The Great Estate: The Rise and Fall of the Council House, BBC Four | reviews, news & interviews
The Great Estate: The Rise and Fall of the Council House, BBC Four
The Great Estate: The Rise and Fall of the Council House, BBC Four
Fascinating but flawed examination of social housing's history
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/mast_image_landscape/public/mastimages/7f1f2889896f4672f824c99531afb22a.jpg?itok=bsXp4Lnq)
In 2004 Michael Collins wrote a fascinating book, The Likes of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class. It was part memoir of his south-London childhood, part history of the area and part polemic. Two-thirds was an excellent read, a thoroughly researched and well-written account of the many generations of his family who had lived in Walworth, but the last third was a confused mess of an argument about what he saw as the plight of the modern-day white working class - marginalised and despised by the middle-class media and forgotten by the establishment. I had a similar response to this programme; it was meticulously researched and engagingly presented, but had at its heart a deeply flawed conclusion.
In 2004 Michael Collins wrote a fascinating book, The Likes of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class. It was part memoir of his south-London childhood, part history of the area and part polemic. Two-thirds was an excellent read, a thoroughly researched and well-written account of the many generations of his family who had lived in Walworth, but the last third was a confused mess of an argument about what he saw as the plight of the modern-day white working class - marginalised and despised by the middle-class media and forgotten by the establishment. I had a similar response to this programme; it was meticulously researched and engagingly presented, but had at its heart a deeply flawed conclusion.
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