Call the midwife part 2

[TwinklyFawn]

I know that my first thread isn't full yet. I just wanted to create the second thread before i forgot.

I think it's more concern for the racism they'll experience as a mixed race couple. She was warning Rosalind about it.

Surely she was trying to warn her that it would not be easy. I didn't get the feeling that she herself saw it as objectionable, but she knew full well that some people would, then and now.

In the 70s racism was the norm and not seen as at all problematic.

Light entertainment consisted of, from memory, the black and white minstrel show ( blacked up minstrels) love thy neighbour,( every racist slur you can think off. Dressed up as comedy) Mind your language ( laughing at the funny foreigners learning English)

The midwife would have received no support in real life. She would have been seen as the problem.

Racism was common. There were people challenging racism though. Not everyone thought racism was fine.

True, but the establishment was generally ok with it.

I get that but one wouldn’t warn Nurse Hyland that people would find her work objectionable so she shouldn’t bother

I disagree. I think, certainly then, a lot of white people will have seen racism being the name calling in the street kind of problem and not the likes of this which will go almost unnoticed.

I thought she was referring not so much about work, more to the problems they would face in society as a mixed race couple.

The establishment would have been absolutely fine with it and even now I think a lot of them still are but are aware that they have to keep quiet about it.

My issue with Sister Julienne's reaction was that it isn't he first rodeo, she's seen it before and she's disliked it before as well. The Rivers of Blood speech was in 1968 and while it spoke to a lot of people who were 100% behind it, it made white people who weren't full on racists see that things weren't quite as fine as they'd allowed themselves to believe. Sister Julienne is not an idiot, I don't believe for one moment that she'd have been unaware of the issues with racism. Tower Hamlets was hugely racist back in the day. I think I started at primary school in 1971 but there wasn't a space in the junior school and as I could read already they let me have a couple of years in first year primary school so I think I might have started in 1970, it's hard to remember. Anyway, my primary school was in Tower Hamlets. The teachers knew all about racism as did our lovely headmistress who was a nun. That said when she retired the nun who took over may well have been a big old racist herself because she was a hateful piece of work in lots of other ways. At grammar school there were more nuns all of whom were aware of what their black pupils were dealing with and who made sure there was none of it in the school itself. I'm not an idiot so know there must have been some but we were all taught to treat each other with respect no matter what our differences, skin colour, class, rich or poor, etc.

I guess what I'm saying is that racism was rife and if you were properly against it then you knew all about it and might not have done everything you could about it but you wouldn't be as ignorant of it as Sr Julienne was made out to be. The not sure whether to make a big deal of it that we got from the lovely new nun might have been a more common response to witnessing it. Sort of cowardly, sort of unsure, but definitely not ignorant of exactly what they were seeing going on in front of their own eyes.

Sorry for going on at such length!

Maybe she's a little bit jealous, and secretly likes Cyril.

I was kept in for 8 nights! This was in 1983! It was meant to be 10 nights,as was the norm back then,but I discharged myself as I was sick of not getting any sleep on the noisy ward.

I don't think so. It made perfect sense after the complaint and her saying she deals with the racism everywhere that she'd want to warn her friend about it. She probably sees Rosalind as naive and sheltered and is genuinely worried about what she'd want to deal with. I felt that was a very realistic bit of story line, rather than a "oh how lovely for you darling" approach.

The Race Relations Act was passed in 1965, so by 1970 people should have been more aware of how unacceptable racism is. However, a lot of the establishment took a long time to take it very seriously. I think they were more worked up about whether the Act would prevent people from employing Scottish cooks to make porridge and suchlike.

How many people in Poplar do you think actively thought very much about the Race Relations Act? I imagine many thought it was a load of old tosh particularly as they may have felt their community was being over-run and seen it through different eyes from those in the Home Counties.

However, despite how I think the people of Poplar would have perceived the RRA, the woman's attitude towards Joyce was horrid. As horrid as the attitude Lucille was subjected to. So not a new topic for ctm but an apposite one for the time.

I feel that CtM is inclined to gloss over racism so I was impressed with tonight’s episode. Another super one. It’s got its mojo back. The actor playing the despicable Mrs Midgley was great. All sweetness and light to Miss Higgins with the cakes and then utterly dismal to Joyce, who in turn fears for her friend Rosalind. Very realistic, bravo to all concerned.

The cubs and Sr MJ were great. I remember being a Brownie in the late 1970s and hearing stories about our village during wartime from the elderly women who’d help out at our events.

Good to see Fred in handyman mode, as he used to be in earlier series. I felt something was missing when all he seemed to be doing was playing Mr Violet.

Who’ve thought that bin collections would make for such a good storyline! That poor old man.

I definitely think that Joyce is just worried for Rosalind and she's right to be. Rosalind is a very sweet person full of wanting to help others but also dreadfully naive.

A white woman in a relationship with a black man was seen as letting down her "race" and she would be seen as lesser by many other white people. There was a phrase for them in Hackney in the late seventies and eighties which I hoped died out a long time ago. It was absolutely vile and indicative of how the women were treated. It would take a lot of love, a lot of strength and a lot of tears to manage to maintain your relationship against so much ignorant hatred.

Yes I agree Sister J being shocked. It has happened before with Lucille and that woman who run a hairdressers abd daughter had a stroke.

As you know, I'm some series behind you, and poor Lucille even got some attitude from locals in the Outer Hebrides in the Xmas special 2019 (which I watched during night shift last night).
I know the name referred to by pp - my friend at our south London comprehensive was frequently called it by our male white classmates when she fell for a black classmate during sixth form.
Happily, they stuck it out together and have just celebrated 45 years married, two dc, four dgc, 1 dggc.

I couldn't understand Sister J being shocked as it was part of the reason why Lucille left.
Did anyone else have a little weep for Cyril when the cat passed away on his lap? He deserves some happiness but it's going to be a rocky road for him and Rosalind.

The episode put too much emphasis on whining council committees. In all their complaining about the bin situation, nobody suggested talking to bin collectors or unions, and finding out a way to get them back to work.
There's no point just moaning about how awful it is having rubbish and rats everywhere, CTM of old would have had the residents of Poplar gathering all the burnable rubbish for a bonfire, and shifting bin bags to that waste ground/football pitch where Fred got Tetanus. Not dumping rubbish all round Miss Higgins' car (it was not the bin men's fault her car was surrounded by rubbish, it was the residents of Poplar that left it).
At the end, the army forklift was less efficient than just lobbing bags into the truck by hand.
I hope the series gets back to more midwifey stuff, all the one-episode-fix social justice issues are annoying.
Even more community clinic scenes, the postnatal mobility stuff was nice.

Here you are, was talking to myself on previous thread. Poor Nigel, he didn't deserve that.

If anyone has been missing Matthew ...(!!)

He will be appearing in a Casualty department near you ...😉😉😘 aka BBC ! Very soon 😂😂..

Ollie is back !

I hope he sings again ..
he has a lovely voice .

Yet sadly he cannot act!

🤔🤔....there is that minor point !
...but ..
He will be able to fix the NHS of all it's money troubles !?
😂😁!