Best Of

Hurrah for Kemi Badenoch

“I don’t need to watch Casualty to know what's going on in the NHS,” said Kemi Badenoch, when she was asked on the BBC if she had watched Adolescence yet.

The presenters could not believe what they had heard. “Why would you not want to know what people are talking about?”

Badenoch replied that the issues of toxic masculinity and smartphone use are ”important issues and they are issues that I’ve been talking about for some time”. She reminded her interviewers: “It’s a fictional series.”

“You’re comparing Adolescence with Casualty: did you really mean to say that?” A surprising question from a BBC presenter, implying that a Netflix series is more important than a mere BBC soap opera.

Badenoch really did mean to say that, and she is quite right too.

- John Rentoul

The comparison of a Soap Opera to a Docudrama (Correct label - I ahven't watched it?) is interesting. I had not twigged the longevity of Casualty, but then these days I know more than enough in one episode per decade format (ish) about hospitals than to want the bloody things on TV as well.

I'd expect Kemi to have a Nigerian Elite type of innate understanding of medicine from her family background - how many ordinary Nigerians travel to a private hospital in London to have a baby? Plus what she has picked up here through living here from 16, and politics.

I'm not sure how well politicians are in touch with the NHS, outside looking at it through the lens of their particular dogmas, and lobbying. And I'm not sure if I have a reliable way of judging that.

Would Kemi introduce The Archers into a discussion about farming?

Wasn't that the whole point of The Archers* when it started? To introduce and discuss agricultural topics in an educational but entertaining way to rural audiences?

It has shifted a bit over time, and now educates on topics such as coercive control, Pride and rural poverty to middle class middle England. Indeed isnt it why we study literature, film and drama more generally? to expand our knowledge of the human condition and society in an entertaining format.

*I love Neil Kinnocks proposal to rename it "The Grundys and their Oppressors"

...

Hes going to ban vaccines isnt he.

RFK Jr: "By September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we will be able to eliminate those exposures."
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1910385387614146987

Here you go: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w12632/w12632.pdf

It's correlation based, but seems plausible.

I would think TV as a trigger highly unlikely. My eldest lad demonstrated peculiar traits from a very, very young age. When he started crawling he crawled backwards and at this point getting himself out of corners was nigh on impossible. He was noticeably different from similarly aged children including his brother.

The debilitating element of the condition was social interaction. He was viewed as weird from aged around two and a half by his peers. That continues today. Communication skills including speech and language were slow and not because he was glued to the Teletubbies. Throughout his life he has focused on a particular interest, and I mean focused. It is the only focus in the moment. Firstly it was Thomas the Tank Engine, apparently young autistic boys relate to the faces on the engines (toys, books and on screen). There is certainly a marked neurodiversity about him. He thinks differently to others, and it was notable before he started watching Bob the Builder. He's quite smart, he has a 2:1 programming degree, although he didn't do well at GCSEs and got where he is today via a BTec route, but he only reads stuff that is of interest to him (he passed his driving theory test on the second attempt and a practical driving test on the first) and his general knowledge is shockingly poor. He doesn't assimilate information well but can function well using routine. He is rules based so he meticulously adheres to speed limits and he is unnaturally polite. He is learning Japanese at evening classes. He is different, well different and not just "a bit peculiar"!

So why the burgeoning rates of autism diagnosis? Now I am sceptical when Leon claims, for example, Theresa May is "on the spectrum" because she is "awkward". There is more to it than that, although perhaps over diagnosing awkward people as neurodiverse is an issue that should be looked at and avoided. Sometimes naughty boys are just naughty, and pinning it on ADHD and/or autism is simply a handy hook to hang it on. Perhaps in that instance they watched too much TV.

@BlancheLivermore why do you care so much about a tv series? I haven’t seen it and I don’t care.

Because Starmer has turned it into semi-official propaganda

And he keeps accidentally calling it fact rather than fiction

Is he doing it stupidly or deliberately?

Who cares? There are more important things going on

How dare you

Adolescence is the most important TV show ever

All the lefties, like the PM, told me that already

It must shown in schools, apparently..

Maybe it should be shown in schools. Who cares?

Sensible people who don't think that it's worthwhile educational material?

Nah. I haven’t seen it but it’s the same people who are irrationally angry about it are also the same people who think any criticism of white men is woke or racist or both. You need to get out more

How many lessons at school would have to be missed by watching Adolescence?

If it's more than half, fuck off

Im sure you put this much energy into all other aspects of the curriculum too.

If I had the chance..

Maths would be old school

Nobody gets out of primary school without knowing their times tables, up to 15

I wouldn't get out of primary school now on that metric due to failing maths.

And I have a maths degree.

Very worrying.

Ditto. I have a maths degree also and have never learnt my times tables. People confuse a memory test with actual maths. Learning your times table is not maths. Trouble is learning your times table does not equip you with anything outside of that boundary. Learning maths properly equips you to deal with problems you haven't encountered before.

That's a truly pathetic admission

Learn your times tables, then teach them to someone else

You'll be a better mathematician and person by doing so

Are you mathsplaining?