Hull By Jeni Edge

I have been told by Channel 4 that I should not take the programme The Best and Worst Places to Live seriously, it is intended to be light-hearted and just a joke. But it is irresponsible of the media to claim that they have no impact, and if there is a joke the laughter is at the expense of the poor.

To blight an entire city and excuse yourself because it was not meant seriously is no more acceptable than any other prejudiced and stereotypical statement; it causes offence, and worse is damaging. And all the locations listed as the worst places to live have one thing in common - poverty. Obesity, diabetes, teenage pregnancy, poor educational attainment and crime are all linked to poverty.

In Hull for example, 35% of pupils achieved an A-C grade at GCSE in 2003 compared to a national average of 50%. But Hull is a largely working class city, the wealthier suburbs being part of the East Riding, and nationally there is a massive gap between the attainment of children from middle class and working class backgrounds.

In 1997 (the last year for which there is available statistics) 60% of children from white, middle class backgrounds across the country achieved 5 A-C grades at GCSE, whilst only 32% of white working class children achieved the same grades. (Gillborn & Safia Mirza Educational Inequality: Mapping race, Class and Gender (2002) Ofsted)

This suggests that Hull children, on average, are doing no worse than their demographic counterparts elsewhere in the country. Useful discussion would look at why working class children anywhere do less well than their middle class counterparts. Making cheap jokes at certain areas in the country does not help the problem.

Yes, we need awareness of the issues but not in a way that isolates and stigmatises individual communities. The north has suffered from de-industrialisation, chronic low employment and under investment for years but this is not about a north-south divide as poverty transcends geographical locations. The real divide is between the rich and the poor, or those who can afford to choose where they want to live and those who cannot.

Any joke made by this programme has been at the expense of the country's poorest and most dispossessed.

Opinions - Hull By Ted Robinson

	I have lived in Hull since 1996. I have had my car broken into seven times, I have also been violently robbed in the street and most of the people I know here have been burgled. So YES, Hull deserves to be at the bottom of the pile (and in all cases, the police proved to be useless)!

Opinions - It's Your Money, Why Are You Not Seeing Any Of It? By Anonymous

	Regeneration, Community Development, all those 'community' workers that litter the city, preaching change and empowerment for the people of the city. Ever wondered where they have come from, how they are paid, and what the funding they get to play with is spent on? Funding, wherever it comes from be it Government or the Lottery for example Read more...

Opinions - Living in Hull By Marphy Jones

	I am a foreigner living in Hull. My opinion is that Hull is really a worst place - full of naughty kids, impolite people, and a dirty environment. I think what you can do is to improve these images instead of constantly explaining that Hull is not a worst city. Commit to the facts and then make some improvements to show them! I have some suggestions: Read more...

Opinions - Hull By Paul Thompson

	I am planning to study at Hull. The city centre seemed OK when I looked round although it could do with some more regeneration. I have seen much worse in my opinion - areas like Coventry. There appears to be little gun crime, good nightlife, cheap houses friendly people, a very good university and I like the shopping centre. The area around the university is nice and green too. Read more...

Opinions - Channel 4's Best and Worst By Mark Pollard

	Last night's (Tuesday 9th August 2005) Channel 4 aired a programme which listed the ten best and ten worst places to live in the UK. It was one of the most ill-researched, unbalanced and downright irresponsible pieces of television that I have seen for many years. I used to regard Channel 4 as being a bit like BBC2 with adverts; unfortunately, they seem to be moving Read more...

Opinions - Bomb By Margaret Ryan
	For three fraught hours I believed my girlfriend was dead. Hearing snatched rumours of a bomb in rush-hour London I desperately rang her mobile again and again. At that time of 10:54am on 7/7 this, for me, had started. In those hours a quiet despair filled me. My only response was to scour the newspapers and news blogs. Read more...

Opinions - The Bitch Hikers Guide to The Fashionista Dance Troupe! By Mr. B. Quiet
	Yep, it's finally arrived! Hull's finally caught up with England's dream of alternative culture! Everyone buys their LP's by the nations favourite drug users from popular chain store supermarkets and spends £85 quid on a pair of designer jeans that have been ripped at the knees (Bros anyone?), before running off to Read more...

Opinions - Mother's Day By Andrea Longstaff
	Rain! Rain! Rain! Is this Mother Nature's symbolism? The bursting of the amniotic sack? Well it's not big and it's not clever! It's like some select club that I'm not a member of, and at my age (weirdo)! I'm made to feel like an outcast! I'm mocked by the little ones cos I've Read more...

Opinions - Comment on Fear And Loathing In Hull By Nicholas Boldock and In Reply To - Fear And Loathing In Hull By Anonymous By Anna
	In my first contribution on this website I referred to the nice experience I had in Hull as a foreign student. When I read the articles on Hull's racism, I thought I can share my view since I have had some experiences from both sides. Albanian immigrants residing Read more...

Opinions - Metal on the Rise in Hull By Steve B
	You're doing it again! I once complained that you (thisisUll.com) focus far too much on certain bands and blatantly miss half the real talent that there is in hull... and you're doing it again! Last time I said this, Read more...

Opinions - How Karoo Could Double Their Trade Over Night By Paul Bawden
	If you live in Hull and want a telephone line you are very lucky as you don't have to call on BT or any of the other companies who claim to be cheap. Kingston Communications are cheaper that any other phone provider in England. Read more...

Opinions - Start a New Career in IT - Average starting Salaries £26k - Don't Get Sucked In! By Paul Bawden
	I have lived in Hull all of my life. I'm just coming up to my 31st birthday. I have over 15 years experience and am very much respected within the ITC industry, with more qualifications than you can shake a stick at. So what do Read more...

Opinions - Take The Highground - or why we shouldn't read The Daily Mail By Andy Dykes
	Oh The Daily Mail: bastion of British journalism, voice of the British people, key to the formulation of a balanced opinion and veritable textbook of reporting and the written word. It was within a day or two of the catastrophic Read more...

Opinions - I Don't Agree With That in the Workplace By 'Ull un
	Whether you've been guilty of it yourself or experienced it as a consumer, it seems to be that an epidemic of ineptitude is sweeping the globe. The virus appears to care not about the host in which it embeds itself: ask for assistance Read more...

Articles - "Funky's" Matt Hill writes to us from Thailand

Hey, Matt here :-) I know it's been AGES since I sent some pictures, so I finally made myself take some - you know what it's like, the weather's never good enough or you know the camera won't do it justice, but the time has come. OK, so you have to realise that these pictures aren't going to really impress you, this place isn't big or clever. Also, my digital camera disk keeps getting wet Read more...

Articles - Panic, Paranoia and Peter Levy's Top Lip By Joe Hakim

	The world is a welter of conflicting fanaticisms - Betrand Russell And so it begins... You can feel it, a charge building - energy rushing up through our veins, a huge shock to the brain, fuse has gone, no light anymore. The smell of candle wax in your nostrils. Squinting in the dark. The fuse has gone. Read more...

Articles, - The Drugs Box By Rich Mills

	The Drugs Box; I'd heard of these things, I'd even seen one once, but never had a chance to have a go on one. So when I got the chance to see one in action I jumped at it. As an ex Drugs Worker, particularly having worked with young people, one of these would have been invaluable. A fully interactive, touch screen, educational tool, ideal for use Read more...

Articles - Quitting My Job - A Prologue By Joe Hakim

The idea comes to me in a dream. I know listening to other people's dreams is more boring than listening to their problems, but bear with me. I grab an hour's kip before work, and I enter that half-asleep/half-awake state where dreams are vivid and loaded with symbols. I'm in my flat and I have a pet lion. I'm watching it run around, and I'm upset because I know that I have to get rid of it Read more...

Articles - Ladies and Gentlemen, the Freakshow is Over...For Now By Jane Foster

So, we finally have the official verdict on Michael Jackson - ill, but innocent; nuts, but not guilty; freaky, but to him and his equally barmy fans, free. Frankly I could never see what all the fuss was about. Surely anyone who has had to endure his tedious dance routine (consisting of squeals of Ow! Ee-hee! whilst grabbing his genitals) should be glad that at last he's moved on to fondling someone else's? Read more...