General Election to be called today?

A major problem also seems to be around drugs, and the crimes attached to that.

Until we have more support services etc, that won’t change.

Perhaps, Lizzie, unlike me you haven’t heard some of these people saying that people who work are mugs. Why bother to get up and go to a humdrum job (because you can’t do anything else) if you can pass the day with your mates drinking, being a thorough nuisance, surviving on benefits and (as happens a lot) drugs and shoplifting? If Cossy believes these people deserve empathy and respect and can be rehabilitated so as to be acceptable to an employer, I wish her luck. It’s people such as these who drag areas down and Jaywick has shown that throwing resources at the problem doesn’t improve the situation because of the people living there.

Crossed posts, LizzieDrip The "two worlds" approach is that these are a different breed so no-one can do anything for them - the truth is that we are all the same breed, but our paths diverted somewhere, maybe generations ago. The paths need to reconverge.

Germanshepherdsmum

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

Have places where people can follow their interests without drink, gyms to use up excess energy without being aggressive to other people, and free classes to raise skill levels and feel better about themselves, encourage businesses and industries which offer better pay than "the dole" and come down hard on the crime - with no defences allowed that being unemployed is an excuse for stealing from others or attacking passing strangers who look at them sideways.

Just don't expect a magic wand to overnight transform those who have got used to being useless into busy ants. It took decades to create that atmosphere, it could take decades to change it, but you gotta start somewhere.

Cossy

Jaywick in Essex is among the most deprived areas in the UK. When more money was available, hubs were set up in this area, including work coaches and family workers, to try and help move this community forward.

It is, and has been for years.

They have voted Tory for quite a few years though. First of all Douglas Carswell, then Giles Watling.

I’m not sure why.

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work

I would start by asking why they are ‘sitting around drinking’. Perhaps it’s because they have lost all hope and, believe me, alcohol helps to take away the pain of that. So, we start with empathy rather than demonisation. Then we (as in society) treat them with respect; provide training; provide adult education; provide opportunities for them to feel like equal members of society. In other words … give them hope. Who knows, it might be like a magic wand! Yes, it won’t work for everyone (nothing ever does) but, I would argue, it will work for many.

Germanshepherdsmum

Not all unskilled, poorly educated and unemployed people are capable of being retrained or educated Cossy. Many become dependent on alcohol and/or drugs and have become used to life on benefits.

Of course not everyone out of work is unskilled or ill educated, but those who are skilled and reasonably well educated are far more likely to get themselves back into work.

The answer to this is to fund more rehab services, especially residential ones. As part of DWP Social Justice role in outreach I spent a full day each week, split between two rehab centres, working alongside the rehab workers, which included prison leavers support workers. These services were cut in 2019 and my colleague and I sent back to work 100% in a jobcentre, having 10 minutes appointments with claimants. Nothing can be achieved with 10 minute appointments with long term unemployed people, by the time you’ve said good morning and checked their ID and job searches it was time to see the next person.

Just like I know nothing about your line of work unless you’ve worked win this area all you know is what the media choose to portray or possibly what you might personally with an unemployed person, much of which is simply not a true representation of reality. I spent four years in outreach, meeting in claimants homes if necessary, I cannot begin to tell you the chaotic lives and tragic backstories some of these people have,

Jaywick in Essex is among the most deprived areas in the UK. When more money was available, hubs were set up in this area, including work coaches and family workers, to try and help move this community forward.

You rural posters may be comfy in your affluent local areas with all those fantastic facilities , but you can’t pretend it is the same across the board. I live in an inner London borough where no go estates are a few miles from £multi million gated communities with several public schools, leafy streets and swish independent shops. Elsewhere it’s a bookies, a couple of charity shops and a few fly blown mini supermarkets. Crime is endemic. The inequality has become greater in the last 14 years. Just because some areas have great facilities is not an indication that this country is “on the up” for the majority. Food prices have gone up 25-50%, energy prices 100%, interest rates up all in the last 2 years. Many people are struggling.

Germanshepherdsmum

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

That’s sad, both for them and for the local community.

There used to be so much training and so many schemes for the unemployed, all gone now. In those days, with properly trained, people focused work coaches it would be possible to persuade most people to attend and assist back to the world of work.

Many of these schemes and funding have gone.

The only “incentive” available now is to push people back to work by threatening to withhold their benefits.

Unemployed people are out of work for so many reasons, in the main the “carrot” humane approach works far better the stick approach, which should be reserved for those mentally and physically fit people who “refuse” any help to get back into work. Having worked in this area between 2009 and 2022, I can categorically tell you quite often a life on benefits is not their first choice, a life on benefits is not easy whatever your own perception might be.

We all need to understand the “bigger picture”. What leads people to this place, their backgrounds, their education, their health, there’s no one fit for all.

GrannyGravy13

Germanshepherdsmum

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

We have a similar coastal town here in Essex Jaywick.

Jaywick has been the same for many years - through Labour and the Tories.😗

Germanshepherdsmum

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

We have a similar coastal town here in Essex Jaywick.

My really True Blue area would usually vote for a donkey if it wore a blue rosette.

But, to be fair, the (old style) Tory MP was a nice man, who genuinely did a lot for his constituents.

So, normally, I would have been a bit hesitant with who to vote for. I’ve never voted Tory, but I did pause for thought.

But, he’s announced he’s standing down, so that problem is solved.

Labour will never get in here. So, to keep the Tories out, I will probably have to vote LD, who I don’t support, on a tactical level.

I think it is time for a change now. The government seems stale, complacent and out of any ideas.

It happens after one party has been in power for ages, but I’m not assuming Labour will suddenly make life any better.

It probably won’t.🤷‍♀️

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

GrannyGravy13

Cossy many years ago there was an exclusive road which I think is near you, it had high end clothes shops, an independent department store, good restaurants, wine bars and decent pubs.

I drove along it a couple of weeks ago and it is unrecognisable, all the above have gone.

As for the main High St., I hadn’t been for over ten years until January this year, I will not return.

Yes, I live very close to that street. It’s so sad, I’ve lived here for over 30 years and there were delightful and lovely independent shops in that street and at the very end “wonderful Woolworths”

Now it’s a mix of supermarkets, four at least, charity shops, some nice and some not so nice cafes and a few hairdressers.

Whoever "wins" this election, they won't win the ensuing struggle to remake the country in five years.

In the unlikely event of the tories winning their 'struggle to remake the country' will focus on low pay, low taxes, low state spending and massive deregulation. They have already introduced 'freeports' (or 'SEZs') in which no UK legislation applies and in which businesses are not subject to taxation.

Not a very cheering prospect for the country...

I am totally confused as to who I will vote for.

Our constituency MP is good on local issues, our local facilities are good, stick with the familiar?

Do I vote for an unknown Labour candidate in order to oust the Conservatives from Westminster and in doing so maybe jeopardise the local MP/constituent relationships and support?

Chance my arm with a local independent Candidate?

I honestly have no idea…

Seconded

"unthusiasm" should have read "enthusiasm" - though I am sure that most teachers find that they become more full of unthusiasm.

LizzieDrip 👏👏👏

Few retailers will be interested in areas where there are low wages and high unemployment

Neoliberalism at its best Areas where there’s no money will be thrown on the scrap heap. What a disgusting principle!

No bloody levelling up here - unlike Sunak’s wealthy constituency which received £19million. I suppose we don’t deserve it because of our low wages and high unemployment. Inequality sickens me. I don’t expect my town to turn into Kensington overnight - I just want those of us who live here not to be treated like second class citizens.

Cossy many years ago there was an exclusive road which I think is near you, it had high end clothes shops, an independent department store, good restaurants, wine bars and decent pubs.

I drove along it a couple of weeks ago and it is unrecognisable, all the above have gone.

As for the main High St., I hadn’t been for over ten years until January this year, I will not return.

On a completely different note, Nigel Farage has announced that he won't be standing for election at the GE.

No doubt he will be campaigning hard for Reform, though...

GSM ^don’t know what you can do about unskilled and poorly educated people who are out of work." You can educate them and give them skills, but first you have to convince them that acquiring a skill - of any kind, however minimal it may seem to those with degrees and diplomas - will help get them employment. If there are still no jobs after they have improved themselves, they will be disillusioned and truculent. Wouldn't you?

In a country with universal education there should be no-one without enough education to get and carry out a job. For some it will be too late if they misssed out at school (whether the fault was the school or their own lack of motivation) but if you are making it compulsory to attend school then you ought also to make the schooling an effective one. That means funding schools and fostering the unthusiasm of the teachers trying to acieve that end.

For the ones who for whatever reason failed to benefit from their years in the schoolroom, there need to be opportunities later to catch up, or to study further and get qualifications and skills that fit their interests and the needs of local employers. Again, that takes money and enthusiasm.

Whoever "wins" this election, they won't win the ensuing struggle to remake the country in five years.

Germanshepherdsmum

I never cease to be surprised by the holidays ‘ordinary’ people take. The cost of those holidays over a year would equate to the fees for a minor independent school. However, many ‘ordinary’ people go without nice holidays, and make other sacrifices, in order to afford school fees.

How on earth do you know what people spend on holidays? How do you know if they have chosen to go on holiday instead of sending their child to a "minor public school"?. Perhaps they can afford both.