Once again our expert in Irish feminist history has managed to, well, I\’m not quite sure how he got it wrong here but wrong he got it:
More than 40,000 people sleep on our streets every night.
Hmm. When people actually go out and count it it seems that they come up with quite different numbers.
The Government\’s official figures for June 2010, based on snapshot street counts, show that 1,768 people were sleeping rough on any given night in England [5] with the vast majority being in London. Outside London, the largest concentrations of rough sleepers in England are found in Cornwall, 65; Herefordshire, 42; Bradford, 23; Maidstone, 27 and Peterborough and Exeter, both 21.
Only out by a factor of 20.
Just how tough is it to get a Ph.D. these days?
Gosh, that sounds low. If pushed to guess, I’d have put it about five times higher. Among other things, it illustrates the very good work done by charities like Crisis, Shelter and the Sally Army in providing practical help.
Still pretty tough to get a Ph.D, but a job writing any old crap that you don’t even need to think about? That’s pretty easy, it would seem.
The basic part of his article is just as good. He’s predicting 10 million people homelss by 2033.
How?
By comparing the increase in households during the boom against the number of houses built in the recession, “if we continue to build at the rate we have been doing for the past three years.”
That’s just making up projections in order to create a scary headline.
ONS stats as per his link – Table 770 – 2010 Row, “Unintentionally homeless and in priority need”. However, I would guess that what he has taken is the total number of people made homeless in the year, it is the “number of decisions”. So, it’s not “every night” it is total in a year and not taking in to account the efforts of councils, charities and people getting themselves out of the poo.
Mind you, his blog article no longer says what you quote … Did he change it?
Interestingly, young Miss S-E is technically homeless.
She used to rent a flat together with a mate. At the end of their lease, they didn’t renew as the mate wanted to bunk up with her boyfriend. So, when she gets back from working abroad is she going to be on the streets? Or, even as an independent adult is she going to move back in with us?
“That’s just making up projections in order to create a scary headline.”
It’s what leftie churnalists and eco-loons do best, pace the Great Hurricane/Small Hurricane/ Tropical Storm Irene Saga.
Tim, the problem is that the Clarke did not check what the ONS defines as homeless. In fact their definition is very broad and the people they define as homeless are rarely sleeping on the street.
See http://anthonycooper.blogspot.com/2011/08/knowing-what-youre-talking-about.html
1,768 rough sleepers out of a population of 60,000,000 is impressively low given that there will be some (I’m not saying all by any means) who have chosen the rough-sleeping lifestyle, and some with mental and/or substance problems who would be beyond help even if brought to them by a batallion of social workers armed with millions of pounds and thousands of luxury penthouse apartments.
In fact, probably the largest part of that 1,768 are those who have fallen asleep on the way home under the influence, and simply wake up the next morning and go home.
Come to think of it, doesn’t this low number prove we already have enough socialism? Rather than it being an argument for more socialism?
But, unlike a certain accountant – if you challenge him on his “facts” he will have a look at them, even change them and, my goodness, apologise.
it cannot be true that only one in 30,000 sleep rough on any given night. That’s about one night of sleeping rough per life lived and I would guess that most of us have slept rough at least once.
I’ve had some rough nights whilst sleeping off some alcohol induced effects.
Difficulty of obtaining phd varies greatly. I was quite shocked how crap your work can be. In some cases they pass you just because they want together rid of you, plus they’ve started reporting pass rates,
a) I find that number very low.
b) “Homeless” and “sleeping rough” are different things for sure. It used to be the same until someone, one presumes, defined “homeless” as not living in the accommodation that one is “entitled to”
If I became homeless, and it is something that could happen to one very rapidly, I would most likely be “under a hedge” homeless, seeing as I intend to not be turning to the Parish, which takes money by force, or imposing on my friends who are mostly abroad and whom I intend to keep for life – a sure-fire way for me to lose them is if I ended up living with them. I am not sure I like the idea of a city doorway – far too many opportunities for violence. I would also not wish to be coerced into accepting fake charity when I am so vulnerable.
How hard is it to get a Ph.D. these days? Well judging by what happened at the University of Manitoba last week I would say pretty damn easy.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/08/27/professor-loses-bid-to-rescind-student%e2%80%99s-phd/
Och, Tim, you’re too harsh on the lad. Trust me, Eoins are lovely.