01/06/2017 Timeline

Should men be more open with their mental and physical health? We will

be talking to Tom Urie about his weight and anxiety. And we will be

speaking to an envious survivor who has come back to Glasgow to find her

family. -- and abuse survivor. Welcome to Timeline. With a week to

go to the general election, we will give you an alternative slant on the

campaign with Elaine Malcolmson. And our dear Darwish, a television

presenter making a new life in Edinburgh. It is difficult to learn

the words, a vigil was held outside the opening

session in Edinburgh after a series of institutions apologised after

children were abused under their care. Other abuse survivors are

encouraged to come forward to tell their stories. One of the survivors

was Kate, who is here with us now. Thank you for coming in. You were

born in Glasgow and moved away when you were seven years old. Tell us

what happened. I ended up in dairy - -- Londonderry - Derry. I was pulled

in the door, ... Everything was kept very quiet, I did not expect my

mother and father to break up. I thought they were happy. You ended

up in Nazareth House which was very notorious for what went on. What

happened? We work taken to the Bath. We were put in fluid. We continued

to be bathed in that and we developed skin problems because of

the product. We got our haircut above our ears so we could blend in

with the other children. We were orphans. I loved family life and had

experienced it. I was heartbroken, craving my mother and father and

having a family. And being in Scotland once more. It wasn't to be.

When did the abuse start? When I was about eight. I remember going to

confession. The first, vivid memory is the priest calling me by my name.

In there, you work called your full title, I was Kathleen. Sometimes I

would forget the answer to the name because my mother always called me

Kate. It was in the confession box, the priest called me by my name. I

was devastated. That's not even the correct word. I just thought God

told him who I was. Then, it started to be, I was left in the last in the

line. I was always put to the end of the line. Or was sent back to clean

toilets, you know? So that I was always last. The none would hand me

over, placed my hand into the priest's hand. My priest with gently

into the place where they got changed. There were outfits

belonging to him. That he could wear for different occasions. He would

lock me in there. After the grooming started, he studied to grow me. He

continued on. -- me. He made me sit behind the door while

he was mass debating. -- masterbating. It was when I was 12.

I was moved, to the outside school. I was not a first year. Got up in

the morning, clean the toilets, being a first, forgetting about what

happened that morning. I began to copy people who lived in family

homes, copied their notes. I had suddenly -- accidentally sent a note

from the none. I was asked one morning, stay back, you are not

going to school today. I was walked miles away to another conference. --

another convent. The secret was going to come out. You are here in

Glasgow to support other survivors of abuse and encourage them to tell

your story like you did in the Northern Ireland enquiry? It helped

me. Anyone sitting at home, thinking, male or female, should I

or shouldn't I? I was exactly the same. I saw Margaret from Savia on

television. I thought, I wanted to talk to that woman. I do not know

why I didn't pick up the courage. I got a lift down or stop I saw on the

news she was coming to the City Hotel. I was waiting for her. I was

still nervous, you know? It's two months before I talked to anyone

about it. You would encourage people to do the same? The other reason you

are here, it is more personal. You are trying to trace your family you

lost touch with in Glasgow was years ago, how is that going? I have a

happy mood because I believe I am going to meet some family. Maybe a

couple of them, I don't know. I know two cousins have come forward. They

have been phoning in and I am grateful to the Scottish media, you

know, for... I think you were speaking to John on the radio and

people called in? The papers were trying to find out if they could

find me somebody, so that I had a belonging, a self- belonging, which

I never had my life. I didn't know who I was supposed to be. And just

closure to that. I feel as if doors have been opened and I am getting

through these doors. No closing these doors behind me. Kate, we wish

you well with the next chapter and the reunion with your family. Thanks

very much for coming in. Thanks a million. Extraordinary. The polls

suggest the win by the Conservatives party is by no means certain. Later,

a comedic look at the political campaigns. But now, the campaign so

far. When Ruth Davidson tops about

independence in this campaign she is using it as a smoke screen. She says

I talk about nothing else, the truth is, she talked so much about

independence I can't get a word in Edwards. You are standing there

before an election, saying, it is safe to vote SNP. If there is no

manifesto for independence, there will be no referendum. This is the

only thing you ever wanted in your entire political career. Two

fundamentally different positions. There is one very clear position,

the manifesto, people can look that up. We do not support independence,

a second independence referendum. Because of the turbo-charged

austerity... It was in the manifesto. It doesn't matter what

the leader of the Labour Party said, it only matters what is on the

manifesto? If you are so against another referendum, white the Brexit

folk? We didn't know what the deal was going to be like when we came

out of Europe. We voted to meet the European Union, not the destination.

Something so monumental, we believe it should be put back to the British

people for them to have their say. We are ensuring people will not have

to sell their house during their lifetime. They will not have to

worry about those monthly bills for their care and they will protect

more money than they have been before. This must be the first time

in modern history there are parties broken their manifesto policy before

the election. Do you support renewal of Trident? It is there in the

manifesto. I voted because everyone knows I wanted to go in a different

direction. I respect the decision that has been taken. I think this

debate shames and demeans us all. I don't think anyone watching this

debate, from Cornwall to Caithness, who does not understand the positive

contribution people have made to this land who have come from the

rest of Europe and the rest of the world. Where is Theresa May? Take a

look out of the window, she might be out there, sizing up your house to

pay for your social care. As you've seen from that,

politicians are raising devolved issues like health and education -

so just a quick reminder that in this election

a Westminster Government defence, immigration,

trade and industry, Health, social care, and education

are among the powers devolved to the Scottish Government,

so we decided on them when we placed our votes

for MSPs last year. The stiff upper lip may be a British

trait, but there are concerns that men may be taking it too far when it

comes to their mental The chief executive of Movember -

the charity behind the craze for growing moustaches for money

in November - has been in Scotland I do not have enough testosterone to

do that. Timeline caught up with him

at Glasgow Caledonian University. I worked in a number of Glasgow

hospitals in the time I was here. My career in the widest fence was

formed by my time in Glasgow. Stereotypically I've came across a

lot of West Coast of Scotland men who hadn't talked about their

health, had addressed the fact that they were frightened about things

and I came across men who were really facing serious health issues

because they hadn't addressed them earlier. Prostate cancer, testicular

cancer, they both happen below the belt and men are not used to

accessing health services and the last thing they want to do is access

the health service and go to the doctor for the first time and have

something that they perceive to be an invasive examination. Women are

more used to it, they go through childbirth, they are used to

accessing health services, breast screening and so on, and that

doesn't happen for men. We need to break down the stigma, let guys know

that a lot of things you think are going to happen and the doctors

don't. Prostate cancer is much less common that you get a digital rectal

examination the first time around. Normally it is a blood test. Most

guys don't know that. We need guys to go. Nothing is worse than

ignoring it. If you ignore it you are going to cause yourself mental

problems and stress and you may be diagnosed later and therefore what

you must be treated for Will be much more serious. Nearly 80% of the

people who take their lives every year in the UK are men and the

majority of them take their lives, they are young men. A lot of what we

need to do about suicide is helping young guys to cope with the

difficult moments in life much better. It's about providing coping

skills and mechanisms to reach out and say that I'm not doing as well

as I should be earlier on. We come as a society, for a long time have

accepted that it is a fact that men will die earlier than women,

currently five years earlier. There's no real reason for that. The

reasons are preventable. We have quite a long history of funding

biomedical research, especially into prostate cancer and there has been

some great work. Scotland is a leading place in global research and

it is well regarded. We have started developing community projects, for

example working with some of the football clubs in Scotland and

really funding programmes that are reaching out to the community about

improving physical health and mental health. We have an overall principle

that we take for the money we raise and actually going to wear men and

boys are. We don't want to run projects and do bits of work that

are in institutions, we want to go into the community and reach guys.

One person who has been speaking out about their health recently

He's lost nearly 17 stone following a gastric operation.

His interview this week with Kaye Adams on BBC Radio Scotland

about his experience of losing weight and his anxiety

Oh, thanks very much. You have brought in your old jeans. Want to

see them? They used to be a too tight. There we are. My goodness. I

used to wear them with the button and zip undone and with a belt to

hold them up because they were too small. Wow, fantastic. I think they

should be put in a museum somewhere. There you go. You have gone public

on the radio, this is the first time we have seen them, before and after,

but what started it off was River City? Yes, we did a storyline about

my character, big Bob facing up to his Demons and his eating disorder

and his mental health, I suppose, and they sent him to fat camp. We

have a clip from it. Let's have a look.

No, I'm in the stairs. I need your help.

Your fine. You just need someone to keep you company. Mum! Oh, Sun! It's

all right. It's all right. I'm here. That was very powerful, quite

emotional for you, watching it. No acting required in the scene. We

really got into it. I was as distressed as the character because

physically I was having so much trouble even contemplating walking

up the staircase for a take stop even getting my line out, because I

couldn't breathe properly. Luna, who plays my mother, was such a support

and the producers were so supportive. That scene was very

scary to play because he was getting hoped but I felt hopeless. The

writer actually won a writer's Guild award because of how they handled

it. There isn't a lot of sympathy for people in that situation, people

with obesity problems. You don't find a lot of sympathy, especially

in the media, and seeing it through Bob was McMahon and Bob's eyes, that

was the first time to see the sympathetic look at a character that

people laugh at. Normally there is a tuba playing in the background and

it isn't taking seriously. We broke ground on River City by doing that.

You've lost 17 stone. I phoned you once and said, fancy a while? I

couldn't walk! I would have got to the bottom of the stairs and had to

go back up -- fancy a walk. Very moving coming hearing you talk about

how this is a mental health problem. Absolutely, that's part of it. A big

part was mental illness, I suffer from depression and anxiety. It is

under control but identified that as being the root of my eating and it

was also about not wanting to participate in life. I was happy

when I was going to work in River City because I was a different

person and it was a world I could go to but the rest of the time I didn't

want to leave the house because I had a bit of agoraphobia, the

depression had taken hold and I didn't understand what depression

was. Sometimes you would sit and stare into space, sometimes weeks

would go by when I didn't leave the house. One of the tweets coming into

the programme, you had an operation, they were playing devils advocate,

they asked whether it was cheating. I don't think so. I was beyond the

point where I could have closed the fridge and gone out for a walk, and

that happens. I'm not saying that I'm not responsible for being in

that position, I take responsibility. But the operation

was like having stabilisers on a bike, getting a helping hand. I had

to get into the rhythm of eating properly, I had to lose five stone

before I had the operation and then I have lost another 12. I have been

spurred on every stone I have lost I have gained a stone of confidence

and energy. We can see it in your face! It is a joy, like getting the

keys to Disneyland. I have one of these fitness watches, I am walking

everywhere, it is like getting a second chance at life. If it is

cheating to get a bit of surgery, it really isn't. Congratulations, we

wish you well. Thanks for telling us about it.

Abeer Darwish arrived in Edinburgh with her family just last year,

She had just started a career as a TV presenter before

Abeer spoke to Timeline about her experience

of arriving in a new country, where everything is

When I got here, it was very difficult to live here. Everything

is different, everything. Food is different. People. My second

language is Arabic. Now I am learning English. And the accent is

a very strong accent. It's difficult to deal with a word like water.

After I finished university and got a law degree, I left Syria. I left

Syria because of the war. The fighting everywhere. And I went to

Kurdistan. It's very close to Syria. By had a very good opportunity to

work as a newsreader at an Arab TV channel. -- I had a very good

opportunity. I was very happy. I will be famous

and everybody will is Deeney. -- will see me. But I left my job to go

to Scotland. And start from nothing. Can you imagine how difficult it is

to start a new life, when you can't work, because you don't speak

English? I was with my family in Kurdistan. So we came here together

as refugees. Now we live close to each other. I miss my country, I

miss my job, I miss my mum. I can't speak about my previous life in

Syria because it's... It's very sad for me to speak about it. I want to

say it's a very bad situation. For children, for women, for men. It's

very bad. When the war finishes in my country,

we will go back. Abeer Darwish from Syria adjusting

to her new life in Scotland. We wish her well.

Just one more week to go before we know who will

Of course, it's been a snap election, so we haven't had too long

But there have still been some pretty entertaining moments -

we asked comedian Elaine Malcolmson to give us her thoughts

You can't avoid the public unless you don't go out in public. If you

want to win an election, you need to know what the public want. You only

find out what they want if you ask them, but they'll throw anything at

you. Immigration control, NHS funding, eggs. Why did the general

public wants to meet politicians anyway? -- why do. Our taxes pay

their wages, we should be able to call on them for any reason, at any

time. Why should I have to pay for a yoga class to relax when I could

fall to a politician for free? There are many other things in our

manifesto. My bus was stuck in traffic yesterday and I missed

Hollyoaks! I thought you people were about protecting British culture!

Childcare and education are important but I can't get a signal

when I'm on the toilet! All I hear is Rex did this, Brexit that. But

Mrs May, my library only has this one copy of 50 Shades Of Grey. I

understand that the NHS is under immense pressure, but, Nicola, I can

hear pigeons nesting in my next-door neighbour 's chimney. I worry about

social care, Tim Farron, but... Tim Farron, my bins only get emptied

once a fortnight! So, how do politicians cope? Well, I've been

watching very closely. If you keep smiling and laughing through the

exchange, it looks like everything is completely fine and you're really

enjoying the discussion. Be confident and repeat what you were

told to say. Repeat after me, strong and stable, a brighter future, the

many, not the few. A second referendum. We need to test

politicians' readiness to meet the public. Maybe some kind of krypton

factor for politicians. Before they can go walkabout they should be able

to eat a bacon sandwich, falling down a zip wire while holding onto

their self-respect and a baby. The important thing to deal with --

remember when dealing with the public is that they decide whether

you become a member of Parliament or just another member of the general

public. If you have anything you think

should be on the show, You can add us know what you would

like us to follow up on Facebook or Twitter. Next week it is the general

election, there will be no timeline but join us for the election

coverage. We will be back on June the 15th. Goodbye for now.