Slightly different context, but my dad was a social worker in from the seventies through to the early 2000s and he was constantly frustrated at the spoiling tactics of council managers looking to avo… (View Post)

I lived in Bradford in the early 2000s and this report (and the events that prompted the report) have not been a surprise at any stage. Fact is that poor white kids from marginal/chaotic backgrounds … (View Post)

Crikey. As a person who has read the novel at least thirty times (nerd), I thought the Villeneuve version was as close to capturing the vision of the book as I can imagine. And tedious it was not - t… (View Post)

Not just children, but a mass burial site for the very poor; 40-odd thousand bodies under your feet in that little park. Nice example of a Ragged School on northern side (though now looking pretty ac… (View Post)

I love Manchester beyond the point of reasonableness, but I'd never describe it as handsome. Unlike e.g. Liverpool, Glasgow or Newcastle, it's never known true grandeur, despite a few genui… (View Post)