“It’s disappointing, it’s just another kicking,” said a youth worker after the town in which they work was labelled as the hardest place in which to be a child in England.
asserted
they → ’ → England
“It suggests our children are living unhappy lives,” said a teacher, who described her pupils as joyful.
uncertain
who → suggest → pupils
A clearly riled Chris Cooke, the mayor of Middlesbrough, said: “We get told a lot by people outside this place what we are.
asserted
we → rile → place
We know what we are.
asserted
we → know → ?
They were all reacting to a report published this week by the children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, titled The Childhood Lottery, in which she declared childhood to be in “a state of emergency”.
asserted
childhood → react → emergency
The report drew on a “landmark dataset” that “brings together 162 measures of children’s lives to build a comprehensive picture of the areas in England where it is the hardest to grow up”.
asserted
it → draw → England
The metrics included everything from child poverty to exclusion rates to poor air quality.
asserted
metrics → include → quality
The Guardian visited the town this week and spoke to children and professionals about growing up there.
asserted
Guardian → visit → children
No one denied there were many challenges, but equally no one thought the label was helpful.
asserted
label → deny → ?
At a busy, buzzy youth club in the residential suburb of Coulby Newham, children aged 10 and up were making papier-mache Halloween decorations, cooking, playing table tennis and, outside on a strikingly mild October evening, getting ready to play dodge ball.
asserted
children → make → ball
“You’d think they were playing professionally,” said one volunteer.
asserted
volunteer → think → ?
Hannah*, 15, said her life was good but she knew it was not the same for others.
asserted
it → say → others
“I love living in Middlesbrough.
asserted
I → live → Middlesbrough
I love Albert Park and the Dorman Museum.
asserted
I → love → Park
I love going to the football.
asserted
I → go → football
I love coming to youth club and making friends,” she said.
asserted
she → come → friends
A boy looked confused when asked if it was hard being a child in Middlesbrough.
asserted
it → look → Middlesbrough
“I’m going to be here the rest of my life,” he said.
asserted
he → go → life
“Why would I leave?”
asserted
I → leave → ?
His friend let the side down by declaring: “I’m going to a hot country when I’m older … Hawaii.
asserted
I → let → Hawaii
Wayne Mason, a former soldier who is chief executive of Linx Youth Project, which runs the club, said of the report: “We are disappointed.
asserted
We → run → report
What it’s doing is attaching yet another label to Middlesbrough and its young people, and we already have many, many labels.
asserted
we → do → labels
It’s disappointing … all this negativity attached to the town.”
asserted
It → ’ → town
He and the project’s deputy, Eilís Sexton, were at the club but could not stay long as the local Rotary club was about to give them a much-needed and much-appreciated cheque.
Sexton was worried about the message the report sent out.
uncertain
report → stay → message
“I’ve been thinking about young people who want to start their own families and how it’s going to make them feel, knowing that their child is going to have the ‘most difficult upbringing’ in the country?
asserted
child → think → country
It is quite demoralising for them,” she said.
asserted
she → say → them
She was born and raised in the area and studied at Teesside University.
asserted
She → bear → University
“I did move out of Middlesbrough for six months and I hated it,” she said.
asserted
she → move → it
Neither of them disputed the statistics but they said there was another side.
asserted
they → dispute → statistics
“Pride is the overriding thing that we see with the young people,” Mason said.
asserted
Mason → see → people
“We know youngsters living in some of the most deprived areas of Middlesbrough, of which there are many, who don’t want to leave.
asserted
who → know → which
They don’t want to leave because this is their home.
asserted
this → want → ?
“We always talk about deprivation and poverty and crime, but we don’t talk about community.”
asserted
we → talk → community
The report comes weeks after a collision on the A66 in which a car with five young people inside crashed into a police car carrying two police constables, killing the occupants of both vehicles.
asserted
car → come → vehicles
Some subsequent media portrayals painted a picture of an urban dystopia where gangs were in charge, but residents said the reality was different.
asserted
reality → paint → charge
It would have been hard for children to avoid media coverage about the deaths.
asserted
children → avoid → deaths
Hannah said she had been past where it happened and burst into tears.
asserted
it → say → tears
Next door is the town’s oppressive 1970s-built magistrates court building.
asserted
building → build → ?
Opposite is the grand Victorian town hall where Cooke, the elected Labour mayor, has his office.
asserted
Cooke → elect → office
When it comes to the subject of it being hard to grow up in Middlesbrough, Cooke is better equipped than most to talk about it.
asserted
Cooke → come → it
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
