Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
#1
The news about Hillsborough today and the assumptions about Liverpool that underpinned the injustice has reminded me of a stereotyping incident involving Dover and the similar marginaiisaton and demonisation process it has been subjected to.
I know that this is recycling old news, but the following report clearly gives the impression that Dover alone has the second highest rate of smoking in England, whereas if you read the report through it appears that the figures relate to the District as a whole.
That means not just Dover but Deal, Walmer, Aylesham, sandwich, and the villages too.
So why is Dover portrayed as the sole source of this smokey problem?
http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Dover-revealed-second-highest-rate-smokers/story-16561889-detail/story.html
I met an otherwise charming Walmer couple today who were chortling gleefully over the stat.
I will have a gentle word tomorow.
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
#2
.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#3
dosent make you wonder why thet are so cheap,lower tax's thats why.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#4
not anymore brian, france keeps ratcheting up the tax on them.
most cheapos are smuggled or counterfeit.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#5
howard,go to calias turn left towards dunkirk,cross border juntion 1,carton of bensons 41 quid,genuine articale.
Guest 688- Registered: 16 Jul 2009
- Posts: 268
#6
Andrew,I agree with you totally.Dover is fulfilling a prejudicial niche,the town is the whipping post for all those care to do it.I wonder how that came about,irony there.'Dover,the town of Kings' now that had a nice marketable ring to it,I wonder if it has been taken.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#7
please see front page john, we are the "port of kings", nearly there.
Guest 688- Registered: 16 Jul 2009
- Posts: 268
#8
Thanks for that Howard,my misunderstanding
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
#9
The Port of Kings. Not the port of king-sized.
Guest 688- Registered: 16 Jul 2009
- Posts: 268
#10
Would that be pay outs,Andrew.
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
#11
Aha, I think I know what you mean John.
Would you be the same John Heron who lived in Whitfield in the early 80s?
Guest 688- Registered: 16 Jul 2009
- Posts: 268
#12
I am culpable Andrew
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
#13
Memories of happy days in Whitfield Rec with half the village kids playing football against each other in games of about 40-a-side.
Does that still happen?
Guest 688- Registered: 16 Jul 2009
- Posts: 268
#14
Andrew,I sincerely hope so
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#15
does it still have the village atmosphere though?
on my recent forays complete with pith helmet and starched shorts to deepest whitfield it comes across as an attractive but sprawling suburb.
i do not see it as a place that would have 40 a side football kick abouts, probably because times have changed and the young prefer play stations and communicate via social networks.
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
#16
It was little different in size 30 years ago. I considered it a village then and still do.
Getting back to my original point, which has barely been discussed, why was the report I quoted so skewed to focus only on Dover and not on the district as a whole?
Talk about "give a dog a bad name".
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#17
Andrew, possibly because of the start of the title of the district council which is Dover and the report writers will almost certainly never have visited the area as most of the information is collected via computers.
.........."Last month a stop smoking class at the Triangles Community Centre in Dover was cancelled. The sessions had "not been very well attended," according to community support assistant Dan Murray."..........
Hardly surprising with people on holiday or watching the Olympic Games and how many people had heard of them, especially the immigrants who smoke, the same applies to the following statement.
........."Smokers can try to kick the habit at Gateway House on Castle Street where there is an NHS drop-in session on Mondays from 3.30pm to 5pm."..........
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
#18
Well you'd hope that "This Is Kent" was at least written in Kent, and not from a centralised hub in Manchester like the advertising.
I know, I know, times are tough in local newspapers...
Guest 688- Registered: 16 Jul 2009
- Posts: 268
#19
Andrew,local understanding is becoming negated by the centralising impulse currently coursing through the media.Once the local networks perish they will be very hard to be replaced and so stereotyping,unfortunately,may become the norm.Ironically,for the regions,the one glimmer of hope maybe the growth of social networking.A good book to read on this,if you have not already is 'Chavs' by Owen Jones.The argument he promotes,in my opinion,has a strong resonance in the media and so by association the nations current,flawed, interpretation of Dover.
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
#20
I am aware of "Chavs", John. I have been thinking about reading it for a while - I will have to obtain a copy.