[Media-watch] Goldenballs
Neil Scott
theteacher at elmacdesign.co.uk
Thu Mar 11 20:10:06 GMT 2004
I very rarely write to this list, but enjoy the informative posts.
Something that caught my eye this week was on the BBC. "Goldenballs: The
Secret History of Pawn."
The reason it literally caught my eye was because two very vulnerable people
I know happened to appear on it. I am a teacher in Govan and two parents
from families living in abject poverty featured in the programme using the
"facilities".
The programme itself, as far as I could see was an advert for Pawn shops as
we were shown around the premises and it was treated as a twee curiosity
-an almost harmless little anomaly in our 21st century world. There was no
investigation as to why Pawn shops are on the up. There was no
investigation into the lives of the people who use them. It showed that
Pawn shops in Partick and the one beside Central Stn (can't remember the
name of the street - Argyll St?) and two in more affluent areas - Byres Road
in the West End and one in Edinburgh. We were shown around by the owner -
and then a shop assistant was interviewed. The shop owner told us that the
Byres Road shop had separate entrances for Pawners and buyer - the two
shouldn't meet. There was no investigation as to why this should be the
case. If these things were such a valuable service why would people be
embarrassed? One of the customers (of the Partick shop) who was interviewed
said she thought Pawn shops were great as when she got tired of jewelry she
could pawn it. She was someone who was "caught in the headlights".
A more socially aware Producer/ Director would have asked simple questions
as to why these people pawned and why these places have become popular again
in Glasgow. Instead of a jolly jape, this subject should have been treated
as an indicator of our societal problems. And if the surface had have been
slightly rubbed, two of the participants could have quite succinctly by
their very existence, shown that in actual fact this service is nothing but
another exploitation of the very poorest and most vulnerable of Scottish
society.
The producer was Mhairi McNeill (room 3160)and the director was Becky Brazil
(room 3191).
The full address of the BBC is:
BBC Scotland
Broadcasting House
Queen Margaret Drive
Glasgow
G12 8DG
Neil Scott
Glasgow
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