Monday, 15 August 2016

Tale of Newbigot

Did anyone listen to the radio this morning? I heard a mini documentary “documenting the untold dramas of 21st century Britain” from a series by Grace Dent.

Ms. Dent is a journalist and columnist who writes for the Indy and the Graun, so - par for the course. As manipulative leftism goes, I thought this was a gem.
“Horrible story of xenophobia wonderfully, if distressingly, told by @gracedent on R4, just now. The Untold:” 

A tale of woe about ice-cream van turf wars in Newbiggin - she must have read it as "Newbigot."

The deceptively sympathetic beginning, concerning the indigenous ice-cream seller who had been out-bid by ‘strangers’ and lost the pitch in the sea-front car park he had monopolised for donkey’s years, morphed seamlessly into a blatant plea on behalf of the hard-working, tax-paying, and oh dear, pregnant, migrants. 

Along the way Ms. Dent managed to turn the Greek couple into heroic martyrs and the locals with their nigh-impenetrable Geordie voices into intolerant bigots. I suppose they should have known better than to talk to strangers bearing microphones.  

The not so subtle Brexit-related nuggets that were clearly deliberately slipped in to play with one’s emotions grated badly on this listener.     

I haven’t heard any other episodes, but looking at some of the other titles in the series I think I might give it a miss.