Catch, catch, the horror taxi...

One of the best hours of radio I have heard in the last year came not from a radio station but actually via a podcast from "Talk About the Passion", a podcasting collective who make recordings about aspects of British culture of which they are passionate.

The one that I enjoyed the most was from Tim Worthington and Ben Baker about the "Video Nasty" phenomenon. You can download it here.

Anyone coming of age in the 1980s or older will remember the furore from the media and politicians about the fact that people could get hold of in some cases fairly dubious (but in lots of cases relatively harmless) videos. A list was compiled which became known as the Video Nasty list and attempts were made to ban them from sale.

I certainly remember the coverage and I also remember watching a few somewhat dodgy vids myself around that time procured from "Dave's Video Van" that used to do the rounds in Runcorn, the town I grew up in. However I never really knew all the details but Tim's encyclopedic knowledge of the subject coupled with Ben's enthusiastic presenting style (and to be fair he seems to know a fair bit about the subject too) makes for a fascinating listen. The way Tim puts certain things into context too that totally hit the nail on the head is noteworthy too. For example he goes into detail about how jarring it was to go from the end credits to a screen of black and white snow and often by the time you had finished the film at night time there were no channels broadcasting during the '80s which made the end of the watching experience somewhat eerie.

There is also lots and lots of detail about the political machinations around the whole Nasty episode and an informative description of how one of the trials trying to prosecute a distributor spectacularly collapsed as the judge essentially accused the Attorney General of having wasted public money.

If you are interested at all in 1980s popular culture I highly recommend listening to this excellent analysis of one of the most memorable moral panics this country has ever witnessed.

Sensible advice on drugs SCANDAL

Tim Worstall has an excellent post today about a government advice line that actually seems to be giving out sensible advice about drugs. He references a Telegraph story which has the usual SHOCK HORROR approach to the idea that a measured approach could be taken to advising youngsters about drugs.

The thing is, this is exactly the sort of approach that should be taken. If officialdom just trumpets the line to young people that all drugs are very dangerous and the risks are very high then eventually youngsters will see for themselves that their friends have taken things like cannabis and ecstacy (it is statistically almost impossible to not know at least one person who has done so when you are young) with no ill effects and will realise that the "advice" given is nonsense. Far better to give measured advice on the relative risks.

Why is it so hard to be sensible about this subject in this country?