Wednesday 7 December 2011

Thanks. That Helps No End.

I watched the BBC's local news programme (South Today) on the television last night.
I watch it every night for the weather forecast.
I need a vague idea of what the weather will bring the following day so I can make sure I dress correctly for the conditions.
Wind speed/direction are my preferred indicators as these have the most influence on my cycle ride to and from work.
(I prefer riding into the wind on the way to work then letting the wind blow me home on the ride back.)

Last night a report on local government spending cuts caught my attention.
The format usually focuses on an individual's personal experience of proposed cuts and tends to play heavily on the 'human-story' with much weeping, wailing and hand-wringing.
Last night featured a report on cuts to public transport services in rural areas and the knock-on effect it will have on the, mostly, elderly people who rely on buses to get them from their isolated bucolic hovels to anywhere that might have a shop/doctor/post office.
The piffling amount of money the county council will save by cutting this budget was contrasted with the MILLIONS of pounds they have ear-marked to restore the Chichester Festival Theatre.

But that's not what got my goat.

After the report the discussion continued in the studio.
Much was said about the level of social deprivation that's all to evident in the towns along the south coast and the seeming incongruity between the cuts to services and the funding for the restoration.

But that's not what got my goat either.

What really buttered my necktie was, as an illustrative example of this appalling social deprivation, they used footage of the main shopping area in Bognor Regis!

To be fair the BBC didn't actually identify Bognor but it annoyed me just the same.

So, If you want to experience social deprivation at first hand, why not visit Bognor Regis?
(And bring your wallet).

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