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Babies left outside cafés to sleep peacefully in their prams in the fresh air while their parents are inside. Small businesses that leave their wares out on the street all night so people can use the honour system to pay digitally, then take what they want.

A visitor from abroad was surprised to see this way of living, especially mid-city, which has reminded me to be grateful to live in a country and a city where this is not surprising.

#Aarhus #Denmark
#LiveableCities
One of the main streets in the very centre of Aarhus, Denmark. Early afternoon. We can see a glimpse of the redbrick, green-roofed cathedral ahead and a few pedestrians. To our right, café windows with Christmas decorations and the blurred figures of people inside. Outside, pavement tables and chairs with blankets for keeping you warm, though nobody is sitting outside right now. In front of each of two separate café sections, outside the window on the street, a loan black pram with unseen babies sleeping quietly and happily and peacefully inside. This is not uncommon in Scandinavia. Parents can see them still and if a passerby does hear a child wake up and start to cry before the parent does, they’ll just stick their head into the café and pass on this breaking news.
A florist in a mixed-use residential area in the centre of Aarhus, Denmark, at night, hours after it closed. The street is wet with rain and pitch dark, but the florist is all lit up inside with lots of flowers and candles and plants. Outside on the street, dozens of buckets and pallets with gorgeous fresh flowers, Christmas wreaths, plants and potted trees. There are signs say Selvbetjening (Self-service) with the number for the national Danish digital cash payment system MobilePay) so anyone with a phone can take something and pay. (Before someone points it out: Yes, people who don’t use the app can’t purchase when shops like this are closed, but they can buy there during opening hours.)
JimmyB (he/him)
Lovely. How the world could be.

Zurich is similar. I see 4 year olds walking alone to school in the morning. My old flatmate said she could walk naked home at 3am and feel safe (suspect that's a bit of an exaggeration but still...).

Good for Denmark!
Ciara
Agreed! I think most people's default nature is to be nice and kind. Or at least neutral and to mind our own business, except if we see someone in need, then we try to help. My deeply unevidenced anecdote-based feeling is that people only live in active daily hyper-vigilant fear of things like baby abductions if news and social media has whipped them into a panic about it, bombarding them with scare stories that are unrelated to the actual statistical risk.

JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

JimmyB (he/him)
Well - this for sure. But I also think that the sense of hopelessness if you are trapped in poverty doesn't exactly make for a coherent society. When all around we see wealth and privilege weaponised, it's not too surprising that folks aren't too keen on trying to build something better, or just end up doing anti-social shit. In the UK it's so depressing.

And then...outside our office in #Zurich right now a school has got the kids out singing Christmas songs. It's lovely!
A grey winter town square, with bare trees in the middle, a train station building with high arches behind, and a group of very young children with orange tabards arranged in a choir in the middle of the square, in front of a large conifer/Christmas tree
#zurich
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Jen
yep.

The job I've just finished was in an area of multiple deprivation. Many people struggled with surviving daily life. They had little to no energy left over for caring for others. Petty crimes and drug use were high, driven by desperation, poor mental health, and a strong sense that nobody else cared about them or the area. And crime being high fed the narrative like a snake eating its own tail.

JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

JimmyB (he/him)
Exactly! There aren't too many social ills which cannot be solved by universal decent wages, health care, child care.

Which is why the new Tories doing their 'tough on crime' piece again is so utterly depressing. It's almost like they haven't got a clue or something...

@CiaraNi
@Ciara
Jen
the organisation I was working for does some great stuff, bringing art, education, activities, etc to the area for free or nearly free. It does a lot of good for a lot of people. But while the systemic issues continue, they can only ever be a sticking plaster.

@CiaraNi
@Ciara

JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

JimmyB (he/him)
The one stella initiative the Blair gov implemented was the SureStart programme, doing exactly that same stuff - which I'm sure you know about. It's an unbelievably effective way to help the poorest and most vulnerable so obviously the Tories cancelled it. And the NGO initiatives in the same space, can - as you say - only ever be sticking plaster.

We have some people who want to get rid of poverty. We another who really do not give a shit. And they run the country.

@CiaraNi
@Ciara
Jen
absolutely!

I spent a lot of time in SureStart Children's Centres when my kids were little. One of them reopened just six weeks ago because my (now actual Labour) council decided they should be brought back. They've called them Family Hubs and dressed them up as a new thing, presumably because they can access funding easier for new initiatives. I'm looking forward to trying the café that is apparently opening there in January.

@CiaraNi
@Ciara
Ciara
Agreed. Excellent points and insights. Deep poverty with no safety net or sign of future improvement creates a hopelessness.
JimmyB (he/him)
I ask myself often: what are these differences between Switzerland/the Scandis and the UK which mean the former are able to address poverty relatively effectively, while the UK just doesn't. Part of it is having some level of social coherence - a sense that actually we are all in it together. Which obviously we do not have at all in the UK (because we aren't!). That allows effective social programmes.

For eg, unemployment benefit here is 80% of salary for 2 yrs.

@JetlagJen
@Jen
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Ciara
Social coherence and social safety nets certainly help. And also the 'groups and clubs' culture that is very prevalent here and is instilled right from kindergarten level.

@JetlagJen
@Jen
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JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

LionelB
The extreme centralisation of the state is part of it. Local supposedly democratic structures exist only to carry out central edicts and to act as a repository for public anger when things fail.

How Starmer's micromanagement will square with devolution remains to be seen.

In Spain and France there is very strong civic pride. Local identity, architecture, sports, cultural and business infrastructure are very evident at small town level.

In England, civic pride is dead because there is no autonomy, no sense of place.
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JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

Ciara
This is a really good and important point - the whipping-up of fear and hysteria, especially for right-wing and money-making purposes, works best when people are already exhausted and fearful and hopeless because of lack of housing, safety, healthcare etc.

The kids singing outside is a nice antidote to that - thanks for sharing :-)
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