On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 at 18:39:45, Paul Corfield
wrote:

We are accepting by default that it is somehow "right" for non locals
not to go and see a council estate or visit it. This means that those
who do live there get their ghetto mentality re-inforced.

But unless you are visiting a particular family or individual who lives
there, what are you accomplishing by just wandering round - sort of
Anthropologist Visits Native Village, sort of thing. Which I am
beginning to find offensive when it is a programme about how people live
in Africa or Malaysia - after all, I shouldn't like to have my life
shown on television for all to see.

Obviously, if it's somewhere that has won several awards (and most of
the houses have been sold off, and probably worth a lot more than
they're worth), that's different.

I frequently cut through the council estate near us to get to where I
want to go, and don't have a problem with it, but I should hate to do so
at night simply because it is too quiet; people stay indoors with the
television on, and it is traffic-free, so there aren't loads of cars
passing, as there are on the main road. Another friend, though, has
absolutely no qualms.
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 8 March 2004