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Same but indifferent: Laughing Boy @JStheatre

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Stephen Unwin's Laughing Boy, adapted for the stage from Sara Ryan's Justice for Laughing Boy, is a powerful and moving story about a mother and a family that keeps asking questions despite the victimisation and harassment from the institution - the NHS - that was supposed to protect her son. It's a moving, celebratory account of a life cut short due to indifference held together by a remarkable performance by Janie Dee as Sara. It's currently playing at the Jermyn Street Theatre .  Sara's son, Connor, is a little different to others. He is fascinated by buses and doesn't like things like loud noises. But as he becomes an adult, his seizures and unexpected outbursts mean the family turn to their local NHS for support. Little did they realise they would receive such little care from a service that was institutionally incompetent and covered up thousands of unexplained deaths of people with disabilities, including Connor's. The search for answers about why he

Overheard outside South Kensington Tube

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Very nervous woman in car (to man): Excuse me sir... Excuse me. Man on street: Yes Very nervous woman in car: Can you tell me why all these people are heading this way? Man on street: They're coming from a concert at Albert Hall. Very nervous woman in car: Oh Too bad she didn't ask me. I would have told her we just wanted to get the hell out of South Kensington and get on with our lives... Perhaps she had visited the following website...

Overheard leaving Albert Hall

Lady: The wine was actually really nice wine... Not like that old stuff Man: Yes really nice. Really really nice. Not the old stuff at all...

Scenes from Albert Hall Sunday 18:52

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120820072145 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . The crush to get back into the hall in time for Act 2 of Götterdämmerung . Some folks thought they could stop traffic but the black cabs had other ideas... At least an hour for a meal break was provided since it started at 4pm... It had another three hours to go... All things considered (like it was at Albert Hall, the catering is rubbish and it was a concert version), it probably was worth the effort... No chance of snoozing anyway when one was sitting in front of the augmented horns section...

Music: John Dankworth and Cleo Laine

I keep forgetting that I should avoid going to proms concerts. Albert Hall is stuffy, the acoustics are bad, the seats are terrible, and you always have to worry about some old person falling over you with their walking stick as they navigate the steep inclines. I really don't know why so many old age pensioners risk hip replacements coming to these concerts, but they do... Anyway, I found myself among the OAPs watching two OAPs on Wednesday night: John Dankworth and Cleo Laine (well they both turn 80 later this year). Despite the limitations of the hall, they managed to give it a feel as if it were a jazz club and they were just playing some music. The audience loved it and it was a bit of a treat ...

Overheard at Victoria Underground Station

Man: Well you aren't expected to know everything... Woman: Yeah, like... Like... What's it matter that I don't like know who Tony Blair is?

Scenes from Soho Square Sunday 15:20

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050820072026 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Just when the sunbathers were enjoying the sun in the square, these fat bastards come by murdering songs with their guitars and piano accordions. Putting the trash into eurotrash, they were less Gipsy Kings and more Gipsy Queens... They were passing around a hat for money (or was that for doughnuts?) but that seemed to encourage them to stay so I gave them nothing...

Scenes from an office fig Tuesday 11.29

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Scenes from an office Tuesday 11.29 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London .