Random thought o' the day
(Thought about tweeting this, but closed alpha testing suggested I'd run out of characters).
A standard line from our dear, dear friends on the left is that if only the wickedly selfish people with money and (presumably) blue inclinations were to send their progeny to the nearest sink state school, standards, behaviour, exam results yadda yadda would soar ever upwards. I do need to name and shame the countless members of the limo left who forget all about that idea when it comes to educating little Jocasta and little Toby.
Anyway, my modest proposal is that if our left leaners were serious about this business of raising the water level, they could hardly make a better start than leaving the sunny uplands of Notting Hill, Hampstead and so forth and decamping to North Peckham, Harlesden (1) etc en masse. As surely the neighbourhood effect of having all of those 'human rights' lawyers, Guardian hacks and so forth would be to raise the water level - reducing crime, improving the living environment, cutting anti-social behaviour etc through the sheer weight of their moral courage. Furthermore, doubtless the corner shops and no-name supermarkets would hasten to ditch economy sausages and baked beans and stock up on polenta, quail eggs and the like.
To those that rebut 'what about gentrification?', one might note that this is usually done by the less well off, and compelled by necessity more than ideology
(1) Apologies for being so London-centric, but doubtless folk can substitute with fashionable - or otherwise - quarters wherever they know best.
A standard line from our dear, dear friends on the left is that if only the wickedly selfish people with money and (presumably) blue inclinations were to send their progeny to the nearest sink state school, standards, behaviour, exam results yadda yadda would soar ever upwards. I do need to name and shame the countless members of the limo left who forget all about that idea when it comes to educating little Jocasta and little Toby.
Anyway, my modest proposal is that if our left leaners were serious about this business of raising the water level, they could hardly make a better start than leaving the sunny uplands of Notting Hill, Hampstead and so forth and decamping to North Peckham, Harlesden (1) etc en masse. As surely the neighbourhood effect of having all of those 'human rights' lawyers, Guardian hacks and so forth would be to raise the water level - reducing crime, improving the living environment, cutting anti-social behaviour etc through the sheer weight of their moral courage. Furthermore, doubtless the corner shops and no-name supermarkets would hasten to ditch economy sausages and baked beans and stock up on polenta, quail eggs and the like.
To those that rebut 'what about gentrification?', one might note that this is usually done by the less well off, and compelled by necessity more than ideology
(1) Apologies for being so London-centric, but doubtless folk can substitute with fashionable - or otherwise - quarters wherever they know best.
Labels: brief observations
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on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 10:19 am.
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As long as there's a Waitrose nearby, I'd give it a go...as long as it works better than a certain similarly leaning council I witnessed operating in Southernshire 30 years ago. The council plan was to reduce criminality, at a stroke, by moving a few police families onto the infamous Sump Valley estate. The logic being that having a few police officers, their wives and children, living `next door` would have a most salutory effect on the naughty neighbourhood and, Lo! crime reduction. Sadly, the effect of this utopian madness was an increase in cases of threatening behaviour, litter (thrown into gardens of said plod houses) and I believe a couple of arsons were also added to the spike in crime. I have not mentioned the shattered lives of the poor `guinea pigs`. No Jonty's, Hugo's or Giles` were amongst those regularly arrested.
Social engineers, eh? By contrast, the Essex village wherein I grew up was a popular place for policemen to live, possibly due to the lack of crime...
Nice avatar, BTW.
I rather hope that the human rights lawyers, Guardian hacks and so forth stayed away from my slum area, we already have to put up with many MPs and their "second" homes. In fact I was agreeing wholeheartedly with one of my near neighbours just the other day that one of the attractions of the area is that it has not been over run by the fashionistas...
Another Essex person - hoorah! Although I can hardly claim Ilford as a village and Brentwood was almost Romford, so I almost don't count.
BE - damn it all, we don't want our properties being blighted...
HD - I was a Blackmore boy - we're practically family.
Another interesting question is how much abolishing crime by rebuilding all cities would cost. If we say tax is currently 43%, how long wd it take at 86% (ignoring the fact that few people wd work to keep 14% of their dosh)?
Besides, we're told crime is on the decline, so why bother to spend money on a problem being solved?
From Croydon (if you remember it).
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