Panorama Blackburn.

[flashy]

unfortunately margaret blackburn never got city status, even though it has a cathedral

[MargaretR]

Originally Posted by flashytart

unfortunately margaret blackburn never got city status, even though it has a cathedral

Glad to hear that - it must be nicer to live in a hut in the Outer Hebredes

[flashy]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Glad to hear that - it must be nicer to live in a hut in the Outer Hebredes

eh?

[Lampman]

It was nice to see Margo Grimshaw on the program from Bar owner to Town spokesperson,not bad!

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Lampman

It was nice to see Margo Grimshaw on the program from Bar owner to Town spokesperson,not bad!

I know. What was rent a quote Margo doing on there?

From Saloon Bar to elder Stateswoman of the community.

[steeljack]

after reading all the above posts about the Panorama tv program about 'white flight' (I watched it on-line) I would like to add my thoughts about it ........two of my dearest long time friends, she was raised up Springhill, he up Ossy, honest decent working class folk, after getting married in the early 70s they bought a house on Park Rd. in Accrington and started to raise a family , in the early 80s they decided enough was enough the youngest a little girl had started to attend the local primary school and like all little girls had a few toy dolls at home and like all little girls gave them names , the only problem was that all the names she was giving the dolls were 'ethnic' names, the names of 75% her classmates. So what happened ? they ended up in Australia , it would be interesting if the BBC Panorama team could do a follow up and travel to places like Australia and New Zealand and track down immigrants from north west towns who moved out there in the late 70s and 80s and ask them if 'White Flight" had any influence over there decision to leave their homes and families and try to make a better life for their children half way around the world . No way can I describe them as racist in any way whatsoever , but they just wanted to raise their children in a 'British' culture it was a quality of life issue .

[WillowTheWhisp]

A lot of our friends have either emmigrated, are emmigrating or are planning on emmigrating. One has gone to Canada, been there a while. Another family went to the USA. Another family ( 3 generations of them) is moving to France this summer (that can't be for a British way of life! ) and yet another thinking about France whilst two of her children are contemplating New Zealand. Wow! One went to Spain and came back but there's always an exception isn't there?

We had also given quite a bit of thought to upping sticks but decided against it for family reasons but our destination would have been Tunisia, and still might be when Busman retires if they'll have us.

I'm not sure how much of that is 'white flight' though or just simply a desire for something better than here with a better standard of living. We'd be looking for less rubbish in the front garden and better weather. One of my real grouches against Accy is the amount of rubbish in the streets and the amount which gets dropped and not picked up when the bins are emptied. Our newly elected councillor mentioned the rubbish so I live in hope of an improvement.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Our newly elected councillor mentioned the rubbish so I live in hope of an improvement.

Don't hold your breath Willow, it might be a long time coming. The main problem is the way they make us seperate and collect our rubbish in all those bags and boxes that allow rubbish to blow everywhere. I thought one of the main ideas of wheelie bins was to stop rubbish escaping onto the streets. HBC have used them as a way of limiting non recyclables and forcing us to recycle. They quote a high percentage of waste that can be recycled so, only a small percentage should be going into the wheelie bin. The rest is spread across the footpath waiting to be blown away.

Come on Peter pull your finger out and look how they do it in the Ribble Valley. They have 3 small wheelie bins collected every week. 1 for recyclables, 1 for non recyclables and 1 for green garden waste. They is no litter where my parents live because there is nothing to blow away.

[WillowTheWhisp]

It's usually the stuff that the bin men drop OUT of the wheelie bins when they are emptying them that ends up all down our street and in my front garden! Today is bin day - I shall be inspecting later this afternoon.

[Neil]

How about getting the camcorder out and putting a video on you tube. You can then post a link and email it to a couple of councillors and HBC refuse manager, maybe the Telegraph and Observer as well.

Does the rubbish not fall out because the wheelie bin lids are not shut?

[lancsdave]

I don't mind admitting one of the main reasons I moved from Nelson to Accrington is white flight. The streets are lawless in places there. Have to admit thought it does keep the white chavs off the streets which seems more prevelant in Accrington

If I was younger or win the lottery I would be off like a shot from this ****hole of a country.

[davo69]

caroline dutton page 12 telegraph great colum about this

[WillowTheWhisp]

Is that today's Telegraph?

[davo69]

yes todays telegraph

[WillowTheWhisp]

Anjum Anwar, who works with Blackburn Cathedral to bridge the gap between Muslims and Christians, agreed with Canon Chivers and said the programme had highlighted the problems Blackburn faced.

She said: "We have been saying for three or four years that we have a segregated community but we need to get rid of this political correctness that makes people afraid to talk about things."

I think she's hit a very real nail on the head there. There are some stupid situations where people get labelled as racist merely for stating a fact which exists. When it comes to taxis though does it really matter who is driving? Do people really select a driver of the same ethnic origin? As long as he isn't a convicted pervert it doesn't bother me who drives a taxi.