*McIntyre Uncovered - F*CKING CRIME TOURIST

[Mrs Magpie]

Pasted post from MacIntyre thread in General Forum

I spoke to Brixtons 'Good Samaritan' today. She has given me permission to partially identify her here and in correspondence with the BBC about this. It is actually her birthday today, so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERRY!
Unfortunately for a Birthday Girl, she is still upset. Her worry is about her Mums friends seeing the programme and giving her Mum grief about how her daughter lives. Also she has felt like public property since the programme. People are still coming up to her, and when she heard that it was BBC1 primetime she was worried that millions may have seen her. Those of us who live here, and just know her as a 'Brixton Face' knew immediately who she was, so people who know her well from her home town, old school mates etc will know it's her too. That really upsets her. Despite the common prejudices, she didn't choose her present lifestyle. She is trying hard to get her life together and get off the streets and the MacIntyre debacle has knocked her efforts out of kilter more than somewhat.

She has a message for the MacIntyre production team which is. "Why, if you think I was a good person, looking out for your reporter, didn't you ask if it was OK for me to be on TV. Do you think I don't count as a human person because I live on the street?"

I asked what she wanted done, and all she wants is an apology from the MacIntyre team for treating her without any consideration for her feelings. So, the ball is now in their court. I am going to cut and paste this post into an email.

Personally I think the team should take her out for a meal, buy her a load of ciggies and grovel all the way.....and not out of BBC expenses either. Out of their own pockets.
And a meal at McDonalds is not enough. Somewhere decent.

If this does not happen soonish then I shall think of something else.....Mass email complaints to the Director General and the Broadcasting Standards Bods sound quite good for starters....suffice it so say, if Kerry is not apologised to in a decent way I shall take delight in pissing in their piano, metaphorically speaking. of course

 

[ats]

Keep us posted, Mrs M. I'll definitely back that.

I think there's a serious issue to be pushed at the BBC people here, which is about how members of the public at large get affected by undercover filming.

There wasn't any pressing need to film this young woman. They should have sought her permission. (I mean, for fuck's sake, she's to be be found outside the tube station. It's not as though it would be difficult to come to Brixton and find her.)

But they didn't, because it would have blown their 'undercover' status (which seems to have been completely transparent to all the drugs dealers they aproached).

What really angers me about this is that they were making something which has no real news importance at all. It's an entertainment programme dressed up as investigative journalism, with no serious investigation taking place whatsoever.

But a television company is using the pretence that this ratings-grabbing piece of deadhead trash is serious journalism to justify abuse of other people's privacy.

And I'm sure they felt able to behave like this because they thought they were dealing with someone powerless and they didn't need to bother about how they felt.

So I think it's for all of us at the powerless end of society to demonstrate to these self-advancing bastards what solidarity can do.

A meal for Kerry...or else!

 

[pooka]

Mrs M: Perhaps some good can come out of this. Maybe the discomfort caused to Kerry, regarding her fa,ily and school mates, can be an extra incentive in making a better life? And maybe the McIntyre lot would do better to help with that than some slap up meal?

 

[ats]

I appreciate your concern for the young womans' welfare, pooka, but I don't think the TV crew should be given the option of coming out of this looking like generous benefactors.

They're not going to have her interests at heart, so being led to rely on them in any way could be incredibly dangerous for someone who's already in a very vulnerable position.

She needs to be allowed to get on with her life. If she'd like that to include punishing these TV people for the way they've shat on her, I'd be happy to support that.


(Footnote: Sorry if 'this young woman' sounds old-fogeyish. It's just that I hate that tabloid thing of assuming it's okay to act on first name terms with anyone in the news to create phoney intimacy whenever you want to pump up the emotion, so I'm being a touch wary.)

 

[Mrs Magpie]

To be honest, I don't think she'd trust them to do anything more than a meal and some ciggies. All she actually wants is recognition that she is a human being with feelings and an apology. The meal and ciggies is my idea. Not unreasonable as they've treated her so squalidly. She has no fixed address yet so they'll have to come and find her, a bland letter or email is no good. They'll have to actually face her....it took me about 1 minute to find her today....there she was, sitting by Sainsbury's. Not beyond the wit of even an investigative journalist.

 

[pooka]

Mmmm...not sure what to make of this. I agree that it is very unlikely that the TV people would do much to sustainably help this young woman/Kerry (I was just following Mrs M's style ats) but sought to find some positive outcome. In truth, I thnk the stongest element is if her thoughts about being on TV make her more determined to move on. Getting back at the TV people is just a negative and retrospective and not really about taking control of her life.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Kerry is happy to wait for an apology, likes the idea of a meal and some fags, but is more interested in the apology. If this doesn't happen I will ask her what she wants to happen after that. I see her nearly every day and she's easy to find if I'm looking for her. She's most concerned with her situation right now and is working hard to improve it. It doesn't stop her from feeling pissed off with the MacIntyre team though.

The thing is, although Donal M was portrayed as the vulnerable person in the programme, actually Kerry was possibly the most vulnerable shown. Donal M had a crew, stab vest, radio contact till the technology gave out, he's got good lungs on him though........She sleeps on the streets and lives on her wits, and still manages to extend a helping hand to a 'vulnerable' stranger.
The MacIntyre team have been aware of this thread for ages, and the one in the other forum (to the point they were surprised that I hadn't emailed them sooner) and they still don't get why Kerry is upset, or why others are upset on her behalf.

 

[ats]

Most of us have been there in one way or another. Whereas television people tend to be remarkably coconed from the world they pontificate about.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I had a delicious al fresco meal with Kerry tonight sitting down by the tube. (Somebody even gave me a quid!) By the way, she does know, and knew from the time of our first talk about MacIntyre that there is discussion on the boards about all this and about her. When we get together we talk about loads of stuff as well as the developments about the MacIntyre programme and the emails flying between me and the Beeb and the boards.

The more I get to know her the more amazed I am by her. She moved here a while after the Soho bombing which she was caught up in. (Her dog had to be put down as a direct result of the bomb) I remember her when she first came.....I didn't know then why she had come here. She has been slowly getting herself since together and I have to say she has such remarkable resourcefulness. If I was in the same position as her I would have gone under long ago. She has actually really improved her situation slowly and surely by her own efforts. That takes hard work.
Anyway, one of subjects under discussion tonight was Brixton and why it is a great place to be.....a big attraction for her is the CCTV. She knows she is far safer with it around and it's monitored 24/7. Homeless people are far less likely to be kicked and beaten on the streets here than other parts of London.

Also things have got so much worse with hostels closing. There are apparently new initiatives that have made things much harder for people who live on the streets. They are supposed to be helping but they are not. I am actually going to pick her brains about possible solutions to the Barrier Block problem. She's been there (metaphorically speaking) and is moving on up right now. I'm not going to abuse her friendship by getting her to go to Brixton Forum (not here, the council) meetings but I shall make her views known. She has a lot to contribute.

 

[hatboy]

Mrs M, you really are an angel from heaven.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

No I'm not, but I can be an indignant old bag.....I have various bees buzzing around in my bonnet and one of them is about people who get shat on from a great height by people who don't care, or think about how they affect others.......

 

[newbie]

According to the SLP a 15yo was arrested last friday on suspicion of street robbery, linked to the programme.

 

[vinnie111]

has anyone got a link to the actual footage of the mac investigates brixton programme?

 

[pk]

people who work in tv land are the most out of touch people in britain - they get paid shitloads of cash - they live in volvo land with big fuckin gardens or trendy flats in town - they are incredibly stuck up and cliquey - and although they are all 'seriously cool party people ok yah' they abso -fuckin - lutely worship the status quo as much as any other fatcat. so do not look to the tv screen for a single scrap of truth or alternative option.

its all dark in here ..

Load of crap, sorry.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Load of crap, sorry.

That'll have got rid of the misperception he's had for last six years then.

 

[ricbake]

Love to see it if you find it - The silly pillock ended up in tears just round the back of us by Evandale Road / Urlwin Walk after spending a couple of hours begging to be mugged!

 

[Brixton Hatter]

no idea where u can view the footage, but to be honest, you only need to read this thread to understand the programme. it was so shit i doubt it will ever be
repeated!

and whatever happened to macintyre BTW? Never seem to hear anything from him these days. No great loss

 

[Citizen66]

And what happened to Kerry?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

She's doing OK. Off the streets. Not in the area any more but I get updates.