Archers thread #198: Josh sent to Patagonia, Pip stays put. Wrong way round! Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

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Not feeling greatly enthused about what's going on in Ambridge at the moment, tbh. I'm annoyed at Brian's hypocrisy about Ruairi given the furore over George's attempt to frame Alice as the cause of the accident. I do hope we don't have a slow drip drip drip now as one after another the members of the Aldridge/Archer clan find out what really happened and endlessly agonise over what to do. Frankly I don't care. There! I've said it.

Pip's OK. Well, good, but what was the point of that story, I wonder?

I suspect I'm in a minority of one in rather enjoying hearing (a) from Bert Horobin and (b) about Fletcher. I surmise Bert is here to stay for a while because the BBC has (amazingly) updated his character page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1wQP3mKR6yr9LVs05jddxcY/bert-horrobin (prominent actor photo warning). Given how out of date a lot of the other character pages are, this seems odd, but there we are.

That's all I can be bothered to say! Over to you.

My guess is that as it would count as screening it would follow the same rules as cancer/other genetic testing which aims to limit the amount of people getting screened for economic and practical reasons for the NHS (I worked on policy around cancer screening - if anyone could get screened for any type of cancer at any time it would put a tremendous strain on the nhs economically and from a workforce point of view - both administering the tests but also uncovering the amount of cases that were untreatable/too early to treat etc). So the aim would be to narrow down the level of certainty to ensure only those getting tested are high % risk and that there is actually something that could be done to treat/manage their condition. This is just my assuming though.

I would also guess Pip could get a private test though - although this would be expensive.

I think that's why I found Pip so exasperating, in Ireland accessing private medicine is normal, and I'm familiar with lots of people who have paid for screening.

Catching up on episodes and was wondering when I had “switched off” and missed the part where we learnt Dane had left ? I heard the episode where Helen explained she had broken it off with him but …..

Re Ian -I thought he would be Head Chef or Chef du Patron at Grey Gables , Head of Food makes me think he is ordering the ingredients or similar

I guess “promoting” him leaves the way clear for Natasha to be Head of the PTFA in due course ?

I'm a bit hazy as to why Ruth was told to consider testing.
I vaguely thought it was because, looking back at her notes, her tumour was a particular type or had markers associated with the gene.
You'd think that having early breast cancer and having a mother who may have the gene might be enough to get Pip on the list at least, although presumably her tumour wouldn't have been the same type/possess markers or she'd have been offered testing in her own right.
But I may be wrong about what made the doctor mention that Ruth could be tested.

Having said that above…. CRUK says this - it doesn’t mention that you need your parent/relative to be actually tested just that a strong family case needs to be established, as per the broad NHS guidelines https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/inherited-cancer-genes-and-increased-cancer-risk/genetic-testing-for-cancer-risk#who-can-be-tested-for-inherited-faulty-genes

Unless SW are trying to suggest it’s a local/ICB policy…? Bizarre.

@DeanElderberry CRUK also says private tests are around £200-500 - which doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility for Pip surely? Royal Marsden (as a random example) quotes between £126 and £1700 for genetic testing.

Perfectly affordable. Of course, an Irish person with any sense would also have a Credit Union account and could access a quick loan to be paid off over a year or so if she needed to.

I have no sense and no Credit Union account, but an awful lot of people do.

Maybe I should set one up, just in case.

Pip doesn’t actually have a strong family history of breast cancer though. Her mum had it at a young age but as per @WitcheryDivine we haven’t heard of any of her other relatives even having cancer let alone dying from it. Most of them die in a chair at a ripe old age. She certainly doesn’t have a family tree full of breast and ovarian cancers.

The whole storyline is stupid. I don’t believe the doctor would have mentioned screening for BRCA to Ruth in Pip’s appointment (she may have asked if she had been screened at the time but I doubt anything more) and as a GP I would not be spending my limited (and non-specialist) time counselling Ruth in great detail as to whether to go ahead. If she were considering it I would refer to genetics where she would have an appointment with a counsellor specifically to discuss all the issues that are currently being talked about with Leonard, Pip etc - but with the benefit of some actual expertise thrown into the mix.

My mum and grandmother both had breast cancer, and when I raised this with my own GP I was referred to the family history clinic. There’s a risk assessment that they do to determine whether you’re eligible for BRCA screening on the NHS and I was not. I suspect Pip is not either but as Ruth was under 40 when she had cancer Pip could ask for a Genetics referral for herself (NICE guidelines). It’s unbelievably irritating that they are trying to make Azra (and other randoms) manage all this instead of doing what would actually be done in real life. I know it’s a drama not a documentary, but if they’re going to do public service announcement storylines they should at least do them properly.

Agree with everything you’ve said @Prestissimo. I’m sure not everyone with the BRCA variation has a family tree full of people with cancer at a young age but the ones I have met certainly do.

Starting to wonder if this is more of a story about health anxiety but Lord knows I’m not ready for another mental health story esp with Ruairi still adrift in the deep end (unless the magical job has cured him).

That’s true of course @WitcheryDivine - not everyone has a full family tree, and we don’t know as much about Ruth’s side of the family as we do about David’s. I always find it hard to assess family histories when there are no siblings, for example. BUT that’s why we refer to genetics - they are the experts!!

I’m not sure I could bear a health anxiety storyline full of Pip and the inevitable sympathetic voice from Ruth.

Many many years ago (not on this board) there was speculation, purely on the basis of personal names, as to whether Solly, Ruth, Ben, Josh, and Rosie were Jewish by ancestry, though not by religious practice. IF that was the case the need for screening would increase.

You'd think that having early breast cancer and having a mother who may have the gene might be enough to get Pip on the list at least
Pip had a cyst not early breast cancer.

@DeanElderberry , ...speculation, purely on the basis of personal names, as to whether Solly, Ruth, Ben, Josh, and Rosie were Jewish by ancestry, ...
I remember that but can't remember if it was the old BBC Mustardland ot not.
They're just Biblical names. David & Ruth with children called Josh and Ben could be Jewish but I doubt they are. They're mainstream names.

What was the purpose of Dane?

We live in Kent and used to have small Credit Union accounts - not for that reason, but because somebody has to deposit funds if they're going to be able to provide loans. After about 5 years, there was something in the press about the rates they charge borrowers, so I checked, was genuinely shocked and closed both accounts. The rule seems to be that the poorer you are, the more they rip you off.

I don't think that's true in Ireland. They are seen as a better deal than the banks, and, obviously, a world away from loan sharks (or credit cards).

The system at the one we used to have money with is the smaller the loan, the higher the rate, regardless of how long you take to pay it off. This seems very harsh.

Pip doesn't live in Ireland. We have the NHS so obviously her first thought wouldn't be that she should pay.

It's a dumb SL and Pip is awful but I have some sympathy for her distress. She's the mum of a young child, she thought she might have a life threatening condition. Her partner and her father both reactedly very emotionally, she had to support Stella rather than vice versa. I can quite understand why she can't just snap back to normal - especially as genetic testing has been mentioned.

I have trouble believing Brian is begging Miranda to take him back. She has merely created a vacancy.

Well yes, and what was the point of oliver selling off bits of Gray Gables? Semiretirement doesn’t seem to have happened. The only thing I can see is that it was creating a vacancy for adil, who was also pointless. Unless he was some sort of entryway for the Maliks but that was hardly necessary. I’m holding out for this all culminating in a slow burn story but it is rather frustrating. Not sure I’m all that optimistic either.

I do feel increasingly like the archers is becoming a game of consequences with many people writing a different bit of the story and completely anticlimactic end results.
DANE met HELEN they DATED then he GOT DUMPED and WENT AWAY. One thing I’m genuinely liking about the Kirsty and Eric storyline is that it doesn’t feel like that - their semidetached relationship was established a while ago, he has a connection in Ambridge, it’s been mentioned over years that they’re still seeing each other. The pregnancy is a surprising but not baffling turn up for the books.

Phew, finally managed to work out a way to MN on my laptop. The 400 error has been getting in the way for days now, but opening MN in an incognito window seems to have done the trick.

Anyway, back to TA. [Tries to remember what's been happening. Tries to think of anything positive to say. Tries to think of any negative thing to say that hasn't already been said better by the rest of you. Fails on all counts.] Oh, let's not bother.

😂 Go and have a nice lie down, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g …

(I’ve seen rumours of an error message - it’s not on the app on my phone. So far.)

I know she doesn't, but the cultural and behavioral differences (because everything on TA is a totally accurate picture of life in England, obv) is one of the things that I still find interesting.

He's clearly gone off to join the Foreign Legion after having his heart broken by Helen...

I think a pp point about storylines being written by different writers is a good one - they take them off into nothing Ville.

I must say, I hate doing group writing work. I come back to Google Docs, two or three people have been working them and often - they are a bloody mess.

Where did the WI suddenly spring from; has one of the SWs ventured beyond suburbia to figure out what countryfolk do? Until they resurrected Carol, I don’t recall it getting a mention, even during the Flower & Produce Show days.

Did I miss what Ruairi’s new job is and why he didn’t have to work his notice at the pig unit.

The WI used to be pretty central to Ambridge life - in the days when Jill and Peggy were powers in the community (and before and after that). It’s hard to say when it fell out of favour with the SWs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2n5F18thTsgqCqph5H0rQfC/a-brief-history-of-the-ambridge-wi

Slogan for the show: Batshitshire Show - run by amateurs

Did I miss what Ruairi’s new job is and why he didn’t have to work his notice at the pig unit.
Because it was a made up job for a manager's child