Tower block of bollocks

Robert Taggart

No surprise there then ! The 'untermensch' are all too 'common' now. They be an indictment of post war Britain. Without them there would rarely if ever be a Liebour government. For the record... oneself be no doubt an 'untermensch'... twenty seven years on benefits ! But, as a middle class 'untermensch' living with parent throughout, in comfort and peace, one has never identified with the 'council estate scum' featured in this programme. Inarticularity (!) be but the least of their 'issues'. The joke be on them... they vote (well, sometimes) for Liebour candidates usually. These Liebour 'working class warriors' are themselves more often than not articulate, educated, middle class, small 'c' conservatives ! Neither side 'has a clue' !

hiro

Austin Mitchell was the most shameful - constantly trying to be funny to almost insanity-inducing levels. The tory, as you say, seemed a nice bloke.

True, it was a program more about the underclass.

Rachael

Yes, and there was another piece of Channel 4 puff on the other night, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. It was just your bog standard Channel 4 deference to this sort of thing.

Trouble is, as you say, everyone just sees through it now. Channel 4 is even more propagandist than the BBC.

Any Colour but Brown

"My suspicion is the great mass of the public ended up liking the MPs a lot more than Channel Four might have intended..."

...with the notable exclusion of Austin Haddock, one hopes. The man demonstrates the very worst traits of champagne socialism.

Maggie

I knew Mark Oaten would be crap so I didn't watch it.

rod seacole liddle

Oaten wasn't crap, he was what he is. He cared, which is a good thing.
The Tories came out best, though, unquestionably.

Re Austin - yes, up to a point. I thought the whole thing was a knowing set-up, a nasty confection and I half admired Mitchell and his wife for not going along with it. But then, he pocketed the cheque for the programme, so fck him. And I agree about his attempts at humour. What a prick.

Andy Carpark

It was rubbish. I tune in to C4 for 'Chav Hemorrhoid Disasters' and 'Swindon Slappaz Get Their Kit Off', not this hifalutin crap.

Anus Seacole Mundi

Was there a hint of allusion in Maggie's post?

Michael Sweeney

The Tories do this kind of thing very well. Ian Duncan Smith has had them out on housing estates for the past few years and Portillo set a good example some years ago with a similar experiment in Liverpool. Austin Mitchell was a bit of an oddball - a jester that no-one found funny. As a Labour member for Grimsby I was astonished how surprising everything seemed to him - what on earth has he been up to while he's been in Parliament? Aprt from the MPs, the programme held a mirror up to our urban blight - and made Theodore Dalrymple's writings look like those of a cheerful optimist.

Joe Strummer

Having MP's sojourned to some run-down sink-estate for a few weeks is of novelty interest for both the politicians and the permanent inmates on their concrete block reservation. It is a totally meaningless and pointless exercise.

Put the MP's in there for at least a year on the basic Income Support benefit, in the worst public housing available, and also make them travel anywhere on public transport, ( If they can afford to that is )

Now that is a programme I would definitely watch.

rod seacole liddle

Michael Sweeney - agree with every word.

Dixon

But you miss the point: this is exactly how our superiors of the media intelligentsia typified by Channel 4 view the "white working class" ( a racialising phrase in itself ) IN OUR ENTIRETY!

To them, "Shameless" is a kind of objective mass-observation 21st century style. They actually think that if its white and its not posh, then its all those things you have referred to.

This neo-toffmanship ( the attitude of a cultural elite to everyone else ) is the most central feature of life in todays Britain. Its disgusting.

Frank P

Anus secole mundi

I detected a whiff of -er -allusion myself; but Rod seems to have metaphorically opened the window by pretending not to notice - well almost, though I also detected a slight pinch of his nostrils - "he was what he is" was almost an acknowledgement/disapproval (of Maggie's joke).

rod seacole liddle

Dixon - agree with that too, and a good point, sir.

Fergus Pickering

I live in a short road which is mostlly, I would say, working vlass. People work nights or as university porters or they are/were in the army. They are decent people and most of them (I judge) vote conservative. Oh, and they are all, bar one family, white, disgustingly white eh?

radgie gadgie

I'm looking forward to the sequel, 'Stable Block of Commons' where the same MPs are billeted with, say, a minor member of the aristocracy, an employee of Goldman Sachs or somesuch and a 'top' NHS administrator. And then we can watch how utterly at sea our peoples tribunes get (cough)so we can compare and contrast.

We could finish off with series #3 'Shower Block of Commons' which would be my (and probably Oaten's) favourite.

Edward McLaughlin

"Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school..."

Sam Armstrong

Dixon - very well said.

EyeSee

It should, I suppose have been a good idea -self-obsessed MP's fresh from fiddling their expenses see how the other half live, particularly poor 'other halves'. However, being Channel, left-liberal, 4 it couldn't use a workable concept, it had to respect what they already know, their prejudices. So find the worst people (not specifically situations or environment) and dump the MP's there. These people to C4 of course, are not bad or feckless or undeserving, they are victims of oppression and poverty. But they are not. Too often they create the situation they are in and seek only more money for no effort. If they have been let down it is by left-liberals who create a welfare state for the feckless to enjoy a standard of living that attracts world wide admiration (as proven by the immigration numbers). There really are not enough of us working to create wealth to support these people, MP's and now bankers too.

rod seacole liddle

Eye-see, yep, agree with that too, all of it.

Robert Taggart

re:EyeSee. Granted, but, have a heart for us unfeckless scroungers !

EyeSee

Mr Taggert, trust me I have no problem with a safety net for people who do not see it as a lifestyle choice. The ease with which money is doled out amazes me. My youngest missed an 'appointment' at the Jobcentre as he had an interview. They said it was fine when he phoned and they would catch up next time he went in, at which point they said that he had missed an appointment and stopped all of his benefit, forever. Luckily he has some employment now, but despite 'filling in the form' to correct what they say was 'an error' the State machine hasn't responded. But then, he is a British citizen, so what does he expect?

Robert Taggart

re: EyeSee. Sounds familiar... was on jobseekers allowance for a few years. Oneself just 'ploughed on' with appeals and official complaints. They were weighed down with paperwork and 'surrendered' ! "DO NOT LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN" !