only 20th? wilson out.
the channel 4 20 worst places to live

1. Middlesbrough – North East (6th last year)
2. Hull – Humberside
3. Newham - East London (4th last year)
4. Nottingham – East Midlands (7th last year)
5. Merthyr Tydfil - South Wales (3rd last year)
6. North East Lincolnshire – Eastern England
7. Islington - North London (5th last year)
8. Blaenau Gwent - South Wales (9th last year)
9. Mansfield – East Midlands
10. Knowsley – Merseyside
11. Blackpool – North West
12. Hackney - East London (1ST last year)
13. Stoke-on-Trent – Staffordshire
14. Barking & Dagenham – East London
15. Doncaster – South Yorkshire
16. Cannock Chase – Staffordshire
17. Manchester - North West (10th last year)
18. Haringey – North London
19. Burnley – Lancashire
20. Hartlepool – North East

It's the only thing Middlesbrough will win this year

Darlo i would really hate to live there.

What a list of shite. I haven't been to all those towns but as far as most of them go (among the ones I know that is) I can safely say I've been to MUCH worse places in England and Wales (not to mention Scotland which is it seems is either chock full of great towns or simply wasn't included).

I do agree with the Boro mind.

As was said, I'd love to see the criteria.

The fact that neither Horden, Peterlee or Gateshead aren't on there proves that its bollox.

I do quite a bit of work in Easington, some areas of the place look like they've raided by the Luftwaffe. Whole sections of roof and wall missing from rows and rows of derelict houses.

As Mr Head rightfully pointed out what about Scotland? I've been to Falkirk and I don't think I've seen a more drab, grim, place.

They're 20 worse places in the North East alone than Hartlepool.

ive alays new boro was bad but thats going to far, and port clarence is worse than hartlepool anyway...

or does port clarence count as middlesbrough?

Most of London is worse than the places on that original list and the capital has become a divided city of those that have and those that have been herded into ghettos and are the people that service the well off and make the profits for them. There is also a large 'underclass' who are allowed to exist as such to remind remind folk that if they don't tow the line they could well end up in that underclass. London as a whole should top that list.

75% of London is a shit-hole. You couldn't give me a house in that 75% of it.

16 cannock chase??? It's not even a town! Cannock is, but the chase is just a park

must be a joke!

http://www.cannock-chase.co.uk/

LUTON FFS

There's areas of Liverpool I wouldn't keep pigeons in.

If however, a herd of wild horses did appear at this juncture. I'd happily move back to Hartlepool.

So fook what they think.

I really struggle to work out what criteria they use for this. I've seen things in the past which use:

Employment levels
Crime rates
Life expectancy
How schools perform
Average earnings per household
Happiness surveys
And even one which had a ratio of 'luxury' shops like Starbucks to Poundstretcher type stores

Also, you've got cities the size of Hull, Nottingham and Manchester in there, against little places like Merthyr, Burnley and Hartlepool.

Different people want different things, so there will never be an objective answer.

Personally, I reckon living in a small town or village which is quite isolated from other population centres, is deprived, with high crime rates and crap public services is the worst kind of place. I think most people will agree. The problem is, there are hundreds of these places britain no-one's heard of, so the programme makers have to throw a few larger towns and cities in to keep the interest of the viewers.

There are large pockets of affluence in Manchester and Nottingham, I don't know Hull well enough to comment.

I think Hawklord is spot on when he points to the gap between rich and poor. The underclass is growing larger everywhere, not just London, and unless something is done to address it I fear we may see more 'gated communities' like there are in America and South Africa. I've lived in one meself, and it's not nice.

Lets face it, living in this country on the whole is a bit shit. There are also no signs of things improving either.....

Here here!

Oh yes didn't you know Grimsby no longer officially exists? What imaginative names they have chosen for the unitary authorities eh?

They could have chucked in "North Linconshire" too while they were at it then we'd have everything from Flixborough to Cleethorpes.

You seem to know an awful lot about that part of the country Mr H?!

Oh oh I'm being stalked again

No, it's just that you told everyone you were looking for a house near Doncaster.....

I didn't think anyone else remembered Grabec!!

I agree! these people have obviously not spent any time in Londonistan recently!

Or perhaps the figures were based on legitimate people who are living (and working) legally!

There are some real tips round here in West London and South of the river is even worse!

But that's only part of the story isn't it, Mr Memory.

I'm not sure that was what Mr P. Pooly meant by shithole but I stand to be corrected.

I've been to loads of places worse than Boro, fairdo's its a bit of a dump, but as Kev says so's Liverpool and as Parmo says so's London and as Wallsall Mam says so's her house...

What about Saltburn?

I was there yesterday.

The church on the main road in has sheep grazing in the graveyard.

Is it doubling up as a Christian leisure centre?

Saltburns ace! not even an outskirt of Boro....

yeah the crazies have sheep eating the grass so save mowing it, the tight fecking twats---sharp take yer money in the collection plate though...


why didn't you call in for a cuppa?

Cos I was stuck in meetings with Balfours for half the afternoon while they tried to decide how they wanna stop their new school from exploding when it's full of kids.

erm exploding???
my children go there!! well one does ..t'other next year...

It's built on landfill apparently.

So they've decided, as a sort of afterthought, that they'd best put a gas barrier in to stop it filling up with methane.

I'd have left it to fate personally cos it's causing me more work.

http://www.picturesofengland.com/Englan ... es/1010087

check this out for hartlepool and tell me you would rather live in milton keynes

Some beautiful Hartlepool sunsets there Mr Gremmlin ( ) but please do tell me what do you think of ours here - not too shabby eh?

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/n ... 0b93d3.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/n ... age_22.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/n ... 10058i.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/n ... o33552.jpg

all your own work then but the last one
what camera do you use?

Nope sorry none of them are my own work *shrug*. Just trying to share the splendour with you.
They are all at Palavas-les-Flots, the local seaside resort.
Sea - beach - dunes - lagoon - country - city - hills in that order complete with flamingos, jumping fish, and if you're lucky a couple of white horses thrown in for good measure.
And right now is the very best time of year to drink the daylight away watching all that.

Oh how I wish I was in Milton Keynes hahaha!

or even the pool

heard on radio 1 a lass defending the boro saying were other place can you visit in 10 mintues the beach the countryside and the town centre. at which i though yeah which other place in the country in a 100m radius can you find a hooker, a person growning weed and about 3 drug dens, god the poor lass is deluded

She obviously had a tardis to do it in 10 minutes. You can do it without one in Artlepool though

And this one:



Can you see all the pollution from the coal fired power stations and smell the weeping children in the sweat shops??

Durham Cathedral/Castle is quite simply one of the most gob-smacking places in the whole of the WORLD.

"Durham is one of the great experiences of Europe to the eyes of those who appreciate architecture, and to the minds of those who understand architecture. The group of Cathedral, Castle, and Monastery on the rock can only be compared to Avignon and Prague." - Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England.

"I paused upon the bridge, and admired and wondered at the beauty and glory of this scene...it was grand, venerable, and sweet, all at once; I never saw so lovely and magnificent a scene, nor, being content with this, do I care to see a better." - Nathaniel Hawthorne on Durham Cathedral, The English Notebooks.

"I unhesitatingly gave Durham my vote for best cathedral on planet Earth." - Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small Island.

Looks like the optimists have won this thread

er, you what???!
really?