look like they are broken in the way the remain camp are predicting for after Brexit. The urban fabric is a mess with street furniture and signage cluttered, broken and dirty, pavements and roads a tribute to the failure of the power, telecoms and water providers to restore the public realm, and business premises showing an ever increasing number of vacant properties. Pubs, banks, independent shops and restaurants have closed; it is only charity shops, poundshops, fast food outlets and betting shops that seem to be surviving, if not thriving. There are notices for the reduction of bus services, future shop closures and travel agents suggesting that we escape the depressing UK winter. They serve to confirm the sense of urban decline and pending recession. People are looking sad.
The rundown of our towns and villages is not surprising given the wage stagnation and benefits reductions of recent years. These have been exacerbated by the most severe cuts in public expenditure since the war, an ever-accelerating switch to online shopping and a failure to regulate the street works effectively.
I have spoken to several local businesses in recent weeks and they have all made the same comment. They need to know what is going to happen post-Brexit and they all say that orders have slowed down. The uncertainty is beginning to strain their resources and plans are being put on hold or abandoned. The 14 directors that I have mentored this year are almost all dealing with reducing or closing services, disposing of premises and laying off staff. Only two or three are looking at developing new or improved services and even then there is uncertainty about funding for making the changes. Experienced managers in their 50s are being retired with little evidence that their knowledge and experience will be replaced. Austerity is the mother of a fake economy.
I watched I, Daniel Blake and it reinforced the scale of social injustices that are being perpetrated by 6 years of austerity. Even in 2015, 29% of children were living in poverty and 14% of pensioners were living on less than 60% of median incomes. These figures are increasing year on year. The post-truth announcements from government focus on the record number of people employed and the FTSE 100 increases. But these fail to acknowledge that many jobs are part-time, non-permanent or self-employed and they often lack pensions and sick pay, there are a lot of false jobs in the count. The FTSE is soaring on the back of a £ that has depreciated by 20% or so. The UK has become a takeover target for global corporate companies and other businesses are being sucked into mainland Europe in anticipation of Brexit.
As a lifelong optimist, I am struggling to find the upside in all of this. Housebuilding is in further decline and unaffordable; the NHS is in meltdown; education expenditure in England is focused on free schools or academies rather than targeting the shortage of pupil places or much needed investment in existing schools, and sustainable energy initiatives have been sacrificed on the altar of fracking and nuclear deals. The government are still 12% ahead in the opinion polls. It makes you wonder what other damage they can get away without denting this lead.
But even some Tories are now beginning to worry that 2018 could be the year when the public says enough is enough. The convergence of 10 years of austerity, heartless benefit reforms, the ever rapid dismantling of the NHS, the lack of decent affordable housing and the pension deficit have conspired to create an "inequality of wealth that is grosser than any European country", This is what George Orwell had said in 1941 in his essay, the Lion and the Unicorn'. It is probably even more apposite today.
The fruits of three decades of neoliberal policies coupled with the dystopian policies emerging in the United States and the loss of trade links following Brexit could generate a perfect storm that sparks a groundswell of despair arising from the skewed affluence within the UK. There could be a showdown with the government if the electorate could find an alternative that they trusted. The calls for an early election before this happens may not fall on deaf ears.
And 2018 is the Chinese year of the dog.
:( Since I visit the UK only rarely these days, once a year or less, I do notice the change in vibe quite acutely each time. There was one summer I spent in Stirling feeling the buzz of a highly vibrant and optimistic scotland. i think the next year it was all about selling the family gold for a quick buck. what will i find next month on my semi-annual visit?
ReplyDeleteAmanda