Me. I used to be one and some of those bins were fucking heavy especially in winter when they were full of ash. They got it easy these days just push a wheelie bin to the back of a dustcart and push a button
I know it’s a “Long Read” but I didn’t realise that meant writing in circles, no editing, and repeating yourself. I haven’t sat down and read much from the Guardian in a few years, is this what it is like nowadays? Is this article particularly bad? Was it always like this and I didn’t notice?
Can we be nostalgic about journalism? Imagine telling a journo in the 70s that kids these days will go to school for years to get a journalism degree only to use it to write alarmist articles about silly little images random old people post
So what is a ‘proper’ binman supposed to be? I imagine the job is just as hard as it ever was, modern technology probably just means that you’re expected to collect more and are just as tired at the end of the day.
Who remembers proper rain?? (but seriously watching the bins being collected was –and still is– the highlight of my week!)
“Who remembers the Four Yorkshiremen sketch” for fucks sake even nostalgia isn’t what it was. Writer of the article needs to get out less and spend more time online if they think
>a picture of three butter knives can attract 1,300 comments
is in any way unusual or noteworthy. I pretty sure Ug the caveman thought it was going wrong with that new fangled fire, “back in my day……”
An interesting enough article, although I moved on to skim reading by the last 1000 words.
Glad to see the 4 Yorkshiremen brought up, perhaps Monty Python’s most eternal sketch.
Was disappointed by the authors dismissiveness towards these two boomer concerns however
>*The late Lord Stoddart was commended after his death as a “proper Labour man” by Peter Hitchens on account of being a miner’s son, getting into politics through “grammar school and hard work”*
It would be very nice to have some actual working class politicians again, rather than the factory made, Oxbridge, PPE crowd of professional politicos we’ve had for the last 20-30 years. Pining for the days of MPs who took a more bootstrap pulling route to Westminster seems pretty legit to me.
>*As the cost of living crisis hits, everyone is looking for ways to cut back, taking a Thermos of coffee to work, eating leftovers for lunch and sewing on lost buttons*
No one should want anyone to suffer or live in a more uncomfortable fashion, but making coffee at home, eating leftovers and mending clothes are all great practices.
Who wants more Starbucks choking the highstreet? Or more food waste? Or the unabated march of fast fashion?
These ideas are helpful for the environment, stopping food waste and damning to the nasty consumerism which is damaging both society and the planet. Takeaway coffee is a pointless luxury, contributing to masses of plastic pollution. Eating leftovers is a necessity. One would hope that all clothes repairable within reason, should be fixed up.
Shameful to see the Grauniad frame this as boomerism, or “binmenism”.
Ahh Nostalgia, grief for the past.
It used to be so harmless.
TBF I’d rather people be nostalgic about some of the nails shit people did to make do and muddle through it, than how so many of my late-20s & early-30s have become nostalgic for pop punk and boy bands.
9 comments
Me. I used to be one and some of those bins were fucking heavy especially in winter when they were full of ash. They got it easy these days just push a wheelie bin to the back of a dustcart and push a button
I know it’s a “Long Read” but I didn’t realise that meant writing in circles, no editing, and repeating yourself. I haven’t sat down and read much from the Guardian in a few years, is this what it is like nowadays? Is this article particularly bad? Was it always like this and I didn’t notice?
Can we be nostalgic about journalism? Imagine telling a journo in the 70s that kids these days will go to school for years to get a journalism degree only to use it to write alarmist articles about silly little images random old people post
So what is a ‘proper’ binman supposed to be? I imagine the job is just as hard as it ever was, modern technology probably just means that you’re expected to collect more and are just as tired at the end of the day.
Who remembers proper rain?? (but seriously watching the bins being collected was –and still is– the highlight of my week!)
“Who remembers the Four Yorkshiremen sketch” for fucks sake even nostalgia isn’t what it was. Writer of the article needs to get out less and spend more time online if they think
>a picture of three butter knives can attract 1,300 comments
is in any way unusual or noteworthy. I pretty sure Ug the caveman thought it was going wrong with that new fangled fire, “back in my day……”
An interesting enough article, although I moved on to skim reading by the last 1000 words.
Glad to see the 4 Yorkshiremen brought up, perhaps Monty Python’s most eternal sketch.
Was disappointed by the authors dismissiveness towards these two boomer concerns however
>*The late Lord Stoddart was commended after his death as a “proper Labour man” by Peter Hitchens on account of being a miner’s son, getting into politics through “grammar school and hard work”*
It would be very nice to have some actual working class politicians again, rather than the factory made, Oxbridge, PPE crowd of professional politicos we’ve had for the last 20-30 years. Pining for the days of MPs who took a more bootstrap pulling route to Westminster seems pretty legit to me.
>*As the cost of living crisis hits, everyone is looking for ways to cut back, taking a Thermos of coffee to work, eating leftovers for lunch and sewing on lost buttons*
No one should want anyone to suffer or live in a more uncomfortable fashion, but making coffee at home, eating leftovers and mending clothes are all great practices.
Who wants more Starbucks choking the highstreet? Or more food waste? Or the unabated march of fast fashion?
These ideas are helpful for the environment, stopping food waste and damning to the nasty consumerism which is damaging both society and the planet. Takeaway coffee is a pointless luxury, contributing to masses of plastic pollution. Eating leftovers is a necessity. One would hope that all clothes repairable within reason, should be fixed up.
Shameful to see the Grauniad frame this as boomerism, or “binmenism”.
Ahh Nostalgia, grief for the past.
It used to be so harmless.
TBF I’d rather people be nostalgic about some of the nails shit people did to make do and muddle through it, than how so many of my late-20s & early-30s have become nostalgic for pop punk and boy bands.