Why Rotherham? Part 2

Jamie has come up with an alternative argument for coming to Rotherham.

Maybe because certain local elements have been pointing out that his “crusade” is built on a myth- Jamie has come up with a new angle:

 

Why Rotherham? MofF site

“Another reason for going to Rotherham was that it is said to be the town that best reflects the rest of the country’s population in terms of demographic make up. So, Jamie reckoned if a Ministry of Food could work there, then it could work anywhere.”

 

Anyone with a slight general knowledge will know that the above statement is tosh. You can say plenty of things about our town- but average we ain’t. How could the Ministry of Food team get it so wrong. The good news- I suspect that at least one person on Jamie’s team has read a book. The bad news- they didn’t understand it.

I believe the book in question is:

Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind
by Julian Baggini

Using the kind of data analysis beloved of websites like upmystreet.com, Baggini decided that the S66 postcode was as close as you could get to “average” in this country. The philosopher then came to live in the area- to try and get a handle on Englishness by observing the most typically English people at first hand. I flicked through the book in a shop. It contains loads of fascinating insights- such as people like Ant and Dec, eating at carverys and having a bet on the Grand National.

Never mind the quality- feel the cred’. Jamie was always banging on about being haunted by the images of Rawmarsh to justify his trip to Rotherham. Now that many local people are waking up to his game – he needs a new excuse.

The work experience kid who Googled the book title must have got a big hug.

S66- it’s in Rotherham. Problem solved.

How can anyone accuse them of exploitation?  They have chosen the most typical town in Britain. It’s like lab conditions.

They were so pleased with their new discovery- they slapped it straight on the new Ministry of Food website.

S66 covers the areas of Braithwell, Bramley, Brampton en le Morthen, Hooton Levitt, Maltby, Stainton, Thurcroft, Wickersley and Woodlaithes.

See a problem yet?

If your knowledge of Rotherham is based on looking at a map- you will see that the places are in Rotherham. That’s the borough, not the town. And they are all very handy for the M18.

If your knowledge of Rotherham is based on actually ever coming to the town- you will recognise some of the borough’s leafiest and most sought after suburbs and villages.  Many of them are places that are rammed with commuters who rarely if ever come into town. The whole road traffic system of Bramley has been redesigned to help people bomb off from Woodlaithes village to the motorway faster.

That font of knowledge (often as unreliable as the Ministry of Food) Wiki- states that Rotherham is second largest place in the country without it’s own Royal Mail postcode. This is a big area.

Rotherham centre- the home of Jamie’s Ministry of Food and many other town landmarks is S60. So is Millmoor- the place where popular dissatisfaction with Oliver has first expressed. Just up the road is Kimberworth S61.

Rawmarsh- the real spiritual home of the project and the intended venue for the grand finale is S62.
The festival was moved to Herringthorpe, S65.

These places are close to each other- but so what? Whitechapel and the City of London are neighbours who may as well be on separate planets. Hot porn film librarian Sarah Palin famously lives next door to Russia- but is as American as apple pie.

S66 is probably the least like the rest of Rotherham in terms of income, house prices and ethnic mix.

To suggest that Rotherham is “the town that best reflects the rest of the country’s population in terms of demographic make up” is misleading at best.

Let’s give the producers the benefit of the doubt. Let’s pretend that they really did want to see how the Pass it On campaign went down in Everytown UK before they rolled it out. A key feature will be the lessons Jamie gave to a select group of non – cookers. From the pre publicity- we know that these people were selected after being interviewed by researchers from the show. So- if they were serious about the claim- they would be looking to put together a group representative of the town (and therefore the nation) at large. If they were looking for a bunch of two dimensional Northern stereotypes fit to be sneered and guffawed at by Jamie’s core middle class audience- that would be reprehensible. It would also reinforce the negative image of the town. An image that drops a notch each time the Oliver fuelled media circus is mentioned.

The people who they selected include- 51 year old miner (from the other side of Donny) who has never made his own dinner and says cooking is for “poofs” and young single mum who lives exclusively on takeaways (from a part of the Dearne Valley that is Rotherham in postcode but Barnsley to most people).

Typical of the people you meet every day?  Me neither.

You don’t suppose they have been picked for entertainment value do you? The next generation of Lizzie Barsleys.

Why Rotherham?

The more they tell us why- the less believable it is.