My Return to Boston - now on iPlayer

AS promised, the BBC iPlayer version of my short film on Boston, Lincs

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07qbcsl/inside-out-yorkshire-and-lincolnshire-05092016

 

Comments

[Chris Hall]

I enjoyed this short film mostly because it wasn't the usual BBC pro immigration and multiculturalism fare. I would have liked to seen a more combative approach in the conversation with the Romanian immigrant, after all, they usually attack with the racist or xenophobic card:-

"So what made you abandon your country of birth and come to a country with a high minimum wage?"

"Are you concerned about the decline in the country of your birth with the high number of people leaving?"

"Do you not think you owe it to your countryman that are poorer than you to help make Romania a country as good as the UK?"

"Do you transfer money back to relatives in the UK? If so are aware of the damage this causes to the local economy and the problems it causes to those whose relatives have not abandoned their country of birth and are try to build a better country?"

"I put it to you that it was a purely selfish act on your part to come to the UK purely to enrich yourself"

[Mr Bunker]

My thanks to Ky for that interesting quote. And Bill Maguire is right - the "region" (the Fens) does indeed have "quite a different look and feel to say, north west England/Manchester"! -- I don't know if Mr Hitchens mentioned it in his video which I haven't been able to see, but Lincolnshire is divided up into three parts rather like all Gaul. The part in which Boston and the Lincolnshire fenlands are situated is very flat since it was originally wet, marshy land and had to be drained by "dykes" to make it habitable for others than the former inhabitants who lived amphibious lives there. The reclaimed land is (or was, at least) extremely fertile, treeless, the soil a very dark brown. Tulips are grown there and there used to be lots of windmills too - all very reminiscent of the Netherlands. - What most people perhaps do not know is that this part of Lincolnshire is called: Holland.

[Mrs.B.]

I watched the programme on I player to the end, but skipped the environment bit. The piece on the plight of fisherman since we joined E.U. was interesting. The fish and chips eaten by reporter in the cafe, foriegn caught, not locally. High hopes their bad treatment over the years may be reversed, with leave vote.
Perhaps it's a gender thing, but whose bike and what colour belt, wasnt a priority focus. Didn't notice black belt.
Brought up to keep shoes clean. Always told it's cleaned shoes that get noticed! I think they were clean sand suede.

There was an interesting piece on an English landlord, opening a pub in Poland, which
was becoming popular, with English beer and even a brewery.
Not so many workers going to Poland.

[Ky]

I enjoyed this well-balanced, sunny short film from Boston. Riding bicycle was a very good idea, especially when you wanted to listen to ordinary people’s honest (hopefully) thoughts on the issue.

However, I have something to say (a bit off-topic): as soon as I heard Mr Hitchens speaking ”I visited this handsome old town …”, I felt a sense of déjà vu because I had just read a text begins with the sentence:

“Boston, on the coast of Lincolnshire, is a handsome town …”

This is a Nobel Lecture in form of a short story titled “Man and his Man” written by J.M. Coetzee in 2003. I read it because I was checking his speech at the banquet regarding another thread. However, it has rather a curious beginning regarding immigration …

“Boston, on the coast of Lincolnshire, is a handsome town, writes his man. The tallest church steeple in all of England is to be found there; sea-pilots use it to navigate by.

Around Boston is fen country. Bitterns abound, ominous birds who give a heavy, groaning call loud enough to be heard two miles away, like the report of a gun.

The fens are home to many other kinds of birds too, writes his man, duck and mallard, teal and widgeon, to capture which the men of the fens, the fen-men, raise tame ducks, which they call decoy ducks or duckoys.

Fens are tracts of wetland. There are tracts of wetland all over Europe, all over the world, but they are not named fens, fen is an English word, it will not migrate.
These Lincolnshire duckoys, writes his man, are bred up in decoy ponds, and kept tame by being fed by hand. Then when the season comes they are sent abroad to Holland and Germany.

In Holland and Germany they meet with others of their kind, and, seeing how miserably these Dutch and German ducks live, how their rivers freeze in winter and their lands are covered in snow, fail not to let them know, in a form of language which they make them understand, that in England from where they come the case is quite otherwise: English ducks have sea shores full of nourishing food, tides that flow freely up the creeks; they have lakes, springs, open ponds and sheltered ponds; also lands full of corn left behind by the gleaners; and no frost or snow, or very light.

By these representations, he writes, which are made all in duck language, they, the decoy ducks or duckoys, draw together vast numbers of fowl and, so to say, kidnap them.

They guide them back across the seas from Holland and Germany and settle them down in their decoy ponds on the fens of Lincolnshire, chattering and gabbling to them all the time in their own language, telling them these are the ponds they told them of, where they shall live safely and securely. (…)”

[Bill Maguire]

I remember Mr Hitchens original article, this was an interesting regional item, what superb weather too, very east of England, huge sky, dry weather, nice architecture and as mentioned in an interview theyre close to the continent, I've always thought the region has quite a different look and feel to say, north west England/Manchester.

[Ky]

Good news for us living the outside of the UK.

"Peter Hitchens visits pro-Brexit Boston" on Youtube now.

[tony archer]

@ AJ wentworth, it looks like a Specialized mountain bike , i can't tell what model but they're great value bikes.

[Peter Starr]

pace Ernest Fleming
You are profoundly mistaken. I can only imagine that the apparently exhausted tone in which Mr. Hitchens says “hello, Bob, how are you?” at 1:17 on the clip misled you into assuming that a long journey had been performed on this bicycle.

My suspicions, however, were immediately raised by the extensions to the handlebars, items generally favoured by younger cyclists than Mr. Hitchens. Note also the telltale bottle-holder on the frame, from which the bottle is missing. I ask you: would a careful bicycle user countenance such a useless appendage? My final observation, which I pronounce conclusive, is based on my practice of collecting newspaper cuttings. Even a casual reading of one such cutting, from the “Mail on Sunday” column of 10 March 2016, suffices to prove that the vehicle actually owned by Mr. Hitchens is equipped with a basket.

We can therefore deduce that the bicycle which features in the report from Boston was supplied in situ, and was probably the brain-child of some employee of the BBC. The absence of mud-guards proves beyond doubt that it is not a rented bicycle.

***Amazing, Holmes! But only partly right. The bicycle was my idea, not the BBC's (originally they wanted to film me in a taxi, and I said that I hardly ever take taxis and this would be untypical. How about a bike instead? They welcomed the idea, and at one point they even fixed a mini-camera to the handlebars as I rode through the town.) . Carrying bicycles on trains is nowadays so needlessly complicated and difficult that I decided not to try bring one of my own fleet of machines to Boston, and the BBC arranged to hire one from a nearby town)there being no bike hire in Boston that they could find).Note that i did not pretend to have made the longish ride in strong winds out to the farm. I could have done it, but it would have taken up too much of the day***

[Mr Bunker]

Unfortunately the I-Player or whatever it is doesn't work in Germany which is a pity since I'd very much like to see the video. As a young man in the UK I knew Boston quite well - got my driving licence there in fact. I remember it as a clean, modern, thriving town so I was keen to hear what Mr Hitchens says about it now. - I was actually in Boston two or three weeks ago, but only for about a couple of hours - and the Stump was closed. So we just had time for a quick stroll around the market place and fish and chips in the same little shop as back in the 1950s. - Passing through Sleaford (that's in Lincolnshire too!), we wanted to buy some biscuits or chocolate and were surprised to find ourselves in a shop stocked entirely with articles from Poland. Otherwise though the town looked more or less the way I recall it although obviously many shop-fronts along the main street have changed over the past fifty years or so. The market place with the church where I was baptised hasn't though.

[Ernest Fleming]

This fascinating program raises some important questions. The first concerns Mr Hitchens's bicycle. Did it get to Boston under Hitchens-power, and if so from whence did this odyssey commence? Surely not from Oxford, in an extravagant extrapolation of the annual penitential push to Cambridge? Could it have been from Nottingham, with various side trips to bump up the mileage to the usual dose and to take in the odd misericord on the way?

The second question relates to a more serious matter, particularly in the light of the recent warning from the Social Mobility Commissioner, Mr Alan Milburn. Now, the exigencies of being away from home may be pressing, especially if one's wardrobe is limited to what can be carried in an illuminated bicycling backpack. But we must, surely, keep to some standards. And no standard, to my knowledge, permits of brown shoes worn WITH A BLACK BELT.

***Mr Fleming may be excused for the mistake, as perhaps his TV set is not a high-definition model and it is easy to make such mistakes, but the belt I was wearing (which is 50 years old) is in fact brown. It has certainly darkened with age,. but is definitely not black.***

[tony archer]

it seems as though the west and particularly Europe has tried every possible ideological variation from fascism to communism, non faith christianity to finally puerile, secular multiculturalism . I'm not sure tolerance is the hallmark of this country as opposed to indifference . when the money fountain dries up and the trivial but largely entertaining pursuits we all enjoy cease to occupy us we may start to realise what has been lost.Im not sure who said that if all you enjoy is freedom but are not prepared to fight for it you'll lose it , I think we can put the majority of problems firmly at the door of the left who for so long have been using john lennons imagine as their ideological pursuit.

[Mrs.B.]

An open door to a poorer work force, suited employers.
Under Labour rising tax credit system, work 16 hours, get tax credits.
I watched a couple of programmes recently on how to get a council house and one on landlords.
One migrant who came over earn £200 a week, lodge in a room, classed as a flat, because it has a two ring cooking appliance and a shower in a cupboard! Times that by how many rooms you can get in a sprawling house...profitable,,,yes?
Then applies to bring wife and I think it was 3 children, to live in said room in this house of H.M.O. House of multiple occupancy..no checks obviously.
Then migrant family go for advice. Housing not suitable for family. House closed down by council.
Also revealed one particular landlord was paid £1000 to take on tenants.
Told of all benefits and tax credits available for a family, then put on council house waiting list.
politicians wonder why ordinary folk feel there is injustice..
By the time Blair and Mandelson had searched far and wide..the message to the young generation unlike my generation, was only university is good enough. Even if you go on a mickey mouse course.
Menial work is beneath your generation who we have also introduced to the instant fame of the celebrity x factor world.
I see the mentality of we want the end result now, but don't want the hard graft or more menial for grounding, in attitude from the young.
I attended a meeting on employment with a young learning disabled person, was amazed that they were trying to sell apprenticeships as though they were a new thing and they were quite a good thing.
Weren't quite ready for this older person's input, of how this used to be the norm and was nothing new and how good it was for those sitting round who had been educated away form this and were having problems. You could see these mostly lads would thrive in a trade.
Of course I also spoke of how as a parent I could see how my old secondary had dumbed down.
By the way I salute the headmaster who made pupils go home after they turned up in black trainers and too tight trousers. He'd given them ample warning in a letter before term commenced and a few parents were getting angry and the police had to be called.
Needed him badly in the 80's....

[Sudrem]

Vibrant and thriving said the Florist, which means Noisy, busy, lots of people and traffic and a lot of money to be made - in other words.

Mr Hitchens - that was a very good short film -
It was very honest and unbiased - balanced, a left wing presenter would've been less so I think.

[AJ Wentworth]

Was that your bike? If so, what model? The seat looked very comfortable.

***PH says. No, see reply to Peter Starr***

[JohnMacK]

I disagree with Peter and the other posters on "Vibrant". It doesn't mean anything and is a media word that's been broadcasted so much it makes it into the vocabulary of the uninformed and/or the Europhile. It's the same sort of gibberish liberals come out with when they say things like "Multiculturalism really enhances the fabric of our society and makes it really diverse". Complete tripe.
That employer on the farm said he can't do without the European labour market but that's a constructed situation. The State pays benefits and people are better off not working because of living costs. The complete overhaul of benefits and availability of affordable property for the people of the UK is needed. People know that people from Poland etc can make enough money to have a good retirement and that's why we'll see cross migration to Eastern Europe on an increasing scale.

[Peter I]

How very curious. When challenged by Peter the estate agent and the flower lady merely responded with buzzwords and positives. At no point did they offer any excuse for the negative aspects nor try to mitigate them, they just bounced them away. We all know why British people won't do that work, they don't have to. If the welfare net had slightly bigger holes people would soon learn to help themselves.

[Mrs.B.]

I echo L. Porter and his feeling on the word, "vibrant" bandied about. Sleepy was just fine.

If seasonal workers had remained just that and gone home as they used to then a lot of the issues could have been avoided it seems to me.
Work picking,years ago as I can recall in the 60's meant my mum picking apples during school hours. Those people like me who left school, picking to earn as we waited for college.
Also I remember my father-in-law when he left his work in a beet factory picking in retirement . Gangmasters used to organise.
I remember watching a committee in Westminster Hall on Defra and the cuts and concerns over checks on gangmasters within the last couple of years.
A news item on my East Anglian news highlighted a year or so back the problems in Wisbech of migrants working for gangmasters, problems with landlords overcrowding and drug and alcohol issues of migrants which were impacting when they were in town.
Those houses where £80 all in are often 3 or for, maybe more to a room is a lucrative business.
How can a young married man or man with a family compete with shared property like that?
Those sorts of big houses also are used as B&B'S to house those who fit a homeless criteria.
Having been in two in my area, some of the rooms at the top are small and a warren of stairs and fire doors.
A mixture of problems and now with migrants in the mix.
The local authority pays and basically those with all sorts of problems are housed there. Expected to,"empower" themselves to access services, a word used in place of having social workers.
A lot of money is made just renting out these rooms in not very salubrious places.
Then there are houses, slightly smaller, where those who do manage to have acknowledgment of their problems, often overlooked, with 24 hour supported care and a key worker. There aren't enough though.
Years ago in slightly smaller houses still, i used to rent 4 rooms out of 5, furnished with my hubby as a lot of my friends did.
Now both sides of town there are a lot of bedsits in those areas.
I suspect this is the same for many towns..it's a bit of a pressure cooker feeling.

[L Porter]

Thank you for picking up on the use of "vibrant" which is bandied around as if an inherently good thing when what it means in practice is noisy, unsettled, unstable, and juvenile; resembling more a party of hyperactive children than a home for responsible adults.

***PH writes: Thank you for noticing. ***

Many of us actually much prefer “sleepy” to “vibrant”, not needing extravagant excitement to make life interesting and worthwhile; having grown out of such along with proclamations of “I'm borrrrred”.

[Mr Rob]

Mr Hitchens

"But nothing has happened since the vote".

Two and a half months after the referendum, nothing has happened to alter a situation that has developed over a minimum of twelve years, involving the relocation of tens of thousands of people.

Congratulations, you win September's Mr Rob Fatuous Observation Award (minor TV documentaries category).

***PH writes. I thank him and shall treasure it, alongside by 1983 Golden B****** awarded by the Labour Industrial Correspondents' Group for worst story of the year, after the late Geoffrey Goodman declined the award and threatened to sue if he was given it .These are the awards we most deserve***