Horizon - Whatâs the matter with Tony Slattery
Really moving, really good.
I loved Whose Line Is It Anyway when I was a younger man although Slattery was my least favourite performer.
Anyway, a superb insight into mental health issues and alcohol abuse and just lovely to see him again and hopefully heâll improve.
Whatâs the Matter with Tony Slattery? review â a moving study of drink, depression and abuse
Good fun
Fucking brilliant. Iâve seen first 3 episodes. Hereâs the chat he had with Kermode and Mayo.
Iâm stuck on episode 4 at the moment, I canât seem to get through any of Adam Curtisâ stuff without falling asleep and missing large chunks, not because I find it boring, but because I find the combination of his voice and the music and the images strangely hypnotic and soothing (despite the often depressing/upsetting content), kind of what Malcolm McDowell goes through in A Clockwork Orange except the total opposite, if that makes any sense.
Have you tried metal clamps to keep your eyes open?
I canât get them in place once I have the straight jacket on 
I havenât watched much of his stuff because loads of people tell me to and I listened to Rage Against The Machine during my formative years.
That album has a lot to answer for.
So you do the exact opposite of what youâre told? As that system is wide open for manipulation. And what if you wanted to do something, but hadnât got round to it yet, and then someone tells you to do that exact same thing, are you then like âah fucksticks, I really wanted to do that but now I canâtâ. Iâm sure RATM would allow you some flexibility.
They seemed very serious about it.
Iâm just glad Iâm not one of Zack De La Rochaâs kids. âBring that shit in!â. âBring it back the other wayâ. All while trying to wrestle back power from the elites that have ran things for millenia.
Itâs too much to ask of a child.
There was a very good documentary about the Blitz on BBC taken from the personal diaries of 6 people involved at the time. Very sobering. Interesting that the government intitially stopped people sheltering in the underground until forced to do so by public opinion.
Netflix.
Pele.
Watch it.
Nothing more to add
Watched these the last few nights
Why is Covid Killing People of Colour? Pretty much see this through the work I do. Without a doubt I see the outcome of systemic racism. Our work place is also likely to feed into that and they are making efforts for staff and to address the crime but maybe we should look at how the people who need are services appear to be more from ethnic minorities.
Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley - really unpicks the âkeep calm and carry onâ shit we are fed about the period. Voices from the time from peopleâs diaries.
I have not seen this, but the youngest and I were talking about this today. We settled on a mix of socioeconomic differences which included either a culture or necessity of more people being in close proximity.
Iâve been moved by the plight of international students and quite frankly, shocked by some of the things I have discovered. Parents have just enough money to pay the feers, not enough money to pay an adequate cost of living.
Theyâre not covered by any furlough-like scheme of the state. There is a foodbank in London specifically addressing their needs, but there are international students country-wide, perhaps not subject to the same proximity conditions as in London, but itâs a problem all the same.
Thereâs also work. The lower down you are that socioeconomic scale, the more likely it is youâll be putting yourself at risk amongst the still active population, and youâll have less sway in the workplace to keep yourself out of potentially dangerous environments.
The âwhite working classâ have very little say in these matters, so I would argue that anyone browner is going to have even less. Many wonât want to be seen to be rocking the boat. Some wonât have the communication faculties to do so if they wanted to; and have bosses that know that.
For a virus like Corona, proximity is key. You only have to take a tour through South London to see how it affects non-white folk. Block after block of designed shitholes, getting increasingly expensive and increasingly occupied.
Getting by in these areas was already a load of shit.
Corona just turned it into a shit-storm.
I think Newham and Tower Hamlets were hit hard. Newham is our neighbouring borough. You can sort of see the difference when going south in our borough, North is IDS country and on border with Essex, larger spaces, further south you go more Afro Caribbean and then more South East Asian, large Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. Lots of houses with large multi generational families. Iâve visited many houses of multi-occupancy too with families with small children living in a room sharing facilities with others. Cramped conditions, and them mainly working in service industries.
I have recently dealt with several international students who have come up against issues due to covid-19 and lack of finances. Some were mature students whoâd save up a lot to come and then it was all gone and no work for them to pick up to survive. Several younger female students over 18yrs (who I think were actually exploited) who are now pregnant and so cannot work much and then wonât once baby arrives, and wonât have child care etc. So childrenâs services will have to support them as they are destitute until they can sort out immigration status and access to benefits.
Iâve also watched Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson. Also Afua Hirsch and Simcha Jacobovici. 4 parts covering the slave trade in UK, USA, Caribbean and South America. They go to find some of the ship wrecks and trace peopleâs stories. Of course a hard hitting watch.
Then bringing it to modern day Panoramaâs Lets Talk about Race.
Adam Curtis is bollocks as discussed here:
For some inexplicable reason,C5 was on the telly. There was some programme about pikeys on it. Itâs only the fucking wankers up the road who drive over a 100 horse and carts around ashurst and the local forest - stop fucking encouraging the cunts
And now we are going to see how a traditional traveller family puts food on the table - any guesses how they do that?
A guy turned up today to ask if the could pressure wash and seal the drive. Said no, got asked if Iâd consider it for a low price. I said no and the guy was fine. Thing is they turn up here this time every year without fail and I have the same conversation. Tbf the drive could do with a proper jet wash though.
Dunno what equipment they use but they were doing a drive about 50m away and the noise was phenomenal.
The best thing I have heard is that the old bastard who runs it is 74 and is saying that if anyone got hurt he would knock it on the head
Battle Speed