Ann Widdicombe vs The 'Hoodies' of Myats Fields

[shakespearegirl]

I have just sky plussed this and the first programme is about the Andover Estate in Islington, the one on Myatts Fields must be the following Mondya.

Andover always scared me a hell of a lot more than Myatts Field does

 

[PacificOcean]

I have just sky plussed this and the first programme is about the Andover Estate in Islington, the one on Myatts Fields must be the following Mondya.

Andover always scared me a hell of a lot more than Myatts Field does

I think it's a one off and she will be visiting both in the programe. They did talk about the Andover in the article I read.

 

[kyser_soze]

There was strong potential for the Royal Docks to be used for combined import / export to European ports and high tech manufacturing. You would still have had to have Tilbury for the transcontinental stuff but using the Royals as a Europort would have employed more people and been more economically effictive

That's just it - keeping them open as docks would have meant even less work available for locals cos modern dockyards are massively automated...there's also the question mark of whether modern container ships could have made it up the Thames when laden (they certainly wouldn't have made it through the Thames Barrier) cos they are so big...plus competition from Dartford/Tilsbiry, Felixstowe etc...London just couldn't compete anymore.

London was dead as a major port before Thatcher came along thanks to a combination of union resistance to mechanisation and changes in the way international shipping worked (for example, the introduction of the standard reefer size), altho I do agree that the LDDC (which was Tarzan's baby - idea, implementation, CPO legislation in the HoC...all put through by Tarzan) was a bad idea. Aside from it's 'business and the rich' approach, it also let it's hands go on planning permission, which is why the whole area is a hideous mish-mash of shite architecture, dated business parks etc.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

bump as it's tonight

 

[KeyboardJockey]

That's just it - keeping them open as docks would have meant even less work available for locals cos modern dockyards are massively automated...there's also the question mark of whether modern container ships could have made it up the Thames when laden (they certainly wouldn't have made it through the Thames Barrier) cos they are so big...plus competition from Dartford/Tilsbiry, Felixstowe etc...London just couldn't compete anymore.

London was dead as a major port before Thatcher came along thanks to a combination of union resistance to mechanisation and changes in the way international shipping worked (for example, the introduction of the standard reefer size), altho I do agree that the LDDC (which was Tarzan's baby - idea, implementation, CPO legislation in the HoC...all put through by Tarzan) was a bad idea. Aside from it's 'business and the rich' approach, it also let it's hands go on planning permission, which is why the whole area is a hideous mish-mash of shite architecture, dated business parks etc.

Up to a point I agree with you. However, what could have been done was a combined high tech / export centre where stuff could have been designed, built and exported from a compact area. We had the ideal area for a re invigoration of light to medium industry in the area but it was squandered so that the area and the opportunities were squandered so as to benefit property speculators. Docklands could have been a beacon of electronics, light industrial equipment, small scale chemical and bio-technology companies. The infrastructure needed upgrading but all attempts to go down this route were squashed by the Tories.

We are seeing the affects now in the UK of not prioritising our manufacturing industries and we are not realising that we can't survive as a 'sandwich bar' economy.

 

[suzee blue cheese]

Diane Abbot maybe

Eeeeew, icky.. Slimey Diane

 

[oryx]

I always had a sneaking liking for Ann Widdecombe ever since she did one of those setQ & A pieces in one of the Sunday supplements.

Q: How often do you have sex?

AW: I am a fifty-six year old Catholic virgin spinster......how dare you ask that question?



Missed the programme tonight.

 

[zenazena]

the myatt's fields bit is in the next programme - i think they said 'next friday' - don't know if that means this week or next though..?

 

[Skim]

I only caught the last five minutes last night, but Widdy was on fine form.

Widdy (to crack addict): Have you been taking crack? You do know that's illegal?

 

[gaijingirl]

Does anyone know if this is repeated - I sodding well missed it!!

 

[PacificOcean]

Does anyone know if this is repeated - I sodding well missed it!!

The Myats Field part is on Friday at 8pm on ITV1.

 

[aurora green]

Well, I thought it was funny the way she said at the end that, as if the Andover estate wasn't bad enough, she was going to somewhere much worse next week....Myatts fields!
I shall watch with interest because if I'm honest, although I live really near to Myatts field estate, I couldn't really say I know anything much about it. I rarely have any reason or need to go there. I do often think though, how nice the actual houses look, and how much I'd like to live in one of the houses...

 

[gaijingirl]

The Myats Field part is on Friday at 8pm on ITV1.

PERFECT THANKS!!

 

[likesfish]

sort of like tony ben galloway and tam dyall people you hate and think are wrong but realize they stick to there guns and have principles and have actually thought about the question now if we could pack the house of lords wit people of this calibre

 

[Bob]

IME Myatts South is friendly and not too bad (though a few of the walkways are a bit spooky).


Myatts North on the other hand terrifies me - it has these raised pedestrian streets with front gardens with huge (7 foot) almost solid wood fences fronting onto them so that although you're technically by people's front doors you're in practice in a blind alley. And there always seem to be either angry pitbulls or gangs of teenagers hanging around taking the piss.... The only estate (of 40 or so I've been to in Lambeth) that feels as fucked as Myatts North to me is the Ethelred (in Kennington).

Funnily I've also seen some of the most chilled out happy people in Lambeth just off Myatts North on Russell Grove (kids playing hte street, neighbours chatting, general happiness)..

 

[Lazy Llama]

On now... bump

 

[PacificOcean]

Fuck me. Those poor people.

As someone who was born and raised on the Clapham/Brixton border, it was never as bad as that.

Honestly, what the fuck has happend to this country?

 

[aurora green]

Shit I missed it.

 

[Loupylou]

I only caught the last five minutes last night, but Widdy was on fine form.

Widdy (to crack addict): Have you been taking crack? You do know that's illegal?

I know said man personally. He is a lovely geezer & I didn't know he'd relapsed - he was doing really well last time I saw him.
I thought she was a cunt to him - 'Do you know work?' He's worked since he was a kid. He is from a very poor part of Jamaica riddled with crack. When he came here a few years ago he couldn't read & write, but he learnt to. He went on courses in the construction trade & has worked here.
I am fucking fed up with priveleged snotty nosed fucks like Ann W who have no idea about addiction using TV to sneer at other people. Said man was very respectful to her, called her 'Miss' & was willing to answer her questions.

 

[Loupylou]

IME Myatts South is friendly and not too bad (though a few of the walkways are a bit spooky).


Myatts North on the other hand terrifies me - it has these raised pedestrian streets with front gardens with huge (7 foot) almost solid wood fences fronting onto them so that although you're technically by people's front doors you're in practice in a blind alley. And there always seem to be either angry pitbulls or gangs of teenagers hanging around taking the piss.... The only estate (of 40 or so I've been to in Lambeth) that feels as fucked as Myatts North to me is the Ethelred (in Kennington).

Funnily I've also seen some of the most chilled out happy people in Lambeth just off Myatts North on Russell Grove (kids playing hte street, neighbours chatting, general happiness)..

I've lived on Myatts North for about 10 years, altho' not in the middle of it. I feel safe here & the kids are alright. Most people like it here - 88% of the blocks to be pulled down want to stay living here.
However there is crime etc as anywhere.
The Council have run the place into the ground cos they wanted the residents to vote for privatisation. So now we're going to have a PFI scheme which is going to be a fucking nightmare.
The Council, PFI Team etc are always coming here going on about how it's the worst estate in Lambeth. Some of the housing is really bad, but that's becuse the Council let it rot.
I am mightily pissed off with this prog - I expected a hatchet job but this was much much worse than that.

There are hardly any youthclubs in Lambeth. Since when was teengers on the street 'anti-social' behaviour in itself?

I hated it when she went up to a group of school kids (who knows where they live?) they were from one of the local schools, trying to film them. Kids here are the most filmed in Europe- we have the highest density of CCTV on a housing estate anywhere. (That was bollox about all the camers being burnt out.) I think she is a racist fuck.

I thought Ann W was a fucking idiot going on about 14 year olds smoking weed; in many other parts of the country, they are jacking up heroin at that age & younger, I know this happens in London, but it's not rife like elsewhere & not on this estate.
she made Martin Bridger (Cheif of Lambeth Police) look half sensible.
I would like it if young people could have a right to reply to this & other progs slagging them off. The ones round here are always polite to me & know what's what re the Coucil - they don't want privatisation. There are many people born here who are proud of the community.

AND WHO THE FUCK WERE THOSE 'STUDENTS' (PLANTS)? I've never seen them before in my life.

 

[Loupylou]

Much as I loathe her politics, I can't help but like the woman. Weird.

Sorry but I can't forgive a woman who said that it was right for women prisoners to be manacled to the bed when they gave birth.

Ann W was reinvented as a cuddly loveable old virgin who likes cats & nannies the old Tories. Doesn't fool me one iota.

 

[brix]

I am mightily pissed off with this prog - I expected a hatchet job but this was much much worse than that.

I agree. This was sensationalist television at it's worst. I lived for two happy years on the Myatts Fields Estate and I experienced a sense of community I haven't found living in much less deprived areas. When I was living there I NEVER felt threatened and knew all my neighbours. Sure there were kids hanging around but they weren't any more badly behaved than anywhere else. In fact the kids that lived in my block were, without exception, fantastically well behaved and respectful. I got really pissed off with the editing of the programme which kept repeating menacing shots of alleyways in order to try to make the place look much worse than it is.

 

[Bob]

I agree. This was sensationalist television at it's worst. I lived for two happy years on the Myatts Fields Estate and I experienced a sense of community I haven't found living in much less deprived areas. When I was living there I NEVER felt threatened and knew all my neighbours. Sure there were kids hanging around but they weren't any more badly behaved than anywhere else. In fact the kids that lived in my block were, without exception, fantastically well behaved and respectful. I got really pissed off with the editing of the programme which kept repeating menacing shots of alleyways in order to try to make the place look much worse than it is.

I'm quite willing to accept that Myatts is fine and that it's just my perception of it which is skewed. But you've got to accept that the alleyways on Myatts North are a bit spooky haven't you?

 

[brix]

I'm quite willing to accept that Myatts is fine and that it's just my perception of it which is skewed. But you've got to accept that the alleyways on Myatts North are a bit spooky haven't you?

Granted. But repeated shots of dark alleyways isn't a fair representation in the same way that repeated shots of well-tended hanging baskets and white picket fences wouldn't be. It's a very biased viewpoint.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

i also thought the prog was well OTT and i agree with Brix and LoupyLou's comments. I don't live on the estate - just next door in fact - but even then i can see that half of this programme was bollocks. Ann W going up to a group of kids who dont want to be filmed and put their hoods up (OOOH, they MUST be criminals ) hardly constitutes evidence of serious anti-social behaviour.

I laughed when AW left the students' house after supposedly staying the night ("no one else would have me.....they all live in fear" !!) and when she left she said to them "thanks.....hope you don't get any repercussions" !!!

This programme was even worse than that Macintyre Investigates crap a few years ago.