The Greens are at it again - this time on TV - 'Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing'

[Another2Cats]

I didn't know whether to include this on the other thread here (or the current one in AIBU) or to create a new thread. I thought maybe it deserved its own thread.

There is a truly ghastly new Channel 4 TV show called 'Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing'.

It's very much what you might infer from the title; they handcuff nine pairs of people together and see who lasts the longest in order to win a £100,000 prize.

Of course, they deliberately pair up people with very different attitudes and backgrounds.

One of the couples was a man who is a Green party councillor in North East Derbyshire, by the name of Frank Adlington (who is also totally TWAW from his Instagram). The woman he was handcuffed to is a black woman born in Barbados by the name of Lin who said that she was most attracted to the Reform party manifesto.

She said:

"Just because I'm a brown girl, why can't I be Conservative?"

They had a small scene showing them walking around the area where she grew up (Tottenham/ Broadwater Farm) and she mentioned that there were no white pupils at her primary school.

They walked into a local supermarket and they started talking about their political views.

The Green guy could not believe his ears when she said that she had voted for Brexit and would vote for Reform.

She said in a voice over:

"I think it f**ks with his brain that I'm from an ethnic minority and I don't uphold his values.

It frustrates me because why? Why would you assume I would think like you just because I'm from an ethnic minority background?"

Somebody I follow on Twitter/X, @ AjaTheEmpress, summed up his attitude like this:

"But but but you're black which means I as a white person have already decided what all your opinions are and who you must vote for."

They then visit Frank's home in Derbyshire where he lives with his mum and lives on his councillors income of £600 (per week or month I'm not sure) and Lin says:

"He's able to be a councillor on £600 because his mum has come from wealth, and we're talking millions here according to Frank. Just look at it he has absolute privilege."

He describes her politics as "...very Punch and Judy", not too sure what he meant by that, but again, likely making unfounded inferences about her.

He kept on about her having a "wall" or a "facade" that he "couldn't penetrate". He really had problems accepting that she genuinely believed in the positions that she stated.

In the trailer for the next episode, Lin says that "his whole energy is very judgy".

I am sure that this is the sort of show that does pick and choose the bits it wants in order to highlight a particular narrative it's looking for, but this Green party councillor does seem to be showing many of the stereotypes of Green party members.

There is a post on X with a brief clip from Episode 3 here (Episode 4 was yesterday):

https://x.com/ArchRose90/status/2031690958174118316?s=20
.

ps MN came up with an AI generated title that said something very bland indeed. Please MNHQ don't go down that path, I want the title of my thread to say what I want it to say.

"Channel 4 show sparks debate on assumptions about politics, race and gender"

I'm sure they have set the situations up in ways to get the footage they want, but it is interesting to me that he is so very shocked, that someone has stepped outside his assumptions about race.

He seems very very young, and very sheltered, to the point that I don't think he has been aware that he had racial assumptions, because he thought they were - just true. (How did he understand people like Kemi Badenoch being the Tory leader, I wonder?)

It's interesting, most of my in-laws are Caribbean, and they also are pretty conservative, some of them are very very conservative. But for quite a few people that seems shocking I guess.

Lefty dudebro turns out to be patronising racist shocker! 😧

He lives for free in mummy's house. The only surprise is that it seemed to be an attic not a basement. As she said, he doesn't realise his privilege.

Hilarious. The more threads highlighting the greens the better.

Talking of which latest big news on the main thread is Hypnotits was lying when he said he was tricked into saying he could make boobs bigger by the Sun and he never believed it. He has been saying this for ages in multiple interviews.

IThere is a BBC recording released of him saying on live radio in 2013 that he could actually do it and said he had done it before.

Boobgate scandal grows!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5456759-sexismother-issues-in-the-green-party-england-wales-discussion-thread-2?page=22

Doesn't surprise me.
Whilst the editing will make it look as bad as possible - it's entertainment after all - the underlying point about racism, misogyny and snobbery, among those who consider themselves 'progressive', won't come as much of a surprise to any of us who were once deemed 'progressive' themselves but are now apparently Trump-supporting white supremacist tradwives or whatever.
I can't believe that I was a Green Party supporter and didn't see it.

This sounds like the kind of thing that would be enraging to watch but I like the sound of Lin so may watch a bit. But it’s good that this kind of progressive racism and misogyny is being shown on TV. For so long it’s appeared it can only work one way.

Had a look at the Twitter video from the OP and started to read the comments others had made on it.

Had to agree with this comment from @ChilternsJane:

Notable was his failure to say "Why do you support Reform?" No interest in her worldview at all. Like she isn't a real person.

That lack of curiosity as to why someone else would think differently is quite telling IMO. As if he's never encountered someone who thinks differently - and therefore never had to justify his beliefs in the cut and thrust of debate. He has just accepted 'his' views from someone else, uncritically.

And this is why I think The Greens will crash and burn in the run up to a General Election, when they have to justify their policies to potential voters.

Yes, he also thinks that he will convert her, not that it's supposed to be a process where both might learn something from each other amd become slightly more moderate. Which in his case, I think is rooted in the perfect trifecta of sex, race and class. He is a total horror.

There are so many people like him., They never venture outside their own bubbles and even when they do, they think they know better than everyone else.
I'm sure it's one of the reasons Labour has lost so much support in its traditional heartlands.

I can't be arsed to watch the show myself, so would someone who does mind explaining if they get timeouts to go to the loo, shower etc?

No, they don't. And those bits are filmed as well.

The Scottish Greens proposed ban on cruel greyhound racing in Scotland has reached stage 3 and is expected to pass.

Interesting to note MSP Ash Regan didn't support it at stage 1.

The last greyhound racing stadium in Scotland closed last year. This is a waste of parliamentary time imo, just virtue signalling by the Greens as usual.