tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4170913783015287649.post9151750806784797098..comments2024-03-26T08:09:33.829+00:00Comments on The Plastic Mancunian: Walsall - Redressing The BalancePlastic Mancunianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01864213919913476168noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4170913783015287649.post-79081620361368472832008-11-28T17:20:00.000+00:002008-11-28T17:20:00.000+00:00Thank you for your comment, Dalrymplist. Perhaps y...Thank you for your comment, Dalrymplist. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps you are right in that my argument "because I come from there" is a little weak, but that's probably because it is an emotional response rather than a logical one. As I said "red mist descends" and when that happens, arguments begin to become illogical. <BR/><BR/>Having grown up in Walsall I am still attached to the place despite its faults. Furthermore, as I have said, there are places in Britain that are truly awful and far worse than Walsall. What I object to is the cruel words that have been used to describe the place; "worse than Ceaucescu's Romania" is frankly insulting and, although the "UglyWalsall" site probably had a positive intention, I fear that it had the opposite effect. The purpose of my post was to highlight that despite its faults (and it does have them), Walsall is trying to improve. I found the Dalrymple article offensive and the "UglyWalsall" site one-sided. I stand by that. Many towns are ugly, some far more so than Walsall, so is Theodore Dalrymple going to write an article about Britain being like "Ceaucescu's Romania" or is another person going to post an "UglyBritain" web site? As I said, I wrote to the author of "UglyWalsall" and basically said that there are areas of beauty in Walsall so why not show these as well, in a kind of "Walsall is ugly in places but can be beautiful - like here"? I prefer balanced arguments. Perhaps you don't have any emotional ties with Tamworth and don't like balanced arguments. I do have emotional ties with Walsall even now.Plastic Mancunianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01864213919913476168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4170913783015287649.post-78280267133700041582008-11-28T09:33:00.000+00:002008-11-28T09:33:00.000+00:00Your suggestion that you are 'extremely angered at...Your suggestion that you are <EM>'extremely angered at (Dalrymple's comments), not just because I come from there, but also because I still have relatives there'</EM> makes literally no sense at all, though it is typical of the sort of mindless non-thinking which characterises much of modern British 'debate'.<BR/>If you came from Mogadishu, and 'still had relatives there', would you leap to the defence of that city? If they demolished every decent building left in Walsall and replaced them with Domino's Pizza franchises, would you still defend it?<BR/>Your 'coming from there' is clearly irrelevant. Your blindness to what has been done to 'your' town is the issue.<BR/>No sensate human, who has visited Walsall, or many of our other post-industrial towns, could fail to see how ugly they are, with their chewing gum-covered pavements, uniform shopping malls and general air of squalor and filth.<BR/>My wife's home town of Coventry was destroyed not by the Luftwaffe - they left a good percentage of its fabuolous old buildings standing - but by the council which demolished them and rebuilt in concrete.<BR/>The same process happened in the town nearest to where I grew up, Tamworth. In the 1960s, this was a pretty little market town; now it is revolting. I have relatives there - they all feel the same way, as do my wife's family in Coventry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4170913783015287649.post-19679260568280494062008-09-15T08:55:00.000+01:002008-09-15T08:55:00.000+01:00Thanks for your comment, stymaster. I think the re...Thanks for your comment, stymaster. I think the reason that I was so angered by uglywalsall was that it was totally one sided, which is effectively what I said to the author. Whether it shamed the council or not, it did leave the casual visitor with the impression that the town was a train wreck - which it isn't. Every single place in the UK with one or two exceptions, has an ugly side. I would have preferred to have seen a site that was more balanced saying something like "Walsall can be ugly - but look at this beauty" <BR/><BR/>I felt that if anybody thinking of moving to the town or investing in it may have been put off by such sites. And as for Theodore Dalrymple - don't get me started ...<BR/><BR/>:-)Plastic Mancunianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01864213919913476168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4170913783015287649.post-38506172401389885632008-09-14T23:38:00.000+01:002008-09-14T23:38:00.000+01:00I'm a Walsall resident.The web does present rather...I'm a Walsall resident.<BR/><BR/>The web does present rather a dim view of the town, yes, but you misunderstand Ugly Walsall- the creator of which I was in contact with at one time. It was intended to shame the council into tidying things up, and in that way, it worked.<BR/><BR/>For the record, Walsall is OK. I have lived there most of my life. Unfortunately most web searches throw up football or the kind of articles you mention.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com