R.i.p Mark Speight

[Al_Fel]

Good ridence to another smack head. No simpathy.

I've got no sympathy for people that take drugs they do bring it on themselfs. I feel sorry for the friends and family though. A bit of respect wouldn't go a miss on (well he sounds like) a fairly decent bloke though. Its not like he was some dirty smack head crawling round the streets trying to rob your bike.

Here's a pretty interesting story about it all here

I have to agree with what mark said most of the people I knew in college took all sorts of crap I was one of about 5 people out of about 60 that didn't do anything. Sadly its the way the world is going. Curiosity killed the cat.

[Mark W]

I'd actually largely forgotten how much I hated the Daily Mail 'til I read that piece...

[SCOTTY___]

Yet again, the level of drug knowledge on TF reaches new heights. Congratulations for possessing less intelligence than the usual smackheads I have to get heckled by on my ride to Southbank.

What he took drugs? His GF died from OD from drugs she got from him.. what more do you want?

[Mark W]

I was just curious as to where you got your information from that he was a "Smack head" who apparently deserved to die?

[Gavyn.]

What he took drugs? His GF died from OD from drugs she got from him.. what more do you want?

he took drug's so suddenly he becomes a smack head? Do you even know what 'smack' is? so by your reckoning, anyone who smokes a bit of grass, drops a pill, likes the stour becomes a smack head automatically?

mark made his millions on tv, he could afford to have coke binges, he was not a junkie low life thieving b*****d, he was a very talented artist, and i can safely say he taught me the basics of drawing. I guess the same can be said about pete doherty, underneath the 'hard' ass image there is a very talented musician. They both had/have a problem, but problems can be sorted, it's a shame mark never really got his problems sorted properly.

RIP

[Tomm]

mark made his millions on tv, he could afford to have coke binges

lol, that's OK then?!

And you're failing to grasp one of the key facts of life. Rock stars are allowed required to take drugs, kids TV presenters really can't get away with it. It is a shame and a shock but I don't really know why I should feel more sorry for this guy than for anyone else who dies.

Whatever, RIP.

[Mark W]

In London though, cocaine usage is rife. I'm not saying that's ftw or whatever, it's just that that's the way it is. People really don't think anything of it. I'd imagine the night that Natasha Collins died it wasn't her first time using coke, so I can imagine it'd be shocking for them. If it had just been a simple O.D. then I can imagine that the effect of it might not have been so bad, but finding her lying in a bath with pretty savage burns and stuff like that - whilst knowing you supplied the coke - must be pretty bad. Yeah, he supplied it that time, but again, I doubt it was like he forced her to snort coke or anything like that, so it's not like it's just his fault or anything like that.

I think the thing that makes people have more sympathy for him is just that everyone knows him as the happy dude from kids TV, so the way he's just plummeted to the lowest possible low, and resorted to killing himself whilst imploding in a fairly public setting has kinda brought it home for more people. The fact he was obviously literally unable to live whilst believing his girlfriend's death was his fault seems pretty sad, and that whole interview just seems a downer.

He did a lot of stuff for various charities and brightened up a lot of kids lives, and seemed like a pretty decent person, which is why I think this had such an impact.

Equally, non-celebs get this sort of treatment - like that girl who commited suicide by throwing herself in front of a train, who's mother couldn't live with herself afterwards and did the same thing. I know it's not the same context, but I think people would give a shit anyway. The public seem to know that Mark Speight was a pretty decent guy, and that it was this one time that he f**ked up and it's been pretty catastrophic.

I'm not suggesting he be made a saint or anything, but saying "good riddance" that he's dead and stuff like that seems a little harsh.

[Synergy]

rip

[Tomm]

I'm not suggesting he be made a saint or anything, but saying "good riddance" that he's dead and stuff like that seems a little harsh.

Pretty sure I didn't say that. No, I know cocaine use is dead commonplace in London, it is here in Manchester as well (and I'm sure in plenty of other big-ish cities). Personally I don't agree with it at all, coke is nasty, but that's not the point. In fact it is part of the problem that people think it's less harmful than it actually is, but I digress.

To be honest, I don't really know what to think. I do feel sorry for the guy, and especially his family. But since I don't know what went on at all, I don't really know whether to feel like he was totally faultless or what. It's always kinda shattering the illusion when you find out that a kids TV presenter is into hard drugs (see also: Richard Bacon).

[Gavyn.]

lol, that's OK then?!

And you're failing to grasp one of the key facts of life. Rock stars are allowed required to take drugs, kids TV presenters really can't get away with it. It is a shame and a shock but I don't really know why I should feel more sorry for this guy than for anyone else who dies.

Whatever, RIP.

it's not ok, but it's much more ok than stealing from other people to pay for it.

my point is, he's not your average junkie, he's not just a leech on society, or a waste of oxygen. He made a living and had a huge impact on pretty much everyone under the age of 20. He did a decade of kids educational tv, then he got into drugs, and I'm sure no one forced him to take them but maybe he just got curious and in this case curiosity killed the cat.

I guess you have to feel sorry for him because his life went to shit in about 3 days. The respect he earned before that should mean that he at least deserves as much sympathy as anyone else.

[Mark W]

I was writing that bit refering to Craig Scott's post.

Class As are Class As, so it's obviously illegal 'n' stuff, but I still wouldn't really wish what he went through on anyone. But yeah, there we are...

it's not ok, but it's much more ok than stealing from other people to pay for it.

my point is, he's not your average junkie, he's not just a leech on society, or a waste of oxygen. He made a living and had a huge impact on pretty much everyone under the age of 20. He did a decade of kids educational tv, then he got into drugs, and I'm sure no one forced him to take them but maybe he just got curious and in this case curiosity killed the cat.

I guess you have to feel sorry for him because his life went to shit in about 3 days. The respect he earned before that should mean that he at least deserves as much sympathy as anyone else.

Natasha Collins died in the first week of January?

[Tomm]

it's not ok, but it's much more ok than stealing from other people to pay for it.

Cocaine is a drug of rich people. I doubt anyone steals to fund their coke habit. It's not like crack or heroin, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a homeless cocaine junkie.

[1a2bcio8]

I find it a shame, although perhaps a neccesity of our time, that we need to divide the world into deserving and undeserving. You could give Mark Speight your compassion and understanding. What loss would that be to you? Would it in fact be your gain to feel something positive for another human being, who went through a difficult time? Or would it actually be your gain to feel negative about another human being?

Seems fairly erroneuos to me to summarise a persons entirity with what is actually a fractional aspect of who they were, if in fact you are deciding the need to judge somebodies value at all.

Edited April 15, 2008 by rowly

[Tomm]

You are completely right. Which is kind of where I was going with this:

I don't really know why I should feel more sorry for this guy than for anyone else who dies.

You feel how you feel because you've grown up in a society that insists that you should feel bad when someone dies, whether you liked them while they were alive or not... I am a product of the society I was brought up in. Everyone is... Even you

[1a2bcio8]

You are completely right. Which is kind of where I was going with this:

You feel how you feel because you've grown up in a society that insists that you should feel bad when someone dies, whether you liked them while they were alive or not... I am a product of the society I was brought up in. Everyone is... Even you

I certainly am, although I'm continually trying to transcend that conditioning. I wasn't actually talking in terms of feeling bad as a socially conditioned virtue, rather actually feeling something positive to somebody in a fairly generic sense, one that in fact is applicable to normal situations besides this one. Additionally, feeling positive as a rational choice (besides the difficulty of such a thing). I actually think that feeling bad as a virtue is quite odd and not a thing I would like to be involved in. On an intersting side note, the Japanese (and the east in general supposedly) apparantly feel minimal amounts of guilt in comparison to the west. Guilt as a condioned virtue?

Regardless of that though, we're on the same lines I think.

[boon racoon]

It's pretty reckless mixing sleeping pills and Coke together. Just because they took drugs it doesn't make them bad people though.

[ilikeriding]

I never liked him on smart he always seemed a bit fake

[Z o o !!]

Hm, he killed his girlfriend by introducing her to cocaine, he was riddeled with guilt and committed suicide, Sad.

Never did like smart though.

[Mark W]

I honestly doubt it was him who introduced her to it. Like I've said, I can't really think of many people I know in London who don't do it. If they'd been at a party too, she could've got it from anyone there - he got cleared of the 'supplying a class A drug' offence?

[Fishy]

I read this as Mark Speight is back, got it confused with the Gladiators is back thread.

R.i.p.

[NVWOCI WVS]

I read this as Mark Speight is back, got it confused with the Gladiators is back thread.

R.i.p.

i just laugh at that and coke came out my nose

edit: shit, i meant coca cola that could have sounded dodgy! you know when the bubbles come out your nose and it kindof hurts? thats what i meant!

Edited April 15, 2008 by Sam Doman

[Simpson]

Cocaine is a drug of rich people

Less than a pint.... can be not that much more expensive than smoking!

[NVWOCI WVS]

£40 a gram where i live

[Mark W]

Having been given a shitload of it free, my friend managed to buy something like 4g for £20, of properly top quality stuff from some sketchy dudes associated with the Triad/Yakuza dudes. Pure shade.

[NVWOCI WVS]

Having been given a shitload of it free, my friend managed to buy something like 4g for £20, of properly top quality stuff from some sketchy dudes associated with the Triad/Yakuza dudes. Pure shade.

And he still has all his fingertips and both his legs?!? good work