We've got a new episode with Neil in season 3. Watch it here ► kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ibOTopB7v7XZhaM.html

Isn't it funny how much people appreciate honest, balanced journalism without an intention to smear or drive an agenda. More please

"Your feelings don't indicate truth" - this is SO true, and is more important to remember than ever in 2019. Emotion should never overpower truth.

Great piece of transparent and truthful journalism. Thank you for uploading the entire interview. Thank you Neil for sharing your relatable story, it is full of useful wisdom.

Well done for not cutting. People need to learn to increase their attention spans. Journalist's always seem to cut and edit things out of context. I wish everyone did this. More context, more info and let people think for themselves

This is such a fabulous interview. Thank you so much for uploading the entire interview.

I take my hat off to the guardian for this.

"There is comfort is sadness". You are so right.

21:50 'I had lots of places to hide, and that's what I did.' Very powerful confession from someone recognising their own flaws, wow. Great interview.

This bald guy with tatoos really needs to do public speaking at uni, schools etc . He changed my life with this short video.

This guy needs a Podcast, and quick! Its like the badass version Jordan Peterson.

I never would have thought that The Guardian would make such an amazing piece

Thank you for this. As someone going through a divorce and who attempted suicide because of it, it really resonated with me. I couldn't agree more that meaning and responsibility are integral parts of masculinity (if not humanity) - I thought my meaning was my wife but sadly, I was wrong and it was a mistake to put meaning in another person as an attempt to avoid having to fix my own flaws. Now on a journey to finding that meaning.

Do an episode where you interview regular factory workers and blue collar workers to see how much we have in common in spite of our occupation.

If this guy writes a book, I'll buy it.

I dont agree with everything he’s saying but I appreciate how you never tried to jump down his throat and get angry about what he was saying. You allowed him to speak honestly and openly without feeling judged. It seems like a weirdly rare thing to expect of a journalist nowadays.

I don't know if this is purely strategic or not, but I did not see this coming from The Guardian! It's a breath of fresh air. Keep on going!

This is a fantastic interview. It really resonated with me. Thank you Neil for sharing as you did here, speaking the truth. Why is the video unlisted?

Thank you for this. I can't even express how reassuring it is to hear the opinions & experience of someone I can relate to and learn from. I grew up without my dad, he left when I was 3 and I've probably seen him less than 20 times in my life. And I guess because of that, I've always felt like I had to fill his role. I had no idea what I was doing or really how to do it. My mum was and is amazing, but I'm lost and finding direction is very, very hard. Hearing thoughts and opinions like this seriously help and until now, and until I started watching some videos from Jordan Peterson, I've felt like there was nowhere that I could go for any advice - at all. Having a real news source in the UK explore and be genuinely interested in topics which directly relate to my life is eye-opening and the first time that I've felt included. So thank you again, great journalism & a great approach. I've turned on notifications for the series so I keep up with it.

I really appreciated both episodes of this series and was especially grateful for how open and talented Iman Amrani was with interviewing. Now that I've watched the full interview I have even more gratitude for Iman! Well done. Seriously. Well done.

This is a guy who's integrated his shadow...

Thank you for uploading the full interview and thanks Neil for sharing your ideas! There were lots of interesting ideas in this interview that I found really insightful but also really confrontational in a good way, things that made me really look at myself and at what I'm doing.

I want to say a massive thank you to this interviewer and to Neil for this very much needed conversation. Me being a young troubled man ,trying to get through life, i found the ideas presented here not only very relatable and useful,but also very inspiring. I realised that i have wanted to have a discussion like this happen for a very long time. Great journalism ,a great man, and a great 42 minute video. I hope the Guardian keeps delivering great content like this. Kudos to everyone involved!!

Neil is hitting me so hard right now. Every word he says just carries so much power. There's no "small talk" here. It's big, soulful, and heart-wrenching. We just don't speak like this as a society. Iman also did a fantastic job at interviewing him and really engaging with him, whilst also adding to the conversation and exploring the topic with nuance and depth. This is a really fantastic series, and I sincerely hope for more content of this quality. Bravo to all involved.

i love this interview, this seems like such a scary dude, but to hear mans honesty and not being afraid of positioning himself into a vulnerable position makes him even a bigger person. massive respect to these two people, even the journalist not having prejudice towards big man !

Nice to see Guardian you are taking notice of the tide that is approaching. I stopped buying your paper about 7 years ago after being an avid reader for 10 years prior. Keep doing stuff like this and I will pick one up and have a read to see if anything has changed.

You see what happens when you present balanced information, without an ideological agenda, Guardian? People love it! More please. And kudos to this excellent interviewer.

Thank you for doing this. I'm only halfway through it and I'm glued in. There is a lot of resonation in his story.

seriously......one of the best videos i have watched this year. Very refreshing to hear people talking about genuinely important topics

We live in an age where we can eavesdrop on the most fantastic conversation anyone can have. Thank you Guardian for providing us with this interview.

One of the Guardian’s top journalists at the moment. Just pure journalism without the intent to push an agenda or catch people out.

Thank you Ms. Amrani! I am engaged to keep following your work; this series and beyond.

I love this guy. Not just men but we women must do the same thing. Are we conforming to the indoctrination of parents and all societal narcissism which is rampant or are we going to be critical thinkers and be who we really are meant to be. This man is beautiful bc he is obviously being authentic and has transferred his knowledge into wisdom.

These series are indeed what we need to bridge the ever growing gap between right and left. Problems are only being solved when we tackle them outside of the two party politics system. Bravo Guardian, You just won a conservative/libertarian over :)

Am I really on The Guardian channel or is this some kind of a KZfaq bug? :-O

Amazing. His story is much like my own. I wish I had a male role model in real life. He’s mine until then. I look up to this man immensely

This guy has some very serious stuff to say. Very nice conversation, Iman kept the flow go naturally asking the right questions without trying to trap the guy.

when jordan peterson talks about masculinity, the guardian shouts: neonazi! dangerous! when some face tattoo'd dude reiterates what JBP has said, the guardian posts a 42 minute interview about it putting essential in the title. whats up with that?

Neil is the man, hands-down. He has transformed his difficult and traumatic life experiences into wisdom and truth, and, thankfully, is unafraid to speak it with anyone and everyone. He is 100% correct when he says that we need more men, like him, to share this with young men. Equally important is to build young men who desire to hear his message and others like it. If this were to happen the women of this world who regularly say they want "good, strong, sensitive men" will receive what they're asking for.

As a 17 year old who has been nihilistic, I am grateful to have the ability to hear the words of masculine men.

I dont comment much on videos, but the thing that really stuck out immediately is preparing young men on the hard times. He nailed it 100percent. Thank you for sharing and putting words to it, that's often the hardest thing for everyone.

This man is very inspiring! Thank you for interviewing him!

Thank you for the great work you are doing here, Iman. Journalism is crying out for raw, honest, open-minded, long form discussion. You are doing an exceptional job at capturing this issue with integrity and balance. It's refreshing to see.

Love the fact that you uploaded the full-length interview, this long-form content really allows you to take away something from the journalism that you wouldn't without the full story.

"without a male in the home...without TWO PARENTS...the children fall behind in school" i think the takeaway is not a male absence but more that TWO parents provide more support for a child- both emotional and FINANCIAL - than one parent.

This series is excellent work, Iman!

Totally agree about depression from having lived through the same. Honesty and responsibility is the key.

Excellent interview, thanks for posting the full unedited version. Great work, can't wait to see the next episode of this series.

who is this frikking wizard, how he answered the question about making your bed is just phenomenal

Beautiful! The truth that this man has found for himself. Its not about what decision you make differently, but about actually making a decision, maybe for the first time in his life. Most people stumble from situation to situation...never knowing why they are and do.

Thank you, Neil, what an intelligent, thoughtful and respectful conversation. Great points and keep expanding our minds. Thank you, Iman Amrani very good content and wonderful interview.

"It takes a man to teach a boy to be a man" love it. - As you cant use a bike to fix a car or a scooter to fix a motorcycle, relevance and identity is key.

The greatest flaw in focus on "success" is that it distracts us from a proper focus on character. A person of great character who lives through tragedy and failure, especially outside of his own control, is an important story. Too many people get attached to the success story and don't bother to consider the character of the person they follow. And if some of those people get far enough down that path to discover it has no rooted meaning, that can be a real existential crisis. One of the best people I met aimed to get as much of his resources as possible from within his own being. And after all the ways my life has been dragged through the mud due to others being unstable and unreliable, I really have no interest in the success story, especially from people who don't understand sorrow, anger, grief- the reactions to tragedy and evil. With yin and yang, if you blind yourself to the dark parts of the world and life, you're missing an integral half of the recipe for meaning and purpose. After losing everything, all I have left is the proof of my character, the fact that I survived, and the chance to start over again.

This is what the guardian would look like without the opinion section. Great, totally transparent work.

Thank you so much for posting this! Such important conversations more of us need to be having. We also need more men like Neal, he's amazing...should start his own KZfaq channel ;)

Women go on and on AND ON about the NEED for little girls to have female role models, and then turn right around and openly ask boys "why do you need a man to teach you that?" The lack of awareness, which gives the appearance of outright arrogance...it is actually a bit infuriating.

"There's some confort in having an identity of sadness" ouch that hits right home

great interview, i wish journalism was more in this format. Keep up the same type of work and you will get me and a tons of new subscriber.

This series and John Harris Anywhere but Westminster stand out as the best videos this channel puts out. Why? Simple. You get out there, talk to people, ask question, listen and show us the unedited conversations. You afford us the ability to listen along with you and make informed opinions, but also learn anew about our own country from the ground up. Thank you.

29, former mormon. I really feel for this man. JBP has really helped me through some difficult times.

i really like this guy. honesty is such a noble quality. any one willing to be this transparent is worthy of my time, and anyones, truth deserves to be heard. great interview. "as long as you're lying and manipulating situations you'll never become the person you want to be." true daaat

I could listen Neil talk for hour. what an inspirational lad.

The only people who think suicide is selfish are people who have not seen despair.

Wow you really have done a good job on this series. I think long form conversations is the best way for these dialogs and I appreciate that you have journalistic integrity. Keep up the good work.

Not sure about the ending... Sure, men who grow up in father-less homes do worse on average, but we can’t just assume it’s because of the lack of a male presence. What about mother-less homes? The abandonment issues that come with it? Children from lesbian parents don’t do worse off, neither do gay male parents’ so already gender doesn’t seem to be the issue. The footballer role model analogy also doesn’t really make sense to me? There’s nothing stopping a female footballer being his son’s role model, the only important factor should be that they can play football well. I guess it’s more down to the fact that footballers are already separated into genders (with one regarded much higher than the other). But the analogy wouldn’t really work if his son wanted to be a painter for instance, despite the fact that again there are a lot more famous male painters out there. There’s a lot of ill-informed comments about toxic masculinity down here. Toxic masculinity is not an inherent hated of all ‘masculine behaviour’ it’s the idea that a man can not be anything else other than society’s expectations of a masculine person - He should not show emotion, be feminine in anyway, he can’t back down, should be big and muscled, etc... It’s a lot to be burdened with and is what (mostly likely) causes the higher suicide rates amongst men. Sure maybe society does need masculinity, but masculinity’s definition needs to become a lot looser and femininity is just as important.

Thank you for putting the full interview up. Loved it.

Jocko Willink British Punk Version Love it.

I realised something! When I used to try to escape or practice escapism I was not the one in controll! Now, I am in controll of my own experience in my work, learning and living... and gradually taking controll of my life and how I view it will give me hapiness!

He’s talking about empathy and our society is rampant with societal narcissism today. Not only does society and its leaders not have empathy they perpetrate more pain on all of us.

*”Your feelings don't indicate truth”* OMG someone else gets it! And if there was ever a phrase that would wipe out all the insanity of today THAT'S IT!

I really enjoyed this interview. Lots of interesting points made here, thank you both :)

Wow! I just suscribed to the guardian because of this series. You dont get real talks like this in the media anymore. Kudos guys

Love it. Massive props to the Guardian for putting the whole interview out there and for doing this series. This is why I gave you guys $2!

Phenomenal journalist. Finally some actual professional unbiased journalism. Thank you The Guardian and Iman

Does Neil have a channel if not he should. I would love to see content on his growth consistently. Please follow up with him.

When it comes to suicidal tendencies, I believe the need to provide value is primal, especially in men, and so we allow financial situations to overwhelm us. Not to mention the societal pressures inflicted through a variety of mediums that portray poverty as a lack of character, or manhood if you will. However, I'm not a psychiatrist, so please forgive me if I'm off the mark. I'm simply sharing thoughts derived from the darkest moments of my life, as well as how I view it in retrospect. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, take care.

Great Interview and now that i have watched the full version I greatly appreciate the cutting of the shorter one it was done very well and without visible bias

This interview and what these men are saying reminds me a lot of dR. Myles Munroe on 'Why men need visions and dreams''. Worth the watch guys

Great you showing it complete also!

This is wonderful, the best part of it being the honesty. In so much of what he says, there is a Jordan Peterson shadow lurking. Loved the interview.

He speaks for so many of us!! We are afraid to speak about how life is. And not follow our responsiveness to the hardship of life. Emotions absolutely don't make reality. They deseive us.. Life is always uncertain but we make the best of us.

The two most valuable things a person can know, are that they're living in the experience of the principle of thought taking form in the moment and who they really are. Well-being is innate, if you allow it to, without interference, the mind will correct itself. There's a built in psychological immune system.

I love this the line: "I question my own beliefs system constantly" I like this guy *ANOTHER* *Smashes table*

Great interview and credit to Iman Amrani for asking Neil Smedley the right questions, not being judgmental but fair and patient in allowing him to recount his experiences. Perhaps it's not my place to mention it and maybe my own 'radar' is off and I'm misreading signals that aren't there. But anyone else get the feeling Imran is a little more into Neil than she'd like to let on? I've watched the other video too where she went to interview him and his employees at his barbershop and got the same impression.

This is seriously underrated. I am at a loss as to what is the reason for the lack of attention to this, not to common but important topic with excellent journalism.

Bravo Iman Amrani!!! More of this kind of honest probing and less closed-minded ideological preaching and I might actually regain some respect for the Guardian... that used to be my favorite newspaper back in the day!

100% RIGHT. CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK. I SUFFERED WITH DEPRESSION FOR 30 YEARS. ALL I DID WAS CHANGED THE WAY I THINK. HAVNT LOOKED BACK IN THE LAST TEN YEARS. LOVING LIFE. AND FREE.

Really love this serious. Really didn't expect this from The Guardian but I think it's the journalist who deserves the credit!

This is a fantastic interview. I wish I could have shared this with some young men that are no longer here. I've sent it to all of my close friends.

Really appreciate the full interview.

Brilliant self awareness💪👏🤔Thanks for the blunt honesty🙏🥰

Brutal honesty and courage through being open. Superb and rivoting interview. Bravo Guardian.

I know this is unlisted, but I'd really hope that in the future you put more long form content like this on the main channel. This is what I come to KZfaq for

Such an awesome interview and I respect Neil so much for what he's gone through and what he talks about in this video. One thing I do think is true is that boys need fathers but girls need fathers as well. I'm a 19-year-old girl that was raised by a single mother. My relationship with my dad isn't bad, I've seen him and been in contact with him all throughout my life and I love him dearly, but it's not as close as I think it should be and I too feel like listening to Jordan Peterson has been an immense help to me. And that's why I don't think that it's just boys that suffer from a loss of meaning without their fathers, but daughters as well. Because we live in a society with both sexes a man cannot be purely raised by a man nor can a female be raised only by another female. Children need both a mother and a father to raise them and to teach them about their responsibilities and life. Now, I don't know where I'm going with this but I guess I just want to say that even though what Neil is saying applies to men, I think that those same problems of loss of meaning can also apply to women. And that Jordan Peterson's message doesn't just apply to men but also to women.

so. much. truth. amazing! thank you for this video! everyone can derive something from this!

The fact that The Guardian is willing to entertain this conversation is a reason for hope for our culture.

Great Interview. Thanks again for doing this series

Fantastic interview. I love these 2 people

Way to go, Iman. It's such a good interview. Neil said some pretty hard truths, so maybe you had to add that "these aren't the Guardian's views" trigger warning. It's a bit sad that we have to state the obvious so much these days, but maybe it's unavoidable. Neil is quite an inspiring figure. At some point Iman should try to interview Jordan Peterson again. I've heard he refused some time ago, don't know if that's true. Even if it is, it can be changed, I bet. Especially if this series turns out to be civilised and careful.

What a fantastic interview ! Intelligent & frank conversation, many thanks for posting.