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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Mark Brown North of England correspondent

‘Why would I leave?’: Middlesbrough pushes back against ‘hardest place to grow up’ label

In Middlesbrough, a boy in school uniform runs past colourful murals reading 'Walk Among Trees' and 'Light Upon Hope'
Schoolchildren outside Middlesbrough town hall. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

“It’s disappointing, it’s just another kicking,” said a youth worker after the town in which they work was labelled as the hardest place in which to be a child in England.

“It suggests our children are living unhappy lives,” said a teacher, who described her pupils as joyful.

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