Exploiting Orange Dot

I woke up depressed this morning. There is a lot going on in my head. I am working late tonight, so as I was making the shepherd’s pie and doing last night’s washing up I was thinking.

I watched the start of the new series of Benefits Street last night. I didn’t watch the last series as I don’t watch much TV but I did read about it in the press. This series is set in Kingston Road on the Tilery estate in Stockton-on-Tees. I am interested as I meet people on benefits all the time on our estates, but just as often, as was the case yesterday, when I ring a family up to alert them to a free employment and training service nearby, they will get a bit irate and say, quite rightly, ‘too many people assume that if you live in social housing you don’t work. We all work in our house’.

The two main female protagonists, Julie and Sue on the show are lovely – natural leaders that a community development worker like me would look for on an estate to encourage ‘coming together’ activities. They were doing this without a community centre or any type of public facility in sight and in spite of 24/7 care for a severely disabled son.

What shocked me to the core was the descent of the photographers/general news filming crew. This was not the Benefits Britain team who had obviously got sign up from individual residents, but the national news and papers. The local MP put in an appearance. He did not discredit himself, but as the residents said and he admitted, it was the first time he had ever been on the estate.

There was some footage of older, middle class film makers obviously not liking being on the other end of the camera and asking not to be filmed. Left wandering the street was a handful of young professionals, two men, two women, probably in their late 20s. One young woman in particular stays with me. She looked quite lovely – all blonde hair fussed up messily but fetchingly on her head, beautiful without make-up and an enormous camera.   She got Dot to pose for her. Dot, you find out later is of uncommon mixed race. She does look a bit orange, but you can’t tell on film if that is too much make-up or not. She was touchingly flattered to pose and then found out afterwards the young woman had nothing to do with the Benefits Britain team.

Days later there was this gross coverage about ‘Orange Dot’ in a national tabloid, The Sun I think. Dot came out of it on film with great dignity, but was hurt and bemused.

I am grappling with my reaction. I buy a tabloid. When I get the train in to London I buy a Daily Mail. I enjoy the variety of articles in it and think it keeps me in touch with what matters for ordinary people in Britain. It’s the way I keep on top of who is a celebrity.

I was angry with the parents for bringing up this young woman with her obvious advantages to think it was acceptable to make a living doing this. I believe, as a parent, we have a duty both to model and to encourage our children to aim to make a positive contribution in the world. I know we all have to make a living, but if they had been my own children I would have been angry and ashamed.