Falinge estate in Rochdale most deprived in England.

[Blue2112]

I worked in Rochdale for 24 years before being made redundant 7 years ago this month. First started out in Norden and then later over on Queensway near the Kirkholt estate and had lads from Falinge and Kirkholt working for me. Both estates were bad back then and in general Rochdale was going downhill fast around the time we were being made redundant. Our company closing meant a loss of nearly 100 jobs and from what I've been told Dale's main centre has really been hit hard these past few years. It's surely not helped when you have the new centre 'The Rock' opening in Bury a few miles down the road.

My mam and dad have lived in Harpurhey since the mid 70's and it's always had a bad name over recent years and yet I never seem to really see it when I visit them. I grew up in Collyhurst then Harpurhey before getting married and moving to Gorton and currently now live in Denton. Yet for all the shit Collyhurst, Harpurhey and Gorton get tarnished with, having lived there it never seemed so bad.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Having worked all over the UK, i've seen some very affluent suburbs and some real rough places. One thing that i have noticed, is that someone on their arse with hardly a pot to piss in, will gladly give you a cup of tea, unlike pretentious snobby twats, who'd rather look down their toffee noses than offer you a brew! Twats.

Which catagory would you prefer to be in?[/quote]
I'm neither rich or poor, a scruffy lazy twat or stuck up my own arse. Just a n average working class guy. I grew up from the age of eight on a council estate where people didn't have much money. What they did have though was camaraderie, pride, frriendship and general decency amongst others. Sadly most people don't even bid you good morning nowadays nomatter what class or background they are from. A shame really as manners cost nothing.

 

[Rascal]

If he's on the sick then he's getting the major outgoings paid for by everyone else .

OK i will give you the benefit of the doubt here

Explain further though

Housing paid for, Council Tax paid for and a nice cash sum every week for incapacity benefit. I know numerous people who fleeced it for ages and led comfortable lives that didn't involve going anywhere or doing anything when they were fully capable of working.

Are you taking the piss, because im not quite sure here

If you arnt taking the piss then you are possible one of the most ignorant and clueless twats that have ever been on this forum#

 

[peoffrey]

I lived on Wood Street and my Grandad is still in the area. Langley wasn't as bad as some might have you believe. I've largely got good memories of the place.

I lived there for 18 years although I wasn't born there.

Wood street was always the "Posh" end in my humble opinion.

Now it's all scruffy corner shops selling cheap booze to hoodies.

I wasn't even born in this Country!

I initially used to knock around Wood Street and Windermere Road with other Lads just hanging out. We'd all look out for eachother.

 

[peoffrey]

Housing paid for, Council Tax paid for and a nice cash sum every week for incapacity benefit. I know numerous people who fleeced it for ages and led comfortable lives that didn't involve going anywhere or doing anything when they were fully capable of working.

Are you taking the piss, because im not quite sure here

If you arnt taking the piss then you are possible one of the most ignorant and clueless twats that have ever been on this forum#

Until you stop throwing names around and swearing and begin to address my points in a structured way (it should be simple to you considering the absolute piffle you believe I spout) then I'll refrain from answering to anything you say.

 

[Rascal]

Housing paid for, Council Tax paid for and a nice cash sum every week for incapacity benefit. I know numerous people who fleeced it for ages and led comfortable lives that didn't involve going anywhere or doing anything when they were fully capable of working.

Are you taking the piss, because im not quite sure here

If you arnt taking the piss then you are possible one of the most ignorant and clueless twats that have ever been on this forum#

Until you stop throwing names around and swearing and begin to address my points in a structured way (it should be simple to you considering the absolute piffle you believe I spout) then I'll refrain from answering to anything you say.

You are wrong, just wrong in what you assume to be fact

Im disabled. I dont get my house paid for, i dont get my council tax paid and i certainly dont get a nice sum of cash to live my life on.

You are just wrong and people like you make people like myselfs lives harder because you believe the nonsense you read in the press.

0.3% is the fraud rate ...........0.3%

 

[peoffrey]

Until you stop throwing names around and swearing and begin to address my points in a structured way (it should be simple to you considering the absolute piffle you believe I spout) then I'll refrain from answering to anything you say.

You are wrong, just wrong in what you assume to be fact

Im disabled. I dont get my house paid for, i dont get my council tax paid and i certainly dont get a nice sum of cash to live my life on.

You are just wrong and people like you make people like myselfs lives harder because you believe the nonsense you read in the press.

0.3% is the fraud rate ...........0.3%

Being disabled doesn't mean you can't work. It just means some jobs aren't obtainable and others are. I'm very close to someone who is struggling with her claim for M.E. We speak regularly about what she's going through.

If we say 2.5 million are on incapacity benefit then your 0.3% of known fraudsters are still a significant number. I'm also looking at people in work who are on long term sick leave when there's not a great deal wrong with them.

 

[stonerblue]

Until you stop throwing names around and swearing and begin to address my points in a structured way (it should be simple to you considering the absolute piffle you believe I spout) then I'll refrain from answering to anything you say.

You are wrong, just wrong in what you assume to be fact

Im disabled. I dont get my house paid for, i dont get my council tax paid and i certainly dont get a nice sum of cash to live my life on.

You are just wrong and people like you make people like myselfs lives harder because you believe the nonsense you read in the press.

0.3% is the fraud rate ...........0.3%

Being disabled doesn't mean you can't work. It just means some jobs aren't obtainable and others are. I'm very close to someone who is struggling with her claim for M.E. We speak regularly about what she's going through.

If we say 2.5 million are on incapacity benefit then your 0.3% of known fraudsters are still a significant number. I'm also looking at people in work who are on long term sick leave when there's not a great deal wrong with them.

Maybe you could find a job for my wife who is disabled?

 

[Andy Dale]

Aaah Falinge flats. I lived on that estate for 3 years in the late 1990s.
At a low point in my life I lived on Melrose. The flats serve the purpose of cheap accomodation. At the time my rent was around £35 per week. The inside of them are obviously what you make them yourself .
Now the estate itself is a shithole for want of a better word. The older people that live there are as you would expect . Polite , courteous and kind Rochdalians . Recently , in the last 15 years , it has gone downhill. Lack of investment in local ammenities and dropping levels of employment in the town have made it worse.
A lot of the problems stem from 2 things. Rochdale council used to house all the idiots and no marks on a cancerous estate called Ashfield Valley. This estate was notorious for thugs , thieves , drug dealing/taking and if any murders occured in Rochdale , you can bet that the body would be found rolled up in a carpet in one of the rubbish bins. Ashfield Valley was knocked down and replaced by now what is called Sandbrook Park (B&Q , cinemas etc).
The displaced residents were moved to Falinge and Freehold flats(another , smaller shithole).
Around the same time the Labour party opened our doors to anybody and everybody , and these people needed housing. Guess where they put Rochdale's new arrivals ? Yes . . Falinge . I still see people that lived on Falinge when I did. They tell me that you cannot have a conversation in English there anymore. There are regular fights between white , black and asian lads. Strangers taking a short cut thru the estate are pestered for money and harrassed or worse , threatened with violence.
Some people that have lived there for years refuse to go out at night.
Looking back . I had some laughs living there but they are not memories I visit often . I wouldnt walk thru the estate now . I would walk around it.
I left the estate in 1998 . Why ? . . . I was walking to the shop one night , minding my own business . A TV landed on the ground about 20 yards in front of me , off the top landing. A fucking TV??? Thats when I said to myself "I'm off".
Incidently , the picture with the gasometer is not Falinge . Its in another malignant area of Rochdale called Sparth Bottoms.

 

[metalblue]

A typical anti-poor Daily Mail story.

Reporting that 80% live on Benefit is designed to make people think of scroungers.

Ask yourself this if the Mail did a story on say Eastbourne retirement village would it report that 1000% of people live on benefits.

Spot on.

The Mail is a crazy right wing rag for people who are daft enough to believe it is more high brow than the red tops. It subtly serves Conservative ends by turning people against people to achieve their 'every man for themselves' and 'trust nobody- especially not foreigners or poor people' agendas.

The picture of the satellite dishes was an especially clever trick to build resentment among those most susceptible. They then do the rest by filling in the gaps and imagining people drinking 'premium lager' and watching Jeremy Kyle on their flat screen tvs, whilst their kids suffer eating cheap value brands.

This government and their press have continued to try to turn people against people, first private sector against public sector with the gold plated pension nonsense, now we're all being encouraged to resent those in need of state help- ironically the vast majority of the population when considering tax credits etc. By generating in-group and out-group mentalities people can be manipulated into overestimating in-group similarities and out-group differences.

Using this strategy, they can play to the darkest side of human nature, where one person starts to resent another, and despite things getting progressively worse for everyone, very few people notice and question this strategy.

Not enough appreciation for this post.

Of course, it has always gone on, with rags like the Mail just doing what they have always done.

What I really don't like is the ramping up of this trait into a concerted and overwhelming effort on behalf of the government.

Far from the guff that is spouted about an honest and frank debate about the hard decisions that the country has to make, we have every single aspect of policy laden thick with allusions to it being on the side of hard workers ("Yeah, yeah, that's me, that is, they mean me so it must be good") and against lazy twats ("Yeah, yeah, the cunts, they are ripping me off the lazy twats).

However, it just doesn't add up and is far too often nonsensical guff designed to hide ideological fervour. There is a list as long as your arm over the last 3 years but the most cynical recently is the message that removing the rights of workers and making it far simpler to sack people is actually something designed to benefit hard workers. (Well, let's be fair, it will benefit 'some' hard workers - and that is exactly the issue).

It shouldn't amaze me, because throughout history populations have shown the same traits to be easily manipulated, but I am always staggered as to how easily pandering to people's egos (Yes, you, you, you are the hard workers) and making them feel persecuted (some twats are persecuting you, we are against them) can get them to support, or at least severely dampen opposition to, just about anything. This government has that premise written atop of their whole agenda.

What you say is true of both sides of the agenda fella. We talk of people living below the poverty line which will be interpreted by many as absolute poverty but in fact relates to relative poverty and in the UK that means anybody with an income less than 2/3rds of the average income will be classed as being below the poverty line.

An honest discussion is needed by all sides of the political spectrum because the rhetoric does fuck all to sort the mess out and just breeds conflict.