I wish Pope a major success with this polemic on the current state of some of the private health care sector. Having visited a range of hospitals, respite care places and care homes in recent years for my dad, plus having had my own amusing catheter experiences in hospital stays of my own, I'm kind of inured to the various icky bodily topics involved when people are not capable of caring for themselves. 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. But it also means these are ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ places, open to abuse both physical and financial.

I'll Die After Bingo is his tough yet hilarious, intelligent and honest account of 9 ½ years spent caring for the elderly. If you are in Australia or New Zealand (DVD Region 4), note that almost all DVDs distributed in the UK by the BBC and 2entertain are encoded for both Region 2 and Region 4.Nominated for the Chortle Comedy Book Award this year, the stand-up’s memoir was described as 'blisteringly well written, deeply humane and very funny' by the Daily Telegraph.

Shame, for if his recollections are honest, he genuinely seemed to care for his residents and had a bond with many of them that would have made their last few months a little less brutal. I was also really happy to find references of feminism, critics of capitalism and I would say socialism but not sure how the author identifies.She actually settled into the life reasonably well mainly keeping away from the other residents and having her meals in her room. In this book are stories of old people rid of their inhibitions by dementia, of profit focused organisations under-paying their poorly trained staff who despite all (mostly) still try and give a good standard of care, and much on the practical realities of aging - bodies that don't work as well, and support needs that rid people of their dignity. We spend time with tanned and stylish Sue, who confuses her male carer with her husband and is furious he won’t have sex with her.