O/T The Only Way is Essex, why Barnsley should be more like Brentwood

Been reading about the TOWIE cast and the population of Brentwood in Essex recently and although I don't watch the programme I wish Barnsley was more like it.

Whereas too many people in Barnsley keep voting Labour so the benefits keep coming in and do nothing but sit on their arses and moan, people in Brentwood get off their arses and start their own businesses, yes they're orange and they vote Conservative but they seem to have a lot more get up and go, a can-do attitude and are self-reliant, not relying on the state to do everything for them.

I know people will say "it's the Tories fault, they shut the mines, there's no jobs" but what it is really is a different attitude and it's the attitude that needs to change here, when the mines closed some people re-trained and got great jobs and others just said "there's no jobs" and seemed determined never to work again.

So that's my call, "The Only Way is Essex."

 

I find it hard to agree with anything praising 'TOWIE', but I think there is a more fundamental flaw to your argument. Brentwood is an affluent town in the London commuter belt. There is simply a lot more money in the area. I'm not sure it has anything to do with a more entrepreneurial spirit.

 

I think it's more attitude that money, the "Essex Man" of the 80s was a working class guy from the East End who sold his council house and made money, compare that to Barnsley Man, same working-class background, same lack of education and old school tie contacts, totally different results because Barnsley Man doesn't have the instinct and energy.

Tebbit describes Essex Man today as "hard-working, upwardly mobile, self-reliant and independent."

A quote from the article I read in the Sunday Times: "People around here are not ashamed of making money. They all want the same and they know the route to it is to work hard, get some cash together, set up your own business, and get successful through hard work."

There are people like that here but not enough.

Another quote: "I meet one pure Essex boy, a gangly 16-year-old in red; he is mixed race and imbued with the spirit of the Polecat. He wants, he says, "to become a great businessman and travel to university in America, and own my own company, that’s all". Does he fear unemployment? "You have to work harder today. I am not going to let myself down."

I just can't imagine a 16 year old from Barnsley having that attitude and ambition.

 

I know what you mean. People can slag off a show like TOWIE all they want, but look at what it's done for the local community. Lots of tourists go there now on weekends, bringing in lots of money to the local economy as they visit places like Sugar Hut, Bella Sorento, Minnies etc.

 

Well I wasn't praising the programme so much as the attitude of the locals but the cast certainly do embody that attitude, owning 9 businesses in the town between them.

And the tans and waxings are part of that too, self-improvement, self-empowerment and self-reliance.

 

What?

 

to be fair aren't these businesses nightclubs, tanning shops, clothes boutiques etc? hardly revolutionary, there's loads of them round here. maybe not the affluent customer base though to make them as prosperous.

 

Hello, Barnsley Man here.

I have just got a job this week after 6 months on the dole.

I clearly have no instinct and energy.

Oh, did I mention I graduated with a First Class honours degree from a Russell Group University last summer, and that after applying for literally hundreds of jobs the job is in a cafe?

Yep, all my ****ing fault. No get up and go. I'll just get a fake tan and become a ****, that'll make everything better.

 

I'm not talking about everyone in Barnsley.

However, if the job situation in Essex was as bad as it is here they'd move to somewhere where there are jobs, that's the difference, as former Essex MP and local hero Norman Tebbit said "get on your bike", that's the attitude difference I was talking about.

 

tis true , but sadly a crime to post it

 

At least they aren't pound shops, bookies or Greggs that are littering high streets up and down the UK.

 

where do they get their money from ?
maybe thru' hard work
if they have the money sadly it is up to them where they spend it
is tanning the new tattoo?
Barnsley people have plenty

 

Agree but true
Question is why have we created this ?

 

this is without doubt the biggest load of bollacks i have ever read on here

FACT

 

I love Barnsley but I get fed up of the negative, defeatist attitude sometimes, it's like there's a black cloud over us.

I think a bit of positivity and a can-do attitude would make a lot of difference to people's lives and to the town in general.

 

But then they wouldn't be in Essex/Barnsley and they would be irrelevant to the town's prospects. There are plenty of us who have moved away for a 'better' life but that doesn't help the tarn. It makes the situation worse if anything. Imagine how great tarn would be if I lived there. You'd all be skipping around in delight.

 

Its a cultural THING

From 1947 onwards Barnsley has relied on the state for money
NCB...........then incapacity benefits..........the first created by Labour, to rid the country of the hated mine owners; the second created by the Conservatives, to keep the unemployment figures down in the 1980s / 90s.
Most people from Barnsley who have a bit of get up and go..........have got up and gone
Leaving people like Monkeyred, who is a graduate, in a culture where there are no jobs

The only way to solve this is for a more enterprising (more right wing?) council and government to take control of the town away from Labour

 

If you are a true economic right winger then you won't be looking to the Council to do anything.

Or perhaps you don't have the foggiest clue what you are typing?