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 most people and most institutions.

Maybe I got the whole thing arse up but I got the impression that he was playing Devils Advocate and sending up those who do the same to Hull.

I yield to no one in my belief that Hull's bottom drawer people, from whom I spring, always deserved and still do deserve a lot better deal than they got in the old days (and subsequently) but it would be foolish to dodge the fact that a lot of people need a lot of help in one way or another to reach their potential as human beings. Street-life in Hull has always incorporated an undercurrent of savagery, held in check for generations and now loose for reasons too complex to analyse in this letter.

Back-stabbing egomaniacs. My last visit home confirmed me in my memory that a lot of Hull people have chronic low self esteem which shows as insularity and suspicion of the motives of others. I have met three groups of Hull folk here in Melbourne (Australia) and all were unwilling to accept the hand of friendship or to volunteer any confidences to a friendly stranger from their home town. A fear of lowering ones guard is not too strong a way to describe it.

There is no point in sentimentalising about Hull, although I will defend its people, including the damaged ones, against attacks by strangers.

From my privileged position as an 'ull kid going on eighty, let me tell the story of the family in the Phoenix Club falling about laughing - except for the old dad, who maintained a stony silence and a straight face. Don't you like the comedian Dad? He's funny. The old man looked at his son. Well, He's gerrin' paid for it inny? he said.

I interpret Lee Cassanell's attack as satirical but maybe I am wrong. Perhaps he'll enlighten us. If he maintains a stony silence I will assume that I was right in my guess.

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...

Opinions - Bomb By Gregory Anderson
	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...