0:00:04 > 0:00:06Tonight...
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Is there enough support for people with rare forms of cancer?
0:00:09 > 0:00:12And we go behind the scenes at the theatre group that's launched
0:00:12 > 0:00:16the careers of many Scottish actors.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Welcome to Timeline, where we've been visiting the drama
0:00:41 > 0:00:44company breaking down barriers in helping people into careers
0:00:44 > 0:00:47on stage and screen.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Also, the mentoring project turning around young lives.
0:00:50 > 0:00:56And...
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The Scottish hip hop star who's gone from rapping to writing
0:00:59 > 0:01:03with his new book picking up rave reviews.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12How much support is there for people with rare forms of cancer?
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Kevin O'Neil is one of only 15 people in the world diagnosed
0:01:16 > 0:01:21with malignant myopericytoma.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24He lives with chronic pain after surgery to remove a tumour
0:01:24 > 0:01:27the weight of a large bag of potatoes from his back.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Kevin's trying to track down the other people with the same
0:01:30 > 0:01:34diagnosis so he can speak to someone who knows what he's going through.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Here's his story.
0:01:49 > 0:01:55You are told you are one of 15 people worldwide with a rare tumour
0:01:55 > 0:02:00and you think it's like winning the lottery, that type of thing. The
0:02:00 > 0:02:06condition I have is called malignant myopericytoma and I had a tumour
0:02:06 > 0:02:10which started in the wall of my chest here and it spread round to
0:02:10 > 0:02:17the shoulder blade. What was happening was that because the rib
0:02:17 > 0:02:24cage was protecting the lung, the Juma itself was forcing out Mike
0:02:24 > 0:02:31shoulder blade and over a 12 week period it came to the discomfort of
0:02:31 > 0:02:3625 centimetres with 35 centimetres deep and I had surgery to remove it
0:02:36 > 0:02:43in a 12 hour operation. It I was in a medical induced coma for two and a
0:02:43 > 0:02:53half days. The majority of the ribs were taken away, I have two small
0:02:53 > 0:02:58ribs there and it is a complete chest rebuild. There is nobody to go
0:02:58 > 0:03:08to with such a rare tumour, there is me and 14 elsewhere so how do you do
0:03:08 > 0:03:13it? Facebook, Twitter, set up a blog? But the whole idea is to try
0:03:13 > 0:03:17to get five or six people who have the same condition as myself, to be
0:03:17 > 0:03:22able to say, how do you get by your day and deal with the pain and
0:03:22 > 0:03:31you're off days?Kevin's condition come with it being so unique, one of
0:03:31 > 0:03:3515 worldwide Comey does not have that person he can sit and have a
0:03:35 > 0:03:40copy with or talk about how he feels on a day-to-day basis. -- have a
0:03:40 > 0:03:48coffee. He had been ill for a number of years, a number of which he went
0:03:48 > 0:03:53undiagnosed and five operations later and I thank my stars we still
0:03:53 > 0:04:03have him.Kevin O'Neil?Hello.I and three very senior colleagues removed
0:04:03 > 0:04:08the tumour on his back and I've never seen anything like it before
0:04:08 > 0:04:14or since. He has been an incredibly strong personality and his constant
0:04:14 > 0:04:17positive attitude is really very uplifting.
0:04:22 > 0:04:28I just think that when you see what the nurses and the doctors and the
0:04:28 > 0:04:32clinicians and everyone involved with the NHS does on a daily basis,
0:04:32 > 0:04:43it is just, it blows me away. They have saved my life. I have too much
0:04:43 > 0:04:52to offer still, I'm 48 years old, I certainly would hate to be the last
0:04:52 > 0:04:57thing, from items to lose their father at an early age and I just
0:04:57 > 0:05:00thought that I had to make sure I get through this.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Kevin O'Neil there.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07So should more be done to help people with rare cancers?
0:05:07 > 0:05:12Janice Malone is from Macmillan Cancer Support.
0:05:12 > 0:05:18Is that a typical story come is there much support for people with
0:05:18 > 0:05:23rare cancers like that?It is a fairly common story for people who
0:05:23 > 0:05:28have a rarer Cancer, to deal a heightened degree of uncertainty as
0:05:28 > 0:05:33to what the future might hold for them and also to feel isolated and
0:05:33 > 0:05:38alone because as Kevin said in the film, there is nobody can talk to
0:05:38 > 0:05:43about his particular experience.One out of 15 in the world.And what
0:05:43 > 0:05:49kind of support is there for those people who are the only ones?There
0:05:49 > 0:05:54is a huge amount of support out there, for example at Macmillan we
0:05:54 > 0:05:58have an online community which allows people with a rarer cancer to
0:05:58 > 0:06:03reach out to be for sometimes all around the world who have a rarer
0:06:03 > 0:06:06cancer. There are a number of different support mechanisms, so
0:06:06 > 0:06:13somebody with a rarer cancer can tap into them also sometimes the
0:06:13 > 0:06:18feelings and experiences of somebody with a rarer cancer might be similar
0:06:18 > 0:06:24to someone with a more common cancer as well. We know that those types of
0:06:24 > 0:06:28things, around your emotional well-being, needing somebody to talk
0:06:28 > 0:06:34to about how you feel, that is important to people. Financial
0:06:34 > 0:06:37worries are important to people, and they will be similar across the
0:06:37 > 0:06:43board.How big a help its online support compared to one to one?It
0:06:43 > 0:06:48depends on people's preferences. I'm a big advocate for trying to make
0:06:48 > 0:06:52sure we tailor the support to the individual. Some people love the
0:06:52 > 0:06:56online support and think it is the right thing for them but others
0:06:56 > 0:07:00would be preferring to sit down face-to-face with somebody and
0:07:00 > 0:07:04everything in between. Kevin mentioned about writing a blog and
0:07:04 > 0:07:10things like that, those are ways of reaching out to people and they are
0:07:10 > 0:07:13becoming more popular.People like Kevin feel they are alone, so would
0:07:13 > 0:07:18you consider setting up a rare cancer group?Absolutely, and if
0:07:18 > 0:07:21there are people out there in experiencing that like Kevin and
0:07:21 > 0:07:24they feel they are not getting the support they need, come and talk to
0:07:24 > 0:07:27us at Macmillan and we would be delighted to have that conversation
0:07:27 > 0:07:31and to see what we can do for people.Thank you very much for
0:07:31 > 0:07:33coming to tell us about that.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37It's given many Scots their first taste of acting, with stars who've
0:07:37 > 0:07:40gone on to appear in big screen films, as well as small screen hits
0:07:40 > 0:07:44like Burnistoun and River City.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Now the drama group Toonspeak, which provides access to the arts
0:07:47 > 0:07:48to disadvantaged communities, is marking 30 years
0:07:48 > 0:07:51since it was founded.
0:07:51 > 0:07:58We asked Paul English to look at the secret of its success.
0:07:58 > 0:08:05Some things in the north of Glasgow have changed in the last 30 years.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09The red Road flats, once a marker in this part of the city skyline, are
0:08:09 > 0:08:14now long gone, but there is one aspect of life here which remains a
0:08:14 > 0:08:20towering presence. Social worker Stephen King started Toonspeak young
0:08:20 > 0:08:25people is that in 1987. Having grown up in the area he recognised the
0:08:25 > 0:08:29need for young people to be able to express themselves through
0:08:29 > 0:08:33performing arts.For a lot of young people it was about building
0:08:33 > 0:08:38self-confidence and being part of a troupe, a community of people
0:08:38 > 0:08:45working together. But for others it was about imagining that ability to
0:08:45 > 0:08:50be working in a theatre and in an arts environment, a television
0:08:50 > 0:08:56environment and to be able to realise that.And many of them did,
0:08:56 > 0:09:04including Stephen Purdon, better known as shell suit bob in River
0:09:04 > 0:09:11City. Iain Robinson also learned his trade at Toonspeak. As well as
0:09:11 > 0:09:19Anniston Star Luis student -- Burnistoun star Louise Stuart.We
0:09:19 > 0:09:23went away on a workshop which was almost like a therapy session as
0:09:23 > 0:09:26much as anything. If you were interested in the technical side you
0:09:26 > 0:09:31could go behind the scenes, there was encouragement of writing and I
0:09:31 > 0:09:35always argued that performing art is important because of those
0:09:35 > 0:09:38communication skills and clarity of diction, they are all important no
0:09:38 > 0:09:42matter your line of work. The majority of kids that went to
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Toonspeak when we did not in the industry, there is a variety of
0:09:46 > 0:09:51jobs. My two best friends from Toonspeak are a deputy headteacher
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and a civil servant at the city council but the skills and
0:09:55 > 0:10:00confidence and communication skills that they honed here...Tell me
0:10:00 > 0:10:03about how important it was in your day going to Toonspeak, that you
0:10:03 > 0:10:07could access the art like that. Having that place to go and finding
0:10:07 > 0:10:14a tribe I think is quite important. You can go to school and do your
0:10:14 > 0:10:21thing but there is also that of place that is equally as important
0:10:21 > 0:10:26in terms of developing relationships and social skills and I don't think
0:10:26 > 0:10:33I would have went into acting having, if there wasn't something
0:10:33 > 0:10:41like Toonspeak, for sure.30 years on and it is still inspiring the
0:10:41 > 0:10:47careers of young people both on and off the stage.I love coming here
0:10:47 > 0:10:52and just meeting everybody and playing the games and acting.I
0:10:52 > 0:10:56really like it, I have been coming since it started.It feels like home
0:10:56 > 0:11:02here, like you can not like to anything but have fun with your
0:11:02 > 0:11:07friends and all that.As the face of this community changes, some things
0:11:07 > 0:11:11remain as important now as they were 30 years ago and with Toonspeak
0:11:11 > 0:11:15ready for the next act, that is good news for the unknown stars of
0:11:15 > 0:11:15tomorrow.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20Jasmine Main chairs Toonspeak.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26You have been through it as well.I sneaked in when I was ten years old!
0:11:26 > 0:11:31You're meant to be 11 so I told a wee white light!And it launched
0:11:31 > 0:11:35your own acting career that you do you see in the groups you are
0:11:35 > 0:11:41teaching the stars of the future?I do and I think confidence and drama
0:11:41 > 0:11:46is so much more than just performing, it is life skills. It is
0:11:46 > 0:11:51your social ability, your social capital, to go to the shop and ask
0:11:51 > 0:11:56where the milk is fixed confidence. And for a lot of the wee ones we are
0:11:56 > 0:12:01working with, they don't have that, and it is also a safe space and time
0:12:01 > 0:12:05for them to be creative and not worry about what is going on. And
0:12:05 > 0:12:10that was my safe space as well and I was lucky to be able to go and do
0:12:10 > 0:12:14other things. I know how important it is.And how are you for money at
0:12:14 > 0:12:27the moment?Are you wanting a tap?! But it is hard at Toonspeak, we
0:12:27 > 0:12:30offer the transport and we feed the participants. That is one of the
0:12:30 > 0:12:37biggest issues of the moment. Funders, everybody wants to fund
0:12:37 > 0:12:41exciting stuff but for that to happen we need to get the young
0:12:41 > 0:12:44people safely through the door and that sometimes means picking them up
0:12:44 > 0:12:48at the front door and making sure they get there. And for us that is
0:12:48 > 0:12:54one of the main issues, myself as chair of the board, it is that I am
0:12:54 > 0:12:59keen to make sure it continues over the next 30 years. It is such a
0:12:59 > 0:13:02difference.And what would you say to people who are looking at
0:13:02 > 0:13:06different projects to fund, and say, that is nice but it is the icing on
0:13:06 > 0:13:13the cake and not a core priority project?I think it is so much more,
0:13:13 > 0:13:21and if you can imagine and you can problem solved, that is all that in
0:13:21 > 0:13:24there for anybody, come along to Toonspeak and see what you think and
0:13:24 > 0:13:27look at the projects. I know when they walk through the door that the
0:13:27 > 0:13:34young people have got them and I have every confidence. It is about
0:13:34 > 0:13:38being creative but also so much more and it is your life skills and your
0:13:38 > 0:13:43safe place and having that can make so much of a difference and the
0:13:43 > 0:13:47potential with young people, you can see it within two weeks, a month,
0:13:47 > 0:13:51you can see the change.Thank you very much for coming in.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53And that's not the only project helping young people tonight.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56That's right.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Let's look at another initiative designed to help
0:13:59 > 0:14:00disadvantaged youngsters realise their potential
0:14:00 > 0:14:04through mentoring.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07MCR Pathways partners an older mentor with a young person who's
0:14:07 > 0:14:09struggling at school.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12It's been so successful at a Glasgow school that it's now being rolled
0:14:12 > 0:14:15out to the rest of the city and will soon come to
0:14:15 > 0:14:16other parts of Scotland.
0:14:16 > 0:14:22Timeline went to meet two young men who benefited.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01Ayew OK telling us some of the challenges you had growing up?When
0:15:01 > 0:15:07I arrived in Scotland, England was not my first language. My first
0:15:07 > 0:15:11language was Portuguese. I never did primary school, or even the third
0:15:11 > 0:15:17year. I started from the fourth year.I had challenges growing up.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Homelessness, the care system, Eamonn McCann after five of us on
0:15:20 > 0:15:28her own.I lived with two brothers. We did not have mum or dad.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33Sometimes you felt you needed a cuddle from ma'am.Every good thing
0:15:33 > 0:15:37that happened, you braced yourself for something bad to happen.Coming
0:15:37 > 0:15:43from Angola, how difficult did you find it to embed in the Glasgow
0:15:43 > 0:15:49culture?Music was different, environment was different,
0:15:49 > 0:15:56everything was different.What was your confidence like?I would come
0:15:56 > 0:15:58into school, head down, not looking or talking to anybody. I just wanted
0:15:58 > 0:16:08to get in, get lunch and get home. That led to me going in a primary
0:16:08 > 0:16:13four level, reading and writing. Your head was all over the place,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18rather than focused on the classroom?I would definitely say
0:16:18 > 0:16:23that now.Why did you not feel you could go to further education?You
0:16:23 > 0:16:29needed certain grades and I did not have that. To have that you had to
0:16:29 > 0:16:32do exams, which I could not do because I never had the national
0:16:32 > 0:16:41five. So I was like, after school, that's the end, nothing else to do.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46What is life like now?For me, I would say it is a thousand times
0:16:46 > 0:16:54better. I am doing an HND. And I see that there is a door opening.What
0:16:54 > 0:17:00is your lifelike now compared to your life as Young Liam?Not bad,
0:17:00 > 0:17:05quite different. I am not homeless. That is a positive. I graduated two
0:17:05 > 0:17:14years ago.Which is amazing, given you were four years behind when you
0:17:14 > 0:17:21join secondary school. How do you feel about the programme?
0:17:21 > 0:17:25I have been doing it for two and a half years. Something that is
0:17:25 > 0:17:30important for the young people who need some extra help.Why did you
0:17:30 > 0:17:36get involved?I realised there were a lot of young people in the school
0:17:36 > 0:17:41who were in the same classrooms, with the same teachers, but
0:17:41 > 0:17:45education outcomes were so much worse. We quickly realised it was
0:17:45 > 0:17:48because of their background and home situations, rather than their
0:17:48 > 0:17:54abilities. So we spoke and spent a lot of time with those young people,
0:17:54 > 0:17:59of which you were one, to find out what the challengers were, and more
0:17:59 > 0:18:04importantly the solutions that we would actually put in place to
0:18:04 > 0:18:09support young people like yourself that had experienced a disadvantaged
0:18:09 > 0:18:13background, to allow them to get to a place that they can engage better
0:18:13 > 0:18:21with the education system and what it has to offer.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Afonso And Liam with their mentors.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28Iain MacRitchie is the founder of MCR Pathways.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33What does the mint or actually do? We get asked the question of how can
0:18:33 > 0:18:38we see a change in those young people, 48% going to college,
0:18:38 > 0:18:43university or a job after school, up to 80%. Believe it or not, it is
0:18:43 > 0:18:48breathtakingly simple. What we ask is that our mentors come to school
0:18:48 > 0:18:54and first and foremost it is just about listening to those young
0:18:54 > 0:19:00people, building a relationship, empathising, one of trust. Before
0:19:00 > 0:19:04moving on to, what is the potential of the young person? At the moment,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08our young people are too much defined by their circumstances, the
0:19:08 > 0:19:13difficulties they experience at home. Our programme is simply about,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16you will be defined by your talent and potential. Then it is a focus
0:19:16 > 0:19:22of, what could you do? Go and try stuff. It is about building
0:19:22 > 0:19:26confidence and self-esteem.Is on the danger that for young people are
0:19:26 > 0:19:30just feels like another adults telling them what to do?It does,
0:19:30 > 0:19:35but our programme is about equality. For example, we do not tell the
0:19:35 > 0:19:38mentors about the young person's past. It is focused on what they
0:19:38 > 0:19:44could be in the future. The young person decides and chooses to become
0:19:44 > 0:19:48part of the programme. It is completely voluntary. We have found
0:19:48 > 0:19:51there is as much impact on the mentors as there is the young
0:19:51 > 0:19:58person. It just ends up being a no lose situation for any party.Should
0:19:58 > 0:20:02charities be picking up the slack for a service that councils should
0:20:02 > 0:20:08provide?I think the best, nation is both. The skills that charities
0:20:08 > 0:20:13bring in terms of understanding the communities, a local need in
0:20:13 > 0:20:16particular, needs to work in the mainstream. We could not do what we
0:20:16 > 0:20:21do outside the school system. It has to be within the school system, and
0:20:21 > 0:20:24there is a fabulous partnership between what we have with Glasgow
0:20:24 > 0:20:29City Council and the schools.Thanks for coming in.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32If you have a story to tell or if there's anything you think
0:20:32 > 0:20:34we should be following up, let us know.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36You can get in touch through Facebook or Twitter,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39you can find us online, or you can email us -
0:20:39 > 0:20:41timeline@bbc.co.uk.
0:20:41 > 0:20:42Look forward to hearing from you.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Shereen.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49What do you know about paper cutting?
0:20:49 > 0:20:51I thought it's what happens when you cut yourself
0:20:51 > 0:20:52opening an envelope.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53Ouch!
0:20:53 > 0:20:56But, turns out it's an art form which has proved pretty successful
0:20:56 > 0:20:59for Dundee-based Boo Paterson.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Like many artists she's found it a struggle
0:21:02 > 0:21:04to make that breakthrough, but her hard work has paid off
0:21:04 > 0:21:08with the launch of a book designed to enable others who want to get
0:21:08 > 0:21:18into paper cut art.
0:21:18 > 0:21:25This is a piece called Seasick, which I created in response to the
0:21:25 > 0:21:29first wave of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean. I was imagining
0:21:29 > 0:21:33what it would be like to drown. I started paper cutting when I was
0:21:33 > 0:21:39three or four, and I used to make paper sculptures out of print paper.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44As an adult, I became a journalist on the straight from school and I
0:21:44 > 0:21:49worked in that industry four-year is. But whilst also working in
0:21:49 > 0:21:54cabaret and circus. I ran away with the circus, actually, to Australia.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58And many of the Anna Moore 's I love from Australia are in the book. When
0:21:58 > 0:22:03I came up with the idea for the book I was extremely poor and I wanted to
0:22:03 > 0:22:09think of a way out of that situation. I am now ready to cut.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14The general rule is to start in the middle and work your way out. This
0:22:14 > 0:22:20is one of the easy ones. I made the book so that it started off very,
0:22:20 > 0:22:25very easy and it gets harder as it goes on. The principle of the book
0:22:25 > 0:22:31is to have people doing art. I think that was the great success of the
0:22:31 > 0:22:35colouring books. It meant that people who were not good at art
0:22:35 > 0:22:42could do it. We can see one of my earlier works, which is called art
0:22:42 > 0:22:49vultures. It was basically the only thing that was feeding me. They took
0:22:49 > 0:22:54away my working tax credit because I was not earning enough. I made this
0:22:54 > 0:22:59work out of the working tax credit rejection forms. I am primarily a
0:22:59 > 0:23:03political artist. The plight of refugees in particular in forms much
0:23:03 > 0:23:08of my work. With that in mind, the book is actually a real departure
0:23:08 > 0:23:13for me. In a way, that kind of commercial illustration is the
0:23:13 > 0:23:16graft. The stuff that you do because you feel it deeply is almost
0:23:16 > 0:23:26effortless. There is the finished artwork. And now all we need to do
0:23:26 > 0:23:31is to do the relief. When you are holding a scalpel, you definitely
0:23:31 > 0:23:37concentrate more acutely. It is that focus which gets you into a flow
0:23:37 > 0:23:39state, which children are infrequently when they are playing,
0:23:39 > 0:23:44when they do not know there is time passing. Back to the book, and
0:23:44 > 0:23:49choose a piece of colour for the mount. And you can stick this on,
0:23:49 > 0:23:56either with the spray mount, all with foam squares.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00Boo Paterson there.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03You thought it was about making paper aeroplanes. A beautiful
0:24:03 > 0:24:05artform.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07He's a newspaper columnist, a broadcaster, and a star
0:24:07 > 0:24:09of the Scottish hip hop scene.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11But Darren McGarvey, also known as Loki, has added
0:24:11 > 0:24:12a new string to his bow.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15His first book is about to be published, called Poverty Safari,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17with rave reviews already
0:24:17 > 0:24:20from the likes of JK Rowling and Irvine Welsh.
0:24:20 > 0:24:27Darren's here now.
0:24:27 > 0:24:37High praise, Darren. Tell us what the book is about.For me, it has
0:24:37 > 0:24:41three central ideas. The experience of poverty, which is not often given
0:24:41 > 0:24:46enough space or airtime to be vividly described in such a way that
0:24:46 > 0:24:51people who have not experienced it can understand it. Secondly, a
0:24:51 > 0:24:53critical analysis from the perspective of a working-class
0:24:53 > 0:24:58person who has engaged with services and institutions, a critical
0:24:58 > 0:25:02analysis of what I call the poverty industry. I am not slagging off
0:25:02 > 0:25:08charities or public institutions. I think there is a great -- a lot of
0:25:08 > 0:25:12great and important work going on, but there are issues around how the
0:25:12 > 0:25:15institutions engage with working-class people and involve
0:25:15 > 0:25:18them in discussion. Often, they parachute into communities like an
0:25:18 > 0:25:23imperial force, viewing housing schemes as primitive cultures that
0:25:23 > 0:25:29need to be upgraded. The third part focuses more on my own personal
0:25:29 > 0:25:33journey of recovery and how a lot of the issues in my life, health
0:25:33 > 0:25:37problems, poverty, homelessness, a lot of that began to improve not
0:25:37 > 0:25:41just when I engaged with public services but when I started to take
0:25:41 > 0:25:47more responsibility and be more honest about my own problems. So the
0:25:47 > 0:25:52book oscillates between a memoir and social critique with those themes.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57It is very powerful. If it is not a crass question, tell us what it is
0:25:57 > 0:26:02like to be poor.First of all, you don't really know you are poor until
0:26:02 > 0:26:07you go somewhere that is not poor. I described this in the book, my first
0:26:07 > 0:26:11journey to the west end of Glasgow. Anyone from a working-class
0:26:11 > 0:26:15community has an idea about the west end. The first thing I noticed was
0:26:15 > 0:26:19how calm it was. I was like, OK, this is how people dress when they
0:26:19 > 0:26:25are not afraid they will be stabbed. It was this serenity that I had
0:26:25 > 0:26:30never known. For me, that was the fundamental difference. Not so much
0:26:30 > 0:26:33the affluence, the money, but the stress levels. The stress levels
0:26:33 > 0:26:38were lower in the affluent community, so it was easier to
0:26:38 > 0:26:42negotiate compromise, to be more socially mobile. In the community I
0:26:42 > 0:26:47come from, everyone carries this emotional baggage all the time.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52Conflict.Conflict. When you are stressed, you are in fight or
0:26:52 > 0:26:56flight. When you have a community and families dealing with stress and
0:26:56 > 0:27:00the unhealthy coping strategies that arise from that, you start to
0:27:00 > 0:27:04understand what you mean by social immobility. It is not necessarily
0:27:04 > 0:27:08just about money. It is about stress management, emotional awareness and
0:27:08 > 0:27:15literacy. To a certain extent, that can involve people taking a bit more
0:27:15 > 0:27:17responsibility for how they emotionally react to things, the
0:27:17 > 0:27:20things they put in their body, how it changes the way they behave,
0:27:20 > 0:27:26their mental health. I talk from a position of experience, so not
0:27:26 > 0:27:31pontificating about stuff I have not been through.To what extent do you
0:27:31 > 0:27:34think individuals and communities can make a difference, rather than
0:27:34 > 0:27:39waiting for the government to come and help?First of all, I would like
0:27:39 > 0:27:43to in courage people in this condition, in this culture of
0:27:43 > 0:27:46tribalism, and I understand where it has come from and I am not making a
0:27:46 > 0:27:50value judgment about any group, whether people on the radical left,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54or political parties on the mainstream right or left, but really
0:27:54 > 0:27:58we need people in this country who understand multiple ways of looking
0:27:58 > 0:28:02at things and are able to communicate between multiple tribes,
0:28:02 > 0:28:08to try and not so much build a consensus, I do not want to be
0:28:08 > 0:28:11involved in a political discussion, but I want to go into communities
0:28:11 > 0:28:15and say, yes, we need to change the system, rail against corruption and
0:28:15 > 0:28:19deal with social inequality, but also we need to challenge each other
0:28:19 > 0:28:22about the violence in our communities, the regressive social
0:28:22 > 0:28:27attitudes in our communities, and we have to do that without being
0:28:27 > 0:28:31accused of blaming poor people. Because ultimately, in working-class
0:28:31 > 0:28:34communities there is an appetite for people to take responsibility. And I
0:28:34 > 0:28:39think I have the ground when it comes to that stuff. -- I have my
0:28:39 > 0:28:44ear to the ground.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47The book is called Poverty Safari.
0:28:47 > 0:28:48That's your Timeline for this week.
0:28:48 > 0:28:49Thanks for watching.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Shereen and I will be back next week, same time same place,
0:28:52 > 0:28:55when we'll have an interview with the actor and presenter
0:28:55 > 0:28:56Ross Kemp, who's been inside Barlinnie prison
0:28:56 > 0:28:57for a new documentary.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59So do please join us then.