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I, Daniel Blake
This official tie-in book for the eponymous Palme d'Or winning film features the screenplay and exclusive material, including an introduction from Paul Laverty, an interview with Ken Loach, production notes from cast and crew plus stills from the film. The plot is of an injured construction worker and a single mother who find common ground while living on government assistance in modern day Britain.
172 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2016
7 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Paul Laverty
25 books5 followersPaul Laverty was born in Calcutta, India, to an Irish mother and Scottish father, in 1957.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 6, 2019
I, Bettie Malm, have no words enough
Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or-winning film I, Daniel Blake, depicts the cruelty of the benefit system through the eyes of an older man who’s been found fit for work. In Ashton, Greater Manchester, we look into the lives of the real Daniel Blakes and those who, as in Loach’s film, have began to fight back
Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or-winning film I, Daniel Blake, depicts the cruelty of the benefit system through the eyes of an older man who’s been found fit for work. In Ashton, Greater Manchester, we look into the lives of the real Daniel Blakes and those who, as in Loach’s film, have began to fight back
February 18, 2017
So sad, I don't normally comment, but as a reflection of Britain today, we should be ashamed....
December 10, 2016
Was expecting a longer read, however, enjoyed book, everyone should read it and become more open minded and less judgemental!
July 17, 2017
A must read
September 11, 2019
Film changed my life in the way I view the system. The book refined my clarity. Excellent companion read!
March 31, 2021
A wonderful read.
January 8, 2017
Required reading about 2016 Britain.
April 27, 2017
The author is highly critical of austerity politics and his depiction of the desperation wrought by poverty and unemployment is very moving.There is no getting away from the fact that the present government's welfare reforms have penalised the vulnerable and caused genuine hardship. David Cameron's attempts to deal with the problem of welfare reform by using anti claimant propaganda (the strivers versus the scroungers) was a bad idea, it was clumsy at best and inhumane at worst. Conservative policy makers directed state agencies to stop patronising the poor and start reminding them of their own personal agency.This approach was too much too soon,the changes were very sudden & far too blunt.The government took a cookie cutter/one size fits all approach to a diverse population of people and it totally failed to sufficiently distinguish between those that could work and those who were genuinely incapable of work.Someone I knew personally who had stage 4 lung cancer, received a letter asking them to attend an ATOS assessment centre - she died a few days before the appointment.
The film maker/author has a non-objective viewpoint & a political purpose.The government was trying to deal with a very serious social problem.It's welfare reform was primarily focused on reducing dependency and trying to make individuals self-sufficient through paid work.The problem was the policy makers were far too cavalier,they didn't take account of the fact that millions had become used to a liberal ideology (a do what thy wilt philosophy) where they were being oppressed and were therefore not responsible for their situation.This rapid social change that was forced on them caused fear trauma and social unrest.
It needs to be acknowledged that Ken Loach has a political bias because he is a Marxist.
It was the actions of Cultural Marxists that got us all into this mess. An idealistic bunch of people who wanted to make things better with their humanistic Marxism ending up making things worse.Radical social reformers like Loach and his friends, believed their ideology would deliver people from want,but sadly their efforts were counterproductive and impacted negatively on the poor.This horrible state of affairs is what happens when a country allows,the Fabians and the Marxist to go around destroying all our traditions & covertly imposing their ideas upon the lower classes. Masses of people were won over to socialism's belief in equality (classless society) and professed concern for the disadvantaged.The Left may have been very well intentioned, but it's efforts to alleviate poverty served only to increase moral impoverishment and feelings of helplessness. Many of today's problems have their roots in the ideas that filtered down from the amoral Bohemians and the New Left intelligensia who were deeply infatuated with the Frankfurt school's critical theory.
Ken Loach talking about the Sixties and his documentary film Cathy Come Home [quote] "In the world of Cathy, we still had the main elements of the welfare state in place, even though they were being eroded.... As a world to live in, Cathy’s was more congenial, with a stronger sense of social responsibility. When she was shown as homeless, people were angry about it. Now society is nowhere near as cohesive. The consequences of Thatcher and Blair have eroded the sense that we are responsible for each other, that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. So in that sense I prefer the days of Cathy"
Erich Fromm wrote heavily about Marx's theory of alienation, he believed that capitalism caused people not to love each other, and like Ken Loach he thought that human relationships would be stronger under socialism.Marxist Theology disregards mankind's innate need for God because they believe there is no need for religion in classless society.To them Christianity is a belief system that distorts people’s perception of reality in ways that serve the interests of the ruling class.So what is the causation of our cultural decline?, Loach displaces the blame onto Margaret Thatcher & Tony Blair and doesn't seem to understand that he was part of the destructive generation who nihilistically dismantled things that were precious and replaced them with something godless.
Britain is struggling with the consequences of it's rejection of a common Christian faith and its disavowal of nationalism.Things were better in the Cathy days because the left wing social experiment was still in its infancy whereas nowadays entire generations of human beings have been born into a culture that lacks a functioning moral compass.
There's no point protesting against the Tories spending cuts and advocating for a reformed welfare state without a clear delineation of what caused this crisis,namely the socialist tradition that formed this nations postwar worldview.
The European surge to the political right and Donald Trump's recent election has made it obvious,that Ken Loach's socialist dream of a power to the people, heaven on earth is not viable and it never was.
The Left remain oblivious to the harm that they themselves have done & so it is convenient for them to to blame the government of the day. By doing this they can spare themselves psychological discomfort.The truth is, it was their human centred vision that caused this selfish society & it's their actions that opened the door to the Globalist Agenda which seeks to enslave humanity.
The film maker/author has a non-objective viewpoint & a political purpose.The government was trying to deal with a very serious social problem.It's welfare reform was primarily focused on reducing dependency and trying to make individuals self-sufficient through paid work.The problem was the policy makers were far too cavalier,they didn't take account of the fact that millions had become used to a liberal ideology (a do what thy wilt philosophy) where they were being oppressed and were therefore not responsible for their situation.This rapid social change that was forced on them caused fear trauma and social unrest.
It needs to be acknowledged that Ken Loach has a political bias because he is a Marxist.
It was the actions of Cultural Marxists that got us all into this mess. An idealistic bunch of people who wanted to make things better with their humanistic Marxism ending up making things worse.Radical social reformers like Loach and his friends, believed their ideology would deliver people from want,but sadly their efforts were counterproductive and impacted negatively on the poor.This horrible state of affairs is what happens when a country allows,the Fabians and the Marxist to go around destroying all our traditions & covertly imposing their ideas upon the lower classes. Masses of people were won over to socialism's belief in equality (classless society) and professed concern for the disadvantaged.The Left may have been very well intentioned, but it's efforts to alleviate poverty served only to increase moral impoverishment and feelings of helplessness. Many of today's problems have their roots in the ideas that filtered down from the amoral Bohemians and the New Left intelligensia who were deeply infatuated with the Frankfurt school's critical theory.
Ken Loach talking about the Sixties and his documentary film Cathy Come Home [quote] "In the world of Cathy, we still had the main elements of the welfare state in place, even though they were being eroded.... As a world to live in, Cathy’s was more congenial, with a stronger sense of social responsibility. When she was shown as homeless, people were angry about it. Now society is nowhere near as cohesive. The consequences of Thatcher and Blair have eroded the sense that we are responsible for each other, that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. So in that sense I prefer the days of Cathy"
Erich Fromm wrote heavily about Marx's theory of alienation, he believed that capitalism caused people not to love each other, and like Ken Loach he thought that human relationships would be stronger under socialism.Marxist Theology disregards mankind's innate need for God because they believe there is no need for religion in classless society.To them Christianity is a belief system that distorts people’s perception of reality in ways that serve the interests of the ruling class.So what is the causation of our cultural decline?, Loach displaces the blame onto Margaret Thatcher & Tony Blair and doesn't seem to understand that he was part of the destructive generation who nihilistically dismantled things that were precious and replaced them with something godless.
Britain is struggling with the consequences of it's rejection of a common Christian faith and its disavowal of nationalism.Things were better in the Cathy days because the left wing social experiment was still in its infancy whereas nowadays entire generations of human beings have been born into a culture that lacks a functioning moral compass.
There's no point protesting against the Tories spending cuts and advocating for a reformed welfare state without a clear delineation of what caused this crisis,namely the socialist tradition that formed this nations postwar worldview.
The European surge to the political right and Donald Trump's recent election has made it obvious,that Ken Loach's socialist dream of a power to the people, heaven on earth is not viable and it never was.
The Left remain oblivious to the harm that they themselves have done & so it is convenient for them to to blame the government of the day. By doing this they can spare themselves psychological discomfort.The truth is, it was their human centred vision that caused this selfish society & it's their actions that opened the door to the Globalist Agenda which seeks to enslave humanity.
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March 20, 2018it is tragic and angering that a human being's valuation is considered equivalent to his financial solvency and employment status
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews