Reply to Tom Hawcroft By Lee Cassanell

Well, you rattle a cage and you get a response. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr Hawcroft for taking the time and effort to respond. War is indeed Hell (Yes I've seen Platoon) but when someone throws a grenade into your Garden Party I think it's only fair to throw it back so I will indeed respond to your response in the vain hope that you tear yourself away from your moral crusading to enlighten me further. Let us begin at the beginning.

Humour - Noun 1. The quality of being amusing. Thesaurus: comedy, amusement, clowning, facetiousness, farce, jesting, jocularity, merriment, raillery, wit. 2. The ability to appreciate and enjoy something amusing. 3. A specified temperament or state of mind. Example: He is in good humour today. Thesaurus: mood, bent, disposition, fancy, frame of mind, propensity, temper. 4. Writings, plays, speeches, etc that are amusing or funny. 5. A specified type of fluid in the body. Example: aqueous humour Yes indeed Mr Hawcroft my main intention was comedy, I hold my hands up, I confess but many a true word said in Jest. My word that rhymed, what a terrible little Literary Show off", I am.

As much I would dearly love to let you continue to roam free in your fascinating version of Hull as someone who has lived in the city for 26 years and spent quality time in every council estate, cottage and porter cabin I feel it's my duty to inform you that this beautiful city is not the Shangri -La of the North you seem to think it is. Do I want to go into the dark depths and discuss the problems this place has?

No I don't, I've neither the time nor the inclination to be honest and I if had I would surely have written a serious article in the first place but I totally stand by what I wrote as what I was attempting to express was despite all these things I think Hulls a Fantastic place to live and I am always the first to defend it. It seems to me you don't believe in a little something the democratic societies of the world call Freedom of Speech.

Let me quote your good self: I understand this is the opinions section of the site but I don't believe that all opinions are valid and just because they are your opinions that you have the right to say them Opinion - Noun A personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty

Now it's people such as yourself that every writer, artist and musician worth their salt despises, people who want to censor and put limits on a individual just because you don't appreciate their humour, their politics or their opinion. **Everyone one this site has the right to say what they God damn like. Sometimes writing is the only freedom a person has but certain groups and tyrants throughout history have tried to erase that right. The Nazi Party, General Pinochet and Pol Pot are but three names you may want to investigate further. I will defend an individual's right to express them freely to the death and I will bite back hard if I come across someone who wants to deny them that right.

It's not my mission or purpose to Impress the likes of you Mr Hawcroft, in fact you might say I write to make sure people of your persuasion are weeded out and exposed and despite what you might think I do not have carte blanche on this website to say what I like in fact it's a weekly struggle to get articles published because the Editors are so afraid of reprisals from humourless hellions such as yourself. ** I knew the article would cause trouble, I knew everyone wouldn't like it (or should I say not get it!) but it wasn't the manic ego trip that you seem to think it was. I simply write what I feel at the time, for better or worse.

I'm glad you wrote what you wrote and I sincerely respect your opinion as you should respect mine. You never laughed, you never cried and you didn't agree with what I said but I can live with that and hopefully after a period of intense self reflection you will one day get over yourself and learn to appreciate someone else's ideas other than your own. God Bless

** The editor of thisisUll.com reserves the right to refuse to publish articles which are abusive towards an individual or group.

Opinions - Letter to Tom Hawcroft From Maurice Fairfield

Dear Tom Hawcroft, I only know Lee Cassanell as an able though inferior versifier publishing in these pages (although he did call me a genius recently). Reading his vitriolic piece on the old place, I was a bit surprised by the entertaining venom until I got myself back in the Hull mindset which I remember well as generally being expressed in the form of open derision for most things and Read more...

Opinions - Regarding Tom Hawcroft's Retort to Lee Cassanell's Hull By Mark Pollard

	I'm not absolutely certain about this, but I think Tom might have been hoodwinked by a piece of ever-so-clever, post-industrial, post-modern, post-comedy, post-post-whatever, irony schmirony by Master Cassanell. Sorry - I'm being ironic myself now. Or am I? Lee - I think you need to come clean about your motivations here; something that may require a Read more...

Opinions - Retort to Lee Cassanell's Hull By Tom Hawcroft

	Lee Cassanell, when you were drafting out your masterpiece entitled simply; Hull (brilliant, just brilliant), what were you hoping to achieve? If it was to undermine and belittle the hardworking and conscientious people in this city (of which there are many), via the use of a series of independent non-factual rants then you may have succeeded. I understand this is the opinions Read more...

Opinions - Hull By Susan North

	Guess these guys never lived here in Hull and are talking through their arses. Hull is a city full of history and warm hearted people who will open their doors to anyone genuinely needing help. Always has been for centuries. OK, most cities have some bad points but that goes with the generations of the day as they Read more...

Opinions - Hull - A Letter to Jon Snow Channel 4 By Maurice Fairfield - Another program knocking Hull?

	I have lived in Australia for twenty years but I was born in Hull in 1928 and have lived with patronising contempt for the place ringing in my ears all my life. Perhaps less the town and its people in general but the working-class people who have lived with the contempt of the middle-class who lived off them and who I remember as themselves contemptible. Read more...

Opinions - Hull By By Ted Oliver (Manager of the Spring Bank Community Centre, Hull )

I moved to Hull with my parents in 1993 when I was just 13 years old, from a little village called Hunmanby, just near the popular holiday resort Primrose Valley. I must admit that my first impressions of Hull were not good, but over the last 12 years I've really come to love living and working here. Hull is a very multi-cultural city and always has been - ever since the docks first opened over 500 years ago. Read more...

Opinions - Hull By Lee Cassanell

	Hull is a town of apathy and idiots brimming with all kinds of degenerate scumbags that should be beaten to a bloody pulp and sterilised at birth. Most of the citizens have next to no communication skills, they are backstabbing ego maniacs who think just because they mumbled their way through a Look North interview or have been in the Hull Daily Mail Read more...

Opinions - 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 Read more...

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...