NOTHING TO DOOn the Dole in Rochdale
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At home with Jason (left) and Nathan. Photo by Bruno Bayley.
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 On the Falinge estate in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, over 75 percent of the residents of working age are on benefits. Many newspapers were up in arms about this, so we thought we would ask the few locals who would let us southern fairies into their homes what was going on. It turns out it’s often easier and more profitable to get a free flat and live on benefits and gambling than it is to work. On top of that, the estate is crammed with heroin zombies, dogs the size of lions, and homeless alcoholics who spill into it from the remand centre nearby.
Vice: Did you see the newspaper articles a while back about your estate being the benefits blackspot of the British Isles?
Nathan [surname withheld]: On the Falinge, you have a load of refugees who can’t work even if they want to and a load of alchoholics and smackheads who can’t either. It’s not like 90 percent of the estate are on benefits because they want to be.
Jason [surname withheld]: Yeah. Some fuckhead said it was worse than Iraq. I don’t see many people wandering around with AK-47s, do you? See many bombs about?
What are the main problems round here?
Nathan: Drinking problems, drug abuse, it’s full of smackheads and that. Rochdale is dogshit.
Jason: There’s no work either.
So why are there no jobs?
Jason: The work-seekers’ office is full of immigrants. I don’t blame the factories for taking on immigrants. If they employ English people they will work for three months then sack it off. You employ an immigrant, they will work their fucking arse off for you.
Nathan: They have a better work ethic. They graft hard. They haven’t got a community here, so work becomes their community.
Are drugs a problem for people your age?
Jason: With the younger lot it’s mainly the drinking that gets them. Heroin is more popular with the older people. The towers over at Seven Sisters [the neighbouring estate] are crawling with addicts.
Nathan: We know a load of kids who drink around here, out on the stairs, using them like a fucking toilet. That’s why they stink of piss.
Do the addicts cause you much trouble?
Nathan: Sometimes they go out robbing and that. You see them all waiting in the mornings rushing around trying to get their fix for the day, then they go indoors and stay there until the next morning.
Jason: You can tell them a mile off, skin like the walls in here.
What about the Salvation Army centre next door?
Nathan: All that lot are the idiots who got chucked out of other Sally Army places, then they come here and meet all the others and come into the estate and cause trouble. They are the worst of the worst from all over the place. They end up here.
So you two both sign on?
Jason: Yeah. I have just been put on hardship. I got fired from the factory where I was making springs for car engines. I am down to £25 a week now.
Nathan: A few of our mates have jobs. They get out of here as quick as they can. I was in the army for two and a half years, but I wasn’t that into it.
So if you can’t get a job, what do you actually do on a day-to-day basis?
Jason: We gamble.
Nathan: Roulette machines, horses, dogs. The rest of the time we sit in the estate pub drinking orange juice, waiting for weekends. Then we drink the money we have left.
So it’s Tuesday now. You got your dole money yesterday, right?
Nathan: Yeah, and we just lost it all in the bookies. But if we had won, we would have been sorted for a few weeks. As it is we are a bit fucked.
Jason: Now we have to stay indoors all week, or borrow some money and gamble it, hope we make our money back and cover the borrowing. There is fuck all to do here.
Is it changing around here?
Nathan: Seems to be getting worse to me. There are loads of refugees now. They keep themselves to themselves, you know, it doesn’t matter to me. But it means the people are constantly changing. Asian areas of Rochdale are a different matter, though. They aren’t refugees, they are British-born. Those areas are no-go zones. We can’t walk through them.
Jason: Used to be we would know everyone on the estate, but now the faces change every week. There used to be football tournaments and that, but they stopped.
Nathan: The community shop closed, the youth club closed. It’s all closed. There’s nothing left.
BRUNO BAYLEY & ALEX STURROCK
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Mar 26, 2009 wrote:
fuck you anonymous 2 comments down. you fucking neo fascist. britain has always been a shit pit. its because of greed. ignorance. self importance. imperialism. nationalism. xenophobia. cunts like you. this country was only ever "great" at the expense of us exploiting people less fortunate than us. and still is. | |
| loifffy, on Mar 26, 2009 wrote:
wait, this means that bruno bayley was in rochdale and i never got to meet him? no fair | | Anonymous, on Mar 15, 2009 wrote:
"There shall always be an England"? Like hell—What has happened to one of the greatest societies, one of the greatest cultures, one of the greatest civilizations in human history? It’s been destroyed in great part by rotten ideas—the insane, nihilistic leftist ideological fantasies of the elites who have betrayed the whole nation; narcissistic, self-destructive pop culture; mass immigration that is calculated to obliterate the indigenous culture. Goodbye England, farewell Britain. Nice run you had before you committed collective suicide. | | Anonymous, on Mar 11, 2009 wrote:
true, the football teams are superior. music? maybe. manchester produces some great bands, but you also have the donk’sters to deal with. | | Anonymous, on Mar 11, 2009 wrote:
Here here Jon Smith.......well said Sir | |
| jon smith, on Mar 11, 2009 wrote:
to whichever fuckwit wrote this:
"Anonymous, on Mar 6, 2009 wrote:
christ - is everything north of london complete shit in the uk? i swear i haven’t heard of anything good coming from the north. ever."
FAR FAR FAR SUPERIOR music and football to say just two of the many many good things coming out of the North.
| | Anonymous, on Mar 10, 2009 wrote:
Can’t wait to fuck off somewhere when I get my degree........no you did not.......I’d say I hope you fail but degrees are just attendance awards nowadays. | | Anonymous, on Mar 10, 2009 wrote:
Listen to yourselves you hipster cunts. Dilettante....I shall drive you to Rochdale tomorrow to watch you get fucked up and sold for betting money you weasel...we’ll pick up Joe Bananas on the way.....and as for the "is everything shit north of London" guy...........are you fucking kidding me? Bet you saw some shit on your gap year travels huh.......go and lie in the road..... | | Anonymous, on Mar 10, 2009 wrote:
"That couch isn’t leather and lacoste tracksuits cost like £3 from sportsworld."
Less from Salfrod market. | | Anonymous, on Mar 10, 2009 wrote:
"If they’re so poor why are they wearing Lacoste gear on a leather couch with multiple remotes? Welfare shits like them make me irate. "
That couch isn’t leather and lacoste tracksuits cost like £3 from sportsworld. | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
Most of these towns and cities grew around industry which does’nt exist anymore.
And the strong communities which were forged around work have dispersed.
People that once worked hard in factories had pride in what they did, now the majority of jobs in the UK (not that many atm) are service sector - working in phones4u isn’t exactly stimulating work.
Im from Manchester and it’s a fucking great city but satellite towns like Blackburn/Rochdale are really screwed | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
I have no idea who to blame anymore. The whole of Britain, but more so in the North, is heading towards this fabricated monoculture. I can vouch for these lads, it really is shit up here. There are lazy people everywhere, take most artists and musicians - they’re just lucky to have had a spark of imagination in there lives. In a culture where everyone is racing towards a life in which we all have the same products and interests, there’s diminishing chance for exception and thought outside of it. Who from Rochdale wants to be an outcast and not fit in? It’s too much of a risk. So they just follow the same paths which ultimately lead to nothing. Community in possession. Their fathers would work at the factory and say "get yourself in the bloody factories" but wait, they’ve ALL BEEN SHUT DAD. What are these poor saps supposed to do, ust work jobs they aren’t needed for and have no real need to exist? No one is showing them anything out of pictureframe e the size of stamp. The working class never had much of an imagination, but at least they had solid jobs. SAMARITANS 08457 90 90 90. | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
what a totally pointless article. | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
correction ’the mindless fucks below’. as i was writing the comments were above | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
"christ - is everything north of london complete shit in the uk? i swear i haven’t heard of anything good coming from the north. ever."
Either this is a joke oryou have no clue about art, music, sport, etc / are one of those lads in the student union who says ’legend’ and loves Jeremy Clarkson. | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
what’s important? education? community? living somewhere safe? the ability to have some pride in your locality? employment opportunities? someone who believes in you? not having who you are and where you live shat on by the national press? decent health care including mental health care? Can you buy any of that with the money it costs to buy a leather sofa, a couple of tracksuits and a tv? NO! Do these two have access to any of this? NO! These guys are in a bad situation and it doesn’t seem to me that they are to blame. The mindless fucks who posted above need to get with the program | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
Don’t see why the North get such a bad rap. Glasgow and Manchester are my two favourite cities in the UK. I’d prefer to move back to bloody Belfast before living London.
Class and race divide in Britain is bringing it down. Nobody gives a shit about the other. | | |
| loifffy, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
Woah some place outside of London makes it into vice?
Rochdale sucks so bad I spend all my time in fucking Oldham. | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
the whole of the uk shit, and has been for a while cant wait to fuck off somewhere else once i get my degree | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
@ anonymous below. Scotland is worse, and im scottish. people get better further north you go, everything else gets shitter, till glasgow (ed is rich as fuck comparatively) of the 10 most deprived areas in britain, the top 3 are all in glasgow. think ther might be another one or two further down as well. fucking ace city tho like im living here just now (came to uni frm aberdeen which is an absolute fuckhole) | | Anonymous, on Mar 9, 2009 wrote:
" Is "Greater Manchester" different that the greater Manchester area? If so, you Brits need to come up with better names. That makes zero sense." yeah, it’s not like you cunts have a city called New York, and a massive green bit around it also called New York, is it? | | Anonymous, on Mar 7, 2009 wrote:
I’m from Manchester and I moved into the city centre to get away from places like these. In the suburbs, even if you’re not living in an estate, you’re likely five minutes from one. I have to say that my neighbourhood [the Northern Quarter] is lovely. Maybe slightly shabby, but bohemian and full of creative types working hard at their day-jobs to support their artsy habits at night-time. The job market is shit at the moment so a lot of people I know are working part-time at whatever work they can get, and studying at the same time so that, hopefully, when the recession receeds [!] they will be qualified for something. | | Anonymous, on Mar 6, 2009 wrote:
Seven Sisters [the neighbouring estate]???
is this like summer camp co-ed. And the boys stay at one building and the girls are at the building across the lake? whens the big dance? | | Anonymous, on Mar 6, 2009 wrote:
" It’s not like 90 percent of the estate are on benefits because they want to be." I dont belive this for a second. chances are that they are just far too lazy/retarded to pull themselves together, get down to the job centre at least make some kind of attempt to get off whatever they are on. jeez, they are happy to live off handouts instead of putting in a decent days work. | | Anonymous, on Mar 6, 2009 wrote:
@anonymous: "christ - is everything north of london complete shit in the uk? i swear i haven’t heard of anything good coming from the north. ever." Im in total agreement with you up until you hit the border with Scotland then everything get sweet, well.... sweeter. | | Anonymous, on Mar 6, 2009 wrote:
christ - is everything north of london complete shit in the uk? i swear i haven’t heard of anything good coming from the north. ever. | |
| Chloro-Phil, on Mar 6, 2009 wrote:
If they’re so poor why are they wearing Lacoste gear on a leather couch with multiple remotes? Welfare shits like them make me irate. | | Anonymous, on Mar 6, 2009 wrote:
Roulette machines, horses, dogs? people who have no money always spend the little amount of money they have on the dumbest things. you could buy like 400 packs of ramen noodles with that money and be set for life | | Anonymous, on Mar 5, 2009 wrote:
i’ve been to manchester and it’s definitely better than this shithole so ’greater manchester’ is a misnomer of epic proportions. | | Anonymous, on Mar 5, 2009 wrote:
Is "Greater Manchester" different that the greater Manchester area? If so, you Brits need to come up with better names. That makes zero sense. | | | Next 30 comments > |
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