UK - The Hades of Birmingham (Video - 45mn)

  Normally I would run away from a video like the one below. But these are not normal times. 

   Birmingham is where the industrial revolution started. You will find not so far away the unbelievable Iron Bridge above built in 1781 from cast iron. This was followed by a century of innovation. Giant steam and later electric machines built in the city at a time when England was an empire. Coal was transported by boat in the canals crisscrossing the urban area.    

  The 20th century was not kind to Birmingham. Industry withered away, downtown was ravaged by German bombs during the second World War then destroyed again by brutalist architects who thought that 4-lane highways snaking around concrete blocks was "modern". This could have been punishment enough but the 21st century had worse in store.   

  10 years ago I was ridiculed when I said that we were heading towards a second middle age. A technological one for sure but from a social standpoint, a time almost as cruel as what our ancestors endured a thousand years ago. We are almost there. Don't believe it? Watch the video then. It is well made and worth the time. Our descendants will probably not understand the meaning of "canary in the coal mine" but homeless under solar panels will probably ring a bell. For this is what utopia and socialism finally brought to Europe.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8La_NOvv77Y