Southern Coastal Town Syndrome

When I was a headteacher, I would go to conferences - in a break out room, clutching my conference pack, I would often hear about southern coastal town syndrome - women with neat bobs, or men with sleek suits, would smile whilst they talked to power points -

A town afflicted by this syndrome was one with a low wage economy - a significant number of families would be on benefits - educational attainment would be below the national average -

When I visited Eastbourne, I wanted the shiny keynote speakers I had encountered in the past to walk the streets with me - I wondered how they could be so measured - I wanted to see their hearts rent with indignation -

I saw run down shops, people with worn pale faces - the facades of the buildings were in a state of disrepair - only the cash converters shop seemed to be prospering - a huge yellow sign advertised the fact that money could be loaned on the spot - the news agents was like Fort Apache -

I felt like an intruder, a man sneaking around without leave - the world around me was one of pinched horizons - I could climb into my new red car and drive away, listening to some Cape Jazz -

The men and women I saw here would return to damp bed sits or to sparsely furnished flats - how many of their children, I wondered, would be able to fulfil their true potential -

I thought about Robert Tressell and the Great Money Trick - how long would it take, I wondered, for Mugsborough to be torn down?