Sorted Magazine

Category: Featured

  • Neighbours star Alan Fletcher: “It was very, very energetic and lovable!”

    Neighbours star Alan Fletcher: “It was very, very energetic and lovable!”

    I really could not believe it when I had the opportunity to interview someone I felt I had known all my life, the one and only Mr Alan Fletcher, who starred in the much loved television soap opera Neighbours for 28 years!

    Interview with Steve Legg and Alan Fletcher

    Steve Legg (SL): Now Alan, you’re a super-talented man. Do you know what? I listened to your album today. And it’s brilliant. I’d love to talk to you a bit about that later on. Was your first love music or acting?

    Alan Fletcher (AF): Well, I’ve always said I’m an entertainer at heart. And so for me, both equally. Of late though, I’m very much enjoying the music because Americana music is storytelling. And I love the fact that I can tell stories that I’ve written. And these stories are contained within three minutes. And each story can have a different effect on the listener.

    It’s the economy of music I love I suppose. And also just the joy of performing live just can’t be beaten, whether it’s as an actor or a musician.

    SL: It’s that immediate response and rapport with the audience, isn’t it? There’s nothing like it.

    AF: Yes, you’re absolutely right. Yeah, I mean, the biggest privilege you can ever be given is as a singer or musician is when people start singing your songs back to you. I’m getting that kind of vibe happening for one of my songs How good is bed? It’s just really a fun song about staying in bed.

    SL: And I love the fact that came after my favourites. I loved Hey you. I thought that was a beautiful song.

    AF: Oh, thank you. That’s a tribute to my mom. My mom was my spiritual guide in life and she said to me that she would still be continuing to guide me after she left and I feel her presence every day. And Hey you is a heartfelt message to her and to everyone who’s lost, asking, are you still there?

    SL: I can imagine it being used for people’s funerals but I had a horrendous vision of the sound guy at the crematorium as the curtains closed, pressing the number incorrectly because How good is bed comes immediately after Hey you. And that will be embarrassing for everyone.

    AF: (laughs) Well, I suppose eternal sleep is the same thing in a way. Maybe it was intentional.

    SL: Alan, you worked with Arthur Lowe back in the day, who we know as the very pompous Captain Mainwaring from Dad’s Army.

    AF: Yes. I’m pleased that you know that. Arthur was a dream. I did a play with him which toured around the UK, New Zealand and Australia. So I had the privilege of working with him. He’s one of the greatest comedians to come out of the UK because his timing was immaculate; he could make an audience dissolve into laughter with just one look. And we loved him in Dad’s Army. We loved him in so much stuff, you know, and to work with him on stage was a joy and a great education also.

    SL: So what did he teach you most?

    AF: It was mostly about comic timing and stillness. Arthur had a way of being completely still on stage. And suddenly, he would speak his lines at exactly the right moment, after the right pause. And when you’re a young performer as I was then, you tend to be very eager and over anxious to get the line out. And you lose the stillness and timing that he as an older person had.

    I think about him all the time. Particularly when I’m doing Neighbours, because when I’m working with Jackie Woodburne (Neighbours screen wife, Susan Kennedy), we do a lot of comedy together. And she’s a master at that, too. It’s the slow-burning look that dissolves the audience into hysterics.

    SL: You’ve brought us nicely onto Neighbours and 1994 is a year you probably won’t forget. That’s when the Kennedy’s moved into Ramsay Street. I remember that hideous portrait in your house, above the fireplace of your kids, Malcolm Libby and Billy.

    AF: Yes, my memory is that Helen Daniels painted it. You’re absolutely right. And interestingly, on the very last day of filming of Neighbours, we shot the last scene in the Kennedy house. And during the speeches, I glanced around to look at the portrait, which was gone. It had been spirited away. And it was because there was a worry that someone might take it.

    SL: What do you remember about your first day on the Neighbours set?

    AF: It was just myself and Jesse Spencer who played Billy Kennedy. We were on Ramsey Street purchasing number 28, and Karl was buying the house without his wife’s say so. So you know, the parameters of Karl Kennedy was set very early as a man who did things his way. It was fabulous working with Jesse, who was 14 years old. He was confident; he was a brilliant musician who played the violin and was a very fine actor. And a week later, we turned up again with a whole family in a removal truck.

    Honestly, I couldn’t have dreamt of having a better family to work with. There was loads of ad-libbing and had an incredible vibe. It was very, very energetic and lovable.

    Footnote: What a legend, it was such a privilege to chat with Alan! You can read the rest of my interview with Alan Fletcher in the July/August print edition of Sorted Magazine. To listen to this interview, and others, just tune in to my weekly radio show on Konnect Radio every Saturday from 12pm until 1pm.

    Alan Fletcher and his fellow cast members will be in the UK for the Neighbours Farewell Tour, to find out more about the tour please click here.

    Alan is not only an accomplished actor, but he’s also a gifted musician, to find out more about his new album and tour dates please click here.

    Main photo credit: Alan Fletcher

  • Beyond the banter: Envy can eat you up

    Beyond the banter: Envy can eat you up

    Gordon is a good friend. We have spent some fun times together, but he is totally locked into ‘stuff’. He’s a busy person and he’s gadget mad and considers it a priority to have the latest versions. He has a good job and can afford to buy these things. I suppose when I was earning more money I was a bit more carefree, but I sometimes wonder whether for him it is an addiction. I’m probably about five years behind when it comes to the latest technology, but as we talked it became clear that he would find it very difficult to go back even a couple of years to what then seemed like a must-have piece of equipment. In his eyes going backwards represents a failure of some sort, and his fairly forceful insistence that I should upgrade my stuff was actually quite hurtful.

    I’ve always wanted to be a good provider. I feel the weight of that responsibility. I hope I never lose that sense. But I sometimes feel self-conscious that my car is getting on a bit. Why should I? It runs perfectly well. Yet I feel slightly off the pace of other men whom I perceive to be more successful than me. Do you ever feel this kind of pressure?

    Financial difficulties can leave you with feelings of uselessness and under-achievement. The trouble is we’ve all come to expect a certain standard of living. Some young couples expect to start out in life where their parents ended up after a lifetime of work. It was all made worse by the ‘buy now, pay later’ idea. When I was a young man there was a cultural shift from saving up until you could afford something, to buying it now on credit. After all, why pay more for it a year down the line if you could get it cheaper now, even allowing for paying some interest?

    Men can feel an unspoken pressure to compete with one another. I know one guy who doesn’t watch adverts on television because he doesn’t want to know what the latest gadget is. He doesn’t want that pressure on top of everything else he has to deal with. Sadly, advertisers find ever more cunning ways of peddling their wares especially through the internet. It’s so annoying when adverts pop up uninvited. It’s almost impossible to avoid.

    It takes will power to swim against this tide, to channel some of that drive to be a good provider into holding back on what we want and being happy with what we have. Let’s be strong enough to avoid the tendency to compare ourselves with others. Let’s not overstretch our resources just to keep up appearances.

    It’s healthy to be content, but envy can eat you up. Proverbs 14:30 CEV.

    Main photo credit: Rupixen via Unsplash

  • Travel: Seven sneaky holiday scams

    Travel: Seven sneaky holiday scams

    Transport

    When taking trips abroad, it’s vital to consider how you will travel throughout the country beforehand. Unregulated airport taxis could take advantage of the fact that you aren’t local and may be uneducated on typical fares. As a result, you could be charged extremely high rates or taken to the incorrect destination which pays the taxi a finder’s fee, rather than the hotel, restaurant or particular business you requested. To avoid this, travellers should always research reliable, licensed taxi firms rather than getting into the first one they see. In the majority of countries, taxi drivers are required to carry and display their ID badge in the vehicle. Always ask the driver what the fare will be, before starting the journey. If the driver refuses to show you their ID or pre-warn you of fares, book with another taxi firm and do not enter the vehicle.

    Fake PCR 

    Some countries now require travellers to report a valid, negative COVID test before entering their country. Amid reports that scammers have been caught conning holidaymakers with fake PCR tests and ‘fit to fly’ certificates, it is vital to always ensure that any PCR test you take is from a reputable source. If you’re travelling from the UK, you can purchase PCR tests from most pharmacies and report the results through the NHS app.

    Hotels and Accommodation

    When booking accommodation online, ensure to fully research the facility before booking. Look for reviews with images and check to make sure it’s a registered building. More and more adverts are appearing to show accommodation that isn’t real, outdated, and different to the visuals provided. By booking through reputable travel agencies, you can avoid illegitimate accommodation as the agency will cover all of the above bases for you.

    Public Wifi

    Most hosts will offer holidaymakers the services of their shared public Wi-Fi. While this is convenient, it’s key to remember that public Wi-Fi may not be as secure as your private network at home. When browsing the internet, make sure you don’t use sites and apps that involve inputting personal information, like contact details or bank card details. Alternatively, you can download a VPN, which will allow you to block any unwarranted third party companies from accessing your data.

    Pickpockets

    Pickpocketing is the oldest scam in the book, but now more than ever, scammers are becoming increasingly creative. Scammers may interact with you directly, to allow time for a third party to steal from under your nose while you’re distracted. When in crowded, public spaces, it’s always vital to keep your personal belongings close by. It’s best practice to leave valuables at home, but if you must bring them with you, store them in a money belt or bum bag to prevent theft.

    Activities and excursions

    When booking excursions or additional activities during your trip, always book through an official company. Some illegitimate companies may lack the health and safety precautions necessary to keep you safe abroad. The safest option is to book any extra activities or excursions directly through the official travel agency that you booked your trip with. If you choose to book with a third-party, thoroughly research the company beforehand and always look at previous customer reviews.

    Gambling

    Make sure to thoroughly research any casino games you may take part in while on holiday, to avoid being scammed. Casino staff may explain a game to you in a lengthy way to take advantage of the fact that you lack knowledge in this area. Scams.info have provided six famous examples of Vegas Casino scams in their recent article here.

    Main Photo credit: Ross Parmly via Unsplash
  • Comment: Creating home inside ourselves

    Comment: Creating home inside ourselves

    Dr Glenn Doyle is a licensed psychologist based in Illinois and the District of Columbia, and Director of The Doyle Practice, a private psychotherapy practice with offices in Chicago and DC. I’ve benefited from following Dr Doyle’s regular snippets of insight and wisdom which he regularly shares on his social media platforms. Dr Doyle speaks in easy to understand, sometimes colourful, language and seems utterly grounded in the reality of human existence.

    Doyle writes with far greater authority than I ever could about the internal world of the mind and the heart. With astonishing honesty he addresses the realities of living with anxiety and depression. He is particularly astute when it comes to tackling external stimuli which can trigger unwanted, overwhelming responses. His writings, and the work he does around Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are so helpful. While researching for a book about home I was delighted to discover that he has shared some of his thoughts about the concept of home on his personal website – useyourdammskills.com.

    In his inimitable style Dr Doyle writes: Home is a complicated subject for a lot of people. I wish it was simple, straightforward. I wish that nobody had mixed feelings or associations with the word “home.”

    But we do. In the best of all possible worlds, home speaks to a place that is safe.

    A place where we feel wanted. Where we ARE wanted.

    In the best of all possible worlds, home speaks to a place where we established a safe base from which to explore and experience the world, and to which we can return to rest, recharge, and remember.

    But for many people, it’s more complicated than that.

    For some people, as they were growing up, home was a place that was unpredictable.

    We WANT home to be a place where we’re able to kind of lower the mask that we wear out in public, and be ourselves, let our hair down, let our defences down.

    But a lot of people weren’t able to do that growing up.

    For them, home was a place where they had to engage different kinds of defences and wear different kinds of masks, than they did out in the world.

    A lot of people don’t know what it’s like to feel truly safe.

    There are different kinds of safety, and different kinds of danger, both out there in the world, and even back at home, for a lot of people.

    When we grow up feeling fundamentally unsafe, we tend to blame ourselves.

    What’s wrong with us, we wonder, that we can’t or don’t feel truly safe?

    After all, we hear other people speak affectionately or nostalgically about home.

    What’s wrong with us that we don’t feel that way, we wonder?

    If you grew up feeling that home wasn’t a safe place, a place where you felt safe, wanted, understood, supported, it wasn’t your fault.

    It wasn’t on you to make home a safe place. You were a kid.

    There are people reading this who really, really want to go home but not to the house or the place where they grew up.

    We want to FIND home.

    We want to FIND that place where we DO feel safe, wanted, understood, and supported.

    Even if we kind of doubt it exists, part of us STILL wants to find, and go, home.

    As it turns out, a big part of recovery from depression, anxiety, trauma, and/or addiction is creating that sense of home inside us.

    We will try, again and again, to find or create that sense in other people, or places, or institutions, and we may even experience bits and pieces of it here and there … but the truth is, it’s on us to make the inside of our own head and heart that fundamental place of safety for us.

    We need to know, without a doubt, that we are safe inside our own head.

    We need to know, without a doubt, that we are safe with ourselves.

    We need to know, without a doubt, that we can retreat inside our head and heart, and find a landscape that is familiar and non-toxic.

    For some of us, that may be completely unfamiliar territory and we may have doubts about our ability to create that safety, that home inside of us.

    But that’s the work of recovery. That’s what’s in front of us. Nothing we do in therapy or recovery is going to matter all that much if we don’t make the inside of our own head a safe place.

    I wish so many of us didn’t have to work so hard to create a whole new meaning for the word home.

    I wish home was a default place of safety for all of us.

    But this is the hand we’ve been dealt, and all we can do, is what we can do.

    So let’s do that.

    Read more in depth articles from Dr Glenn Doyle here. Find his books here and professional services here.

    Main photo credit: Julian Hochgesang via Unsplash

  • TV: The last ever Endeavour

    TV: The last ever Endeavour

    The writers of Endeavour had earned my trust, but dare I trust them one last time? As the ninth and final season of the hit ITV crime drama broadcast the final episode I had one burning question: Could I be certain that the writers would tidy up all the loose ends to my complete and total satisfaction?

    I enjoy a nice solid ending, thank you very much. No cliff hangers, fatal accidents (Unforgotten writers; I’m looking at you), unresolved issues, sudden cut-offs, bizarre plot twists or waking from a dream two minutes before the closing credits roll. No, those options simply wouldn’t do. After all, I had let their characters into my living room, I’d invested emotionally into every single one of them, but would they stitch me up for the last episode?

    Would the charming and witty Dr DeBryn ever find love? Could Chief Superintendent Bright carry on? Would the fabulous Miss Frazil finally meet someone? What would become of young Joan, our lovely Joan? And Detective Sergeant Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans) himself, what of the lad upon whom the main plot line rests? And oh yeah … I suppose all those pesky crimes still needed solving too. But my very worst worry was – would they kill off my beloved Fred? How could they convincingly write Detective Inspector Fred Thursday (Roger Allam), the man who had mentored Morse, out of Morse’s future?

    For dysfunctional reasons of my own I confess there’s a part of me which needs to believe in the Freds of this world. For a couple of hours Endeavour provides me with a brief respite in which to do exactly that. I desperately want to believe that the important big things are being run properly, by proper grown-ups who properly know what they’re doing. They’ve lived a life. They know people. They may be deeply flawed and human, but they are also fearless, fair and fatherly.

    Fred Thursday has seen, and been, both the very worst and the very best of people. And while he’s no stranger to rough justice, on the whole, he aims to play by the book and uphold the law. He navigates his way around the edges of turmoil, inner conflict and human suffering with equal measures of tenderness and toughness. Roger Allam commands an incredibly powerful screen presence. Without uttering a single swear word his steely glare oozes don’t-mess-with-me old school justice. He plays Thursday with such gripping force, I can barely stand to watch him play another part, and face up to the reality that he’s actually an actor.

    Another part of me needs familiar things not to end. Not to change. Not ever. Because there can be a dreadful sadness in endings. There’s a part of me which longs for familiar things, and people, to go on forever. It seems I am not alone in this longing. In the final episode of the final series the writers of Endeavour grab this issue by the horns. They face up to it, well, like grown-ups. They somehow shine a light on these longings, which are an essential part of our shared humanity, thus allowing the viewer to feel less alone. And isn’t that one of the things which good writers of fiction do? They somehow help the reader, or the viewer, to feel less alone. As the final credits rolled and the familiar Morse theme played, I knew I had been right to trust them. They did ok.

    Episodes of Endeavour are available to stream on ITVX.

    Main photo credit: Fair Usage

  • Marriage research: Divorce cases rose by 9.6% in 2021

    Marriage research: Divorce cases rose by 9.6% in 2021

    Throughout Marriage Week 7th-14th February 2023, Harry Benson, Sorted Columnist and Research Director at the Marriage Foundation shares a series of daily articles about the latest academic research.

    Harry writes: Divorces were up by 9.6% in 2021. According to new figures from the Office for National Statistics there was a big rise in divorce in 2021. Some of this is real. But most is a one-off due to lockdown and court delays.

    We have seen little to no indication of a big rise in 2021 divorces either from lockdown surveys that look at how much people are thinking about divorce or the Ministry of Justice figures that report divorce applications. We wrote a report on this here.

    So does this 9.6% rise suggest a problem with marriages or a problem with the divorce system?

    One way of looking at it, is to recognise that almost all changes in divorce rates over the past 40 years have come from divorces granted to wives rather than husbands. This system changed in April 2022 but it gives us a way of seeing if there’s any real change.

    If the recent rise is all about the system, we should see fluctuations in the husband divorces in the last few years. And we did. Read my full comment here.

    Main photo courtesy of This Morning

  • Long read: “A filthy, ugly game”

    Long read: “A filthy, ugly game”

    Strains of Sweet Chariot grow ever louder. The rain hammers down without mercy. The Guinness flows. A beautiful kick by Farrell. The crowd bounces with gleeful cheer. Tensions rise. Excitement mounts. We’re close to the end. The seconds are ticking. I watch, unaware that within a few days the Covid Pandemic will shut down the whole shooting match. Rewind three years; the Six Nations Rugby Championship is well underway and the Scottish team are going head to head with the English team. But to which players have I pledged my allegiance? Exactly where does my loyalty and commitment lie? Who am I cheering for?

    Turns out I’m cheering for anyone who’s doing their level best. I’m even cheering for the referee because he seems like a decent bloke. The camera and production crews are doing a sterling job. The commentators are on top form. So whose side am I actually on? I can claim genuine Scottish, English and Irish ancestry, so broadly speaking, I just can’t lose. My somewhat fickle allegiance will, for the remainder of the weekend at least, rest firmly with the winning side, whoever they are. By the end of today I will be victorious. It’s a certainty. I will happily identify with whichever team wins the match. “A filthy, ugly game” the commentator spits out with bright resounding Celtic force. In this battle only one team will be the conquerors. And it will be my team. My boys will win. And after downing a couple of Guinness, that seems like a perfectly fair and reasonable outcome to me.

    And isn’t that the way? Honestly? Don’t we naturally prefer to identify with the winning team? And, depending on how poorly they’ve played, we might want to distance ourselves from the losing team. Unpacking this, in terms of any kind of allegiance we may have towards a faith organisation, is a complex matter. If a particular denomination or church leader is on the receiving end of bad press the shock waves reach far beyond their immediate circle. The whole organisation can quickly fall into disrepute. Faithful supporters may feel badly let down and may voice their disillusionment. They may withdraw their giving. Those in positions of power or influence are often quick to make public statements about their take on the matter. Sometimes these statements are supportive, at other times they denounce any connection to the leader in question. The public pile in; adding fuel to the fire. It’s a different kind of “filthy, ugly game” but the “managers” are still the ones in the firing line. In faith organisations the winners and losers aren’t nearly as clear cut as they are in sporting events. And some players may be so desperately wounded and damaged that they never find the strength to return to the arena. Not even as a spectator.

    Dare I make reference to political parties at this juncture? The never ending game of politics, both at home and abroad seems to have grown especially “filthy and ugly” to me of late. I’m currently disinclined to pledge my allegiance to anyone at national level. Perhaps I’m being naïve. I’m definitely shirking my civic duty. I feel pretty lousy about that actually, especially in view of all those women who campaigned and sacrificed so that I could vote. For two months I stopped watching the news on television. The first couple of weeks were so liberating that it took a while for me to resume the habit. I’ve been less inclined to engage with political stories than I’ve ever been. In some respects I stand in awe of working politicians because of their tenacity to stay in such a brutal game. They face such cruel public scrutiny. It’s a marvel that they manage to win the allegiance of a single constituent, let alone turn up for work and do their actual job. Before the pandemic filled the news I noticed myself dodging stories about politics whenever they popped up on social media too. My mood improved but the guilt nearly crushed me.

    Perhaps to some extent this need we feel to be counted with the winning team is rooted in how we perceive the perception others have of us. I’ll say that again. Our allegiance may be influenced by how we perceive others are perceiving us because of the team, tribe or group to which we belong. Figuratively speaking each of us loosely belongs to a poorly defined tribe, by birth or by choice. Human beings are tribal by nature. This makes it all too easy to be judged as guilty, or not guilty, by association. Such perceptions can and do affect our acceptance and inclusion by others in broader society.

    Our perceived tribal membership can, for instance, affect whether or not our children get a place in the local primary school, whether we’re offered a job, whether we’re invited to the networking party. The Oxford Graduate is more likely to secure the high level job than the ex-con. The ex-con is more likely to be invited to join the local mafia than the Oxford Grad. The well connected London-based journalist with a Fleet Street pedigree is more likely to secure the lucrative publishing deal than the unknown working class northerner beavering away out in the back of beyond (not that I’m bitter). These perceptions about which tribe we are notionally part of, ill-defined and illusive as they are, matter quite a lot.

    Being a person of faith is a rewarding path which many folks choose, but it also opens up a whole world of competing loyalties, commitments and potential embarrassments.

    To whom have you pledged your allegiance? The trendy burgeoning mega-church may seem like the cool place to be, but does the celebritisation of its leaders make you feel uncomfortable? The concert type worship may be exhilarating but does the hyped up sermon exhorting you to be a totally awesome dude leave you feeling exhausted? The traditional church may seem stable and accountable, but does the glacial pace of change paralyse your hopes for improvement? The richness of ancient liturgy may stir your soul but does the stand-up-sit-down routine jangle your nerves? The warmth of maternal fellowship may be deeply comforting but does belonging to an old dears’ club undermine your hard earned street cred?

    The very act of choosing to pledge allegiance and self-identify yourself with any group of humans, anywhere on the planet, has the inherent potential to cause you irritation, embarrassment, and even shame, as sure as day follows night. It’s an inescapable part of our flawed humanity. No sports team, no political party, no faith group, no church community, no educational institution, no geographical area, no wider family, no profession, no collection of living, breathing human beings are exempt from making mistakes and getting it wrong, sometimes terribly wrong. Fellow members of your chosen tribe may even offend you. They may go off in a different direction than originally promised or expected. Leaders in particular, and their associated agendas, may come and then quite unexpectedly, go.

    We may crave stability but to expect it all the time is certain folly. Expectations of non-stop perfect conditions for personal comfort and fulfilment may seem hopeful but they aren’t rooted in reality. If we pledge our allegiance, that is to say our loyalty and commitment, to a group of fellow humans we must keep our expectations at a realistic level, or face up to the eventual disappointment. There is no ideal tribe. People can, and most likely will, let us down. But we in turn can certainly, by design or default, let others down. When we have learned to live, and indeed thrive, under the almost unbearable weight of this truth, we can feel more relaxed and enjoy a certain sort of freedom about the fickle allegiances of tribe. The value of this freedom can’t be understated.

    I say fickle because it’s all too easy, in our flawed humanity, to transfer our favour to the winning team. For all the world it appeared as though I was switching sides during the Six Nations Rugby Championship. But in my heart, in the very deepest part of me, I was delighting in the human endeavour on display. I was proud of the skill, the effort, the split second decisions, the honour, the fairness, the justice. When my children were little they sometimes protested: “You’re always on his side!” My response? “I’m the Mum, I’m on everyone’s side.”

    It can be a little disarming when we consider that God may be on everyone’s side. Perhaps He too sits on the side-lines, simply delighting in the effort of our human endeavour. Perhaps God doesn’t even see sides in the way we do. Perhaps now, in the face of much social and economic turbulence, fairness and kindness and love are the things which register with Him.

    Main photo courtesy of Six Nations Rugby Championship

  • News from The Leprosy Mission

    News from The Leprosy Mission

    Leprosy Mission teams are shocked to discover the tea gardens of Bangladesh are home to the highest leprosy rate they have seen.

    The Leprosy Mission has worked in the slums of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka for many years. The overcrowded living conditions and poor sanitation are not only distressing but ripe for disease.

    Just a few hours’ drive Northeast of Dhaka, the fresh air and the vibrant foliage of the tea gardens are the perfect antidote to the city slums.

    But appearances can be deceptive. While the tea crop flourishes, leprosy is choking the life out of its workforce.

    There are 600,000 people living and working on the tea estates of Sylhet with the leprosy rate 20-30 times the global average. This equates to thousands of people living with untreated leprosy. Almost no family remains unscathed and even children are showing the early signs.

    Leprosy Mission doctors and health workers are staggered by the number of new cases they have found. Since going into tea estates in 2017, they have found and cured more than 1,600 new cases of leprosy. The more they look, the more they find.

    The discovery has culminated in the launch of the Flourish campaign on Sunday 29 January, World Leprosy Day 2023. Flourish seeks to find and cure tea workers and their families of leprosy, protect livelihoods and create a future where the whole community can flourish.

    Chief Executive, Peter Waddup, says there is a real urgency to find and cure new cases of leprosy. This is before disability sets in and the tea workers lose everything they know and love.

    Peter said: “The situation in the tea gardens is very unusual. This is not just because of the extraordinary high rate of leprosy but the lack of stigma surrounding the disease.

    “I’ve had the privilege of visiting our projects across Asia and Africa and one thing is constant. That is the terrible prejudice surrounding leprosy. People are, understandably, reluctant to come forward for treatment because of this prejudice. They live in fear of being seen as cursed and cast out of their families and communities.

    “But what is unusual within the tea estates of Bangladesh is there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of stigma surrounding the disease.

    “This is likely to be because the workforce is made up of ethnic and religious minorities who are, sadly, already marginalised from society.

    “When the workers are fit and well, they form a tight-knit community with friendships between the tea pickers often going back decades.

    “The trouble comes when nerve damage caused by leprosy causes fingers to curl.

    “As the tea pickers are paid by the kilogram of tea picked, speed and efficiency are everything.

    “There is a very real worry among the tea pickers that they will lose their home and community. This is because employees are provided with a basic family home which they must leave should they become too sick or disabled to work.

    “My colleagues in Bangladesh are already running pop-up clinics in a third of the tea gardens in Sylhet, finding and curing new leprosy cases.

    “Knowing the full extent of the problem, we desperately need the resources to scale up this work.

    “There is a real urgency to find and cure people before leprosy leaves them too disabled to work and they lose everything. 

    “The aim is always to cure people of leprosy at the earliest opportunity.

    “As well as preventing transmission, prompt treatment stops leprosy from causing life-long disabilities.

    “The fact that there doesn’t appear to be too much stigma surrounding taking the cure for leprosy in the tea gardens is a good thing. It means people are open to treatment.

    “Tragically it is when they are forced to leave the tea gardens because of leprosy that they are exposed to extreme prejudice.”

    Main photo credit: Ruth Towell

  • Laughing it up

    All of us, except possibly Mr Spock, regularly use and appreciate humour. So why do we need it? Ian Kirke has done some research, with a little help from the younger generation.

    Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator says, “Calm down. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence; then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says, “OK, now what?”

    This was ranked as the world’s funniest joke by Richard Wiseman, Professor of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, England in 2002 following extensive research. Submitted by Gurpal Gosal, it is derived from a 1951 Goon Show sketch by the legendary British comedian Spike Milligan. The basis of the academic study sought to determine the gag that had the best ability to activate the chuckle muscles across different cultures and territories. 

    I love a good laugh, although I fully accept that my delivery of a traditional gag lacks the requisite elegant technique that leads to the essential punchline. I have nonetheless become fascinated with the mechanics of laughter following the recent arrival of Arthur. 

     My partner’s grandson, now 18 months old, has captivated my heart and my sense of childhood in a delicious cocktail of innocence and unconditional laughter. Granted, he does cry, can be obstinate, regularly chucks his dinner on the floor and slaps my bald head with karate-chop precision, but for most of the rest of his waking hours he is a permanent giggle monster. 

    At this golden moment in Arthur’s development, I can only tickle his funny bones by exaggerated stupidity and rude noises, much to the annoyance of his Mum. Holding him in my arms and repeatedly pressing the smoke alarm button sends him into chortle meltdown, as does singing awful songs mimicking family members when we are alone in the car. Pushing him over whilst he stands proudly on the bed makes us both wet ourselves (we are both of a certain age). 

    My desire is to explore this transition from simply laughing at behaviour to the grasp of the classic joke. The play on words that can, if delivered successfully, promote a positive emotional response.

    The beauty of humour is that it has stumped even the most eminent of psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers. Several notions exist, with some hypotheses having been mooted over time that engage with the tribulations of others and the ability to link with latent emotional concepts. Posting the line, “At least I don’t have to wear a mask for Halloween” got some traction on the laughter emojis, and personally I have found self-deprecation to be an important ally, not to be confused with defecation, which we Brits seem to reserve the heartiest laughs for.

    The evolutionary theory of humour proposed by Gil Greengross, an anthropologist at the University of Mexico, engages with the notion that it is present in all societies, although allegedly some nations are funnier than others. In 2011, a global poll by Badoo.com crowned the United States as the funniest nation on the planet, with Germany at the bottom. 

     This study tends to support the thoughts of the famous author Mark Twain who, in 1880, advocated that a German joke is no laughing matter. He was of course American, so an element of bias may have been present, albeit humour should rarely be constrained by the truth. For the record, Russia and Turkey were down there too.

    In more contemporary research, Matthew M. Hurley of Indiana University Bloomington and a few of his clever mates suggested, in the 2011 book, Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind, that wit was the edification of mistakes that would seemingly always have an individual as the butt of the gag. For example: “My new motor has gesture control. When I made a rude sign to a motorist who cut me up, my car actually phoned me.”

    The mantra ‘laughter is the best medicine’ (believed to stem from a proverb in the Bible) is pretty accurate, since it has some tangible health benefits, including lowering blood pressure, and forms the basis of a technique known as laughter yoga, which I confess I haven’t tried since I’ve been known to follow a good belly laugh with a tad of flatulence, not ideal when cross-legged on the floor with others nearby.

    According to other notable studies, laughter can also reduce anxiety, counter depression, bolster the immune system and help you breathe more easily afterwards. In the 14th century, a French surgeon by the glorious name of Henri de Mondeville used humour to distract patients from the pain of surgery. 

    A 2014 study published in the International Journal of Obesity showed that laughter can actually burn calories. Consequently, when I visit the gym, I remain inside the changing room and just look at myself in the mirror. I’ve lost over seven pounds this year. If that disclosure didn’t impress you, then maybe the knowledge that laughter increases your intake of oxygen, which stimulates your heart, lungs, and muscles, and increases the release of endorphins – that work in a similar fashion to opioids – may steer you away from other potential stimulants.

    Our upbringing, place of birth and those we associate with has a tremendous bearing on our sense of humour. This has been the subject of extensive academic review which suggests that in the West humour is generally a positive experience, yet in the East the opposite can be true. In China, for example, Confucianism sought to position humour as a stick of disapproval. However, according to my Dad, “Confucius says that woman who cooks cabbage and peas in same pot is unsanitary.” It took me a few years to get that one!

    Back to the other, and funnier, part of my favourite double act – Arthur. The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky suggested that humour improves a child’s cognitive development. Arthur’s infectious smile – and almost consistent giggling – lead me to the conclusion that little Arthur will grow up to be both an eminent brain surgeon and the star turn in Las Vegas with his unique stand-up routine. Of course, according to his Dad, these vocational choices will follow the conclusion of his footballing career as centre-forward for West Ham United. Now there is a joke if ever I heard one! 

    © Ian Kirke 2022

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