Town’s fury at ‘Chav’ slur
Monday 14th April 2008, 6:00AM BST.
Civic leaders in Telford have retaliated after cyberpests published a stinging online slur against the town.
The scathing attack brands Telford “a world leader in the production and reproduction and re-reproduction (sic) of Chavs”.
The comments were made on the Uncyclopedia website – a parody of Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia.
Now Telford & Wrekin mayor, Councillor Miles Hosken, has come out fighting against the website for publishing the rebuke.
“I’m appalled at these remarks,” he said. “They are horrendous.
“The authors of this website have tunnel vision and don’t know what they are talking about. They have no objective eye.”
“I’m proud of my home town and it’s a great place to live.
“Our police are terrific, our council has been rated among the best and Telford is growing and getting better all the time.”
Missile
The website also attacks Telford & Wrekin for being home to “drug addicts and criminals” and says buildings in the town centre are in fact disused Cold War missile silos.
It says that Telford came into being in the 1960s because “an overflow town was needed for all the drug addicts, criminals and desperate hordes being forced out of Wolverhampton and Birmingham”.
Councillor Gary Davies, Telford & Wrekin Council member for College ward, said: “The people who said these things aren’t worthy to set foot here.
“I’ve been in this area for 47 years and the way the community has gelled in that time has amazed me.
“The Telford it describes is not a place I recognise. It’s a good, friendly place and whoever wrote this rubbish knows nothing of our town or the people who live here.”
Restaurateur Arfon Azam, who owns eateries in Ironbridge and Telford, also defended the town.
“Some places in Telford are better than others but you could say that about any place,” he said.
“I suppose we are an overspill town but it’s getting better all the time.
“I invest money here because I’m proud of Telford. It’s where I was born and bred. It’s a great town.”
Nobody from Uncyclopedia was available for comment.
By Tom Johannsen
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Maybe if the council wants action to rectify the situation, it ought to consider a no Burberry zone!
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Uh, Uncyclopedia is a parody site. So now these Civic Leaders, by taking umbrage to it have just drawn more attention to it, and the Shropshire Star thinks “Silly website says nasty things about Telford” is newsworthy? Get a life.
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This is outrageous. They make comments about as place they have no knowledge off. It makes you wonder how they knew so accurately how full of scum and chavs Telford actually is. Lucky guess? Nah, spot on.
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They are spot on telford is a dump.
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I read the Uncyclopedia and thought it was a bit of harmless fun, written by someone who obviously DOES know something about the town – where do you think they got the inspiration for the ginger-haired “MP” Phil Tarr?
The comment from Cllr Hosken is especially rich – it’s not that many years ago he described Madeley as being “the pits of Telford”……remember Miles?
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Telford is full of chavs, criminals and drug addicts.
The site may be a parody of Wikipedia but in this instance they are spot on with their description of the town and its inhabitents.
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It is indeed, full of chavs.
They say the police are terrific? They stop young drivers just because they are young!!
One officer stopped my mate asking his age… 17… then went all round the car trying so hard to find faults.
How is that a terrific officer?
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Once again, the Shropshire Star leaps at the chance to have a pop at Telford. Change the record guys…
No chavs in Shrewsbury then? I think there are!
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TELFORD – Birthplace of Industry, Death of Civilisation !!
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hahaha!! shrewforlife!!! How true, but also Shrewsbury…leader in Racsim perhaps – I think so. Think I would rather be surrounded by Chavs than racist scum
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Been here sence i was born, bit rough around the edges, got in a few scrapes but found that the genarl attatude of people that live in telford are welcoming friendley and basicley kind well spoken peoples.what news i read in the shropshire star newspaper about certain news that goes on in other towns and countrys, and the other meida i see on the tv i dont think telford should even bother being concerned to much about other small minded comments that people have made on this website because people are intilted to there own oppion so let them have it bla bla bla.so if your feeling it can i have a hellya chav you better belive it. I work for my own belifes that i am working on whats inportant to me wich is my partner and my children .
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I dont think that it is Law that you have to be a chav if you live in Telford.
Fake Burberry does nothing for me but then snobery is not my thing either.
And anyone who believes that the whole of Telford is full of chavs must be very uneducated and unitelligent.
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Sadly, Telford is full of so-called Chavs. Why? Because the police pick and choose who they police.
Some groups are picked on, others can do what they want.
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There’s quite a good entry for Shrewsbury on there as well!
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For a parody it sounds pretty accurate to me. I have lived in Telford for over 8 years and if it wasn’t for the abundant job market I would have left long ago. I would imagine living on the surface of the sun being a more hospitable place!
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Show me a new town that doesn’t have chavs! I wouldn’t get worked up about it – unfortunately they get everywhere nowadays – bit like the quick to critisise snobs that go with them! I am sure we have all been fashion victims at one time – even those from Shrewsbury (gasp!!) . There will soon be another pigeon hole to throw people in to that will cause such uproar that chavism is pushed to the background. Until then we have to learn to live with them all love ‘em or hate ‘em.
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telford = Dump
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Chav & Wendy…you have helped your cause no end and I applaud you.
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Of course there are “Chavs” in Shrewsbury, just a better class of them.
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Chavs, the primark generation, offspring of the ‘no society’ Thatcher generation. They’re stalled on benefit, incentivised to stay there, nowt to do but procreate. They’re victims of modern global economics and local big politics. It’s a parady – people who think like that talking to other who do same.
Your lovely Telford is flawed with an inconvenient population – your not doing anything about it. They won’t buy the houses your ruining the last green bits of Telford to build.
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I take it the civic leaders of Telford rarely venture out of their offices, because if they did they would see what a bad state a lot of the town is in. Some areas are complete no-go zones.
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Chavs are a minority group in telford and other areas. What happened to tolerance of others behaviour and views. They have the right to choose what group they belong to. I expect that many are ratepayers and voters.
Preach tolerance and understanding, it may just get you somewhere. Councillors take note.
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I’m sorry,but I agree; Telford is becoming a dump ! It’s not the place it used to be when I moved here 16 years ago. Can’t wait for the opportunity to leave it! And I agree with Matt,the police do pick and choose who to pick on, it’s always groups who used to meet up by the courts, never the chavs who cause far more trouble than anyone
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the article reads like a pretty accurate “rough guide to telford” to me! besides, surely the mayor respects freedom of speech? uncyclopedia is usually just full of gibberish. the fact that this article has some truth in it is a bit weird, but still it’s the author’s opinion and they’re entitled to it. mayor should be grateful of some feedback, especially if he really thinks that telford is a blissful utopia!
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Unfortunately I have to venture into Telford Town Centre on occasion to shop.
There is absolutely nothing worse on a Saturday or Sunday – the centre is hideiously cramped, full of screaming babies being shoved through chav shops in prams by school-age mothers with scraped-back hair, and is relentlessly stink-bombed by loser youths with nothing else to do.
Almost equally intimidating/off-putting are the vacuous masses of sullen-faced Emo’s who hang around the subway between the court building and the entrance to Beatties, playing dire music at full pelt.
If you’re NOT a chav and you need to go to Telford, take my advice and only shop on the Forge Retail Park – its Chav-to-Normal-Person ratio is reassuringly low, perhaps because it’s harder for them to get to.
Having said all that, you can’t brand it all the same, there ARE some nice parts of Telford, just not really in the centre!
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Comedy opinions from Shrewsbury dwellers. I suppose Monkmoor, Harlescott Grange and Meole Brace don’t exist?
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What a stupid childish display of ignorance by all, including the Shrewsbury centric Shropshire Star.
Will the Shropshire Star accept full responsibility if the flame-baiting comments displayed on here lead to any form of violent disorder?
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Unfortunately I think it is true.
Telford is a lot more Chavy than say Shrewsbury. So whats wrong with that “We’re Chavs and we’re proud of it”
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Good grief was a comment on a parody site really worth the Shropshire Stars time and effort? Talk about needing to fill space up!
PS Chavs are everywhere…look out Ludlow you’re next!
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Oh dear, getting all worked up about a parody site really isn’t worth it.
But thanks for drawing attention to it, I’m off for a read and a chuckle :)
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PS if the Shropshire star needs a page to fill up in the next few days heres what Uncyclopedia says about Shrewsbury uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Shrewsbury
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Here’s one then…
“Muxton, another region of Telford, or as it is other wise known, Purgatory, is the least accessible place known to mankind and is not recognized by even the top range sat navs”
To know that you would have to live in Muxton… in a road that isn’t covered by satnav. Now which Shropshire Star reporter might live in such a place and know that little snippet of information? I think I know!
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It’s a comedy site. It’s meant to be funny. It is not meant to be taken seriously. Councillor Miles Hosken has done nothing but prove that he’s totally out of touch with the world. Could he not have just said “The comments are on a spoof site and merit no reaction from people who should have better things to do with their time.” (Like make Telford better and show people that huge gold hoop earings and peroxide blonde hair is not cool). :-O
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Having just read the article on the site – its the best laugh Ive had in ages.
C’mon guys, get a grip – its called satire! The website is a total mickey take and in this day and age we could all do with a laugh!
Trust Miles Hoskins to completely over-react!
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Any real news? said:
“Chavs are everywhere…look out Ludlow you’re next!”
No-one ever heard of the Sandpits Estate? Such a wonderful place that the local churches say prayers for it.
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sorry to be a bit thick but when i left shropshire 50 years ago there was no such word as chav, now i am struggling with words like ipod,podcast, etc please will some one tell me what a chav is supposed to be as i cannot believe there are any whatever they are in englands premier county.
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I’m perfectly happy to live in my little lane in Muxton, and even HAPPIER to know that it is not recognised by sat navs. My immediate neighbours are a pilot, 2 teachers, a regional H&S executive manager, a Policeman and a Company Director. I’m afraid to say that we buck the perceived trend and are all extremely unchavish. There are good and bad areas of every town. To suggest Telford is awash with chavs is both far-fetched and naive. Shrewsbury has some pretty dodgy areas too, but the snob element Shrewsburyites prefer not to talk about them. Right……Having just finished a days work, I’ll set about making the family dinner, which will be eaten around a dining table and the TV will be off!
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This has been around for a while and I’ve yet to see the locals rioting in the streets in protest. It’s actually quite amusing; far worse has been written on other sites.
Rightly or wrongly, Telford has got something of a reputation as can be seen by the majority of comments made so far. I’m not particularly bothered as I won’t go near that awful shopping centre unless absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, this is the place on which many seem to have forged their negative opinions of Telford from. Not really surprising when you consider the numbers of knuckle dragging neanderthals who seem to frequent its malls, seemingly intent on intimidating normal shoppers, and who appear unable to string sentences together without using a string of expletives.
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I am surprised that those in the Civic Offices are annoyed. It’s well known that Telford is one of the Chav places of note, mind you, there are more Chavvy places, just look on the Chavtowns web site !!
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So the general opinion by most people is…YES it is a dump and it’s getting worse….I’ve lived here all my life and remember it well before Telford so I agree. I hope the council leaders are reading this and maybe this will show them that they need to do soming about it….building a concrete city is NOT the answer. But will it improve…NO…will they take this critism on board….NO….Do they really care?…I’ll let you answer that one…not tooo difficult!!!!
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“Town’s Fury at Chav Slur”
That is the worst “We’ve Got Nothing Better to Report” headline, ever.
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I moved to Telford from Shrewsbury eight years ago and have found the area very friendly to settle in. My children go to a great school and i have settled into a modern culturally aware society.
wikepedia is wrong on many things such as jose mouriniho being a former manager of stfc and bobby mcferrin of don’t worry be happy fame originating from madeley…
Don’t believe everything you read…
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Are we talking about Telford Town Centre only? if so then yes it is full of chavs etc at the weekends, but there are some really nice places in other parts of Telford, remember even Towns like Windsor have rough areas. Mike T Shrewsbury
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Well I have to agree, the place is Chav Central ! and drugs are rife! I would suggest that the good gentleman remove his Rose Tinted Specs and take a peek into the real world where the rest of us reside
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Telford is not the best place to live. The poor souls who live here either don’t know any better or those that do move out. I’m off as soon as I can.
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Telford is a faceless non-entity. A child of the 70′s post modern experimentation. It has no soul. You can’t get lost in Telford ‘cos there’s no where to go. Bring back the towns centre’s we know and love. Twinnes with Milton Keynes and Runcorn. Telford really is the pits.
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you only have to look at the gallery on the Pussycats nightclub website to see the locals in full chav swing! its their breeding ground!
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I actually grew up near Madeley. Its want inspired the song ‘dont worry , be happy’
Although Im getting on a bit I am still down wid tha kids lol.Stop blagging me innit boooooyachasaha mate!
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As at least one correspondent has pointed out, the opinion of many of those from outside of Telford is that Telford is simply the Town Centre. Most people who live in the nicer areas of Telford rarely go to the Town Centre in my experience.
Telford has a population which includes a wide range of people, from the sink-estate chavs, ironically a direct product of Thatcherism, to many of the highly intelligent people who moved here with the influx of high-tech industries in the 80s and 90s.
Many of the facilites here are very good – my children are in excellent primary schools, I can get medical treatment promptly when I need it, and my family also has access to an NHS dentist.
I have a journey to work of but a few minutes, live in a nice house – far bigger than I could afford in say a large city like Birmingham, easy access to shops and other facilities, and can be in the countryside within 15 or 20 minutes by car. Over the past 20 years or so I’ve done well here – not as well as some, but well enough.
I understand that there are parts of the New Town which are soulless – but that’s inevitable in newer places – you can’t just transplant half-timbered history – and whilst I enjoy seeing such things on my occasional trips to Shrewsbury, I see also the traffic congestion there and often think what a pain it would be to have to struggle with that every day.
In general life in Telford, assuming at least a certain level of income, is pretty good and easy to get on with.
I read some of the poorly punctuated, semi-literate, embittered nonsense written about it above, and I find myself wondering if those complaining are perhaps the architects of their own discontent.
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I am replying more to the people who have placed comments above rather than to the comment on the website Uncyclopedia. To all those who agree with the web site – that Telford is a dump, rubbish, god forsaken awful place to live, then feel free to move away, if not then shut up !
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Woteva!!?
loooooserzzzz!!
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What this posting has shown is that there appear to be a great many people living in Telford who actually feel it is not such a great place to live. The ‘chav’ issue is just a cause to air their views. I hate Telfgord town centre at a weekend but have felt equally out of sorts walking to Tesco in Shrewsbury on occasion. The fact is there are issues in both Telford and Shrewsbury and people do not feel that their views count any more…..
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Telford’s fine, good central location, easy to get to and from.It was designed badly in the ’60 – but hey, where wasn’t back then! I’ve worked here for 12 years, made some wonderful friends and though i live out in the sticks i’ll defend Telford against most of the rubbish written about it. Yes it’s got problems but it can easily overcome them. I’d rather be in Telford than in the west midlands
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For goodness sakes, to those who hate Telford, move! Its not difficult and if it stops you bleating on about how awful it is, try living somewhere that is war torn, living on the poverty line, not knowing where your next meal is coming from, not knowing if your family will make it home alive.
There are far worse places to live – think about those people who have to endure this day after day.
Telford just has a reputation for wingers if anything! Yes there are chaves, as there are emo’s, as there are dole bashers, as there are old people, as there are hard workers, as there are any other group from society I have failed to mention – its called life – there will always be people different to yourself – embrace it or move on!
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HELP a poor old salopian out, please tell me what is a chav
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Civic leaders in Telford need to get real. When was the last time they used their own town centre, travelled on public transport or visited one of the many impoverished wards in the borough?
Unfortunately, if I left the full extent of my opinion here it likely wouldn’t get through the Shroppie Star moderation..
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I live in the Wrockwardine Wood area of Telford and have yet to see one single “Chav” in this area.
However,I was in Shrewsbury last night while changing trains from Cardiff to Telford and saw plenty of yobbish activity going on outside the railway station and by the Castle Fish Bar.
All towns have this problem,but for some daft reason people from outside Telford (especially Shrewsbury) seem to think it doesn’t happen in their town.
Maybe Telford does have a “chav” problem,but it’s not alone.
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Telford really is horrendous – both the soul-destroying ‘architecture’ and the awful people. Fortunately I had chance to leave it a few years ago and went as far away as I could. Fortunately it will never be necessary to return and see how much worse it appears to have gotten.
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Helen,
So, in order to form your opinion of us all you’ve visited every building in Telford, and met everyone who lives here have you?
I should think that with such an unpleasant blindly-prejudiced attitude we’re very much better off without you – I feel sorry for the inhabitants of whichever town you now inhabit.
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To Devon Salopian: You can find out more about Chavs at Wikipedia which is, ironically, the site that Uncyclopedia – the subject of this article – parodies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav
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Helen Carter: “Fortunately I had chance to leave it a few years ago and went as far away as I could”
That would place you in the Pacific Ocean about 220 miles SSW of the Antipodes Islands. I hope you’re a strong swimmer!
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I live in Shrewsbury but find most weekends I’m travelling over to Telford for things to do with the kids, I think Telford has brilliant facilities…..Shrewsbury has The Quarry!!!!
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well thank you all of the above for making my day so very entertaining! Im not sure what is actually funnier….. the fact that our beloved SS got so annoyed at the slating or the time and effort some of you have taken to comment!
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As I said earlier, the Uncyclopedia piece was a bit of harmless fun that seems to have been taken totally out of context.
OK, so there are chaves hanging round in the Town Centre and in local shopping centres – name a town where there aren’t.
The reason I bang on on here and elsewhere about issues affecting Telford is that I’ve lived here for most of my life and don’t want to live anywhere else.
Sure, the towns got its bad areas (and people), but it’s still got a hell of a lot going for it – I live here because I want to, and don’t want to live anywhere else, as do thousands of others.
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My main gripe is that Telford has been allowed to expand it’s boundary to capture surrounding rural villages who don’t wish to be associated.
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This is most definately the fault of Kris Akabusi
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for the benefit of Devonsalopian…
CHAV (Council Housed And Violent/Virulent)
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Telford is a complete and utter DUMP. Yes,it is full off chavs all dressed in their little uniform of scraped back hair,aka council house facelift,big earings,hoodies and pram with kid/s. So dated,so boring,so unstylish and cheap. Telford is the worst town ever built and full of chav rubbish!!!!!!!!!
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thank you normal person
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so does chav mean violent thug then? i thought it was a word for someone who wore tracksuits tucket into socks. There are loads of ‘chavs’ everywhere but they arent all violent criminals, if only violent criminals did wear a uniform surely then the police would be getting it right.
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footsteps: are you saying that us bobbies are violent criminals in uniform??
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why dont the negative people commenting try living in London, Manchester or Liverpool where thug culture is rife and then rate that against Telford.
Okay yeah there are chavvy people about the area but that is part and parcel in any town these days.
Just be thankful that you are living and get on with stuff.
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if so many people have such a downer perhaps it is time for it to return to its old name of wellington. the names wellington journal and wellington town football club have a pleasant ring to their names. now i have been educated what a chav is then i am more than convinced that if they exist in telford then they exist everywhere. wellington tow for the cup ee i addio
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Suzanne,
Can’t comment on Manchester don’t go there often.
London I work in, (3 days a week commute from North Shropshire)
Liverpool I visit frequently.
I feel safer in London and Liverpool at night than I ever do in Telford.
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Chav stands for “council house adolescent vermin”
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It’s a parody website. It’s intended to be funny, and the reason it’s funny is because it’s a distortion of the truth. Don’t the people complaining about this know what a parody is? Maybe a better headline would be “Civic leaders too dumb to use a dictionary”!
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Check the Uncyclopedia article, it has been updated with a response to The Mayor and the Star’s comments
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Good lord… what has Telford come to…? CHAVS, thats what.
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