Of Chavs, Miners, and the Work Ethic of the British Working Class

This area was originally built on extractive industry. Farming, Mining and so forth. Anything else was usually traditional craft trades, so for hundreds of years Wales has been a centre for ‘practical’ or ‘hands on’ work. When something runs that strong in a culture, it becomes interwoven with the very… nature of the place. Basically, your farther was a miner, so you’re going to be a miner, like your father’s farther, and his father’s farther, and so on.

Suddenly, the mines closed down, the mills shut and the food starting being provided by imports, all within a few short decades. There where no more practical jobs left. In short, the Welsh are built for physical labour and craftsmanship. So when you take that away, what are you left with? #### all.

It’s an endemic problem across Britain to be honest. Even as recent as 50 years ago, someone who was not particularly smart could make a damn good living as a skilled craftsman or foreman. Nowadays you can’t even get a proper apprenticeship, and so many people just aren’t cut out for higher education. Give them a hammer and a shovel though, and watch them go! But they can’t do that anymore, and many don’t even WANT to be scientists or doctors or politicians. They just want good, honest, basic work. So what do you do when everyone tells you that this is wrong?

Sit on a park bench and chug white lightening. Rebel and terrorize the society that has taken away your only real job options, and is telling you the only way you can ever make something if your life is to join the rat race, climb the greasy pole, get into a ####tonne of debt, and then end up doing a job you never wanted anyway. This is why I have patience for Chavs.