Merthyr not a shanty town says Times

They just can't help it can they? A report in today's Times, by Martin Fletcher, looks at Merthyr under the heading of 'austerity Britain'. In an otherwise fair and reasonable report is the pearler - 'Merthyr is not a shantytown, of course'.  Of course it isn't Mr Fletcher.  Why on earth do you think there is any question that Merthyr - or anywhere else that has suffered multiple economic kicks - might be a 'shanty town'? It might not be Marlow or Maidstone, but in many ways it offers a better quality of life than Wales's big cities. But of course that's not headline news is it.