Beef And Dairy Network - Episode 9 - Teresa Beckton

Episode Date: March 21, 2016

Josie Long joins in as we respond to the findings of the UK Meat Attitudes Survey by speaking to youth worker Teresa Beckton, and announce a competition in which you could win a 4GB USB Key. By Benjamin Partridge and Josie Long with thanks to Cariad Lloyd. Music: "Fresh Air" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Stock media provided by Setuniman/Pond5.com and Soundrangers/Pond5.com

The Beef and Dairy Network podcast is sponsored by Graze-X, the latest grass replacement pellet from Mitchell's. If it's not Mitchell's, get back in the truck. Graze-X is now regularly consumed by over 30% of the world's cattle, and it's proven to reduce hoof rot, utter blanching, and weird ears. For a free introductory sack of feed and vulcanized feeding mitt, visit our website at mitchells.net.org.kentucky and enter the code BEEFANDDAIRY. Hello and welcome to the Beef and Dairy Network podcast, the number one podcast for those involved, or just interested, in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.

The Beef and Dairy Network podcast is the podcast companion to the Beef and Dairy Network website and a printed magazine, brought to you by Grazex. Later, we have a big competition, which is your chance to win a limited edition USB key. But first, the big news this week, which is the publication of the UK Meat Attitude Survey. The annual survey gives us a valuable insight into how the UK public feel about meat, and has been a go-to source of research for the industry ever since it officially recognised pork as a meat in 1976. As I'm sure many listeners will already know, the findings this year have sent shockwaves through the beef world. There were many surprises in the data. For example, it was found that 6% of men keep a chorizo under their pillow. But most shocking was the news that while positive

attitudes to beef are holding up well with middle-aged and elderly citizens, many children and young people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the meat. In fact, 47% of respondents between the ages of 12 and 18 hadn't eaten any beef in the previous month, and responses from young people described beef as tired, unnecessary and pointless. When interviewed on the subject of rich beef sausages, one 14-year-old subject from Nottingham said, and I quote, You couldn't force me to eat one at gunpoint. I'd rather take a bullet to the brain. Do it now.

Go on. Shoot me. I'm not eating your stinking sausage. I don't care what you say. This is a clash of generations. This is war, old man. Your drooping eyes and old skin disgust me. Your creaking knees. Your tired breath. Go on. Shoot me, old man, your drooping eyes and old skin disgust me, your creaking knees, your tired breath.

Go on, shoot me old man, blast my bonce off, blow off my beetroot. To try and get to the bottom of this and to get an insight into what is going on with these young people, early this week I spoke to youth worker Teresa Becton. I started by asking Teresa to introduce herself. Hello, hello. My name is Teresa Becton. Teresa like the saint, Becton like the stop on the DLR and I am a youth worker. I work with young people in South London. Brilliant. Can you tell me what kind of kids you come into contact with down there in the youth centre? I'm not going to mince my words.

Fuck-ups. Right. Is that the kind of language you'd use in front of them? No, no, not in front of them. In front of them, I would say little assholes, little shits, just a waste of space. That's what I call it, waste of space. That's what I call a waste of space. Okay. Yes, yes. You're building a pretty good picture there.

So what kind of things do you do with them down in the youth centre? Well, it's a very challenging line of work because, you know, you're giving back to the community, giving quite a lot. So what I like to do is I like to get them involved in something that gives back something to me so I got an Etsy shop and what I like to do is I get them making stuff I can sell on that it started out cross stitching but they use the needles to prick each other and then laugh so uh it's candle mainly we do candles um candle making workshops. Scented candles? There's not meant to be a scent, but a scent does creep into them.

And how many of those are you selling on a sort of weekly basis? Oh, I mean, if I really get them to concentrate, what I like to do is there's a couple of lads who are on the Ritalin, on the Dexys, and I grind a bit of that up and I'll just put that into an orange squash or a lemon squash and it really does focus them it's actually remarkable the results you can get and um so maybe I have 12 of them for a session they call it a session I call it a shift um 12 of them for a shift I can be grinding out oh maybe sometimes 4,000 a week if I do if I split my time between the

several youth centres in the borough I can be getting up to 4,000 a week. If I split my time between the several youth centres in the borough, I can be getting up to £4,000 a week. And when you think about the fact that that's about £30 a candle, doing really, really well. Okay, well, the reason I've got you on the show is I want you to respond to the latest figures that were published this week in the UK Meat Attitude Survey, which show that 77% of young people polled think that beef is, and I quote, irrelevant to their lives. Now, what's going on here?

Well, it doesn't surprise me. I see it every single day. I see it every single day. You know, they're not interested in beef. They're interested in their music. Also, I suppose, the thing is with a gang, the last thing you want is beef with another gang that's the last thing metaphorically and that becomes real the uh the survey showed that that many young people are switching uh to lamb uh we've got some quotes here that young people said to the people doing the survey they say lamb makes me feel cool hip and groovy it's hard to understand at first but that's how they talk. Yeah.

Well, it's true. All they're doing is eating a big crown of lamb, strutting about, you know, Bow, Hackney, all of these places with a lamb shank in one hand. So you're saying that you're seeing groups of young people, maybe using the word gangs, if you call them gangs, roaming around carrying big pieces of lamb. Oh, oh, absolutely, absolutely. They want to be the big man of the estate.

You know, they want to have a big crown of lamb. You know, I try to say to them, it's not right. You know, young people like you, they won't hear it. They will not hear it. They'll say, you don't understand, or they'll say, why are we making candles every day? You know, back chat. More from that interview later. But first, do you want to win a USB key covered in precious stones? Yes? Good, because that's the prize in this month's competition. The body of the USB key, donated by Mitchells, is made from rubies, emeralds, sapphires, scarce amber, topaz, and rare South Sea pearls.

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If your computer has USB port functionality, then this is just the device for you. Also, it's worth £1.8 million because it's covered in rare gems. We gave away a similar USB key through a competition on the website last year, which was won by Amy Patterson from Maidenhead in Berkshire. Early this week we checked in with her to see how the USB key was going, and she had the following to say. I was amazed at how many files I could store on this device. I mean, much better than a floppy disk or a big suitcase full of papers. If I ever needed to access an Excel spreadsheet or Word document, I could because it was on my USB key. Normally I'd have to go home to print off the spreadsheet you know have an

argument my husband because he's used up all the ink printing out pictures around the corner cover then go to a shop buy some more ink and then go home only to find that my husband has locked me out then I'd have to go to my local library to print it which I don't like because once a librarian accused me of forgery but that's another story and then I'd go to the place where I needed the spreadsheet the first place to find that everyone had gone home the USB key's sleek design means that it complements any outfit and I also like the fact that because of all the precious gems it's worth 1.8 million pounds so if I wanted to I'd never have to work again

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Imagine. For your chance to win the device, simply send us an email telling us what files you'd keep on the USB key to our email address beefanddairynetwork at gmail.com. The best description wins the USB key. Good luck! Now back to our big interview with youth worker Theresa Becton, responding to the recent UK Meat Attitude survey. The survey showed that beef is still very popular with primary

aged children. I don't know if you come into contact with them very much in your candemaking workshops. What's happening then as they reach the age of around 12 or 13 for them to think no that's that's not for me i'm gonna gonna hit the lamb it's puberty isn't it like they come in you know you're seeing something really honest in their lunchbox like a beef wellington or like a little uh filet mignon and it is almost overnight you're the voice breaks and then you know the lamb

comes into their lives and i think it's sad i mean it's definitely a peer pressure thing you know you see these very sweet kids all they'd have in their sandwiches would be that beef that you can get from tesco's you know know, like the sliced beef. And then, yeah, I don't want a sandwich. I want a wrap. And it's full of lamb. Does it affect you emotionally? It makes me feel very sad because they could have another life, you know. They could just have an honest life.

And instead, you know, no one wants to eat lamb. It tastes weird. You know, it's from New Zealand. It's not from Britain. There's no lambs in Britain. You know, it's imported. It's like the rap music. You know, they listen to all this New Zealand rap music.

They want to eat the New Zealand lamb. So is something deeper going on here with the influence of New Zealand culture on our youth? Yes, I think it's very dangerous. New Zealand, well, I see it as a menace. You know, you can see children drop out of schools. In year eight, they start teaching you about New Zealand and geography lessons in year eight. So, you know, 12 to 13 year olds. in year eight so you know 12 to 13 year olds and you can see the dropout rates from you can pare it down to that little module when children start leaving school because they find out about

this place they're straight on google you know they're straight on bing and they're looking up everything they can think of about new zealand you know it's all and you hear them chatting about it you know new zealand are are here that's where the best lamb is you know I mean it's sad it's very sad. So what are the rules at your youth centre you know regarding chatting about New Zealand, eating lamb, maybe looking up New Zealand celebrities on on the computers there are they allowed to express themselves in this way or is it something you try and clamp down on? Oh I really try and clamp down on it I clamp down on it a lot what i did to begin with was i put a block on some key new zealand things and lord of the rings san neil that sort of thing they can't

google it they cannot google it in the center that they try they cannot they will not be allowed to do that also um well but i just say to them you know know, I say, right, you know, we're here. Phone's off. Put your lamb away. I do not want to see it. Put it in a tupperware. We've got a fridge outside the centre. Mind it's not in the centre, it's outside. And I say, right, we're going to have a lambnesty. You're going to put your lamb in that fridge and I'm going to lock it up, you know. But then, of course, it's a worry to itself because, you know, they come back in at the end of the day. They're like, oh, he's taken my lamb. No, I haven't. Oh, well, how do you explain you've got such a beautiful rack of lamb there?

That's my rack of lamb. You know, it really does cause arguments. But I say, right, that's it. Phone's off. Lamb away. Let's get the wax out. You have to make your quotas. What advice would you give a concerned parent i'm sure we've got lots of parents listening and they're kids you know of that age they're worried um they they've they've they can smell certain things coming from the bedroom oh well yeah lamb is very pungent meat actually exactly maybe they're they've caught their child watching lord of the rings what advice do you have for them oh well the first thing i'd say is

you have you've done a shit job that's the first thing i'd say is you've done a shit job if your children are behaving badly that's your fault entirely and so you should take some responsibility for that secondly be as harsh as you can harsh as you can take their playstations take their mega drives take their game cubes take it off them and sell it then what i would say to them is get the child in and you cook up a beautiful joint of beef and you sit them around the table and you say we're going to eat this beef and we're going to eat this beef for king and country we'll eat this beef for britain we'll eat this beef for the monarch we'll eat this beef you put on jerusalem in the background you say listen to me this is your culture this is your culture and it doesn't matter what rappers say it doesn't matter what they're rapping

about because when it comes down to it you should have a beef have a beef with them and find people you know who might be eating lamb ostentatiously and go up to them and say yes i have a beef with them and find people you know who might be eating lamb ostentatiously and go up to them and say yes I have a beef with you I will have a beef with you come around my house and I'll have a beef with you because that's the only way we're gonna achieve anything I think in this country and I'm sorry to say the sooner we're out of Europe the better frankly it's a gateway to New Zealand and that's all I've got to say on the matter Strong words there from Teresa and a huge thanks to Teresa for taking the time to speak to us

If you're worried that your child may have been dabbling in the darker meat please contact us to get a fact sheet by sending an email to I am worried that my child is hooked on kiwistreetlamb at gmail.com and if you're a user who happens to be listening,

stay safe. You've only got one life, and it isn't long enough to piss away on lamb. So that's all for this month, but if you're after more beef and dairy news, get over to the website now where you can read all the usual stuff, as well as an interview with the Mayor of Jersey. And on our off-topic section, we ask the question, as well as an interview with the Mayor of Jersey. And on our off-topic section, we ask the question, Beads, how many is too many? Until next time, beef out.

Thanks to Josie Long and Cariad Lloyd. Also, a reminder that we are on Twitter. You can find us at BeefandDairy. And also, excitingly, as of this month, we are now on Facebook. We have a Facebook page, might be the word for it, group, potentially, presence, identity, whatever it is. You can find us on there by searching on facebook for beef and dairy network thank you for all of the correspondence i get it's always really funny um not that you have to be funny no pressure to be funny whatsoever but lots of you are very funny someone asked me last week whether we're ever going to be doing beef and dairy live and i sort of said no i don't think

anyone would want that to happen and then literally moments later i got an email asking about the possibility of doing it later in the year so I will keep you posted about that maybe it won't happen maybe it will uh what else can I say oh uh thank you for all the iTunes reviews I really like getting them and if you'd like the show then consider leaving one because I would be delighted what else do I need to let you know about? I don't think anything really. Basically just thanks for listening. I hope you enjoy it and if you do why not tell a friend, a local vicar, town crier, just someone with a bit of clout in your local community, dignitaries of any kind, just someone whose opinion other people would respect. And if you did that, I would be very pleased indeed. So thanks for listening. Until next month. Bye.