Friday, 7 May 2004

Comment

Good vs. bad news

In his blog a few days ago Steve asked if the world is really falling apart. I suspect the usual adage about bad news selling more than good is one contributor to this feeling.

It's not always the case that the bad news surfaces first though. Yesterday I stumbled across a report that the village of Chorleywood has the highest quality of life in England.

What's puzzling is that this article seems to be the sum total of the BBC coverage of the Government's Indices of Deprivation 2004 report.

I don't want to pull numbers out of this document for fear of missing the key point, but I suspect there's more to it than slapping ourselves on the back for making Chorleywood such a nice place to live. The clue's in the title of the report, and the goals of the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit that commissioned it. Perhaps we're just trying to suppress the news we don't want to hear.

[On the doorstep]

I was happened to be talking with Mum about Chorleywood a week or so ago. We lived there for the first nine years of my life. It was the time - I think - when our family's income was at its lowest. (Mum didn't work; Dad was a church youth worker.) Yet if you were to value it today, the house we lived in then would probably be the most valuable of all the ones we've had.

I'm not sure what to make of this. I think it shows how quickly times change situations, and something about the shift of poverty and riches.

I suspect Church Action on Poverty would be a good place to go to try and figure it out more. I guess that's my weekend reading sorted out!

Posted by pab at 22:09 | Comments will be back later in the year. Please email me instead!