I'll Die After Bingo: My unlikely life as a care home assistant

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Expectation executive producer Morwenna Gordon said: ‘I was completelywon overby Pope’s writing. Honest, insightful, empathetic and with laugh out loud moments too. I’m so pleased to be working together to adapt this incredible book for TV." PDF / EPUB File Name: Ill_Die_After_Bingo_-_Pope_Lonergan.pdf, Ill_Die_After_Bingo_-_Pope_Lonergan.epub I found the form and structure of the book to be a little less successful; Lonergan blends reminiscent stories with social/political commentary, and while both parts are valuable, I, like other reviewers, found the combination to be clunky. The book would have been improved by some editing to make the transitions smoother or to weave the commentary into real-life examples; reminiscences of Lonergan’s own.

Lonergan writes about bodily functions and excretions with the nonchalance of someone who has seen it all before, and there is something very refreshing about his matter-of-fact approach, so at odds with the squeamishness with which British society regards ageing, bodily failures, and death. We are more than our bodies, Lonergan shows, and good care helps people to maintain their dignity when their physical abilities are dwindling. I'll Die After Bingo, the book in which comedian Pope Lonergan talks about working in a care home for the elderly, is being adapted for television. The fixation on profit has been disastrous for the care sector - and even the most trivial and petty acts of insubordination can have a positive impact on a work shift. I don’t care what the company directors say. We won’t be using peanut butter sparingly! I’ll turn lights on when I’m leaving the room! I’ll make sure I hit every corner when transporting food or medicine trolleys! I’ll take up smoking just so I can do it near an oxygen tank! Having said that - my main reason for not wearing the tunic is because it’s tight around my love handles.’ So, I preferred some aspects of this book to others, but it is undeniably an important addition to the existing literature on social care. I’ve been a fan of the ‘professional memoir’ genre since reading Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt, a darkly comedic diary of Kay’s time as a junior doctor in the NHS – and Lonergan’s book is a valuable contribution from the rarely-heard perspective of a care worker.Published in June 2022, I'll Die After Bingo is described as a "tough yet hilarious, intelligent, and honest account" of the comic's account of what life inside a care home is really like, for both residents and carers. Lonergan reads a lot around his subject, and on human behaviour in general. The book is awash with credited quotes from other authors –which is actually a distraction, making some passages feel like dissertations citing their sources. Lonergan is such a knowledgable and considered writer, that many of the opinions he’s read and agreed with could have been stated in his own words. But you can’t blame him for quitting. The last home he worked in had a sign at the entrance reading: “Respect and Love for Everyone.” He thought it was “a good maxim to live by. Especially when you’re trying to show respect for people who are in their autumnal years.” The only problem is that he would read the sign and “then spend the next 14 hours… washing old knobs for minimum wage. So where’s my f---ing respect?” Lonergan believes that “tasteless” humour is an essential coping mechanism for care workers. He says that the trading of dark jokes alleviates the stress and sorrow that accumulates when you’re bearing daily witness to the undignified disintegration of your fellow humans. He also admits it scratched his itch for rebellion against the dehumanising rules imposed by managers focused on the “business-over-welfare model of profit extraction”, expecting better treatment for self-funding residents than those receiving government support.

These characters provide much of the entertainment and humour of the book – as with the title quote, in which an elderly lady decides to postpone her death until after bingo has finished – but crucially, Lonergan portrays his subjects without caricature or cliché.But while they each are comedians offering an often darkly funny first-hand account of the woefully underfunded health and social care system, writing with one eye towards raising their field up the political agenda, there are differences in approach. This one is close to my heart as my mam spent five years in a care home form the age of 86 to 91. She actually settled into the life reasonably well mainly keeping away from the other residents and having her meals in her room. She had slight dementia but right to the end she could have a conversation with us unless she had one of the dreaded infections. Gradually her body shut down and her world shrunk but she had a peaceful death with my sister holding her hand. I am glad I didn't have to deal with some of the situations Pope writes about and as much as he says we should know all the grisly details I would still prefer to bury my head in the sand. He is totally correct in expecting society to afford carers great respect and pay them accordingly. He did actually portray himself as the best carer in the home with the best methods and the most caring nature this did grate a little as I am sure he had more than a few moments of being human and losing the plot. However he did reedem himself by admitting this at the same time. The references to academic books on the subject and his philosopising went over my head and I was not sure they were not just there to make us realise how well read and intellectual he was as opposed to the majority of care home workers . Once again care homes have entered my life as my in laws are now bouncing between hospital and care homes. So far they have not had such a good experience as they are different characters to my mam who was quite accepting though she knew what she wanted and got it ie room service as far as I know in her home there was the usual turnover of staff and though they were kind no special bond was formed with any of them. Lonergan said the TV version will be “both light and dark; uncompromising, poetic and very funny.” Writer of the TV version has not yet been set. On the other hand, Lonergan very clearly developed deeper links with those he was looking after, long-term, in care homes. They still say and do the most odd, sometimes transgressive, things – and Lonergan knows that’s too funny not to report, but we get a better understanding of the people behind the peculiarities. Pope Lonergan is also incredibly excited stating that he was ‘buzzin’ to be working with Expectation’ and described the company as having a nice, insightful and talented team. He also added that the adaption will be ‘dark, uncompromising, poetic’ as well as extremely funny.

This isn’t just a conscience-rebooting book. It’s also blisteringly well written, deeply humane and very funny. Take Lonergan’s account of his first shift, on which he was introduced to a “lanky and malnourished” resident called Clyde. “As he was mute,” explains the comic, “he had no way of transmitting his interiority, though his eyes were always wide as if he were permanently screaming in his head. This was offset by a small, ambiguous smile that never went away.” A few paragraphs later, Lonergan bears witness to an arc of deep red blood as Clyde starts urinating. “Woah,” exclaims the other carer. “His d---’s burst! We’re going to need a colander to catch the heart!” Lonergan publishes his book in a week that charity Care England has alerted the public to the fact that UK care home providers face paying up to four times pre-pandemic levels for their insurance, leaving “many” at risk of going out of business. Homes are also struggling to recruit and retain their workers, with a 10th of job vacancies unfilled. Even Lonergan has walked away. He thinks it’s absurd that he’s paid and valued more to stand on stage and tell jokes than he was keeping people alive. It’s hard to ignore his informed opinions on the corporatisation of care that puts targets and paperwork ahead of humanity, and his calls to take the sector out of the darkness and face up to the realities of how to deal with an ageing population losing their faculties. But you know ignoring them is precisely what will happen, and there’s the tragedy. The book covers incidents such as the dark humour of a double-amputee Alzheimer's patient, Lonergan forging a bond with a 98-year old who called him a ‘fat slut’, and a care home's residents staging a coup d'état against new regulations.And Hannah Weatherill, acting head of media rights with Penguin Random House, said: ‘Pope’s memoir about his work as a carer is extraordinary – he captures the personalities of the residents, their families, and his colleagues in all their complexity with incredible empathy and humour. Join comedian, writer and former care home assistant Pope Lonergan, author of I’ll Die After Bingo , to find out what life inside a care home is really like, for both residents and carers. If you are unfamiliar with ‘I’ll Die After Bingo’, this is a hit book from author Pope Lonergan. It is based on his time as a care worker after working in the elderly care sector for 10 years. He is also a comedian and recovering drug addict.