I have long abandoned listening to radio phone-ins. There was a time when I devoured every bit of talk radio – not the station: TalkRadio is Murdoch owned so I won’t listen to that – because I liked the arguments. But I tired of the hate, which grew during the EU referendum and has only grown deeper since. James O’Brien on LBC has the ability to talk into my echo chamber, the master of the genre Nicky Campbell separates the wheat from the chaff but in truth I can’t stand the hate. The subject of Campbell’s phone-in into which today I unthinkingly tuned was Prince Harry’s forthcoming memoir Spare.
Thanks, at least in part, I feel, because of the red top vilification of Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, there are no shades of grey, although the grey areas I inhabit – rarely for me in my world of black and white – are formed almost entirely of apathy. I don’t know either of them so I can’t like or dislike them but I do have some sympathy and empathy. Speaking of black and white, that’s really what the Harry and Meghan story is all about. But one caller released some anger from within my soul.
Referring to Harry’s trauma following the death of his mother, Princess Diana, the caller described him as “barking mad” and “a sandwich short of a picnic”, something I felt was a little harsh. No. I found the comment extremely offensive, so call me “woke”, “politically correct”, part of the “cancel culture” and a “snowflake”. Not that I believe he shouldn’t be allowed to say some disgusting things – free speech, or what’s left of it, means you should be able to offend people – but let’s be honest: you would never belittle someone with, say, cancer, so why is it okay to have a sly pop at mental illness? Because it isn’t a real illness? That’s exactly, 100%, what the caller meant.
There was no need for me to phone in to the phone-in because others did my bidding for me, but according to Campbell there were plenty of people messaging the programme who agreed with the caller. But it reminded me – yet again – that we’re nowhere near being able to give mental health the same seriousness as we give physical health. We say, all glibly and matter-of-factly, that it’s okay to not be okay, except that to many people it still isn’t okay to not be okay. It takes me back to my childhood when I would be routinely advised to pull myself together and stop feeling sorry for myself when, it later transpired, I was a mental case. So when I hear someone else being ridiculed for having their own issues, whether it’s an ordinary person or a prince, I can’t accept it.
For the rest of today, and possibly for much longer, I’ll be dwelling on the “barking mad” and “a sandwich short of a picnic” comments because that’s definitely me. Contradicting myself, I feel there’s a time and a place for throwaway comments such as these and I’m happy to admit I use them myself, but not to attack or belittle people. Today’s caller was, unquestionably, doing that.
While I have some sympathy for and empathy with Harry, I won’t be bothering with his book, although I strongly suggest millions will. It will doubtless be full of private stuff and tittle-tattle and for millions of Brits, that’s what they get out of bed for. I’ll just sit here either in silence, waiting for May Ann Hobbs’s dire 6 Music show to end or I’ll play some music. One thing is for sure. No more phone-ins.
