Access to Work

Cornwall has a huge talent pool which remains untapped unless the talent migrates. The government are doing nothing to solve this which increasingly alienates the UK population from accessing the financial hub of the country. I had to move out of Cornwall completely to find any sort of well paying gig in tech, because there is no access to the work hubs that should be accessible. Even somewhere like Exeter, you’d be insane to try and commute to a job in devon without a high speed rail travel option. People who do work in London while living in Cornwall are working one or more days a week in office in London, staying in hotels, riding the sleeper train overnight there and back. That sounds awful. Though, I would do it for the benefits of London pay whilst living in Cornwall.

One route for a subset of people attempting to make a decent living, is entrepreneurship. However, the fact that by definition everyone cannot be an entrepreneur, means this is not a viable option. Rural areas are often populated by sole traders, grafters, people putting a shift in, often for numerous roles. These workers are often skilled in several trades, fulfilling the role of a general contractor who will get any job done. I see these people labeled as handyman and will be working on rental properties and other odd jobs. I respect this line of work. To me, it’s one of the truest forms of labour, working with your community, fixing their problems. Seconded, in my mind, only by the likes of social carers. By this I mean all occupations which focus solely on patient care. As in, those workers with boots on the ground, in the wards, the care homes, the SEN schools, the home visitors. These workers fulfil arguably the most important role in society. Maybe a little bias because the best people I know working in those sectors but I think if everyone had a pause looked at their friends and family and had a think they’d probably come to that same conclusion.

Most of us are trying to graft trying to hustle for money because we’re caught up in the rat race. We’re trying to make ends meet, the people working in care and education even more so and they get absolutely shafted.

I have no idea how it came to be this way...

Well, actually I do, decades of neoliberal political pundits pushing preposterous austerity that’s gutted our country, it's gross.