A Geordie Perspective

As you'd guess from the thread title I live and work in Newcastle for all my 52 years in a staunch Labour ward where a good number of scenes were filmed. This is not a true portrayal of benefit life here.

I have never seen a queue for a food bank, I've just had to google map the local one where the scene was filmed and no I've not seen ever any queue there.
Further up the road there's a few pubs, if Ken Loach had called in for a lunch time pint he'd have a job getting in because they are packed with claimants. I'm not knocking that it's their money and they can do what they like with it and their time but its clear to me they don't have to sell the home furniture to spend afternoons in The Raby.

I don't doubt that a huge number of people have difficulties in claiming what is rightfully there's but once they have and in my experience most succeed they go on to live a not wholly unbearable life.

It was to gloomy, to left wing and not an accurate description of life in the low employment boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne. Not something I have seen anyway.

I'm Labour I'm certainly no Conservative or neo liberalist but parts of this city are booming. Its a beautiful city with a vibrant nightlife that does not come cheap to enjoy. There are too many service jobs that's a fact and the heavy industry is declining almost finished but Mr Loach has painted Newcastle with a grey paintbrush in this film (I wouldn't call it a movie) That's not my experience though this morning as I write it's a pretty miserable day outside.