Nigel Farage, HIV & A Warning From History

Nigel Farage has revived one of the most controversial arguments of his political career: that migrants living with HIV should be denied NHS treatment. It's a position he first promoted during the 2015 election campaign. At the time, HIV charities, clinicians and public health experts condemned the claims, arguing that treating people living with HIV protects public health, reduces transmission and ultimately saves lives. Now, more than a decade later, the same rhetoric is back. The difference is that Farage is no longer a fringe insurgent. He is leading one of Britain's most successful political movements and could conceivably find himself in Downing Street. The question at the heart of this debate is not really about immigration. It's about who deserves healthcare. Who deserves treatment? And who gets left behind when politicians decide some lives are more worthy of care than others? That question sits at the centre of filmmaker Matt Nadel's remarkable documentary Cashing Out. He talked to us in a long form chat for The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast Oscars special. Here we listen to an extended cut of the chat about a dark moment in queer history. The film tells the story of an extraordinary industry that emerged during the AIDS crisis in America. Thousands of people living with HIV sold their life insurance policies while they were still alive in order to pay rent, buy medication and survive with dignity. Investors collected the payout when they died. What makes the story even more extraordinary is that Nadel later discovered his own father had been one of those investors. In this conversation, Graeme Smith speaks to Matt Nadel about HIV, political memory, healthcare, capitalism, family secrets, queer history and why the lessons of the AIDS epidemic still matter today. Because history doesn't always repeat itself. But political rhetoric often does. The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast is available everywhere now and is out every fornight, hosted by Graeme Smith and it's the home of intelligent queer conversation - the intersection of ART, QUEER, CULTURE. #HIV #NigelFarage #ReformUK #LGBTQ #AIDS #Healthcare #Politics #OutcastWorld #MattNadel #QueerHistory