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Love Thy Neighbour, Channel 4 | reviews, news & interviews

Love Thy Neighbour, Channel 4

Love Thy Neighbour, Channel 4

Prurience and Prejudice: the game show

Simone, Phillip and family: Looking for a new life in the Yorkshire Dales

Channel 4’s new flagship series is essentially a census on prejudice masquerading as a reality TV/game show hybrid. A £300,000 property is being given away in the undeniably pretty village of Grassington in the north Yorkshire Dales, the kind of place where “you have to have at least three generations in the graveyard to be a local”, as one resident put it.

And with three times more over-65s than the national average, Grassington's graveyard is pretty much the busiest place in the village.

Over the next eight weeks 12 families will compete for the chance to win Sycamore Cottage and live permanently in this somewhat fossilised picture postcard. In each episode two of them spend a week in the village competing head to head for votes from the local residents, before the six winners return for the chance to become permanent Grassington residents. This is another variation on the glory versus humiliation X Factor format, only with stakes somewhat higher than landing the Christmas Number One.

Rather than artistic talent, these people are being judged on the whole shebang: character, class, colour, lifestyle, personality, background. Good fun, eh? The programme makers have naturally ensured that no one in the village will be spared the opportunity to air any latent prejudices: every conceivable demographic will be covered. Future episodes feature two gay couples (one undergoing IVF treatment), a couple with Indian heritage, a plain-speaking single mum who works as a life model, New Age travellers, aspiring bourgeoisie, a young working-class family and idealistic neo-pastoralists.

Lovethyneighbour3Last night's opener - pitching Phillip and Simone up against Steve and Nicky (pictured right) - played the race card. It was presumably no accident that this programme was named after the now notorious 1970s sitcom in which a suburban white working-class couple unwittingly found themselves living next door to a black couple.

Those days of casual racism are gone. Or are they? The arrival in Grassington of Phillip and Simone, two black Londoners, coincided with rather a lot of talk about faces "not fitting", although one well-heeled lady felt "the Jamaicans” would assimilate just fine. Phillip was, as it happens, British-born with Nigerian parentage.

Everyone stared at them, but perhaps that's simply what happens when you're being followed around a small place by a camera crew. One man, beer bottle resting on his belly, pronounced that, “T’aint the place for ’em.” There was a steady, depressing drizzle of fear and ignorance, but any locals expecting a taste of The Wire in the land of the summer wine were swiftly forced to think again. Phillip played against lazy typecasting by being a zealous Thatcherite "in training" to become a Tory MP. He treated the quest for acceptance as though it were a general election campaign, setting up a local surgery and enthusiastically rapping on doors. The first two people who opened up to him had just suffered bereavements. When he closed the second door and giggled softly, without a trace of malice, you knew he was going to win.

Simone was less robust but equally easy to like. Seemingly more fearful of stereotypes of black culture even than the villagers, she was haunted by a vision of her three sons in 10 years' time, embroiled in big-city gun crime and gang culture. Should they win the cottage, Grassington may well prove to be several steps too far in the other direction.

In the other corner stood Steve, a bolshie 49-year-old Yorkshireman living in exile – well, Birmingham. He was a carpenter (“I can do anything wood”) looking to make a new life with his nervy, sharp girlfriend Nicky and her three lippy, stereotypically slouching teenage children. Steve raised the temperature of several local ladies of a certain age, which was ironic because both he and Nicky were fatally lacking in warmth.

They planned a house party to which no one came, while Phillip and Simone held a variety concert for "local talent" which by contrast went off like a very happy firework. This was after the two couples had made their case in the local pub (Steve: “Well, I’m from Doncaster”) and then at a kangaroo court cunningly disguised as a dinner party, with the local GP Dr Jackson relishing the role of hanging judge.

LovethyneighbourDr“Dr J” (pictured left) was just one of the supporting cast of characters pulled in from the local population of 1200 and no doubt mercilessly edited to fit the brief. The competition for the cottage aside, Love Thy Neighbour was yet another contrived study of rural British life, every doddering sub-Alan Bennett vignette accompanied by that irritatingly jaunty music designed to signify bumbling, backward eccentricity. We were told that, aside from “sheep wrestling” (or was it "rustling"?), there was no crime in Grassington. Do they really expect us to buy this nonsense?

There were many larks to be had with Mary and Bunty, two Hinge and Bracket types who spent long afternoons partaking in tea and indiscretion: “We’ve only got one or two little black people," said Bunty, as the director and producer presumably performed silent high-fives off camera. Throwing their inane but essentially benign witterings at the mercy of the TV cameras was only marginally less foolhardy than placing their perfectly coiffed grey heads in the mouth of a lion. Why do they do it? Don't they watch TV?

Although the opening montage hinted at a veritable orgy of prejudice porn - “No gays, no one on benefits,” one resident barked - Grassington came out of this looking no more inward-looking and ill-informed than many, many other places, although it certainly did itself no favours. In the end Phillip and Simone won 66 per cent of the vote, suggesting that the community responded to their sense of familial stability and general decency (though it was probably just Phillip's politics) rather than making a judgement based on colour. It also helped that they were up against a family with all the charm of a bee sting. By the end it looked suspiciously liked a fixed fight. 

The result seemed like the right one, but if watching people being voted in and out of a community made for pretty unedifying television, seeing prurience and bias-baiting smuggled onto TV in the guise of some kind of populist social-studies experiment was even less pleasant. But what was truly chastening was how desperately these two couples wanted their lives to change, even if it meant living in dreary old Grassington, and how much they were prepared to put up with in order to make it happen. It will, I suspect, only get worse.

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I have just watched this programme and I am absolutely disgusted by the racial comments made and found it obscene. We are a British white family and my husband was so upset by the comments made, that he had to leave the house and our daughter of 14 just could not believe that your people was saying such racial comments. In the papers this week John Galliano was charged for an offensive comment made on the Jewish and on this programme there was a part where one of the villagers said “ I would rather vote for the other family (meaning the white family) even if they were child killers as I'm not voting for the others no chance (meaning the black ones). Well that is disgusting and that man should be charged for such a comment, it is terrible racist deformation of character to someone because they are black – just completely outrageous – not just because they are black but a family and a family with three lovely boys. This was only one comment made among many other racial comments!!!! Your village people should be ashamed of them self and I'm out raged by what was said – I have put a complaint into OFCOM and there are thousands of tweets on twitter with people complaining. I will also be seeking further advice on how a man can say such a thing about an innocence family on national TV because of the colour of there skin and as my family's are keen walkers and owners of an art company we shall never never ever visit this community nor ever speak highly of anyone from North Yorkshire – to us you will be know as racists. I think that you need to watch the recording of this programme and see the awful remarks made from that community and that that man should be charged for such an outrageous remark. A very very racist community. Regards Kylie Brown and our Family

Best first sentence of a review. Ever.

"Sheep wrestling"? That'll be "sheep rustling", methinks! Also, Kylie has quite spectacularly misunderstood the "even if he was a child killer" comment, which was to do with him being a Tory, not black.

@kylie, your husband was so upset he had to leave the house? Does your TV not have an off button? Otherwise I agree, it's shameful that North Yorkshire people, the lot of them racists, can make sweeping statements about others based on their colour or where they come from. What kind of people will just typecast everybody of a particular bent without looking at the individual? North Yorkshire people, that's who. They make the sick, the lot of them.

Kylie I am not a racist, far from it and i am offended by your comment regarding people from North Yorkshire. Do you not think this comment in itself is racist to people from North Yorkshire which is a large county? Kate Skipton North Yorkshire

I was disgusted by the residents of Grassington last night. The way they treated Philip & Simone was atrocious. Who in their right mind would want to live surrounded by such narrow minded, bigoted, racist people.

I come from Manchester and it is well know that people from North Yorkshire are a racist, narrowminded bunch. I felt so sorry for Philip and Simone. I couldnt believe what I was seeing.

This is a really interesting, clever show Channel 4 have schemed here. It really tells us how "far away" rural Britain can really be from the likes of City folk. I really liked Phillip and Simone, they seemed like a really nice bunch and could certainly fit in that Grassington village. I can understand some of the racism in Grassington. It's a rural, conservative, probably Christian Yorkshire village, you can't get any more British than that, alot of the people there probably have never been to an Indian restaurant or even seen a black person in their lives, so seeing people like Phillip and Simone is a big change to their "snug" little community. But I think adding in people like Phillip and Simone to that community would really benefit them. But overall Love thy neighbour really tells us how people aren't willing to change, however this is understandable.

I was in Grassington on holiday whilst this was being filmed and it was obvious that most of the locals did not want this "reality rubbish" there. It's interesting that the programme showed little opposition by locals to the making of the actual programme itself as opposed to opposition to either family. It's also interesting to note that, when being asked why they wanted to come to Grassington, neither family were honest enough to say that they wanted a free house. As for the racist remarks, it's obvious that the programme makers chose to emphasise these and to minimise the many non-racist remarks. My wife is Asian and whilst we were there we experienced nothing but warm, friendly people who would do anything to help. She was treated as one of them. Please stop making rubbish programmes such as this.

Yeah, damnable racist village folk, accepting Philip and Simone into their community, judging them on their personalities and voting for them by a margin of 2 to 1! How do they sleep at night?!

It's worth remembering the Afro-Caribbean immigration to Britain didn't spread far from cities, unlike Asian immigration. Not far from Grassington you will sizeable Asian population, but you'd probably have to go as far as Leeds or Manchester from any significant Afro-Caribbean population. The people here didn't decide where communities settled, there are other factors in play. I'm sure our major cities, as multicultural as they are now, were not as tolerant/progressive UNTIL people moved there. Well they've not moved to Grassington. Its population wasn't changed during the 60s and waves of migration, so it's not surprise some attitudes haven't changed either.

At last a moderately balanced review. I must make a few points though. I have lived in Grassington for 20 years now. What the programme carefully did not show was the level of local opposition to this programme being made. Many residents were opposed to it. Most simply wanted not to be involved in it. Watch again and you'll see the same 20 faces each week. out of a population of over 1200 - that's a small level of enthusiasm. After the first week of filming the voting was opened up to neighbouring villages as so few Grassingtonians voted. In our village we have interracial families, gay couples, aristocrats, council tenants, newlyweds, divorcees and every element of society. All are welcome and have made a life here, happily accepted by their neighbours. As for Simone and Philip being stared at as they walked down the street do not jump to conclusions. Those who stood and stared were staring at a couple walking hand in hand down the road, preceeded by a four person film crew festooned with equipment. I bet you would look too, then be powerless to control how it was interpreted in the editing room and voiceover suite. Come without the pushy camera crews and you'll find how friendly we really are. But that makes for poor television, which needs some artificially created conflict to suck in the viewers I should also point out to Kylie that the gentleman at the dinner party was not adamanmt that he wouldn't vote for Philip because he was black, but because he wanted to be a Tory MP. Mr C (As I suppose I should call him to respect his privacy) is one of those who have never quite gotten over hating Thatcher and hates all things Tory on principal, childish as it may be. I was astonished that people would have missed his point and assumed he was being rascist. Then I sopke to my sister, and she had reached the same conclusion as you - wonderful thing editing isn't it?

HAHA... Sue.... you hypocrit!!! ''all people from north yorkshire are racist and narowminded'' hmmm, who is being judgemental, discriminating and prejudging now?? I also live in Manchester but im from N yorkshire and know where i will return after university. To a place where my children can roam free in their backgardens, where i can hire a babysitter who everybody knows and where if i forget my purse i can go to the shop, buy my milk and tell the assistant ill bring the money tomorrow. Bloody Manchester is a shambles, a mess and crime central. The people of Grassington wanted to keep there lovely, idyllic, clean and crime free (yes hard to believe! BUT TRUE) village that way without a mosque being built inplace of their church and kebab takeaways in place of their shops. It is obvious that TV programmes are played up so that they generate the revenue companies want! (and the respone NARROW MINDED, SILLY, PATHETIC people give to places like OFCOM.... 'ooohh complaint, complaint complaint' I feel sorry for you. I hope your happy in Manchester where your children get raped, murdered and grow up living next door to cannabi farms and sexual predators!!!!!! idiots.

p.s. Kylie you are a fool. Watch next week then make your comment. Go back to your art and craft shop, in where ever you live. You wouldnt be welcome in Grassington!

i couldnt care less what you think if we all had the attitude that grassington people did in the rest of the country the country would be a bloody mess - try driving off the yellow brick road and into relaity and to say im racist by calling you yorkshire people is just bloody stupid really!! theres a fine line between calling somone a yorkshire person and making racist jibes and acting the way you did.im entiltled to my view and you grassington people have been as rude to me as you have to the family on the programme - i rest my case and will get on in the real world. bigots!!!!!!!!!!

dear john of grassington thank you for your kind reply and i enjoyed reading it - and yes editing is very good i agree - my views were at time of watching and even if editing was made it was editing that should not be allowed as it to set out a bad view of what grassington people were like - well i hope that the people are happy with the lady that won and she is happy there but my views on updating peoples views on the real world and that of what we are made up of remains. take care

John of Grassington, you make the comments really worth having, especially since you explain the situation so clearly. How often do the people selectively represented get to have their say? There are bigots everywhere - two blocks down from me in London are UKIP fanatics and extreme right wingers, but I wouldn't say they're representative of the tolerant majority. The whole premise is twisted, of course, and complicated by the black Tory family, which shows you just how unpredictable the demographics here are. I Love the image of the family being trailed by a film crew - how many viewers would even have thought of that?

Do none of you frothing at the mouth about the racism, intolernance, prejudice etc of white, conservative, out-of-the-dark ages rural villages, never wonder why there are no programmes on tv called 'Escape to the city' ? Never wonder why the house prices in these intolerant rural hells are so sky high? If multicultutalism etc is so wonderful shouldn't here be a mass exodus from the terrible rural life - or is it too much to ask that tolerance works two ways and that people who wish to cling to their traditional, quiet, peaceful culture should be allowed so to do. Are you not struck by the irony of a black couple wishing to flee the nirvana of tolerant city multiculure for this, according to you, dark-ages village life?

"Hinge and Bracket types"? Oh good. Wit, subtlety and musical talent to boot. Can't wait to tune in for the next instalment of those two ladies. But Graeme, if you've ever heard Hinge and Bracket remark on race I'll eat my flower-trimmed crinoline hat.

I want to defend grassington, i'm going to be marrying into a family who have lived there for generations, and we are hoping to move back a.s.a.p, because we can't stand where we live, because people are crazy drivers, foul mouthed, etc etc, but as soon as we go back home (grassington), we are welcomed to hugs, comfort, support, and everyone is looking out for jobs in the area, to get us up there. while we were up in grasington during the filming, about 80% of the villagers made it really clear they didn't want to be filmed, and the camera women were shy, and filmed people without there premission, one camera woman put her camera in my face, that i threathen to sue her and the company for filming me, as i want my privacy, she came into one of the pubs and had the camera on, and i've worked with these camera before and i told everyone it was one, and the whole village when quiet, and she worked out in a sulk, they followed people from one pub to another, you had absolutely no privacy, it got stupid, they recorded you while you entered your pin in the cash machine, they filmed you in the private of your garden, they filmed you while you tried to have a private conversation, one gentleman was saying how he was upset about his recent lose, and one woman was filming it from a table, so put my handbag infront of the camera, they had no sense of privacy at all, they were so desperate for voters, cause they only got around 40 votes, and most was because they had prizes that never came through, they even recorded the feet of people going into a knitting meeting to make it look like people were voting!!!!! the life model tried to sell herself in a FAMILY pub, that the producers threw her out, the production company took all the business away from one pub, cause they went into it and shout drinks on the house in the other pub!!!! I only recognised a handful of people on that show, the rest are from outside the village, ones from kettlewell!!!! the family i'm marrying into knew what they were going to do, as did most others, after all who would sit and watch a village, going to work, drive home, go to the shop, pop to the pub, go home have dinner, go to bed, get up, go to work, drive home, have dinner, go to bed, etc etc, it doesn't make good tv, so the producers editted the filming to get this reaction, we know the gentleman, who said the child killer comment, and it was about the political background, as most of the village are labour fans, and hate the tories, its just been editted to look like he's being racist... grassington is an amazing place, where everyone is amazing, and people from all backgrounds, black, asian, homosexual etc etc, if you came to village you would see how amazing it is, everyone is willing to help you, we had a problem with one of our cars, and drove up and one of the lads mended it for £50, instead of £1,000 that we were quoted, my other half lost his job, and everyone offered him a job until he got another one, they comfort you, support you, care for you and look after you, you will not find a place like it, and as a ex-army child i can safely say that, no where is as special as grassington, and i can't wait to move up there again, and be with these amazing people, who are going to help us with a house and support, this show is nothing like the village is, and i think the producers should be ashamed of themselves, but they won't cause everytime we comment on it, or watch it we just keep lining their greed, selfish pockets. don't believe a thing on this show people as its nothing like this, and most of the village, didn't want any of it and i hope the council are wetting themselves with how this show has backfired on them and their idea that it would make grassington more popular, and improve tourism!!!!!

This ovbiously shows that people writting comments on here that actually believe that us people from Grassington are actually like this.......... well you are all as narrow minded as what you are making us out to be. Get real and grow up, What the cameras didnt show show is that there is an indian take away in the village on the main street that is very popular with all the locals. I used to live in rented house at the top of the village that was owed by a lovley gay couple...... (one of them is dark coloured). We have a gay police woman!!!!!!!! Every couple got stared out, they had massive cameras following them around the village all day every day, but channel 4 have very cleaverly manipulated it and US, to make it look like we were staring at them purley because of their colour. (REALLY??????) As for you Kylie well people like you wont be missed in Grassington if this is the perception that you have of us. You should make up you own mind not rely on a tv series to make it for you. I am born and bred here and would never want to be any where else. We welcome people with open arms to Grassington as it tourists that we rely on to keep us going. As for racist comments...... Every hamlet, village, town and city there are racists, there could even be one living next door to you and you will never know. There was a dark coloured girl working with channel 4 and shes was one of the most wonderful people that i had ever met. I bet if she was allowed to speak she would tell you that Grassington was one of the most wonderful places that shes had ever been to. So i think that WE ALL need to realise what actually goes on in the media and please believe that the majority of us are not anything like what s been portrayed. And if Channel 4 come to your village and want to do the same, make sure it doesn't happen, as it will damage its reputation that you have all worked for years to get!!!!! I rest my case.

The editing of the show is good and shocks just the right people to get more loyal followers waiting with baited breath to see what the bigoted locals do next... In other words job done. Good editing could have shown the village as far worse or far better. I'll have to ask my Doctor next time I see him what it was like, as I don't live in the village.

Just two of the many comments you can find on Channel 4's website about this awful programme. If you read all of them you will have a better idea of how contrived the whole programme is. First Channel 4 wrote it, then commissioned Studio Lambert to take many hours of footage which was edited to fit the story already written. The real Grassington is nothing like the programme. "I am a local resident and what needs to be re-iterated as part of this discussion is that the people that took part in this programme were very much in the minority. Most of us made a point of avoiding the crews like the plague and did not go along to the events, or vote, or took advantage of the free booze poured liberally down the throats of unsuspecting locals in order to get stupid ill considered remarks. Those of us with any sense knew this would be a set up. Unfortuantely we are now wondering what impact it will have on the tourist trade which is what Grassington relies on to keep it going.There are some very naive people took part in this programme, unfortunately it seems the rest of us will probabaly have to pay the price." ReplyReportReplies (1) "Grassington Resident on 09 March 2011 at 11:03 Absolutely. The viewers are going to get very tired of the same 20 or so faces - a very small showing from about 1,300 locals. Regarding the apparently ill considered remarks, isn't it amazing what free drinks, along with persistent prompting and, above all, skilful editing, can seem to make people say?????"

i think how them lesbian women reacted to that lady is unfair having it at the pub that was for charity is disgrading that was so unfair them women wrote on a paper and that aint being parents at all i felt sorry for her alot i dont disagree with them having kids but they shoul not claim on nhs if they wanted kids that bad they should pay for it like everyone else i have a friend been turned down paid loads and they can just walk in to nhs and get it thats so unfair totally.i cant believe how they treated that women with kids she didnt get accepted her kids deserved a chance and i just hope the ones that acted that way was wrong as they say their a welcoming town didnt look it at all.that donna was smerking and when that lady offered herself for money she was laughing that to me i wouldnt want in my town.because they way they was i likeable person and i dont have anyone i dislike but everyone deserves a chance the town looks so nice but i say this if you have a successful chance on nhs then you should pay yourself for other kids your wanting that way you giving those others a chance as its not fare.i wish everyone good luck but be fare.but thanks for the shows i am enjoying them.

If I knew I was being filmed and clearly spoke into a camera, the last thing I would do would be to make a racist comment?? It's just not acceptable? The tearing down of posters for an auction to raise money for a charity? I would expect that of a group of teenage boys not adults! I understand this is a minority, but if you know what you are about to say could potentially make yourself, your fellow friends family and whole village look racist/rude, why say it! They've made themselves look so unwelcoming and just awful!

Auction for charity? Yes, wonderful idea, but not so wonderful to promote yourself as the prize in the form of a hot date, having just crowed about how everyone's sons had better beware. Not such a wonderful idea either to hold the auction on the same night in the same pub where the opposition had previously arranged to hold a karaoke evening. Regarding needing more children here - I said need, not want; of course children are always welcome, as are all decent people - but the programme shows we already have a mother and toddler group here, where the young children can go before they move on to one of the two local primary schools preceding their progress to the local high school. Needless to say, the programme makers have succeeded in making the programme they wanted by manipulating a very small number of well meaning residents, which is why, after the vast majority of us were unable to prevent the filming, we avoided the cameras.

Can't believe how some people haven't even got a grasp of basic English grammar!Trying to read some of these posts is like reading the work of a five year old! Anyway, having visited Grassington several times in the past, we decided long before channel4 got there, that it is a clicky, insular place in alot of ways. Some locals refer to 'townies' as if they are second class cititzens. Some residents,not all, have a superior,high opinion of themselves, as often seems to happen in certain village communities. Trouble is , they are often cut off from the wider society, but myself, I prefer living on the outskirts of Harrogate, where there are lots of surrounding lovely villages/towns/cities - such as friendly,pretty Boroughbridge (better than over-rated Grassington, which is just a magnet for bus loads of tourists, don't know why particularly, as most are not walkers), York, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge, to name a few great places to visit. Sorry, but that's how I see it, & I'm not alone in that.

Jules - valid post, but I think you missed the irony of the big spoof by 'ej' (=eejit) below. A truly half-literate person would have to go a long way to achieve effects such as those. Or so I'm guessing.

David, thanks, but not sure I grasp your point? EJ, big spoof??

Read ej's post a bit further down more carefully, Jules. You couldn't make it up, could you? Or could you?

David, having read the ej post more carefully (or tried to!), I see just what you are saying, & no, you certainly couldn't make that up! What a sad state of affairs, what is society coming to? There's really no hope for some.....

Copy pasted from a comment posted by a resident of the 'Most Racist village in England!' Okaaaay... so basically, what happened is a few months ago, we had cameras in our village filming this new show. Basically, these different people/families from more urban areas compete for a house in the village worth around £30,000. no biggy, eh? Just a few weeks camera dodging, right? Wrong. The structure is two families at a time come to the village for a week, then try win over the locals. Then the winners from those pairings come back again and try to win. Each adult local gets a vote (whether they use it is up to them.) So anyway, that's done now, and it is now airing. The second episode was on last night. The show is called "Love Thy Neighbor" a reference to an anti racism thing ages ago. Basically, they thought they'd rake in the views by going for the controversial angle and painted us as this horrible homophobic racist bunch of country idiots. Which was exactly what they had promised on multiple occasions not to do (if it had been up to me they wouldn't have been allowed to film here.) To reinforce our perceived racism they specifically interview the essentially harmless, but fairly set in their ways old people, and the idiots. The vast majority of us aren't like that at all. In the end, they used such gems as: "A lot of people round here get startled when they see a black face." and "I'm not racist, but they don't belong here." One of the first families was a black couple with three kids, and the wife retells a story of one of the people she visited just telling her to go immediately. Racism? No, he didn't want his privacy dissected by a camera. She said "he just put his palm up." Basically saying he wasn't giving her a chance, but showing your palm is the sign for not wanting to be filmed. All this might not seem big, but the village draws a lot of income from tourism, and basically everywhere in the surrounding areas are reviews saying "wow, this is possibly the most racist village in England!" Fantastic...

i use to live in ingleton, which is not very far away from grassington, then we became "townies" and moved to lancaster, I am a nana of 2 beautiful mixed race young children, and I would not want them to be within 100 miles of that ghastly place!! just who do they think they are? racist, sexist, homophobic idiots!! the gay couple have every right to have ivf on the nhs, why not? they both work, and pay into the scheme, so they deserve the treatment as much as any other couples hang your head in shame! I think you villages are not as high and mighty as you would want us to believe, and I think you will of damaged your tourist trade, beyond repair!! its what you deserve, I for one would never visit such a horrendous place,

err, hang on a minute Lynne, does anybody ever spare a thought for the poor children of same sex couples? It's fine being all righteous & politically correct here, but facts are facts -getting back to basics, obviously it takes a male+female to have a child, & you are sure as hell kidding yourself if you honestly think a child brought up by a gay couple won't get bullied/made fun off etc.! It is not a right to have children, & in cases like this it's just pure selfishness - 'I want, so I shall have' syndrome. It is just not nature, a gay couple cannot have a child without medical intervention, & I'm so fed up with do-gooders saying they 'have the right like anybody else'! No, they don't have the right to put a child through a life of ridicule, & before you try to tell me people accept this as the norm these days, get in the real world, the vast majority do not!

Friday, 11 March 2011 11:32 posted by Jules Can't believe how some people haven't even got a grasp of basic English grammar!Trying to read some of these posts is like reading the work of a five year old! Anyway, having visited Grassington several times in the past, we decided long before channel4 got there, that it is a clicky, insular place in alot of ways. Jules, love, it's 'cliquey', and 'a lot',okay, Mr. Pedant?

Jules.... whatt thee hell? You plonker. Harrogate is a rediculous place full of rediculous people. Grassington is a lovely village. Watching 60 mins/week of the same 15 people is hardly representative of the whole village. People like you should F**K off from this board. I dont think anyone in Grassington is cut off from the wider society, unlike places like pately and boroughbridge. Christ, have you actually been to any of these places you seem to know so much about. Typical ponsy harrogate up your own ass person Jules, you wouldnt be welcome in grassington anyway. BYE

Comment has been removed

To 'Julestalkscrap' person, what's the matter, don't want to reveal your real name? Oh well, just have to call you the 'Grassington person that talks crap' then. Oooh, hit a raw nerve did I? You are the plonker, it's 'ridiculous' actually, i not e. Oh, & nice language by the way, you have to resort to the 'f' word - I rest my case comes to mind. And since you ask, yes of course I've been to Boroughbridge, Pateley etc., otherwise I couldn't comment on them! I wouldn't want to go to Grassington again thanks, like I said, plenty of better, more welcoming places around the beautiful Harrogate area! So, now you can go back to being the foul mouthed village idiot.....

And, in reply to Kay, I was mainly referring to posts such as the one by 'ej' actually, so you missed the point there a bit really. Another Grassingtonite are you? What's the 'Mr Pedant' business all about? It's Mrs by the way. Oh, & I'm not Jules 'love' either thanks.

I agree with you totally Jules! I come from nr Harrogate too, great place surrounded by great villages, why would we need to go to Grassington? It was packed with bussed in tourists when my family visited, & now there's quite a few angry natives too! It's no wonder the blonde lady & her 2 kids in the channel 4 show packed her bags & left! We have lovely scenery on our own doorstep, perfect for visiting or walking.

christie, let me guess? a person from grassington, who is allso homophobic? shame on you! okay then lets talk about the children that are born to "normal parents" i work in childcare/protection, and have for a number of years, and let me tell you, not one child i have come across in care has ever come from the same sex couple!! just the usual lowlife, that can't raise themselves ,let alone a child!! lynne is right, who the hell do you just think you are?? get a grip, you know people are dying needlessly, look at the poor people of japan? but hey lets slate gay peoples rights shall we? do you even have children yourself??

Guessed wrong Jane, I'm from just outside Harrogate, which you would have known if you had read my last post! And, for the record, my views have nothing to do with homophobia, so don't just assume that they have. My concern is purely for the children brought up by same sex couples. Just because you work in childcare, it doesn't make you a world authority on the subject! For a start, same sex couples have only fairly recently started going down the having kids route, so it doesn't take a genius to work out, that compared to the thousands of offspring of heterosexual couples, they are a very tiny minority at present! So, therefore it is not surprising that you haven't come across any in your line of work is it?? Your comparison of the plight of the people of Japan, dreadful though it is, to make out it's acceptable for same same sex couples to have kids is ridiculous. Are you trying to say that because there is a disaster in the world we should adopt an 'anything goes' attitude? Well I've heard it all now! As far as your 'low life' parents comment goes, the VAST majority of parents are decent, caring & bring up kids perfectly well, myself included. And, I repeat yet again, the point you don't seem to comprehend, who spares a thought for the kids brought up in a gay relationship??? You & others continually bang on about the gay rights issue, what about the rights of the kids concerned to have a conventional upbringing? Stop deluding yourself that they won't get ridiculed. I have no problem with gay couples, I accept that is how they are, but it is NOT nature for them to have kids, obviously. So Jane, you get a grip & stop your do=gooding attitude, it stinks! It's due to people like you that this country is in the sorry state it is! There needs to be rules & lines drawn somewhere, & to say you work in childcare, you are certainly not considering the KIDS of a gay relationship are you? I suggest you give it some serious thought as to how those kids will feel, why can't you understand it's not the rights of gay couples that are the crux of the matter, it's the kids invloved!!!

Don't care where you're from, Christie, you're talking from prejudice and lack of knowledge, end of story.

Oh think what you like Georgie, you are just another in the merry band of do=gooders, banging endlessly on about 'predjudice', 'gay rights' & the like! It really is impossible to get through to people like you - IT'S ABOUT THE KIDS INVOLVED, OK??????? Hypothetically speaking, how would you have felt if your school friends had found out you had 2 mums or 2 dads? Do not tell me the friends would not make an issue of it, & you wouldn't have cared, kids are kids! Anyone with half an ounce of intelligence would know where I'm coming from=the kids of same sex couples DO NOT GET A SAY, they are human beings, and should not be brought into the equation at all! We are not talking about the right to a civil partnership & the like, that ONLY affects the couple involved, this affects another human being!!!!! The trouble is we are all expected to be politically correct these days, and nobody dare step out of the expected line, but I dare do exactly that, in defence of the kids that don't have a voice - ask yourself where are the rights (that your sort are so concerned with) of these kids, because the answer Georgie, is THEY DON'T HAVE ANY!!!!! So, in your assumption that I have 'a lack of knowledge', I would argue that it's yourself that's seriously lacking in the grey matter department if you think it's a godgiven right for a gay couple to have kids!!!!! You are so damned keen on the 'rights' thing, why do you not care about the kids rights?...............

Kids have no say about being born into ANY family - and it shouldn't need pointing out that a dysfunctional straight couple is much worse than a loving same-sex one. Thank God most kids in such situations grow up with more emotional intelligence about it by the age of six than you seem to possess as a rambling 'adult'. The only possible way of pursuing this non-argument would be to get some of them to tell it like it is. And that's me out of the picture.

You really are a plank Georgie, the only way your sort react when you clearly know you are wrong, is to resort to making out everyone that doesn't agree with your views is sub=intelligent! How the hell do you know 'kids in this situation grow up with emotional intelligence'? What complete rot. why the hell do you talk as if most heterosexual couples are dysfunctional, & all gay couples are so loving? You are just talking complete nonsense! Most male+female parents are not cruel, unloving monsters you know! There are a minority of dysfunctional people in this world, regardless of whether you are gay or straight for gods sake! Nature dictates that only a male & female can produce kids, for good reason, in the case of a gay couple, a third party is necessary- be it in the form of a surrogate or a sperm donor= you think thats emotionally good for a kid, effectively giving them 3 parents in the mix? And as a matter of fact, my husband & I saw first hand the reaction of our own child when they saw on a local news programme, a story of a young boy with 2 mums- and before you say we must have pushed our views onto our child, we had never mentioned the subject, it never arose - but our child was horrified, & said so, said it wasn't right & felt so sorry for the boy involved, & even said if that happened to them, they would run away from home! So there you have it, the view of a child, said as they saw it........there really is no hope for people with your pathetic views.... you will be saying it was that muslim extremists right to burn poppys next.........

So there we have it. The delightful and engaging Christie undertakes to speak for the great British public. Same-sex couples who bring up children really are as bad as muslim extremists who burn poppies. I feel so enriched to be enlightened on such subjects. Perhaps time for the Arts Desk to close the board on this thread?

Oh how did I just know someone would choose to take that view, & miss the point completely! Hector, the point about the poppies was to say 'does anything go' in this country? Meaning (I was going to explain this point in previous post, but didn't really think someone would be daft enough to go down the route of actually thinking it was a comparison of gay people to extremists, but....there's always one....),like I said, you missed the point by a mile - I was saying that there has to be rules in this country, otherwise it would be a major free for all, with obvious consequences, & it seems to me that there's always some do-gooding person waiting in the wings to advocate the 'rights' of just about anybody! The type of person that thinks individuals can do more or less anything without any boundaries, & that it wouldn't surprise me if next, one of these do-gooders leapt to the defense of an extremist, saying they had a right to burn poppies!!!! THAT'S THE POINT I WAS MAKING, but someone always has to twist what was said, and make it out to be something it's really not Hector. Then, you want to shut someone up when it's not what you want to hear, but here we have freedom of speech, & that's why we have discussions such as this for people to air their views. If you had your way, debating would be dead Hector, wanting to silence those who's views may happen to differ from your own.

Just keep on digging a bigger hold, Christie, and with any luck you'll eventually vanish from sight.

Digging a 'hold' Andie?! Take it you mean 'hole'? No, sorry, no chance of that happening, sorry to disappoint!Another do-gooder are you? Can't stomach the truth?I'm such a bad person because I choose to stick up for the possible kids of gay couples am I? It's not a right whether you like it or not, & I'm not anti=gays in any shape or form, as they are born gay, it's not a choice they make, & should be accepted like any other human being - but having kids brought into a gay relationship is a whole different ball game- you are just another one Andie, that wants those with differing views than your own to just hush up & disappear, so take your PC views & crawl back under your stone!


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