Lets have a brief history lesson.
Back at the beginning of the 1980's, a rather nasty world economic recession had a catestrophic impact on some parts of this country. The worst affected were the old industrial areas of the north and midlands (heavily populated areas). Two of the worst affected areas were the north-west/Merseyside, and here in south Yorkshire. Huge numbers of people were made redundant, with scant alternatives available. Thatcher, who came to power in 1979, largely stood back and let whole swathes of industry and communities die in these areas. In fact she actively pursued the destruction of some (coalmining).
Meanwhile in the 1980's, London and the south-east had a renaissance..... the Thatcher yuppie years..... a second "you've never had it so good" period. And since.
The earlier, cultural, north-south divide, became very much of an economic one. Thirty years of a huge inbalance in this country has meant it is now pretty much two countries. Professor Dorling, a leading expert in this subject at Sheffield University, describes it as:
"some pockets of prosperity in the north (i.e. Leeds/some of Manchester), and some pockets of poverty in the south (east end/Dagenham etc)"
The area of Liverpool lost a huge number of jobs in the 1980's, and they have not been replaced in anything like the same numbers. Ditto in south Yorkshire. So is it any wonder that there are many on the dole queue there, and caught in the benefits trap. Smartarse comments about the dole queue/benefits/scroungers are rather unfair, to put it mildly. If the north had the same job, wages and prosperity opportunities as the south, it would be different.
When it comes to squandering money, Thatcher should stand trial for using North Sea oil revenue to fund mass 1980's unemployment, to achieve her political aims at the time.
