This is just the sort of programme l love and hate. A documentary following six families on a council estate (scheme) in Kilmarnock.
It highlights what little chance the kids have got from an early age, as all they want to do is get drunk and take drugs (and reproduce at an early age).
I've only seen the first episode so far, so l don't know how the series will pan out, but l imagine a lot more jail sentences, fights and drug taking, with most of the youngsters acting tough and not being interested in anything else apart from TV.
"There's nothing to do except get wasted" says one of them. What about reading a book, walking by the sea, or listening to music for a starter?
Sadly, the (lack of) education and backing they have had will see to the fact most of them will have no aspirations or hope, and they will probably stay one the dole for quite some time, if not forever.
I know the kids are lucky to be born in an area where they will still have a roof over their head and be fed, albeit at the taxpayers expense, but they are still deprived of so many opportunities.
If they had been born to a middle class family down south somewhere, most of them would be going to college or university instead of jail.
Not all of them would do of course, and the estate will have some examples of residents who have done well legally, either through the education route or with their jobs, but the majority are doomed at birth.
Sadly, this is also the kind of show that will have David Cameron and The Daily Mail fuming about scroungers on benefits who can afford to drink and have clothes and TVs.
It's on BBC 1 on Tuesday nights (or the i player).
toodle pip
This looks like my kind of place. It's Watch Island which is a private island located by The Thousand Islands region, on the Saint Lawrence River near Clayton in New York State. 
