[]
Post by Rosalind MitchellPost by SODAMAt my (previous) local cinema, programmes started at 7.30. Having already
booked and collected tickets, I used to leave home at 6.50, find a space in
the large, free car park and settle down to listen to TA. At 7.15, car
doors would open and about 30 people emerge from their cars to enter the
adjacent cinema. Sometimes I would ask them , “Were you listening to TA?”
and they’d agree, often commenting on what they had just heard. I’d say
about 90% of them were over 60.
Which probably reflects the population of most Ambridge-like
communities. Which is why I find the efforts to engage young listeners
I think you're right to some extent; I'm in a large village (tiny town,
really) - Charing in Kent - and there's a lot of truth in that. I'm
slightly skewed by the parish council, and I do realise that they're
unrepresentably elderly (in terms of the demographics, though I suspect
far from unusual of such bodies, as it tends to be something only the
retired have time to do), but I think the population _is_ older than
average (not least because of the cost of property. (And yes, I know not
all old people are rich. But a lot of rich people are old.) And I know
it's not quite an Ambridge-like community, but has parallels.
Post by Rosalind Mitchellunconvincing. I could have screamed when young Ben Archer was the only
teenager around who, given the opportunity to go and live in Newcastle
for three years studying at a good Russell Group university, would
rather live in some tin-pot rural community and study at some former FE
college in a single tower block.
Well, I _suppose_ there are some who genuinely feel more inclined to
stay "close to the soil", and also financial thoughts might have
influenced him (he could stay at home rent free), but on the whole, I
tend to agree with you.
Post by Rosalind MitchellThat said, I have to say I very much enjoyed reading Lynsey Hanley's
book Respectable: The Experience of Class, about growing up in Chelmsley
My mother spoke well of "Class" by Jilly Cooper, which is much
misunderstood.
Post by Rosalind MitchellWood, the huge council estate squashed between Birmingham and Solihull
(and given to posh Solihull to look after), and eventually escaping from
its suffocating community, so suspicious and even hostile to outsiders
My mother, I think, couldn't wait to escape the mining villages she grew
up in, with a similarly limited outlook.
Post by Rosalind Mitchelland 'experts'. One thing I learned from that, to my surprise, was that
young people from such communities actually do not generally want to
leave home to study and want to stay close to family. It surprised me
So, though it's very different from a huge council estate, you accept -
though with surprise - that not _all_ Ben Archers want to flee the nest.
Post by Rosalind Mitchellbecause I've always seen going away to study was an important rite of
passage and escaping from the suffocating confines of
family. Furthermore, apparently they see higher education in terms of a
continuation of school, sitting in neat rows in a classroom being filled
with 'facts' by a teacher rather than self-motivated study, supported by
That's because you like I/me had an enlightened upbringing, and so
looked forward to an environment that would expand your horizons. _Some_
people find that frightening - even if not consciously, they pick up the
fear of the unknown/different from their parents.
Post by Rosalind Mitchelllectures and tutorials. Yes, I know Ambridge isn't a council estate and
Ben Archer isn't exactly impoverished despite being exploited for much
of his short life as unpaid farm labour, but these things come together
with a book I enjoyed much less, in fact one that infuriated me. David
Goodhart's The Road to Somewhere. Apparently it's a bad thing to be
curious about the world and be hungry to learn, to have broad horizons,
Yes, keep the masses down, and teach them just enough extra to keep the
factories running and up-to-date when they return. I can see why that
would anger you! You, like me, found the greatest benefit from the
higher education environment was the learning how to think - and to
learn. (Although in my case there _was_ a desire/need to suck in extra
knowledge of the vessel-filling type too, for my chosen subject, which
was a "trade". But I _wanted_ that, didn't just see it as a necessity to
be survived.)
Post by Rosalind Mitchellto be comfortable with travelling around the world and to be able to
adapt to different environents and cultures. Much better to be a sad git
who can't leave their washed up communities because great-granny's
budgie is buried their. Better to restrict your ventures away to the
strictly safe, like a fortnight in Benidorm living on fish and chips.
Try to conceal your despision (?) a _bit_. Not all such people are
_bad_.
Post by Rosalind MitchellBut I'm still convinced that the BBC has been leaned on to celebrate the
'Somewheres' and sneer at the 'Anywheres'. Well, I've spent the first
Yes, "who can refute a sneer". But you aren't innocent of it either:
you're sneering at the "somewheres", i. e. the people who have limited
horizons. They do worry - _sometimes_ with _some_ justification - that
the "anywheres" will break things; yes, many rigid structures need to be
changed, but many "anywheres" do (or want to do) it rapidly, and
sometimes without feeling (even though not always doing so
deliberately). Babies and bathwater: not all that is new is good, and
not all that is established is bad.
Post by Rosalind Mitchellsixty years of my life trying my best to accept all points of view but
in the last five I've been subjected to no end of irrational abuse just
for being intelligent and comfortable in the world. Should I have
Not all on "the other side" are dim or irrational; to think that (in any
argument, whichever side you're on) diminishes your own argument. I
forget who said it (it's in my quote file but I CBA to look up), but
something like "if you cannot make a cogent case for the other side, you
probably don't totally understand your own case".
Post by Rosalind Mitchellfollowed my family into the shipyard doing a 'proper' job like being a
welder or a fitter rather than going to university? Should I have
No. But be grateful that you had the opportunity - and don't despise
those who didn't. (I'm not saying you do, but you are in danger of
giving that _impression_.)
Post by Rosalind Mitchellremained in a dreary, run-down post-industrial town just because that's
where my extended family was based? I think not. I tried going back
there and the extended family and the town in general didn't want to
know. Thank heavens I've now found a place in a lively, cosmopolitan
city in a country that isn't hung up about symbols and supposed past
(Care to say which country?)
Post by Rosalind Mitchellglories. Now we've wandered into the disaster that is Brexit, driven by
inverted snobbery and xenophobia, my gloves are off.
I'm not going to be drawn into that one, other than to say that not all
leavers were either xenophobic, jingoistic, or economically naive, any
more than all remainers were (insert stereotype of choice). [For "were"
read "were/are", in both cases.] I repeat that I favoured the Community
Charge ("poll tax"), even though I'd have been considerably worse off
under it: I just thought it was fairer. I have little envy; I don't, for
example, resent footballers, entertainers, etc., for being paid many
times what I was.
I fear we'll continue to disagree; I'll try to keep it amicably so.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)***@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
If you are afraid of being lonely, don't try to be right. - Jules Renard,
writer (1864-1910)