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Peep Show Review (All Seasons)

Ummm…meet…Mark and Jer-emy

The fact that an episode of a sitcom, which on paper can seem very ordinary, can end with the one liner, “Did you really have to eat the dog?” shows that peep show is certainly not an ordinary sitcom. Peep show follows the life of Mark (David Mitchell), an independent and knowledgeable man with very noticeable social and sexual anxieties. His flatmate and friend is Jeremy (Robert Webb), unemployed, cowardly and arrogant. Jeremy is oblivious to the fact he has little chance of making a living out of music.

Although Mark and Jeremy share similarities in their lives not being normal and them both sharing a lack of social acceptance from others, they are far from similar. While Jeremy is confident, Mark is socially awkward. While Mark is structured to a 9 to 5 job, Jeremy is lazy and obnoxious. This consistent friction between the two of them of course brings out humour in the everyday situations they encounter, as they pursue a normal life of love, money and happiness. The plots are exaggerated and taken to the extreme with ease, due to the social nature of their characters. The approach of this comedy never feels forced.

Peeping Through the Camera

What makes Peep Show so different to any other comedy is that it uses a first-person camera angle throughout. This puts you in the shoes of the person listening to the active speaker, meaning you’re being addressed at all times. This filming technique really makes you understand Jez and Mark’s characters and emotions, whether you want to or not. There are certainly points where you wish it wasn’t first person (kissing scenes) however the positives of the first-person angle outweigh the negatives.

Every emotion expressed upon a character’s face is so easy to understand, making the humour easily understandable. When you see their joy, you feel their joy and when you see their pain, you really feel their pain. I can’t express how important this was to me, in an era where we are all guilty of having short attention spans. Peep Show rarely gives you an excuse to look away, especially as you are the camera.

The camera angle puts you in a variety of uncomfortable and awkward situations, some that may have happened to yourself in real life or some that might have happened in a horrible dream of yours. No matter how uncomfortable it gets; you just can’t look away because you are engrossed by that genius and simple idea of a first-person camera angle.

Access to their deepest thoughts

Not only does Peep Show have the unique first-person camera angle it also has brief but clever monologues from Mark and Jez, giving you access to their internal thoughts. This further access provides more opportunities for awkward, uncomfortable moments that add more nervous laughs to the cringe comedy that Peep Show is clearly aiming for. There feels like there isn’t a better duo to execute the timings of these roles than Mitchell and Webb.

In each series, it’s interesting to see the development or lack of it, in the main protagonists. Interestingly, I always thought you never like a character due to the awkwardness and obvious flaws but you never feel you dislike a character either because you will always feel some sort of sympathy for them or they will produce something that will make you laugh.

Verdict?

Overall, I’d say that Peep Show is so refreshing that it could be slightly misunderstood but it’s brilliant if you get it. One of my few criticisms of the programme in the age we live in now is the poor representation of females. The only time females are represented in the programme are when they are objects of love and lust, to be desired by Mark and Jeremy.

Females are very rarely represented in Peep Show as friends, but I guess at the time this was just to expose Mark and Jeremy’s societal awkwardness. In a modern and sensitive era, this may come across the wrong way. On top of this, Netflix recently removed a blackface comedy sketch from series two, adding further controversy to the programme. However, barring the modern era controversies I would say that Peep Show has a perfect loop of how it starts and how it ends. I’m definitely not someone to appreciate comedies as much as the average person, so for me to appreciate this programme is a big compliment for the creators of this show.

I give Peep Show a score of 9.6/10

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The Spread Of Covid-19 By The Homeless

Since the pandemic began and started affecting people massively, homeless people have been forgotten by many. While populations across the world applied barrier gestures, the wearing of face masks and constant hand washing, homeless people carried out their lives as if it was before the world went in lockdown. Some of them tried preventing the virus with the mere resources they disposed of. But soon an increase of infectiousness was noticed within homeless populations, especially in bigger cities where the amount of homelessness is more important.

Homelessness has become really problematic in Covid times; a homeless person in direct or indirect contact with others is not only at a higher risk of contracting the disease but might also become a vector for the spread of the virus.

As a response to this issue, there is a national effort in the UK to secure shelter and accommodation to disadvantaged people whose situation have been made more vulnerable and put at a real risk when the virus became an important matter that should be dealt with seriously. The government has made a call to accommodation providers all across the country, to make all the steps necessary to help fight the coronavirus pandemic by giving shelter to the homeless.

In Oxford, student accommodation provider A2 dominion (Canterbury House) cancelled their contracts with students for the year starting in September 2020 in order to join the cause and secure temporary accommodation to the disadvantaged. The students understand the issue and that it is a noble cause but having an accommodation contract cancelled in late July is still quite frustrating, especially considering how hard it is to obtain a rent contract for international students in Oxford. The university (Oxford Brookes) did however make available rooms in other halls for those who had their contract cancelled.

There were also hotels that responded positively to host homeless people. The purpose of using these infrastructures was not only to give shelter for those on the streets but is also to allow homeless people who have possibly been exposed to the virus to self isolate, something that was almost impossible in charity and community shelters, where all the facilities are shared.

The British government seems to be very concerned about homeless people, and are also very strict with coronavirus measures in general. The hope is that these measures help to contain the virus until a more permanent solution is found. Until then, please wear a mask and don’t forget to wash your hands.

Further Reading:

Sophie Grubb, Oxford Mail, Available at: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18332293.oxford-homeless-put-hotels-coronavirus-outbreak/

Ben Weisz, BBC, Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-52985450

Keeping up with the elections: #2020VISION

For those of you who live on a remote island where the wi-fi only works for three minutes every other month, the content of this article might come as a surprise; on the contrary, if you are at least 0,001% familiar with the absurdity of 2020, which is finding a new way to let us down each and every month, then you probably either saw it coming or you’re so used to celebrities’ craziness (in this case, the Kardashian-Jenner-West-whatever’s) that you’re totally unfazed by this occurrence.

We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States 🇺🇸! #2020VISION
— ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020

Kanye West’s presidential campaign is just like those people who dislike ABBA; questionable, but still legitimate. It was announced on Twitter three weeks ago, and it has been followed by a series of political statements and a rally in Charleston, South Carolina, where he delivered a speech that made the entire Internet go wild.

[You can find the transcript at this link.]

A part of this speech («I almost killed my daughter!») showed up in the titles of many tabloids, as a moment in which he opened up and revealed that he almost convinced his wife Kim Kardashian to get an abortion when they found out that she was expecting their firstborn. He then told the crowd that if it weren’t for his mother, he would have never been born, since his father was anything but a paternal figure and wanted her to end the pregnancy. Therefore, he told the crowd that he believes that children are extremely valuable, and suggested that if it were up to him, yes, abortion laws would still exist, but every person would be rewarded with a million dollars in case they decided to keep the baby and raise it.

After publicly admitting that he was advised not to share these personal matters with the crowd, he then said that “even if my wife wants to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into the world, even when I didn’t want to. She stood up and protected that child.” A possible divorce between he and his wife came up in a tweet a couple of days later, with the claim that he has been trying to end their marriage for two years because he doesn’t approve of her “suspicious” relationship with the fellow rapper Meek Mill.

In particular, Kanye reported that Kim and Meek met at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel restaurant in 2018 and just assumed that they were having a secret relationship, whereas the two met along with philanthropist Clara Wu for a professional meeting about prison reforms. After this, he attacked his mother-in-law Kris Jenner, calling her both «Kris Jong-Un» and a «white supremacist» on Twitter as he posted some texts that he had sent her («You wanna talk – or go to war?”).

Due the deleted tweets and his controversial statements (e.g. abortion laws, misogyny, Harriet Tubman allegedly being a slave owner, and vaccines being “the mark of the beast”), many people are exploiting social media to make fun of Kanye’s mental condition and his «public breakdown», stating that he “needs serious help” and that is bipolar disorder is the reason behind every single word that comes out of this mouth, bigotry included. Whether the aforementioned cases were due to a maniac episode or not, Kanye’s bipolar disorder must neither be ridiculed nor used for any gratuitous vilification.

The singer Halsey, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 17, wrote a tweet right after the huge backlash to defend Kanye:

No jokes right now. I have dedicated my career to offering education and insight about bipolar disorder and I’m so disturbed by what I’m seeing. Personal opinions about someone aside, a manic episode isnt a joke. If you can’t offer understanding or sympathy, offer your silence.
— h (@halsey) July 21, 2020

Using Kanye’s mental health condition against him as a way to demonstrate that it is what makes him “unfitting” for a potential presidency is completely inhumane and despicable. On the contrary, what should frighten people is his misogyny, bigotry, and religious fanaticism, which would definitely make him a great President, if you consider that these are features that many previous Presidents shared too. After all, there is a reason why he and Donald Trump get along so well.

At the moment, Kanye has missed the key deadlines to qualify for the ballots in several States such as North Carolina, New York, and Texas; furthermore, he recently failed to collect enough signatures for South Carolina, despite choosing it as the location for the first rally of his presidential campaign.

With a really low percentage of favourable voters (around 2% and 8%, according to the national polls), Kanye is further from being a front runner in the forthcoming elections. And with him unofficially out of the picture since day one, the real confrontation stays between the Republican Donald Trump and the Democratic Joe Biden.

May the lesser of two evils triumph.

Is the Conservative Party the true Grim Reaper of care homes?

Change of time, change of tone

A year ago, Boris Johnson said ‘we will fix the crisis in social care’. One year on his tone of voice is far more deceiving after talking about care homes responses to the coronavirus outbreak. ‘Too many care homes didn’t really follow procedures’, were his words which have faced criticism.

The government and owners of care homes are pointing the finger of blame at each other for the failure to prevent deaths of residents. Care homes have been hit the worst during the coronavirus outbreak with approximately 20,000 people confirmed to have died of coronavirus in a care home environment, within England and Wales.

Too little? Too late?

Government minister Lord Greenhalgh of the Conservative’s said that procedures given by the conservatives in the crucial early stages of the pandemic were “not as clear as it could have been”.

The government’s SAGE had advised on the 10^th February that ‘there is a realistic probability that there is sustained transmission in the UK or that it is to be established in the coming weeks. By the 25^th February, no significant actions had been taken upon this advice.

Even up until the 13^th of March the government stated: ‘It remains very unlikely that people receiving care in a home will become infected. However, on the same day the WHO identified Europe as the centre of the pandemic, Spain declared a state of emergency and the UK confirmed its 11th death of the virus.

Members of the Military Emergency Unit found abandoned elders and corpses while carrying out disinfection procedures in Madrid. Image via Al Jazeera

Care homes were being ravaged by coronavirus in Spain and Italy and a rising proportion of Covid-19 deaths were happening in care homes in England and Wales. As other nations were receiving their first wave before the UK, the UK had time to respond to the pending disruption.

‘The government didn’t react fast enough when it came to care homes. Considering so many highly vulnerable people live in an enclosed space, you would think it would have been high on the list. But it took weeks into lockdown to get protocol, PPE and procedures put in place from the government. For that reason, thousands died.’
Anonymous care worker from Hampshire.

What procedures did care homes ‘not really follow’?

On the 13^th of March, the governments guidance was “care home providers are advised in asking no one to visit who has suspected Covid-19, and by emphasising good hand hygiene for visitors”. On the same day Bupa and Four Seasons stopped non-essential visits, Scottish Care – advised care homes to close to visits two days before and care groups Barchester and HC-One stopped non-essential visits on 10 March and 12 March.

14^th March, the government began prioritising the most vulnerable individuals for testing in hospitals and care homes, however 24 people had died from the virus by this point.

By the 2^nd of April, people who had coronavirus in hospitals and lived in care homes were able to go back to living in a care home setting, provided people wore PPE. On the same day, a letter from the government recognised “the challenges providers may have experienced in obtaining PPE supplies over recent weeks,” and promised the supply chain would be bolstered.

On the 15^th of April, the government said all patients who had been discharged from hospitals were eligible for a test, for 13 days they weren’t. All people who worked in the care home environment were also eligible, if they showed symptoms. By this time, 12,868 people had died, 400 people were dying each day in care homes, and roughly 1000 people had been tested who work in a care home.

By the 28^th April, another 13 days later, all care home residents and staff were finally eligible for a test whether they had symptoms or not. There were early findings of asymptomatic carriers in March.

These were Boris Johnson’s conservative government procedures that care homes ‘didn’t follow’. In comparison to Germany, they kept its care homes outbreaks at bay by simply applying the rule of nobody being allowed to enter them unless they had recently tested negative for covid-19 or had been isolated in quarantine for 14 days in a designated centre.

While Boris Johnson was seen clapping for carers, he’s now turned on them, blaming them for not following his governments poor prevention procedures. The Conservative government has been called out for its lack of communication of important information during this pandemic, with calls from the public and other political parties for more clarity.

Their lack of clarity has cost lives, especially in the care home environment. Their lethargic and late response to the precedented situation of encouraging herd immunity downplayed the risk in the early stages of the pandemic. The government’s unwillingness or failure to prepare resulted in a failed attempt, to supply PPE to privately run care homes.

Are they completely in the wrong?

Prior to the 2019 election, the conservatives promised £1 billion per year to fund social care for the foreseeable future, an additional £600 million has become available for care homes and they have also added an emergency fund of £3.2 billion to English councils. It would be unfair to say that the conservatives have done nothing to help the situation but it is the lack of action before the pandemic that has very sadly killed thousands in care homes.

We stand as one: how hardship is shaping community

Over the past few months many of us have isolated at home while key workers have worked tirelessly to support us, the BLM movement has fought for equality, and all while facing an extremely deadly virus. Yet amidst all of this it feels as though the divides in society are being forgone for a new sense of community between people. Despite the notion that this could be ‘the end of the world as we know it’, it would seem as though we are at least one step closer to ending exclusivity on the planet. For as our younger generations vow to educate their future children, and themselves; we turn a small corner.

Coronavirus calls for community:

I reached out to an audience of family and friends with the aim to discover how people felt surrounding Coronavirus and the way in which a community has been founded subsequent to this– or lack thereof. The response was clear in that they had never experienced such comradely and support (unless in war time), an example being the clap for key workers. Especially where communities had pulled together to form a network of local businesses, to help those sheltering or apprehensive about venturing too far from home; becoming invaluable to safety and security in this time. Facebook’s community groups and ‘community help feature’ were particularly prominent in facilitating support for people who couldn’t necessarily shop in store.

One response said that she felt that ”the sense of togetherness has been amazing, and for once it feels like a lot of us are experiencing life in similar ways”. It could be said that the common ground we have discovered in this non-discriminatory disease; threatening anyone and everyone, has brought people together. The abnormal and extreme circumstances that we find ourselves in has not only brought together people from all walks of life, but it has made many realise how much they took ‘normal life’ for granted. For others and myself, this difficult time has made us appreciate what we have and can do freely; from menial tasks to hugging loved ones without risk.

With the total number of deaths in the UK alone succeeding 44,000, Coronavirus has had little sympathy for its hosts. In particular, regarding different ethnic backgrounds, it has been discovered that a ‘vitamin D deficiency among individuals with darker skin is a risk factor for Covid-19’. This being said, it is therefore ”four times more likely” for black people to die from Coronavirus; a devastating statistic for a community who is already fighting for so much.

The BLM movement as a catalyst for change

Amongst the terrible struggles of corona, the BLM movement has been an inspirational force, and is necessary at this time to push for the changes that need to be made in order to emancipate the black members of society from the unjust ways in which they are treated. In response to reaching out to my friends and family about how they felt regarding the protests and feelings towards the movement, the answer was resounding. How can anybody on this planet still be contemplating the opinion that a life does not MATTER because of the colour of their skin?

As perfectly stated by one of the responses, ”a really strong message is being sent out through the Black Lives Matter Movement– we are one community, hopefully this can be sent to future generations”. This is such a powerful image because of the way it calls everyone to arms as neighbours.

The sheer uproar that can be witnessed on the city streets as well as online platforms has also created a sense of community; I may never understand however I stand with you and want to learn of how I can help. A poignant comment made stated that, ”I think racism will only end once my generation teach their children” properly about the history of racism and it’s unacceptability. Most said that recently their eyes had been opened to the brutality and racism and now felt they would endeavour to educate themselves and others. Knowledge is power and power is power! The fact that there is such an overwhelming response to the movement as well as an undeniable outcry that everyone should be educated fully, really shows the change in attitudes; no one should be treated as a lesser being.

It would seem that 2020, despite its sombre disposition, would like to see the dismantling of societies prejudices, cruelty and hardship in order to aspire for kindness.

The new style of Uni Life

an article by Charlotte Pollard 09/07/2020

Students used to only use the term “corona” in a light-hearted, careless manner. A noun. The drink they would have on a hot day in a beer garden, with a lime in the top. Since the last summer that they had it, the meaning has altered completely, to something unimaginably sinister. Still a noun. But this time, a killer virus.

For many students like myself, working from home hasn’t been easy. When face-to face lectures that usually allow you to absorb and utilise information, are overnight replaced by long detailed emails and buffering Zoom calls, adapting to carry out Uni at home wasn’t easy. But when the News the past few weeks is filled with articles and claims about education systems opening back up in September, and when you’ve already signed and paid for your house next year (!), it is completely normal to feel stressed about having to adapt all over again. However, this time, the stress is different. We are being asked to adapt back into being Uni students again – but with the pandemic still going on.

For those lucky like myself, I don’t suffer from anything that would make me “vulnerable” to the virus. Although awful and I, of course, will still avoid catching it at all costs, the chances of it being life threatening to me are slim. But the healthy students, like myself, are still affected by it in another way. Coming from a family that has 2 members at home that are extremely “vulnerable”, in turn, puts me, as a student, in a very scary position. Whereas the last few weeks have resulted in being exceptionally careful when seeing friends, not leaving the house without a mask, and cleaning down the food shopping, life as of September will be very different. We will be able to go to the pub again without the worry of infecting a family member, see our friends without needing to anti-bac our hands every 10 seconds. But none of this new found freedom means anything, when you’re prevented from going back home again.

From living back in a student shared house with several other people, and mixing again in a student based city and on the transport links, we all know the risks of going back to Uni life. It means that once we’ve left home, we don’t know when we’ll next be able to come back again. Although a difficult next few months lie ahead, there is reassurance and comfort in the fact that we’re surrounded by other people who are all in the same boat. Other friends who can’t go back home. Other friends who want to protect their loved ones. And thanks to the ever-increasing technology, it’s never been easier to keep in daily contact with those that we care about, when going home is prevented.

The Ignored War – How a Forgotten Yemen Looks so Different Today.

What has led Yemen to this point?

The Yemen conflict is based upon an uncomfortable transition from one power to another. The president Adrabbuh Mansur Hadi struggled to deal with various problems. A separatist movement in the South, the continuing loyalty of the security personnel to the former president, corruption, unemployment and food insecurity led to a dangerous political, economic and social cocktail that Hadi was unable to drink.

A movement known as the Houthis, took advantage of an unstable government by taking over the northern province of Saada. This momentum led to an attempted takeover of the whole of Yemen. In response to this siege by rebel forces, Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia. Middle Eastern and North African nations announced their military involvement, in the common goal of repelling Houthi aggression.

Aftermath of fighting in Saada, Image via Flickr

With the fear that Houthi forces were backed by Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern forces began the raining of air strikes, in an aim to restoring Hadi’s government. Saudi and Houthi forces fought over the southern port city of Aden, for months on end until the Houthis came out on top. From North Western Yemen, Houthi forces fired regular ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia. In response, Saudi Arabia’s coalition tightened imports into the country and launched an attack on the city of Hudaydah, which possessed a port that is essential for the livelihood of the population of Yemen.

The UN warned the port’s destruction would be a ‘tipping point’ towards huge loss of life. In 2019, The UN also hoped the war would come to an end after a ceasefire was agreed at talks in Sweden. However, in January 2020 there was a sudden escalation in tension between Houthis and coalition forces, after fighting resumed.

A day in the life of a Yemeni

Waking up as a Yemeni civilian is not normal. Instead of waking up to an alarm clock, you may instead hear the sound of Saudi Arabian coalition airstrikes raining down upon a nearby town. If it’s not airstrikes, it could be Iranian backed rebels fighting. Either way, as a civilian of Yemen, you are constantly living in fear, innocent people are caught in their crossfire. Innocent people are dying due to the irresponsible humanitarian decisions of poorly run governments.

According to the Yemen Data Project, Saudi led forces have fired 21,393 airstrikes on Yemen since the war began.
1 in 5 have lost their homes, 70% don’t have access to clean water and sanitation.

Airstrikes after the truce, Image via International Quran News Agency

After the morning airstrikes, any hope of sustainably feeding a family is painfully difficult. The people of Yemen everyday find it increasingly sufferable trying to provide food and water for their families. The water supply is reduced each year, people are worried the water will be non-existent one day. The government haven’t regulated the water supply, water has become precious in Yemen.

In the city of Sanaa, the water table was 30 meters below the surface in the 1970’s but has since dropped to 1200 meters below the surface by 2012.
The average Yemeni has access to 140 cubic meters of water per year while the Middle Eastern average is 1000 cubic meters, internationally it is 1700.
Experts believe Yemen will be the first country to run out of water.

Image via Centre for International Governance Innovation

Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the retaliation on Hudaydah, have increased food prices, people simply can’t afford it anymore. With violence forcing farmers to abandon their crops and livelihood, it is causing huge disruption to agricultural distribution.

20 million people need help securing food, according to the UN. Almost 10 million of them are considered “one step away from famine”.

If you are unlucky enough to have a family member become seriously ill in Yemen, it’s unlikely they will be able to access care from a hospital. In the hospitals there’s little or no fuel available to use for generators, never mind for the car to get you to the hospital. Hospital beds are said to be overwhelmed with malnourished children.

According to the charity Save the Children, 11.3 million children or 93% are in need of humanitarian assistance.
22 million people in fact are in need of aid which is 75% of the population.

There are fears of how many coronavirus cases are said to be active in the population, it is incredibly hard to know the true figures. There are reports of deaths from COVID-19 symptoms from around the country and case fatality is alarmingly high. With Yemen’s health infrastructure on the brink of collapsing, there are difficulties in attempting to do any testing. There is however knowledge that a mosquito-transmitted virus known as Chikungunya and cholera are rife in the country.

Although the coronavirus isn’t known to be heavily infecting Yemen yet, the external factors has certainly caused financial damage to its economy. Yemen heavily relies on remittance payments to support families but due to the virus, many overseas workers have been placed on furlough or have lost their job. This reduction or removal of remittance payments from workers, has seen a loss of $10 billion dollars not entering the country, to families in need.

If there is any time to forget about Yemen, this isn’t the time.

July 4th: a key date for the UK’s lockdown

an article by Martina Currenti 29/06/2020

As the confirmed cases of Covid-19 have reached a global amount of 10 million, many people are evidently having a hard time realising that we aren’t out of the woods yet.

I’ve seen, either in person or through pictures like the one below, beaches in Italy and the UK filled with too many people, and too little space between them. Especially during the last couple of days, when the temperatures were so insanely elevated that many people felt entitled to pack their bags and visit the coastline en masse.

Bournemouth on 25th June, three days ago. [Image via Bournemouth News]

While lately coastal cities such as Bournemouth have been packed with thousands and thousands of visitors from all around England, other cities such as Leicester are risking a local lockdown due to a great part of their population (in Leicester’s case a quarter) having tested positive for the virus.

In the meantime, the Government has planned an easement of the lockdown starting from the 4^th of July, starting with a difference in social distancing, which is now “1 metre plus” – with the “plus” meaning that the use of face masks, hand sanitiser and other disease preventions is still required.

Right now, there are only two types of gathering:

• support bubble, meaning that if you are an adult who lives on their own or who has a dependent child, there can be a synergy between your household and another one;

• outdoor gathering, meaning that you can meet up to 5 people from different households in any outdoor space.

From July 4^th, these conditions will be modified, and you will be able to gather indoors with more than 6 people as long as you belong to two different households. Moreover, in case of events such as weddings, there can be a gathering of up to 30 people.

Although swimming pools, sport facilities and indoor gyms still remain closed, playing sports like tennis, which doesn’t require any physical contact, will be permitted, as well as taking part to services and group prayers in places of worship where there is enough space for you to socially distance yourself from others.

It’s still unknown when nightclubs will reopen, whereas they cannot guarantee the observance of the 2 metre/1 metre plus rule. However, following the rise of Covid-19 cases in South Korea that happened due to the reopening of bars and nightclubs and the fact that other Countries like Germany have banned the latter until August, it is highly possible that the UK will follow their lead and freeze the night life until further notice.

On the other hand, places such as libraries, cinemas, hair salons and restaurants will finally open again, and people will be free to visit such places with extreme caution.

Extreme caution must be used in the workplaces of the businesses that aren’t unaffected by the easement. After discussing the conditions with their employees, the workers should decide whether they can still work from home or return to the workplaces, and are advised to keep working from home in case they are able to do so. There are several ‘Covid19 Secure’ safety guidelines that must take place in the workplaces, and working arrangements that must be discussed before returning to work; in the event that a worker does not feel safe returning to their workplaces, they must contact the local authorities or the Health and Safety Executive.

Concerning public transport, people are still advised to move from one place to another either walking or cycling. If that is not possible, they can of course use public transport, but with the mandatory use of a face mask. Keep in mind that getting caught while you’re not wearing a face mask can get you a £100 fine – and it will also put your well-being in danger, whereas you never know what you’re exposing yourself to.

As we already know, schools will start in September as usual, with a £1 billion fund in order to provide English pupils the tutoring they need to catch up with the programme over the summer.

It is still unknown if the Government will follow the requests made by many teachers and headteachers, which is to provide more space to the schools since they are afraid that they won’t be able to provide the correct socially distance amongst the pupils, even with smaller/halved classes.

The aforementioned changes are most of the features of July 4^th’s easement; in case you wanted to find out more about this matter or about topics that haven’t been discussed in this article, you can find all the information you need on the Government’s website.

When They See Us Review

As a white female, it is my responsibility to educate myself on black history, culture and racial prejudices that black people experience every day as I cannot experience these myself. I thought a good place to start was to watch the docuseries When They See Us on Netflix. My mother had recommended it to me as she had watched it a while ago and she mentioned how there was a follow-up programme to it, which was an interview with the ‘Exonerated Five’ that this docuseries was based on, with Oprah Winfrey.

What is it about?

When They See Us is a docuseries about how five teenage boys of black and Hispanic ethnicities, originally called the ‘Central Park Five’, were charged with the rape of a woman who was jogging through Central Park in New York in 1989 after they were coerced into saying that they were responsible. The series was directed by Ava DuVernay, who was also the producer of The 13^th, a documentary about the 13^th Amendment in the United States of America.

The docuseries focuses on how Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Usef Salaam, Raymond Santana Jr and Korey Wise, all aged between 14 and 16 at the time, were all coerced into confessing to a rape that they didn’t commit because they were promised by the NYPD that if they confessed to what happened, they could go home. Several of the boys did not have a parent or guardian present, which is required if suspects are minors and none of them had lawyers to advise them. The boys were coerced into telling law enforcement about the other boys and what they did to be able to go home, as promised by the police. The boys were ‘confessing’ with the words put in their mouths by the police and telling stories of the other boys that they did not even know as they were led to believe that this would stop them having to stay at the police station.

Emotional Catharsis

DuVernay truly takes the audience on an emotional rollercoaster through this series as although the events of 1989 are acted, it really feels like we are watching the real lives of what happened to these young boys. Through the court cases, we are taken through the emotions of these boys, feel hope for them as their stories obviously don’t match up to what actually happened and we feel hopeful that they will evade the charges put on them, despite knowing that they won’t. The court cases are especially emotional as the position of the audience is that we can see how obviously innocent these boys are, but the way they confessed was manipulated so well by the police investigators that there was no way their cases would make the jury come to an innocent verdict.

The series is definitely a difficult watch to see the injustice thrown upon these boys and know how helpless they were. Seeing them incarcerated is awful, especially seeing what Korey Wise went through as he had to go to a men’s prison due to being sixteen, unlike the rest of the boys who were sent to juvenile prison.

Lessons learnt

Something that this docuseries does really well is get across to all audiences the injustice of what happened to these boys because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and also because of their race. All these boys did was go and hang out with their friends in the middle of the park, yet because they were in the same place that the rape occurred and the police just wanted to convict someone, they were thrown into this case with no leg to stand on.

DuVernay illustrates to us what it is like to be a black person challenged by the law and how the law doesn’t treat white people and black people the same; the phrase “innocent until proven guilty” scarcely features when you are a person of colour. At the time, it was easy for the police to find some black boys that were in the place at the time and charge them to get a conviction rather than find the actual person that committed the rape.

Overall

The saddest part about this docuseries is that despite this series being based on events that happened over thirty years ago, situations like this are still happening today, making this docuseries still frighteningly relevant. Men and women of colour are still being imprisoned or killed as a result of police brutality when being completely innocent and not showing any potential threat to police officers who have killed or arrested them.

I would give this series 10/10 and strongly recommend it to everyone but especially people who are white as I think the series powerfully encapsulates the experiences of black people with the law and the injustices they still have to go through.

How Coronavirus is Killing Minorities Uniquely

An article by Sabrina Andrade 24/06/2020

“While everyone is facing the battle against coronavirus, black people in America are still facing the battle against racism…and coronavirus”. This was a phrase I heard Trevor Noah say, for those who don’t know, Trevor Noah is a mixed South-African man who was born during the apartheid. Today he is a comedian and TV host of the Daily Show. Since he was born, Trevor has suffered numerous racism attacks because of his skin colour. His mother was a black woman and his father a white Swiss man, so he was born as a mixed child what at that time was a crime.

This phrase got stuck in my mind, and for a long time, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. How come in a pandemic, where hundreds of thousands of people are dying from the virus, there are still people making discrimination and being racist towards others that need just as much or even more help than they do? How can minorities be still suffering from prejudice and be neglected treatment from something that is affecting the whole world?

The virus doesn’t respect boundaries but still, vulnerability is spread unevenly. The largest inequality seen so far has involved race and ethnicity. Minorities around the world found themselves in a difficult place when the pandemic started. Being part of poor neighbourhoods where medical conditions normally are scarce, and where economic injustices and discrimination take place, it was harder for them to fight against the virus.

“This virus is exposing endemic inequalities that have too long been ignored.”

All over the world, there are reports that show how this disparity is happening. In England, there were at least 3,876 deaths of black minority ethnic (BAME) individuals in hospitals up to 9 June. This means that BAME people represented 15.5% of all deaths to this point. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are “disproportionately” dying with coronavirus. A study made by The Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that after accounting for differences in age, sex and geography, it was estimated that the death rate for people of black African heritage was 3.5 times higher than for white Britons.

This problem has been present for a long time, it is not something that appeared with the pandemic. The white supremacist myth believes that the current conditions in black communities are mainly the result of black people’s collective choices and moral failing, but it is, in reality, a historic in systemic housing devaluation, economic injustice and discrimination in health care that created these conditions that increase rates of mortality, especially during this pandemic.

“Black people simply are not receiving the same quality of health care that their white counterparts receive.”

There are some reasons that explain why the death rate is larger in minorities, besides discrimination and racism, there are housing problems, social and medical care issues to be addressed. To start, people that belong to this group are more likely to have low-paying jobs that do not allow remote work options or offer health insurance or paid medical leave. People of colour normally live in low-income communities with a lack of access to basic resources for health and wellness. Structural inequalities have kept black people poorer than white people, and economic disparity creates health disparities. In addition to this problem, minorities are more likely to live in more populated places and more densely populated areas and have more people per household. According to the UK government, 15% of black Africans live in overcrowded households while only 2% of white British households are classified as being overcrowded. This makes almost impossible for this group of people to take measures like social distancing and being able to keep themselves and their family and friends safe.

Every day it is reported stories about black people being refused treatment for the coronavirus. Like the case of Deborah Gatewood. A black nurse who worked for 21 years in a hospital in Detroit, USA. After being denied from treatment by hospital doctors for four times, she died from Covid-19. This is just one example of incidents that happen all of the time. Unfortunately, this type of racism is still something that black people and other minorities have to deal with every single day, and in this particular case of the pandemic, the situation gets more severe because they are dying from the virus without having the chance to get treatment in a hospital and the essential care that it is needed to kill this disease.

Besides that, having a lack of access to consistent nutrition makes Asian and black populations more likely to be overweight and have diabetes or heart disease than white people This can be explained if we go back to the years of the slave trade in America for example. The black slaves that were put on the ships for the transatlantic slave trade and that survived the trip had to retain water, and the physiology that is associated with that is high blood pressure. This natural selection that occurred, shaped African Americans in such a way that until today this group of people have higher rates of hypertension. These diseases are considered to be of high risk in contact with the coronavirus. If we add these diseases with the lack or denial of good medical care, the conclusion is that black people and other minorities will be way more vulnerable and likely to die from Covid-19.

“African Americans in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are more likely to live with or die from conditions that typically occur at older ages in whites”

The coronavirus does not discriminate, but the housing, economic and health care policies do. Environmental racism, unaffordable housing, lack of job opportunities, poverty and inadequate health care are basic social conditions, strongly influenced by a racism system, that put all the minorities at risk. My question is: when will this be changed?