“I don’t understand why Blackpool has so much poverty. Everyone should be pulling together as a community.” She said that to level up the differences “there should be more funding from the government”.
She was forced had to take out loans to cope with rising bills and is now struggling with debts.
“I’m worried about that, I’m a single mum and will not be working until she starts school.
Got to the age of 29 without figuring out money is something she needs to earn, not be given to her 🙁
Unlike food, which she seems to have no trouble sourcing…..
“She was forced to take out loans”: but nobody put a bayonet to her back, did they?
So journalist has a second go. “She had to take out loans”: that’s better.
Or did that happen in the other order?
But lo, he/she mucks it up and the result is “She was forced had to take out loans”.
Who would be dumb enough to loan her money….
‘Ms Patrick said: “All kids should have the same opportunities, not because some have more money than others.”’
Sorry, parasite, but your ‘solution’ (aka socialist tyranny) would be worse than the ‘problem’.
……and the father?
I lived in Blackpool for 15 years, was raised there and lived next door (St Annes) for a further 4 years.
Its no different than anywhere else.
Principle industry is tourism and its gone downhill a lot since I were knee high to a grasshopper.
Society expectations moved on and Blackpool mostly didn’t.
The days of working 80 hour weeks for £1.50 an hour and having the time of your life….
Not the same now. Overpriced, poor facilities, its never quite grasped how to attract the tourists back. Thinking has been inside the box, aiming at the same type of demographic they used to get – except those people have moved on.
The poverty in Blackpool is no different than Preston, Stoke, Newcastle or Carlisle. Can either cope with limited income or can’t.
Same problem as a lot of seaside towns. Falling numbers of tourists meant the hotels and B&Bs chose to accept benefit claimants in the off-season (i.e. most of the year) to keep up their occupancy rates.
“You won’t be what you can’t see”… I hope her aspirations are higher than her mum’s:
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/IFS-MillennialSuccessSequence-Final.pdf
My abiding memory of Blackpool is seeing a boy of about 9 years old wearing a T shirt bearing the message “Smells like fish but tastes of chicken, that’s the place you stick your d!ck in.”.
‘Ms Patrick said: “All kids should have the same opportunities, not because some have more money than others.”’
And that start by being planned by 2 responsible people instead of the product of a quick knee-trembler at the back of the local pub.
Unemployed single parent with small child discovers poverty.
Details at 11.
Unlike food, which she seems to have no trouble sourcing…...
No kidding. My first thought is that she’d be able to pay her rent if she just cut back on the donuts.
The comments on the article are reassuringly dismissive, suggesting there are still a few intelligent Times readers left. Unlike Matt Parris’s weekly Brexit/Blond Man Bad op-ed diatribe*, which is followed by pages of fawning sycophancy.
* does The Times pay a bonus for each comment an article attracts**? If so, MP must be really coining it.
** I’ve put this question to sensible columnists, like the Lord Fink, and he denied it – but it would make good economic sense, I would think.
Parthenogenesis amongst humans continues apace.
Mr Wombey-can’t match your anecdote but I did once pass a building site on Blackpool Front where the board attached to the fence said: ” This site protected by Karate & Dog services”.
She reminds me of woman on QT from Dundee a while ago:
– “The poverty here means people are forced to take drugs”
Me-thinks other way round. Also are benefits lower and prices higher in Tesco in Dundee? Nope
@Martin
We visited Blackpool for two days in 70s when I was 10. Really enjoyed all the indoor and outdoor fun-fair rides
All I see now is it hasn’t changed – still a 60/70s resort, but peeps have moved on. The ‘expensive’ has affected most UK hospitality for decades. Crazy is that many B&Bs are more expensive than eg Travelodge
‘She said that to level up the differences “there should be more funding from the government”.
She was forced had to take out loans to cope with rising bills and is now struggling with debts.’
Other people should be forced had to take out loans to pay taxes to fund government leveling up.
Government shouldn’t rest til nobody has any money. It’s only fair.
@Pcar
“Crazy is that many B&Bs are more expensive than eg Travelodge”
Dunno really. I mean it’s not good news for B&Bs that they look so comparatively expensive these days but is it surprising that they charge more? There are obvious ways a Travelodge can be operated more efficiently than a family-run B&B. I can’t see how you could run a decent B&B at a more-than-“lifestyle”-business profit while charging less than Travelodge prices. Let alone the competition you get from Airbnb-type setups.
I’d definitely not dream of retiring to run a B&B given the economic landscape of the sector, even if there’s a staycation boom for a few years. I’ve worked in several faded seaside resorts and the carcass of their B&B industries was always a big part of those towns’ problems, made them very attractive “dumping grounds”. I used to imagine how the responsible council officers had sold the move to those involved – “it’ll make a change from London, get away from your troubles, fresh start, fresh air, sea breeze, you can go to the beach whenever you want!” Must always have scrupulously avoided words like “dingy”, “drab”, “rat-infested”, “winter” and “unemployment”… these days “county lines” too. More people bring their troubles with them than escape them.
@MBE
imo “lifestyle business” nails many B&Bs, pubs too; the meeting other peeps trounces hours vs ‘wage’
Also some ‘guests’ prefer the more personal touch of a B&B which would cost a lot in most hotels – and often the being pleb, not customer
B&Bs not for me, I prefer the Travelodge anon come & go as I please with maybe a nod/Hi to lobby staff. For longer stay a hotel and know some key staff
In general I think non-business UK Hotels/B&Bs more interested in foreign from East or South of UK who are less demanding than Westerners