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Inside a brick smokehouse on Grimsby's once-bustling docks, Patrick Salmon is doing what generations here once took for granted... working hard.
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generations → see → what
His artisan smoked fish, preserved in chambers blackened by a century of tar, will wend its way to Britain's most celebrated chefs, including Tom Kerridge, Marco Pierre White and Raymond Blanc.
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fish → smoke → Kerridge
There is, however, less glamour in Mr Salmon's own grueling working week at the Alfred Enderby traditional fish smokers business which he owns and runs
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he → be → which
: the 62-year-old works 12-hour days, six days a week, and sometimes longer.
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old → work → days
But when he looks around at the town where he has spent his entire working life putting in such long shifts, he feels increasingly at odds with his fellow residents - and wonders why he bothers.
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he → look → residents
Because this is Grimsby's East Marsh and Port district - the neighbourhood identified by figures collected by the House of Commons Library as Britain's worklessness capital.
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this → identify → capital
Of East Marsh and Port's 3,492 working-age residents, an estimated 1,700 are Universal Credit claimants who are unemployed, which represents some 48.9 per cent of locals - almost one in two of all non-pensioner adults.
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which → work → adults
Litter lines the streets and parks of East Marsh and Port district, Grimsby, the worklessness capital of the UK
Grimsby was once a bustling port town but now many of its shops are closed down and residents say the community spirit has gone
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spirit → line → shops
The figures are estimates broken down by constituency.
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figures → break → constituency
The Mail then divided them into even smaller geographical units, known as MSOAs – typically home to fewer than 10,000 people.
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Mail → divide → people
East Marsh and Port's stats put the neighbourhood almost 1.5 percentage points above its nearest rivals for this jobless distinction, both in Blackpool.
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stats → put → Blackpool
Many, of course, will have legitimate reasons for being unable to work.
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Many → have → reasons
Poor health stalks this part of Lincolnshire, where around 30 per cent of working-age adults also receive health-related benefits.
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cent → stalk → benefits
But anecdotal evidence - based on the insight of Mr Salmon and many others like him - suggest that many more have simply never acquired the habit of working for a living and now simply don't bother trying to.
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many → base → living
As a corollary, when the Mail visited Grimsby's East Marsh this week we found that what in modern terminology is called 'social cohesion' appears to have broken down.
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called → visit → terminology
On Freeman Street, for instance - once the throbbing commercial heart of a renowned fishing town booming on the back of trawlermen's wages - we spoke to a security guard outside an independent food shop who had just landed his second catch of the day…of shoplifters.
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who → throb → shoplifters
A female shoplifter had helped herself to a block of cheese and a packet of laundry powder, and half heartedly began to move more briskly when she realised she had been seen - but offered no resistance as he took her bounty from her.
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he → help → her
At least this time he has not had a knife pulled on him, he remarked.
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he → have → him
He will report the theft though doubts the police will be interested, he said.
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he → report → theft
Nearby, in broad daylight, an apparently drug-addled man was having some kind of episode, waving a knife in a public car park.
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man → addle → park
More than a dozen officers from Humberside Police surround him, though he is ignoring their commands to 'drop it' - despite having a Taser trained on his back.
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Taser → surround → back
One begins to see why a career shoplifter might come lower down in their list of priorities.
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shoplifter → begin → priorities
And in nearby Victor Street, where rundown terraced houses sell for just £50,000, a man swigging from a beer can in the late morning loudly proclaimed when approached that he does not work because he 'can't be f***ed'.
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he → sell → morning
But during our visit to Grimsby - self-deprecatingly referred to by locals as 'the end of the line' - we were told again and again of locals who could work but had no intention of doing so.
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who → refer → intention
And many of these appear to turn to petty crime instead.
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many → appear → crime
Back on Freeman Street where a vape shop and Turkish barber shop are the only signs of any recent economic activity, Wendy Aisthorp, 61, was just finishing her shift.
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Aisthorp → finish → shift
Supermarket worker Wendy Aisthorp said there is a shoplifting epidemic in the town and it becomes a 'free-for-all' without the security guard
She has worked at Heron Foods, the budget supermarket chain, for 11 years and has seen the problems of chronic joblessness at close quarters daily.
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She → say → quarters
'If the security guard isn't in, it can be a free-for-all,' she said.
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she → say → all
'People just help themselves.
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People → help → themselves
I've worked all my life, brought my children up on my own and always paid my taxes.
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I → work → taxes
But then you see people on benefits wanting everything for nothing.
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people → see → nothing
They've got no intention at all of getting a job.
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They → get → job
'Why do they have to work for something, when they can just take it instead?' is what they seem to think.'
Parvaneh Ghanbar, 42, walking along Freeman Street for an appointment at the tanning salon, was equally frustrated.
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was → have → salon
'There are jobs - people just don't try hard enough to find them,' she said.
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she → be → them
'There are a lot of people in this part of Grimsby who are more content not working, and claiming benefits.
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who → be → benefits
'There is a lot of drugs and alcohol abuse,' she added.
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she → be → abuse
'Go down the back streets and you'll see it everywhere.'
Parvaneh Ghanbar, 42, said there are a lot of people in Grimsby who are happy not to work and to claim benefits instead
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who → go → benefits
deprivation has become embedded here
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deprivation → embed → ?
Government data suggests 87 per cent of children in East Marsh and Port live in low-income families, compared with 38 per cent nationally.
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cent → suggest → cent
Some 58 per cent of pupils qualify for free school meals, more than twice the national figure.
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cent → qualify → figure
…and 86 more, not listed.
The Aporia
