The Guide #226: SPOILER ALERT! It’s never been easier to avoid having your favourite show ruined
Don’t be alarmed by the image above,I can assure you that this newsletter features no spoilers for the current season of The Traitors,We won’t be discussing the shocking departure of REDACTED, or the nefarious actions of EXPUNGED, or the fact that CENSORED is the wife/half-brother/hairdresser of NAME REMOVED,Relax, you are in a hermetically sealed Traitors safe space here,Indeed, what has gradually dawned on me while watching this latest series is how relatively straightforward avoiding spoilers has been.
There have been at least a couple of occasions in the past fortnight where I have been behind by an episode or so, and I have never felt in imminent danger of prematurely learning of the latest murder or banishment.Friends who have texted me about the show’s goings-on have done so in the most cautious, detail-light manner possible, regardless of whether they knew if I was up to speed.I, in turn, am sensible enough not to wade into corners of social media where I’m most likely to be spoiled.Despite The Traitors being the biggest monocultural TV sensation in years, I don’t feel like I have to resort to desperate measures to avoid catching the results, like Bob and Terry trying to avoid the England v Bulgaria score on The Likely Lads.And it’s not just The Traitors.
Generally, I believe spoilers are far less of a concern than they once were.A decade ago, the internet was a lawless wild west for spoilers.We were only just adjusting to streaming and its binge drops, meaning some viewers would burn through an entire series, and loudly discuss it, before others had even watched an episode.And X (then Twitter) in particular, seemed to be at its chattiest and most indiscreet: for those of us who were UK based, a Monday morning on there after the US broadcast of, say, Game of Thrones, was a Total Wipeout-level obstacle course of spoiler avoidance.No matter how many keywords you muted – “Cersei”, “dragon”, “beheading”, “RIP” – you were still likely to encounter a whacking great revelation mid-mouthful of Shredded Wheat.
Today, when it comes to spoilers, the terrain feels a lot less rocky.Viewers have grown used to the fragmented nature of streaming, now knowing not to assume that everyone has churned through a whole season of Stranger Things in one night like they have, and to behave accordingly.X, meanwhile, is no longer the babbling town square of before, abandoned by many and too slop-filled and dysfunctional to be a truly spoilerific place for those who have stuck around.And Reddit, a natural home for fevered discussion of TV, introduced spoiler tags nine years ago, making it a far safer place for the unspoiled to navigate.The media, too, has generally become more careful about divulging details of recently, or even not-so-recently aired shows.
There’s a greater understanding of what constitutes a spoiler – not just a major revelation like “so and so carks it” but smaller yet telling details too.When advance screeners for the final season of Succession were sent out to critics, they were accompanied with a note from creator, Jesse Armstrong, asking not only for them to keep stumm about “specific events” but also “which episodes might be ‘big ones’, even cryptically or indirectly”.The Traitors has an additional advantage when it comes to spoilers: its three-days-on, four-days-off broadcast schedule, which gives those who haven’t watched the episodes livethe weekend to catch up, while everyone else holds off on the water cooler conversation until the following week.Granted, we don’t live in a spoiler-free utopia.I’m sure plenty of people have found their Traitors enjoyment curtailed by a loose-lipped colleague or a rogue Facebook post.
But things are definitely better than they were.For example, I’ve managed to get through this whole column without divulging any spoilers for anything.I feel triumphant, like Rocky Balboa after knocking out Apollo Creed in Rocky II.Or Keyser Soze as he walks out of the police station at the end of The Usual Suspects.Or … ah, damn.
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Michael Baron obituary
The London solicitor Michael Baron, who has died aged 96, was instrumental in changing the lives of autistic people for the better. At a time when autism was little known or understood, in 1962 he co-founded the UK’s leading autistic charity. As its first chair, he was the driving force in publicising the condition and raising funds.He helped set up the world’s first autism-specific school in 1965 and the first residential community for autistic adults in 1974. As one of a group of lawyers, he campaigned for the Education (Handicapped Children) Act in 1970, which gave all children, regardless of disability, the right to an education
Educational background key indicator of immigration views in UK, study finds
Rightwing movements are struggling to gain support among graduates as education emerges as the most important dividing line in British attitudes towards politics, diversity and immigration, research has found.A study from the independent National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) found people with qualifications below A-level were more than twice as likely to support rightwing parties compared with those with qualifications above.The Demographic Divides report says: “A person with no educational qualifications had around 2 times the odds of voting for either the Conservatives or Reform UK than someone with a university degree or higher. This is independent of other factors, including financial precarity, so those without a degree are more likely to support rightwing parties in the UK even after adjusting for their financial situation.“If one wanted to predict whether a person voted for parties of the right in the UK, knowing their educational background would give them a very good chance of making a correct prediction
Prostate cancer is most commonly diagnosed cancer across UK, study finds
Prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer across the UK, surpassing breast cancer, according to a leading charity.There were 64,425 diagnoses of prostate cancer in 2022, an analysis of NHS figures by Prostate Cancer UK found, and 61,640 new cases of breast cancer.The analysis found there to be a discrepancy at which stage men with prostate cancer were diagnosed, with 31% of men in Scotland diagnosed with prostate cancer at stage 4, compared with 21% of men in England.About one in eight men across the UK will be affected by prostate cancer in their lifetimes, with approximately 12,200 deaths each year caused by the disease.One in four black men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes
Don’t rely on BMI alone when diagnosing eating disorders in children, says NHS England
A child’s body mass index should not be the key factor when deciding which under-18s get help for an eating disorder, the NHS has told health professionals.The new guidance from NHS England to GPs and nurses follows criticism that over-reliance on BMI has led to children who have an illness such as anorexia or bulimia being misdiagnosed and missing out on care.“Single measures such as BMI centiles should not be a barrier to children and young people accessing early and/or preventative care and support,” it says.Other factors, such as changes in behaviour by the young person and concerns raised by their family, should help guide decision-making, according to the document. It was welcomed by Beat, an eating disorders charity, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, both of which helped draw it up
The inside track on curbing UK prison violence | Letters
Alex South’s harrowing account of violence in prisons (Death on the inside: as a prison officer, I saw how the system perpetuates violence, 13 January) deserves more than our sympathy – it demands we recognise these murders and assaults not as symptoms of a broken system, but as a foghorn blaring warnings about fundamental failures.I work in prisoner rehabilitation. I see what South describes from the other side: men whose “scaffolding” is indeed flimsy, who have accumulated trauma before and during incarceration. But I also see what happens when that changes. Our service users work in cafes, bakeries and bike shops, not because we believe in the redemptive power of bread or bicycles, but because meaningful work and purposeful activity are the foundations of desistance
She’s just autistic Barbie – let children play | Letters
As the parent/carer of autistic children, I’m pleased that my kids have more visibility in mainstream culture with the launch of the “autistic Barbie” doll (Mattel launches its first autistic Barbie, 12 January). For the kids, they’re interested, but, given my youngest’s penchant for graffiti, “autistic Barbie” will be drawn all over and resemble “weird Barbie” in no time.I’ve found it hard to share this pleasure, having seen my academic and activist colleagues slam the doll. I completely understand their reasoning. Of course it lacks nuance to use visible accessories to represent a hidden disability
Archive: Davos – hot air in a cold climate
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