[Gllug] [OT] Times Article on ABD was Fighting a virus

[John G Walker]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 22:56:52 +0000 Christopher Hunter
<chrisehunter at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> On Sun, 2007-02-18 at 19:51 +0000, John G Walker wrote:
> 
> >  It's the rich, with their greater access to private transport,
> > that live way out in the countryside.
> 
> Err... No!  The highest proportion of poor in this country live in
> rural areas. 
> 
> Chris
> 
> 

It's amazing how confused people can get when it comes to proportions.

I don't have the exact figures by me, but the income gap between the
countryside and the urban areas of Britain is wider than that between,
say, south and north. that is, the countryside is rich.

What you are referring to is that the poorest sections of the poor can
be found in rural areas. Not every part of even the English countryside
(let alone the north of Scotland) is accessible to the major
conurbations. Thus, for example, East Lindsey is one of the poorest
areas of the country. You can't easily commute to London from there.

But in the rural areas that are accessible from London, Birmingham,
Manchester, Leeds, etc, the major problem that the poor have is staying
there. It's one of the major problems of the countryside - lack of
low-cost housing.

Those who work in the countryside - as opposed to those who employ them
- need cars just to be able to commute to work. The days of the
countryside full of agricultural workers on bicycles is long gone.
Now they have to battle through urban traffic jams in order to get to
work. It's not clear to me how road pricing will help them,

-- 
 All the best,
 John
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