However, I have been impressed with the first programme in a series called Tower Block of Commons. It works like this.
"At 666 there lives a Mr Miller, he's a local vicar and a serial killer"...
Four MPs leave the comfort of their own homes (which are mostly rather posh, as you'd imagine since we've paid for most of them, sometimes twice) and live with the peasantry in their tower blocks. One of these tower blocks is a hop, skip and jump from my home. Taken out of their natural environment, needing to deal with such exotic tasks as shopping, dealing with a deficit of cash and an excess of time, the MPs seem to be able be required to cope with two things.
1. To get a feel for what it's like for the majority of us on the other side of the tracks.
2. To talk to said people and discover what life is like from their point of view, and even, in the case of Mark Oaten, to actually do something about the problems they face.
Much has been said about the petulant behaviour of these MPs, so I shan't go there again. Though, I do have to single out Austin Mitchell, who came across as a completely alienated twit, unable to empathise with his host (who seems to have been kicked out her flat especially so that Mitchell and spouse can move in for a few weeks), and I would imagine, the majority of his constituency of great Grimsby.
Oaten, seems to have borne the brunt of mockery aimed at him from the British press, and some of the more vocal youths of Dagenham, but, I think it is he who has come out of this rather well, after what appeared to be only major traumatic event for him (some kids said, rather nastily, that he may have AIDS - he is gay, and the comment was childish).
I'm not sure what the technical word is, so let's call them innkeepers. Out of all of the innkeepers, Cathy, typical of many of my neighbours, comes across rather well. Streetwise, kind, but more than a little depressed at the way things have turned out for her. I can understand why she is depressed. I work about 15 minutes walk away from her block of flats, and from the outside they look tidy enough, though right on the edge of the A13 motorway, so hardly in the beautiful surroundings. It is the disgusting state in which she is forced to live: with mould on walls and window sills, that would weigh you down. Why hasn't the council cleaned this up. I would suggest in most cases that the residents take some responsibliy here, but this is a systemic problem through the whole block; a specialist job and one way beyond the financial means of most people, let alone council flat dwellers, many of whom I know in this estate, are on benefits (I was told it was about 80 percent).
I was expecting this program to, do as other TV documentaries featuring ordinary people tend to do, which is patronise them. Sorry, that actually shouldn't say
It must have been an almost impossible task not just to let it all blow and and head straight for the Roget's thesaurus in order to find suitably sarcastic terms for all of us. But somehow, the program was, I feel as balanced as a piece of reality TV could be. Contrived to some extent, yes, patronising, yes again, but less than I thought could be possible. And neither all the peasantry featured, nor all the MPs came out looking like buffoons either.
And I feel, that in the same way Susan Boyle has become a minor celebrity despite her obviously non-sleb cred, Cathy may also be the new voice of ordinary Britain. If she hasn't got a TV show of her own by December, I'll be very surprised. She would make a very good working class version of Anna Widdecombe - the voice of reason, given to you by your best friend's mum rather than by your warty great aunt Matilda. Watch this space
Tower block of Commons is on Channel 4, Monday, at 2100.
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