The week in TV: Westworld; A World Without Down’s Syndrome; The Apprentice; Real Time With Bill Maher

Westworld (Sky Atlantic/Now TV)
A World Without Down’s Syndrome? (BBC2) | iPlayer
The Apprentice (BBC1) | iPlayer
Real Time With Bill Maher (Sky Atlantic/Now TV)

The much-vaunted Westworld, HBO’s grandiloquent bid to sew our carcasses ever more tightly into a cocoon of weekly fantasy – Game of Thrones officially runs out of breasts and dying heroes some time in 2018 – arrived with low-key splendour. Muted title sound, yet an opening sequence of such technical magnificence it looked as if it had been beamed back to us from about 2048. The fetlocks of horses were being 3D-modelled with filigree’d and granular precision, as were the noses of crooked barmen (as if there’s any other kind) and doughty sheriffs, and the very ivories of nags’ teeth and of pianolas, and suddenly we were into Westworld, a panorama of haughty big skies, aching beauty and spitefully small human dreams.

A world, in case you missed all the media hype (and where on earth were you? Possessing a life?), in which guests will pay handsomely for a week or so in a wild west in which they can go riotously tootsie: sleep with every perfumed whore, gut-shoot every sweaty dog-breath hoodlum. Even, if addled and bourbonned enough, shag the bandit and gun the girl. They’re all robots, programmed to hurt and bleed like us, but also to wake the next day mended and with no memories.

It’s an intriguing premise, of course, and, of course it will all go wrong: a sudden aberrant line of source code will risk not only the lives of the guests but, more crucially, the psyches of the androids in the park, who suddenly have twitches of memories. For the moment, we care more about the robots, who seem more human than the visitors, who cannot be physically harmed in the park: a depressing number have chosen to go all black hat with their moneyed freedom, murdering and fornicating at any whim: be advised that this is often nasty viewing.

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Watch a trailer for Westworld.

It could have been just another tricksy CGI fantasy. But it came from the pen of Michael Crichton, responsible for Jurassic Park, which also asked pertinent questions about humanity and technology. I would happily class Crichton with Ray Bradbury and Philip K Dick, because they also wrote wisely about ourselves: even when it might have been spuriously about robots, or dinosaurs, it was always about us. What might we do? Are we happy with discovering the people we truly are or only happy with the people we want to be? And if you can’t tell the difference between the humans and the androids, should it matter?

This is existentially and morally mired, in that it raises questions not of the narrative in itself but of us, the reader/viewer. This opener was tremendously, deliberately confusing: the good guy is a robot, the bad guy (a tremendous Ed Harris, playing the part he was born to play) a veteran vicious tourist on the hunt for darker levels, to assuage all he lacks in real life, which is shaping up as a howdy-doody lot of a lack. It’s all rather scintillating, not least because if features Borgen’s Sidse Babett Knudsen as the searingly blue-eyed head of quality assurance, off stage and chain-smoking high on the controllers’ gantry, intent not on money but simple control: of robots, the “livestock”, but also of every human around her.

Could it be a worthy successor to GoT? Absolutely. HBO has another global heavyweight on its hands, thanks to the authors: I’m hooked, in a way I never was with early Thrones. Again: this is not about robots: it’s about us. Yet every time I am tempted to worry about robots taking over the world any time before about 2416 I simply think of self-service tills. Smile my usual smile.

Most winning programme of the week was undoubtedly A World Without Down’s Syndrome?, in which Sally Phillips, with quizzical wit and just the right salting of lip-trembling anger, asked whether we’re right to hail with such a blizzard of approbation a new non-invasive test for pregnant mothers.

Halldóra, one of the few people in Iceland with Down’s, and actor Sally Phillips. Photograph: Not Known/BBC/Dragonfly

Some of the statistics were frightening. In Iceland, where they have had the test for a while, every positive diagnosis for Down’s has resulted in termination: 100% in the past five years. There are now fewer than 40,000 people with Down’s in Britain. Phillips, whose dear son Olly is one, made a passionate yet refreshingly unsentimental case for the right to have Down’s extant in this world. It’s not a disease, it’s a set of characteristics (and ones that, actually, genetically predispose the child to happiness).

Hugely set against this comes the understandable set of fears of any mother: of an inability to cope, of a child’s being bullied, even of their own prejudices. Yet Down’s remains the one disability it has become socially acceptable to “cleanse” and Sally was more than troubled (as was I) by medical professionals’ universal embracing of one and only one tenet: Down’s is always bad, choice is always good. This lucid and strangely uplifting programme should be only the very beginning of a debate we should have been busily having for about 30 years.

“I’m the business equivalent of a diamond. I can sparkle, and light up a room, but if you’re not careful I can cut you.” Was this contestant perhaps confusing “a diamond” with “scissors”? I can’t think of anyone in the history of ever who has actually been cut by a diamond. Just by the people who wear them.

The women’s team discuss how to turn a whelk stand into a pig’s ear in The Apprentice. Photograph: BBC

Yes, The Apprentice is back, complete with ol’ Lord Bearded Man-Stoat and the usual basket of deplorables. And back this year to guys v gals, an intriguing reversion that shouldn’t in an ideal world work, but does. It might be my imagination but some of the candidates seem a little more sympathetic than in recent years. Some, and it’s all relative, of course, and they managed as usual to turn a whelk stall into a pig’s ear with their first task. The women called back into the boardroom made a masterclass only of being able to turn viciously, wheel and blame each other, and regroup in nanoseconds to re-blame another other: bitchy death by scuffed Louboutin heels. Bring it on.

For those not yet driven forlorn by attemping to make sense of America, I cannot recommend highly enough Real Time with Bill Maher. Like a Democrat version of PJ O’Rourke, Maher is suave, angry, pithily funny and possessed of a fine foul mouth when necessary.

He makes no secret of his loathings for Mr Trump, the most badass black hat of this and most other years. “Welcome to another week of ‘yes, this is really happening,’” he began a more than usually confrontational show. It’s not perfect: some humour strains in the translation and I wish these shows wouldn’t always rely on visual gags that always flash up for about six seconds longer than it has taken to get the often negligible “joke”. Yet Maher, and John Oliver, proves that there’s space to manage both satire and deadly serious within the very same hour, and I wonder anew why we don’t quite have the equivalent here: a TV version of Private Eye. Eddie Mair for the job.

The week in TV: Westworld; A World Without Down’s Syndrome; The Apprentice; Real Time With Bill Maher

What I discovered from shadowing a healthcare apprentice

Candace Miller with David Lammas. Apprentices’ abilities and dedication need to not be underestimated or undervalued, says Miller. Photograph: Graham Whitby-Boot/Nationwide Skills Academy for Wellness

Like all new recruits on their initial day, I would been informed to turn up “appropriately dressed and to be prepared for something”. My assignment was to stick to the footsteps of a 17-12 months-previous apprentice in the assistance services team at one of London’s best recognized and busiest NHS trusts, Guy’s and St Thomas’. Understanding that I may possibly require to slip on a uniform or sterile apron, I decided to exchange my usual businesswear for casual clothes and wise, flat sneakers!

I was met by the impeccably turned out, award-winning apprentice, David Lammas, who is operating in direction of a degree two certificate in support solutions in healthcare. I was instantaneously bowled more than by his apparent competence and professional manner.

David’s placement at Guy’s and St Thomas’, which started out last July, has brought him to the hospital’s inspiring Simon Hotel, accommodation made to provide a safe and soothing non-clinical atmosphere for individuals (both pre or post treatment method) and households supporting a relative.

David explained that if the group caring for a patient feels they no longer need to have to stay on a health care ward – but nonetheless requirements to remain near to the hospital for adhere to up care – the “lodge” offers the perfect half-way house.

He told me all about the knowledge he had gained training with the hospital catering teams and the housekeeping division but it was his present admin position in accommodation services and manning the major reception desk at the Simon Hotel that was offering him a clear steer towards a career path he now would like to pursue in the overall health sector.

After a lot of years’ expertise in education, teaching and workforce growth, I never think I’ve witnessed such assured self confidence in a youthful individual and in this kind of a potentially demanding place. David was rapid to thank the help and encouragement he constantly receives from his team, as properly as this skilled hands-on education he feels he is so fortunate to obtain as component of his apprenticeship.

The Nationwide Skills Academy for Well being was officially launched last September and, alongside our very own apprentice training agency, we are right here to aid NHS trusts, and other healthcare companies, consider on apprentices. We aid to guide them via the red tape, which can sometimes be off-putting, and make certain they are securing the extremely best in training and qualifications for their new recruits.

With a genuine prospect of permanent employment at the finish of a twelve-month apprenticeship scheme, this exclusive form of coaching – exactly where you earn as you learn – is fast turning out to be a common option for college leavers across the United kingdom. Most current information published by the Division for Enterprise, Innovation and Abilities present there had been 520,600 apprenticeship starts in the 2011-12 academic 12 months – with well being and social care remaining the most well-known sector (67,020 new starts).

This underlines the truth that far more younger people are contemplating this route as a viable alternative to university. They inform us they are basically reluctant to take on the debt linked with three years of further education – often with no promise of a task at the finish. Other individuals just “want a break” from formal schooling or possibly want to get stuck into operate and start generating their way up the career ladder.

What grew to become clear to me however – following investing just one day with one particular of the 35 apprentices employed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ – is that their enthusiasm, expertise, insight and complete dedication to raising the standards of patient care need to not be underestimated or undervalued.

These younger apprentices are the workforce of the potential and organisations such as the NSA Health and hospital trusts must be harnessing and creating this kind of talent.

I often hear it said that having a young trainee getting into your workplace creates a real energy and buzz and assists to keep everybody on their toes.

We can learn from them as considerably as they will discover from us and our years of expertise. Certainly, what I learned from David is that there is no this kind of thing as a classic route into the workplace and by getting brave and stepping off the “sixth form, A-level, university” conveyor belt that he felt just was not proper for him, he is now thriving in a bespoke and rewarding education programme that he will leave certified, skilled and possibly a number of rungs further up than several of his contemporaries.

I loved my day shadowing David so a lot that I am now pledging to leave my desk and do it a lot more often – meeting and shadowing youthful apprentices from a variety of roles. And, I have invited David back to devote a day shadowing me, with the crew at NSA Overall health head workplace, the place he will sit in – and hopefully contribute to – some important meetings and comprehending how and why we make decisions and run factors the way we do.

Candace Miller is director of the National Skills Academy for Wellness

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What I discovered from shadowing a healthcare apprentice

Apprentice winner Dr Leah Totton: "Botox is not the identical as a manicure or pedicure, it"s a healthcare intervention"

This is not what I anticipated to hear from the ambitious younger girl carving out a job in cosmetic therapies. After winning The Apprentice last year, she has embarked on a plan to set up Dr Leah (the name of the brand) clinics across the United kingdom – the first of which she has recently unveiled in Moorgate.

Currently, she has faced extreme criticism for her clinics, which are stated to inspire females to have cosmetic therapies, and have been branded “amateur”. A former BAAPS (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons) chairman even in contrast it to “putting a hairdresser in charge of cosmetic surgery.”

“As a fully qualified medical professional, fairly frankly that is insulting,” cries Dr Totton. “That’s a ridiculous comment. My head of instruction is a BAAPS advisor – a truly properly-acknowledged a single. You’ve received to remember that everyone that’s speaking out is a competitor. We’ve acquired over 50 years’ expertise in our group.”

She adds that the criticisms have died down given that she announced her skilled personnel, and set out the information of how her clinic would run. She has also produced it clear that she will not treat anybody below the age of 18 – she not too long ago had a Botox inquiry from a 14-yr-previous lady coming into the clinic with her mom – but I cannot help but consider her age restrict tends to make cosmetic therapies appear ‘normal’ for all adult ladies.

Actively encouraging Botox?

“It’s not really encouraging,” she says. “The point is, if they’re troubled by lines and wrinkles on their encounter they will have their method anyway. We’ve noticed in the press in the past weeks folks aged 17, 18 are getting these procedures. So if someone 28, 29, if they’re troubled by it, I’d rather they came to me and had it assessed by a doctor who can say objectively say yes or no, and have it carried out in a clinical surroundings.”

Dr Totton’s general argument is that there is a demand for the injections, and individuals will have them done in unsafe, unhygienic environments if they can not accessibility them effortlessly, so she is supplying a risk-free option. Recent statistics show cosmetic surgery as a entire is on the rise, with encounter lifts and eyelid surgery getting to be increasingly popular.

Botox, too, is seeing a massive demand and that is why Dr Totton is setting up her chain of clinics. It is a affordable business plan, and has persuaded Lord Sugar to cough up the money for her elegant London clinic, but is it really ethical to set up a franchise dedicated to shifting the way ladies look?

“Everything we provide is non-long lasting,” she says. “I think that is a important message. It is about offering non surgical effects so folks really feel they don’t have to go underneath the knife. It is not my place to tell any individual what they should and shouldn’t do.

“We’ve noticed a boom in plastic surgery. I believe [it is due to] societal stress to a specific extent. I do not advocate that societal strain, I’m not saying you need to have it – that’s not what we’re about. I think in female and male empowerment and personalized choice. I don’t believe it is forcing ladies to have it.”

Strengthening specifications

I am not convinced that giving Botox and lip fillers are a crucial element of female empowerment, but at least Dr Totton is employing her media spotlight to improve the conditions and rules of the cosmetic market. She is keen to encourage standardised training in the United kingdom, as though she has two and a half many years knowledge, other practitioners could have only two days on their CV.

“We’re very stringent about who we deal with,” she says. “We try out and give realistic expectations and I think even much more so with the plastic surgical treatment side of items there needs to be an extensive consultative method so you are managing expectations.

“During The ApprenticeI feel we have shone a light on the market. I hope the Dr Leah brand will be capable to begin a precedent, a standard. Regardless of whether we like it or not, these are done in hairdressers, garages, sheds, all over the place but what we’re about is carrying out it in a regulated, healthcare atmosphere.”

She has deliberately produced certain her charges are in the mid to upper assortment – and apparently that’s not just to bring in far more of a revenue. “We are not about making these low cost, so men and women believe it trivialises it. This is not like a manicure or pedicure, it is a healthcare intervention. We need to be cautious – when you begin supplying things on the cheap then you are incentivising possessing these procedures. It ought to be a determination you come to in your own correct.”

As I leave Dr Totton’s clinic, my opinions on Botox have not modified – I’m nonetheless not a massive fan. But I am comforted by Dr Totton’s perspective in direction of it. She assures me she would in no way inject anyone who did not need to have the process, and does not supply sufferers the ‘Botox look’ with raised eyebrows and a startled expression.

In fact, she visibly recoils at the thought: “It’s not a search that … I do not want to be vital … but I feel that subtlety is key, and that is my individual opinion.”

Dr Totton’s viewpoint is all over the clinic – from it is identify, branding and pictures. But, possibly that is not always a bad thing.

Apprentice winner Dr Leah Totton: "Botox is not the identical as a manicure or pedicure, it"s a healthcare intervention"