Is our town a shithole..

[FroggletTowers]

Or is this happening anywhere else?

I have been discussing this with friends, family and colleagues recently so won't name our town for privacy reasons, but it is a regular, large town in England, UK.
Nothing particularly special or awful about it, previously.

Since the pandemic, the entire vibe has changed. Almost unrecognisable.
Yes, we have some heavy shop closures like many towns, but the council kept it looking decent as much as it could. Some nice buildings and nature areas, etc.

What stands out most, apart from the general vandalism and dog shit is the weird accumulation of male groups hanging around boozing in public.

So far they have taken over the local park, river walks and nature reserves. They often cluster beneath bridges or across paths where people like to run, cycle walk dogs or take children, making it less safe and filling these areas with waste. Off road bikes have ruined the nature reserves, so less people visit

Sadly the authorities don't seem to be doing much about it, it is as if these people don't have to abide by laws that the rest of us have to. Some buildings adjacent to these areas have windows put through on a regular basis, even in what you'd call 'nice' areas.
Many of them cluster at river bridges and block the path for others, most are very drunk or out of generally.
It isn't unusual to see a large man passed out across the pathway, blocking anyone getting past. If you had a pram or bike it would be really uncomfortable to have to rouse a large drunk at 2pm in the afternoon. Most are local men, with a growing amount of middle eastern men. The vast majority of them are unstable.

We see less women out cycling, walking or exercising now, and this encompasses both MC and WC areas. These people seem to have just multiplied and spread across the entire borough and have taken over all public space.
We live in a decent area that is now seeming to go downhill.
It isn't unusual to see day drinkers sat alone, surrounded by cans on a quiet residential street. And they won't move to let you past.

It's really depressing.

@nothingquitelikeathreadhighjack

"But just as in some areas we are seeing that a badly apply DEI policy means that people are no longer being selected on merit, or just on merit."

People have never 'just been selected on merit', on a general principle.

Unless you want to argue that what until recently was an enormous over representation of white, privately educated men in positions of power in industry, the military, the judiciary, medicine, politics, and the media, is the result of upper middle class white men being just much more clever and capable than literally every other demographic.

BTW - in relation to student admissions I think you're referring to universities making contextual offers. Most universities make contextual offers to students who have attended state schools with high intakes of disadvantaged pupils, also those who've been in local authority care, or who come from families where nobody has previously accessed higher education. Are you against this?

Can’t say….

Why can't you say it?

I can answer that re our council. If there's an empty retail unit then the council can only refuse things like the type of signage used. If catering insist on extraction fans being suitable. They can't refuse a barber, nail bar because it seems a bit hinky.

What’s it got to do with you?

Name says it all, yes it is a seaside town, yes it is now a shithole, yes any decent shops are all shut, yes they are building ridiculous amounts of flats, yes we have an inordinate amount of vape shops/barbers, yes there are groups of men hanging out all over the place at varying times day and night. Not helped by councils 'please send us all your depressed or addicted for rehab by the sea in return for some cash' policies.

That really depends on the course and the university. My friends daughters grew up in Spain, then France. They both went to St Andrews. Have done very well as translators.

Go onto Higher Education on Mumsnet, start a thread. It's been useful.

Also on FB what I wish I knew about university WIWIKAU. They are a great help.

Gawd I'm glad mine are done and dusted 😁

You have no idea why I'm speaking about this to you?

When you've just agreed with a clearly stated (though nonsense) argument with your own clearly stated (though nonsense) . You can say things. Just don't be surprised when people disagree with you.

Sometimes these people may even TYPE IN CAPITALS. It't doesn't mean you can't say the thing you said..

I agreed with something I said? Nice that you’ve calmed down a bit now.

edit: your post makes no sense at all.

So you are saying that yes, offers are to do with DEI not merit now? If so, what sort of percentage?

In relation to your last two paragraphs, the focus should be on raising academic standards throughout at school level, and then for all to be seen on a level playing ground at universities and in careers without messing around with standards.

Are you posting from two separate accounts on this thread, I suspect you are.

Successive governments have starved education of funds. In Wales however there's no bloody excuse we've had labour Senedd for 26 years. But Starmer has kicked us into the long grass. Perhaps because he thinks rightly that we couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

The kids that did well in my children's time and the kids that do well in my grandchildren time all have one thing in common. Parents that care and uphold standards from not dropping litter to being involved enough to read with their children every night, research extra help online, bitesize, YouTube for other subjects.

And yes they all work full time before anyone raises the time poor argument. Although it would help if parents weren't so time poor.

No.

I don't have two separate accounts.

Apologies if is too difficult for you to follow a conversation thread on Mumsnet.

You’re obviously enraged about something but I don’t care.

Do you believe a university student from a background of care with no parental support coming from a challenging school faces a level playing field at university with a privileged student from a supportive background and family coming from an academic school?

This post made me laugh. I have visions of 5 children sitting round the kitchen table alongside their ponies with mum and dad teaching children and ponies the times table.

I doubt even people getting benefits for 5 disabled kids could afford multiple ponies, unless they had other sources of income?

I think parents who are on the case make a huge difference, but the curriculum and how the curriculum is taught also extremely relevant. We have been hit with progressive thought on and off since the 60s. In my primary school, all teaching of maths and language stopped overnight in the name of progressive thought, thinking we all needed to be creative not to be taught rules (after a couple of years of this I moved schools)

If you look at how language and maths were taught before the 60s, it explains why literacy and competence levels were so much higher then - but it is true also that there was a lack of time for free expression. It would have been better to introduce half a day of free expression and keep half a day of bums on seats rather than just stop teaching academic work!

How disruptive behaviour is managed in schools is also relevant. Parents' input again relevant here, but how schools manage behaviour and help children who are behind is also relevant. Far more needs to be done in relation to helping children who are behind at the start of senior school to catch up. Most of the kids with disruptive behaviour are also behind, so looking at that link and finding solutions would be a good idea.

Not to mention how hard it is to get a diagnosis for children if you read it the threads on here.

That's not really how DEI works.

DEI is about removing barriers to employment opportunities for minorities. There is never a requirement to hire someone who isn't qualified or suitable for a post on the strength of protected characteristics.

"In relation to your last two paragraphs, the focus should be on raising academic standards throughout at school level, and then for all to be seen on a level playing ground at universities and in careers without messing around with standards."

State schools get roughly 7K per year per pupil. Average private school fees are now 15K a year at secondary. State schools have class sizes roughly double the size of the average class in private school.

Are you going to argue that it's either possible or probable that in our lifetimes there's going to be support for a doubling of the spend on education for the state sector, to match the resources that are lavished on kids in private schools, in order to remove the rationale for universities making contextual offers?

Of course you know that's nonsense - it will never happen.

And until we have equality of opportunity for young people universities need to take a student's potential and not just their attainment into account in admissions processes.

@nothingquitelikeathreadhighjack

"If you look at how language and maths were taught before the 60s, it explains why literacy and competence levels were so much higher then - but it is true also that there was a lack of time for free expression. It would have been better to introduce half a day of free expression and keep half a day of bums on seats rather than just stop teaching academic work!"

I'm going to guess you haven't been in a state school for the past 30 years and have no idea at all about the curriculum or modern teaching methods.

Also - there's no evidence of an increase in illiteracy since the 1950's.

@PandoraSocks
£700 per child with disability plus adult and rent allowance perfectly achievable if diy

That’s still not enough to keep a family and multiple horses on

@bipbopdo 5 ponies I think so

Does the LHA really meet the full costs of renting properties with multiple stables?