Spot the difference

Listen to a bunch of activists discussing big issues in their community and more often than not the same general concerns will usually crop up. So, over the last few weeks it's been startling to hear clear contrasts voiced between those working in the north (in Newcastle and Wakefield Anglican church diocese), and those down south (across South London, Kent and West Sussex, in Southwark diocese).

For the clergy, church leaders, community and youth workers meeting in Newcastle there was a sense of urgency tapered by exhaustion.

• “We’ve families with children growing up and parents not identifying any work, or opportunities…
• “You do demeaning tasks, with no contract, it’s £6.50 an hour…”
• “The erosion of industry and the impact of long-term unemployment is unrelenting.”

Despite the rhetoric about private sector jobs and manufacturing, the reality of Rio Tinto Alcan announcing closure of their Lynemouth factory in Northumberland with 500 redundancies highlighted anxiety about the lack of jobs.

• “There are lots of people who do want to work. But there aren’t any jobs. Those that do want to work have had their confidence knocked…”
• “Lack of opportunities with the decline of public sector and the service industry – even people who are very motivated and capable are struggling.”

Concerns were voiced about lack of work generating inertia…

• “At one time the area had 30,000 employees…Copper smith, riveter – craftsmen – doing what they trained, what they wanted to do… They don’t want to stack shelves…”
• “The ambition has gone with the closure of the pits and the docks and the shipbuilding.”
• “People are feeling stuck. There is a loss of ambition. Expectations are very low.”

And the impact at school and home.

• “The high school is disproportionally deprived. Kids lack aspirations… People need to aspire to more, to think about what they’re good at…”
• “It’s the hopelessness – it going to get worse for the poorer people… the safety net is being withdrawn.”
• “There is a resilience – people have got their issues, but they will also shrug their shoulders and get on… We didn’t riot.”
• “Volunteers are bringing all their social problems – redundancies, people with benefits withdrawn.”
• “The word chav seems to have been accepted and people who are being referred to seem to accept… We need to remember that there are people behind the description… we need to do the work to tell the story.”

Here was a group expressing deep concerns about the palpable sense of decline being felt across their communities, with dangerous consequences.

• “You hear racist comments – asylum seekers ‘come to sponge of the country…”
• “They’re sick of political parties. Mainstream parties withdraw from the debate about race.”
• “Round where we are, people are now thinking of going to BNP. People who would never have dreamt of voting that way are doing so…“ 

In Wakefield there was an equivalent sense of desperation.

• “It was a matter of days between announcement of cuts and actual cuts in services on the ground.”
• “Very easy for despondency to ensue, when the town centre is full of empty shops – there’s nothing in the town for a little light relief.”
• “The people who have moved out have had the initiative to move out.“
• “It’s very easy to get away with second best – it fits the aspirations of the town…”
• “People absorb the cuts – in some areas though this is stoicism rather than apathy…”

 This was about a further shift provoked by a combination of cuts and established manufacturing decline.

• “Destitution is on the increase – not just asylum seekers – previously middle-class ‘ordinary’ people are suffering…” 
• “People’s benefits are stopping and communication very poor – people don’t know when benefits are changed.  People find themselves suddenly without money and then find themselves getting into debt.”
• “There are people aching to get back to prison, for some stability.”
• “Cuts to EMA have been an enormous problem – its now harder for kids to choose to go into the 6th form – travel costs around here are huge.”

 In Southwark diocese, an area stretching across Kent, South London, Surrey and West Sussex, the concern was less about the immediate impact of cuts, but that the cuts were coming, there full blown impact imminent, but not a reality yet.

• “Destitution is there for a few. The largest employer is the council and the hospital…”
• “The public sector is in retreat – a school will close…
• “New people are moving into the area. Two or three thousand wealthy people in the area, using the station.” 
• “People are subletting – overcrowding is a huge problem.”
• “It’s the fear of unemployment. The fear of the cutbacks…”

I'm not saying grinding poverty of the sort relayed by community workers in the northeast isn’t significantly present in the southeast, across areas like Southwark diocese. Or that community activists in Southwark aren't swamped by need.

I'm noting that some anecdotal findings from grassroots activist indicate the combination of long term industrial decline, loss of manufacturing and now aggressive cuts in the public sector is widening and deepening poverty across large areas of the north.

The impact of the first round of cuts has been immediate, entrenching long-term problems associated with poverty. Meanwhile the shock wave is travelling south, yet to have quite the devastating impact in the southeast as reported up north. However, for the group in Southwark its very clear - the wave is coming, and the full impact of the cuts will be severe.