Fergies lack of focus…
The first thing that struck me about Sarah Ferguson was how old she is looking now and how much she now resembles her late father. Unlike her Princess pal the deceased Diana she can’t stay forever youngish. Age will weary her and the years condemn, especially if she continues to indulge in silly t.v. stunts like this one. That said she deserves top marks for resisting that botox stuf.
She arrived in Northern Moor unheralded. The programme planners had found a morbidly obese woman whose face was like the back end of a bus to act as peoples champ – her kids were well on their way to a life of laziness judging by their build at a young age. A tactic no doubt aimed to alienate all but the most balanced and impartial viewer, and persuading the others to believe she was emblematic of local life. No mention of a father for those three kids either, surely another reason to think these were typical? I also wondered who was paying the rent.
The head of Fergie’s favoured family seemed a bit terrified but it was unclear just what she was terrified of. I think every parents nightmares revolve around drugs and bad external influences but these seemed no more prevalent on Northern Moor than anywhere else in Urban Britain. It emerged later that this fearful mother had been convicted of battery a few years ago when confronted with the mother of her Son’s bully. Not much wrong in that I’ll admit, but I reckon some research would soon unearth many other more ‘normal’ advocates with a more rational view to step forward.
We were presented with reasonable looking houses with some open spaces. Bored youth who drink a lot and a few people with rather savage looking dogs. Most of the ‘hoodies’ keep them up to preserve anoymity and to blend in. Yes, they can look intimidating, especially after dark but only a tiny minority would say boo to the proverbial goose.
The worst aspect of the programme, and a blight on the whole area is the Sale Circle shopping area. This DID used to be the vibrant hub of the community. Reams have been written on changing retail trends. The supermarkets have led to a massive decline in this type of development. Frankly though the way the properties have been left to decay – some standing empty – is a disgrace…there should be a levy on supermarket profits to ensure that shops abandoned in their wake are maintained and if possible let at reduced rates to community groups assuming no viable commercial premises can be found.
I’ll not be rushing back to Northern Moor anytime soon. Leaving in 1970 turned out to be a good move by the look of it now. That said it is of course a white working class area so in common with this chunk of the population it’s been overlooked for decades. Morale has slumped. Aspiration plummeted for a myriad of reasons. One statistic quoted though was that one in five young people were out of work. Which to me means that four in five ARE working, which seems a healthy statistic in this age of NEETS and recession.
Fergie’s programme lacked focus – she was off on her way to Blackpool within ten minutes. The editing managed to capture almost every high rise block in the area although it could not erase the well kept bungalows and the neatly painted houses.
My problem is I have too good a memory. Frankly to see my old neighbourhood portrayed in this way depresses me and I’m unsure who to blame. I do know that what’s happened there is replicated hundreds of times up and down the country and there are far worse areas to examine – might Fergie not be welcome in Tower Hamlets or Hackney….perhaps too many ethnics to upset. Sale Circle itself looks like a sink estate but Northern Moor is a long way from sliding down the plug-hole. I shall watch next week and see what they manage to do with the big house identifued as empty and doing nowt.
The fact that it has taken an ex-Royal to get that project moving is a sorry testimony to a Socialist Town Hall.
