Reparation de Freitas - what do the BBC owe the black population of Britain?

Of all the issues that were linked to the business of slave trading, there is perhaps valid concern in the reparation movement, and reason to assess if those whose lives have been almost irreparably fractured and divided from African culture and then used within Western economies to the benefit of their owners. There have been perhaps three major injustices against the black population who have emigrated from the West Indies to the UK – the first being the enslavement of their forefathers, the second being the racism and the general rejection and hostility that they endured upon arrival in the UK and the third being the bad acting of the de Freitas family on Eastenders in the early 1990’s. There are reparations that are owed for the profits of slavery that maybe will be paid back to the black population. There are also possibly going to be some forms of adjustment to the treatment of the black population that could also be offered to black population in relation to the maltreatment upon arrival in the UK. Finally, there could also be some form of reparation for the portrayal of the black population as the worst actors of all time on Eastenders in the de Freitas family. This is really the most severe of manipulations of black culture and possibly worse than the Black and White Minstrel show. Perhaps one day the BBC will recognise the role they have played in denigrating black culture. What does the BBC owe the black population – are they a collective of the descendents of former slave masters as has been speculated before?

Earlsdon Chronicles: Social ecology, norms and adjusting to south Coventry.

Having done a miniscule amount of reporting for the Earlsdon ECHO (if you fancy trying community journalism then this really isn't a bad place to start) I did wonder why everyone in the organisation did appear to look a little or a lot like people I already know, which connected to feelings of paranoia. It did surprise me until I started a closer comparison of individuals and realised that they only bear a superficial resemblance to each. As this was the case I imagine that there was nothing really to have been concerned about. There was no real conspiracy they were involved in.

If someone is paranoid it may be the type of thing that they would suggest and it should be challenged - norms should be set by a group and we are social animals who would normally function better when we have agreed to work collectively in a particular way, including discussing issues which may appear to be of a particular relevance to one individual and of no importance to anyone else. This 'functioning correctly' by modifying and respecting social norms is I guess partly what social ecological perspectives may suggest as being appropriate. If this is the case, bearing in mind the processes that could lead to greater stability, and reduced chances of schizophrenia, it would make sense to outline how people adjust to asylum seekers and within processes of citizenship and with anyone who may be in an especially high risk category of developing mental health problems.

This aside for a moment – do they look alike to you? Do individuals who don’t ask quite basic questions to establish trust end up feeling paranoid? Where do most people’s social norms stop on this – should we allow this to take place if it doesn’t take an excessive amount of time? Also, I find that there are issues which may be relevant to asylum seekers which have parallel the issues that may underlie the mental health problems that asylum seekers and immigrants may experience. For a while language didn’t feel fully connected to the purposes that it is intended for one becomes at sea with the community around. If this is the case then it will become a question of connecting to language to the same degree that everyone else in the social groups that you are part of to normalise – along with other forms of communication. This really does require some development as a research area, but there could be greater awareness of what means of communication are used and what degree of allowance can be made for the differences in language use that individuals have, that leave them accepted within social groups. This may contribute to the development of qualifications which may have health promoting benefits.

Language, slavery and nationalism: can we get insights from etymology?

Some references to the differences in Basque language to that spoken elsewhere in Spain may indicate a potentially interesting set of issues(see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language). It is assumed by linguists that variations in language can be linked to issues of migration of social groups and that trends in the form of language will be linked in a systematic manner to a defined space according to the population within that space and their heritage, which is interlinked to other populations from linked geographical areas, that language is spatially influenced if not defined.

There are deemed to be such strong trends in language use geographically, that it is possible to infer population movement according to the variation in language use and conversely, it is possible to identify what is termed a ‘language isolate’ may exist.(see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_isolate). The general term of ‘migration’ may be of interest in this case, there is an assumption that there is free movement of people across Europe, and for this to have taken place for some significant time – if any beginning point could be meaningfully established.

What does the term ‘language isolate’ actually mask other forms of social activity – perhaps as there are the groups who have an almost Russian language in the north of Spain because they were uprooted and sold to the Spanish business elite in a white-on-white slave trade. We as a nation tend not to have a great awareness of slavery outside of that which took place involving the indigenous African population. There may have been a great many ‘migrations’ which were not carried out through personal choice and perhaps there are equally as strong divisions in the white population as there are between some black white groups. Perhaps there could be other explanations of why Basque culture is different to that elsewhere in Northern Spain as well but this may provide a point of reference.

To an extent it could be argued that there may have been the birth of the slave industry as a result of stability of sea travel which led to a different form of slavery to that which was employed when road travel was the main form of slave trading. Perhaps there were a number of synonymous incidents of slave uprisings which led to the decline of interest in white-white slave trading and the spin doctors of the 15th century managed to convince us that we were all being well managed.

This may seem a little ironic bearing in mind Bernie Grant’s comment to Tony Blair regarding his mothers maiden name – Blair. Were Mr Blair’s forefathers the owners of Mr Grant’s? The contemporary master of spin may have had a long family history of being involved in spin related activities. This may still need to be challenged. I personally feel there is some significant bias in the methods used by the media in highlighting the nature of the problems of slavery – there were injustices connected to it but there should always be a responsible comparison made to the living conditions of the time for the white British population to indicate exactly how poor living conditions were for all at the time. Also, a great many forms of slavery may be overlooked to a point where they may as well be written out of history. Descendants of Indian slaves reside in Fiji and were deported from Uganda in the 1970's – yet the main image of slave in contemporary society is black, of African origin.

The coverage of the Beckford family, a south-west family of slave traders, in the relatively recent documentaries on the BBC may also reflect a bias. There were actions sanctioned by the British government when most of the white population were not treated much better than slaves themselves which involved the initiation of the international slave trade. While I may fear great many of the people who run Britain today, who largely control the media, are descendents of slave-master families who shape our history and want to spread the guilt of their forefathers families across the whole nation themselves rather than organisations still in existence take responsibility for what took place. Lloyds Insurance (Lloyds of London), Lloyds TSB and Barclays have all strong enough links to establishing themselves through slavery to be more directly held responsible for any reparation if this does get strong public backing.

Perhaps the concept of nation was developed to legitimate slave trading to a rather ill-equipped population who would not have the education to challenge this type of notion. Have we all been misled regarding ‘nationalism’ being the most important part of our identities, as British subjects, when this could be more readily be linked to masking foreign policy malpractice? Nationalism in this sense makes us relatively easy to govern rather than aware. If this is the case perhaps we should be engaged in a process of developing a post-colonial national identity based upon racial, cultural and social harmonies linked to British heritage, rather than cultural pride in our history per se. If it was a means of controlling the British population and making an unmanageable situation manageable, this should be acknowledged.

I assume that there are a number of reasons why reparation movements don’t get off the ground in the UK and one of these may be diverse – if any do I hope they are balanced and minimise negative impacts. In answer to the question posed I guess I would gravitate towards the opinion that there is little chance of insight from etymology because it is shaped by a strongly manipulated version of social history which will continue to affect us.

Gender issues campaigning – should this take place through joint campaigning between men and women?

To a great extent the feminist movement appears to have become effective in improving the status of women in society across all social classes and across all divides. This is a rather bold generalisation and may require some criticism for refinement. However, there has as a general trend been a significant increase in the numbers of women in work, sharing of household duties which were largely understood to be the role of women to undertake and increases in the salaries that the average woman earns.

Whilst there tends to be a range of feminist action ranging from the conservative to the radical there is possible scope to examine issues of gender in conjunction with the opposite sex rather than be carried out by women, perhaps to give the indication that either men are not necessary for gender issues campaigning or would perhaps aim to take too much control and dominate the proceedings. Feminist research and feminist action may be so geared to the issues that women may face that men’s interests may entirely be disregarded to a point where it is counter productive for women’s interests in general.

Perhaps some gender issues campaigning could be done more effectively and support the well-being of both men and women if it was done through the collective action of both men and women. Deciding an agenda for action would be an interesting as there would need to be some means of trying to separate out issues which would be best dealt with by women alone, those perhaps best dealt with by men and those that would benefit both genders being dealt with in conjunction with each other.

There may not be an enormous need for minor campaigning groups like ‘Fathers for Justice’ rather than a broad change across the whole of society, however, representation in the media does tend to be important on some levels for improving cohesion between otherwise disparate groups and indicating the overall changes that are perhaps desirable for many in society. I could hardly say there is a vacuum left by the disbanding of fathers for justice, but I would state that the types of Mr. Blair, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg all appear to be suitable candidates to take a gender equality agenda into the mainstream of party politics even further.

Each of them appear to be polite, sensitive and intelligent enough to lead on this type of agenda but there tends to be an attempt not to deal too directly with gender issues overtly as it may get them labelled as ‘politically correct’ or out of synch with public needs. One issue that tends to suggest that they may be refined is a facial characteristic, they lack big noses. I do wonder if there is covert semi-racial discrimination against men who have big noses, like myself. It may contribute to an image of someone who is unrefined and not fitting within the Aryan stereotype that is generally still adored in the West despite it’s links with Nazism. Perhaps each of them fulfils a preferable white racial stereotype and the media do not wish to challenge – the Euro-Indian hybrid. The continuation of Nazism in the west goes uninterrupted.

While it may seem like an unnecessary aside, I do feel discriminated against – I bought a nose clip for swimming and it was too small for my nose – because, I presume, JJB Sport is run by a Nazi cartel who want people of part Jewish origin and other people with big noses to die of heart disease. Maybe I should try to organise a campaign – to highlight what Nazism there is in Earlsdon. JJB are anti-semetic through and through. Nazis go back to Bolton or whatever small northern town you are from. In the mean time will the main political party leadership examine what form of coordination of gender issue campaigning can be legitimately undertaken for more substantial progress to be made sooner in the interests of both men and women.

‘The Testicle Shadow’ – should we be compensating people in China?

Having seen the relatively recent changes in attitude towards the environment and the introduction of off-setting carbon impacts through payment into a fund which would support development work, presumably overseas, to offset the carbon impacts of travel, it has crossed my mind what real changes are likely to result from this action. What seems likely to be the major qualm I would have about these means of generating revenue is that this is a further means of taxing those who are probably conscientious enough not to cause unnecessary pollution through leisure driving whilst those who maybe do take a lot of leisure trips don’t get penalised. Others may criticise the project work undertaken as being unlikely to achieve the objectives that need to be met in terms of carbon balancing. But as an extra 'conscience tax' it is not suitable and could be incorporated into tax which is already paid on fuel - the government could offset carbon use for us without extra voluntary contributions and spread the burden.

Carbon off-setting as a concept is interesting. Perhaps there could be some change through having the right concepts in society which can lead to major changes in ‘culture’ and to an extent can change the way that we live and use resources. This to an extent does reflect the notion that if we change language we will change the way we think and act as a result which isn’t necessarily correct. However, having the right terminology in place may assist with saving the planet. The ‘ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT’ appealed to me to a degree when I was reading social policy several years ago, because it is a means of assessing environmental impact of individuals and areas perhaps even the size of London, which have an ecological footprint the size of the UK. There may have been a long history of selecting linguistic terms which were aimed at promoting greater care for the environment and were dropped into life through the mass media and the etymology of the situation may be interesting. The role of the government in supporting notions of equality despite differences in material wealth and reduction of environmentally degrading action is significant in this position and they may be in a position to sponsor the development of concepts through academic funding and then to develop links between academia and the media allowing an illusion of non-state-dominated social management to emerge. Having said that I tend only to come across the term in the Guardian and on Radio 4 so I presume that there aren't many page 3 girls offsetting their carbon impacts through their overseas photoshoots.

Off-setting carbon use may not be that poor an idea if only there were some way to get those who undertake leisure travel to pay up. Arguably, there is a meaningless distinction between work and leisure travel – leisure travel is important to our well-being to a great extent and maybe shouldn’t be taxed. It should perhaps be excessive leisure travel and excessive work travel when there was no alternative to the means of fossil-fuel driven transport used. Should an average family expect weekends away five times over the course of the year and do some carbon off-setting on trips that they take above this level? Maybe one overseas family holiday every year and then off-set carbon use above this level? Will this actually appeal to the self-crucifying middle classes who wish to thank the individuals overseas who they will never meet or know – how poetic. Perhaps what is wrong with most of this is that it’s all too nice. It needs national government action.

If there were greater threat relating to the role that we all play in environmental degradation then perhaps there could be a greater response. One means of doing this may be to consider the sacrifices that are put upon the population of China. The restrictions that limit family size may have a significant bearing on the impact of environmental damage each family inflicts. If you value your testicles, or those of your partner, then perhaps you should consider your civil liberties and the liberties that others are denied for the sake of maintaining environmental quality. You may think this is only a racist joke, however, there could be some very significant aspects to the need to consider the freedoms that we may experience in the west. Perhaps this is another reservation that I should state over this type of action – that the underlying issue in Britain of the government having fostered as sense of racial supremacy has not been dealt with and we get opportunity to ‘sponsor’ those who are less well off financially than our-British-selves. The multi-dimensionality of social exclusion does give some implication that the resource-poor/time-rich may have some approaches to living that we may benefit from as their resource-rich/time-poor counterparts. This implies that there could be means for a non-financial payback through spiritual growth or other means of relating to the world through expertise thatmay be gained from counterparts.

Maybe there could be a testicle tax on the types who have blatant disregard for the pollution they cause? We offer payment because of the size of our carbon emissions and the size of our ecological footprint and we should not perhaps be too ashamed of covering the cost of our testicle shadows. Perhaps one of the Blair Babes could suggest this to the likes of Jeremy Clarkson who appears to have little regard for the environment and the self-indulgent leisure driving habits. Maybe I should be given government sponsorship to sire some children owing to massive amount of cycling I’ve done….

Perhaps a Western man who can’t cycle should have a vasectomy at the age of twenty-one? Maybe this is one way of stopping parents doing the ‘school run’ and getting kids cycling again. I don’t know about you but I’m going to get my bicycle clips out early this year. Maybe the political parties should get on with offering to offset carbon use without any further voluntary contributions?

The walk to school - could motorists make greater effort to ensure the walk to school is safe?

Like most children in the 1970’s I used to walk to school. I was more or less limited to do this because my parents didn’t have a car and while it was only a fifteen minute walk I would have liked the option. What has become common place and entered our culture is the notion of the ‘school run’ in the ‘chelsea tractor’ - driving the kids to school is the means of ensuring that they reach the destination.

I don’t know to what extent it is classed as a problem for the most of the population however, I do regard this as a significant problem of the times. Not only because of the impacts upon the children themselves in terms of evidence of preteens coronary atherosclerosis, or heart disease in under 12s. But also because there are major impacts upon the environment as a result of the increases in traffic and the speed that the extra traffic travels at as a result of congestion. There are other areas of impacts as well, this must make some difference to a child’s awareness of local space and willingness to walk on other journeys as well.

In some areas I have been witness to motorists who will do what is necessary to ensure that the trip to school is safe who intervene in fighting or bullying when it takes place on the journey to or from schoo. If this does not take place there is greater chance that there will be a decision made by parents to take their kids to school themselves.

This may take the form of bibbing a vehicle horn at any group of youths who appear not to be conducting themselves in a way that is generally going to be classed as acceptable. It may also require some greater intervention to stop and challenge what seems like very undesirable behaviour. This could of course cause some concern or excessive noise on occasion but is it worth making some effort to do this on balance? There is also the more recent change that there are going to be camera phones and other recording equipment carried by motorists and if pupils are in school uniform, as a result easily identified on the walk to school, they may find when they reach school there are emailed copies of the events that have taken place on the way to school.

There may be a degree of distrust in society at large at present but surely collective action can ensure that the overall trend does not continue and may reverse?

Love in a time of lager.

I remember you when you hand touched mine,
It felt real, it felt true, I felt alive,
I can't forget the way you made me feel,
In that shitty dance hall dive.

It was strobe lit passion of wandering hands,
I was held by your gentle touch,
I twanged your g-string and fondled your breasts,
So thanks for that, ta very much.

You glistened with sweat and shone like the stars,
I felt like there was only the two of us there,
Then I noticed the crowds of curious eyes,
Some people had pulled up their chairs.

We skidded around on a puddled dancefloor,
To Wham and Dexies and A-Ha,
I forgot the time as we danced away,
Because I'd also lost my watch in your bra.

The trips to the bog felt like hours without you,
They were moments of gross dereliction,
I had to wait so much longer to use the cubicles,
If only to hide my erection.

There was warmth, there was light as we slurred away,
I almost understood what you said,
And when back from the bar that last fateful time,
You'd gone but not to my bed.

As I looked for my coat, which also went too,
I found nothing but fag butts and glass,
And for a moment I thought of that careless passion,
And longed to once more touch you ass.

I thought of your face, your knockers and bum,
Your legs and your hands figured too,
Add I think you came back - I was aghast.
Why on earth go outside to the loo?

We kissed so much longer though your mouth tasted different,
I was due one final rebuke,
I think I knew why though I wasn't put off,
By the taste in your mouth of your puke.

You felt so much larger and your clothes felt so different,
You kissed like a magical feast,
Then I groped your groin and I think felt a knob,
I was sure it was a different beast.

So I ran to the exit without the coat that she took,
And wondered what he'd done to me,
I'll never go back to meaningless sex,
Because the meaning in life is to be

Call centres and how to survive them.

I’ve worked in call-centres for a couple of well established companies over a number of years and I’ve dealt with a significant number of callers and been trained in various means of ‘call handling‘. If anything what surprises me about the quality of the information that is generally offered in the media about call centres is how one-sided it is in relation to the nature of what is desirable to get from a call: without considering how call centres are organised these press-articles are not necessarily going to be of any benefit to the reader. To understand how to deal with call centres you need to understand how the call centre is run and the objectives that the management have - unless you understand this then you are likely to be kept hanging on…..

There are some key issues that need to be addressed in order to deal with the ‘call centre hell’ without being too frustrated by the experience. Largely many of the problems that customers experience are due to the fact that costs can be cut when offering a service that will help one company become more competitive than others in the same market and one means of doing this is by paying staff a low rate of pay. Consequently there can be little incentive to stay within a company’s call centre and the staff turnover tends to be high. High staff turnover tends to be a major issue in call centres and it is largely because of the highly target oriented environment that can lead to very low levels of job satisfaction due to the pressured environment. As a result of high staff turn over, staff then will tend only to be trained on specific issue-areas and can only deal with a narrow range of issues - increased competitiveness – or savings for the company leads to staffing that is less able to deal with the overall business of a company. For a national newspaper to aim to offer systems of ‘getting through to a person as soon as possible’ is a little misleading as the person that you get through to may not be able to assist with your enquiry, for instance, it may get you through to a team leader or floor manager who can not deal with your enquiry who then only has to transfer you to another queue.

One of the most ridiculous areas for the mass media to criticise call centre staff on is the way that call centre staff ‘interrupt’. Most call centres that are ‘outsourced’ that are staffed by personnel that are not employed directly by the company whose enquiries they are dealing with are subject to contract review and they may lose a contract if they are not dealing with calls in a manner that the client company desires. Consequently, there can be a strong regime of call management that demands calls are generally dealt with in a structured manner making a key issue for anyone in the call centre who wishes to keep their jobs - they deal with calls in a structured and systematic manner to the satisfaction of the client. If this also involves keeping calls short then it is inevitable that calls will involve interruptions. To consider staff as being rude who are aiming largely at keeping their jobs when they are instructed to deal with a call structure and time limits that demand that interruptions are used is senseless. Call-centre staff could well be Britain’s factory workforce with low-autonomy jobs - they have little interest in interrupting or being party to a rudeness in a call and may prefer the open discussion.

I’ll offer some advice on how to deal with call centres as I see as appropriate – I hope it is of some use to the reader. I should also state what I mean by call centre. I am referring to an office or section that deals almost entirely with telephone calls incoming and outgoing ensuring other staff are free of interruptions. This can include 'outsourced' call centres which are located outside of the mother organisation and based often in another country.

Menu systems - if you feel that the menu systems are totally unsuitable for the enquiry and don’t get you through to anyone quick enough then you need to state this briefly. If the call-centre is low budget they will have staff trained on a narrow range of issues consequently consider using a different company if the one that you go are using don’t administer things in a way that suits you - if enough people complain then menu systems may be changed. Quite often, especially for small organisations, it is possible to get straight through to the reception by pressing zero: '0'. This may also throw you out of the system as well.

Allow enough time - call centres tend to be managed on the basis that there will be peak times and low demand times that will leave the call centre with nothing to do. They aim to have enough staff available for different scenarios and they are not perfect in their predictions.

Ask when the low demand periods are - ask what the call forecasts are like for early in the morning and late in the day before the call centre closes. If there are periods when there are lower levels of calls to deal with then it may be better to call at these times.

Have an interruptable task to do while you are waiting in the call queue - drink tea, do the crossword, write a shopping list or list of things you’ll need to do, or anything that may be stopped while you are waiting. I generally won’t call an 0870 number without something to do whilst I am on hold waiting for someone to answer. Even if you are calling at a low demand period there could be a sudden unpredicted influx of calls owing to an unforeseen event and this could be a reason that you hang on without knowing why. Be relaxed and be ready not to get through immediately, this rarely happens. Don’t get left feeling that you’re hanging on….

Have all supporting information relating to the call with you - most people would prefer to call a call centre again having made a booking or made an order than to read the paperwork that they have been sent. Consequently, more calls are made to the call centre than is necessary and the impact that this makes is to increase call volume and then reduce the chances of someone else getting through. The time taken to get through to some call centres at peak periods tends to be less than the time it would take to read the information that has been sent that could answer your enquiry - it makes sense to look through what you’ve been sent, especially if you are holding on waiting to speak to a member of staff. If you think the information is unclear inform the company that you think it’s badly written and why. Consider if it could be in clearer English and if so ask them if they have would consider a link with ‘the Plain English Society’.

Take the name, extension number or team details of the call centre agent - without this most information from the call can not be checked at a later date. Frequently, this is the most significant information to have on a call and is often more important than any other information. If you hear information stating all calls are recorded then it is likely that this is going to be to your advantage - only if you have made a note of who you spoke to. Someone may refuse to give their name, frequently staff will be informed that they are not expected to give their surname when asked. In this case ask for an extension number - for an agent not to give their name and extension number or name and team so they can be easily identified should be classed as highly unprofessional. If a person slurs their name or refuses to give it call back immediately to make a complaint as the information that you’ve been given doesn’t really have much validity unless you can link it to a member of staff. Most call centre staff should state their name at the start of the call - if they don’t it’s generally unprofessional not to do this.

Take the time of the call - any tracing of calls that are made where there is a dispute over the information that has been stated will usually require at least a rough time of the time a call was made within five or ten minutes. Calls are logged in a computer system usually under the extension number of the agent who made the call and the time it was recorded. If an average call centre agent deals with eighty calls per day and there are thirty staff then that is two thousand four hundred calls per day. Obviously, if staff are willing to take your side over being misinformed, and it will happen if there are that many calls being dealt with, then they will want to trace a call as soon as possible - it is imperative to have a record of the time of a call if you want to use the digital record of it to your advantage.

Deal with interruptions - if you feel that you are being led along certain routes that you don’t want to go down then state clearly and categorically the reason that you called and emphasise that you don’t wish for any other services to be offered. State that you wish to control the call and that you only want to ask a few things. The staff should be able to co-operate with you.

Muslim social theory - is there an adequate understanding of Muslim social change?

Over the last few years a great deal may be deemed to have changed in the Iraq. Too much has been dropped on Iraq by the West - democracy may make sense to us but it is not necessarily a system that should be implemented there and parachuting the system in may not make the least sense within the nation. Journalists may have been critical of the methods used, for example, the BBC are pro self-forming democracies but they should generally question the need even to keep Iraq as one nation when the UK may in some ways be three nations struggling to stay together.

While there has been a democratic government installed into the Iraqi infrastructure almost entirely ensuring that there was a break with existing convention to a point which led a great many to become insurgents, there does need to be a question asked over the suitability of the British and American approach in influencing the changes that have been made.

There has been a great emphasis on managing change in the UK’s business fraternity over the last few decades. Although there could be questions asked about the transferability of the methods used in this type of process, or for instance the settings approach to health promotion developed by Prof. Leo Baric, the backlash against the ‘liberating’ forces has been so strong that there may not be another conflict like this again. There may be imperatives to carry out duties of military operations which are aimed at facilitating autonomy of government in that nation to consider all action of the forces and how that will fit into a plan of managing change within that nation. Should every possible element of a nation’s culture be considered in the change process undertaken?

There could be a great many contributions from a host of academic perspectives which could contribute to the ‘closure’ of the warring currently taking place within Iraq, although again that may be too westernised a concept to employ. Surely the terms used for the closure of the period should be driven by Iraqi culture and reflect durable peace. I assumed at earlier points that there could have been contributions made from Muslim sociologists as a strong field of Jewish sociology which may be a necessary level of discourse to engage in for any culture that wishes for cultural equality. Social change within Iraq and managing the process effectively are likely to be key terms for the military to consider – especially if the exit strategy is to be peaceful. It may be ironic to state but some forms of Islamic government may have utilised more of the essence of democracy than are demonstrated in the democracies of the west.

It is almost a stable enough comment to become an adage, stated by Mike McKay (Phil Collins lookalike and political philosopher) that politicians are popular at home or abroad but rarely both, especially not at the same time. Are we going to see a politician with a cross-cultural appeal beginning to make their marks in the west in the near future? At present Mr George W Bush does not seem to fit the bill.

Offering advice to 'the paranoid' – being on the other side of the adviceworkers desk.

It is fourteen years since I worked at the Devonport CAB with the other individuals who had the drive to deliver a service that would help the Devonport locals deal with the problems they had. It may help to characterise the period by describing the political context of the time before discussing the issues that I wanted to raise. There was an almost nonchalant right wing government that may have been possibly so little concerned with the bottom 10% of earners in the public that they damaged Conservatism irreparably. There were the major events of the Poll Tax riots and the riots at the protests over the end of student grants. And, although there was the launch of Heseltine’s urban regeneration initiative there were strong signals from central government that the areas that experienced multiple-deprivation somehow didn’t matter. I was influenced to undertake the role of CAB advice worker because of the Maoist philosopher & Newcastle Brown Ale drinker – Tim Moss, who encouraged the action of voluntary work in deprived urban areas which isn’t quite as dramatic an undertaking as doing voluntary work overseas in some far off land to most people, though need may be great in deprived urban Britain. There was a tendency back then to elect left wing local councils as a reaction to the right wing central government as perhaps there may currently be a tendency to elect right wing councils in order to give a message to left-wing central government.

It wasn’t my first job but delivering CAB Advice Work was the first work I made a serious attempt at engaging in employment since I’d graduated a year or so before. Before that I’d been involved in various service delivery jobs and not been able to do what any of my education was geared towards. I did find it quite a difficult transition to make - I guess I’d spent too much of my teens loafing. There was a degree of conviction that is not uncommon in the voluntary sector all over the UK within Devonport CAB’s team. Ironically, I had ongoing issues with depression and no real diagnosis which attempted to deal with the matters which underlie the swift changes in mood that left me occasionally feeling very typically helpless.

The reason I write this blog relates to the experience I had when I saw at least two of clients who appeared to be reporting conspiratorial matters. I didn’t really know how to take them in relation to the issues they were raising - if anything I would have to offer some form of apology to the people I assumed only to have suffered from what appeared to be organically generated mental health problems. They appeared superficially at least to have completely unfounded allegations to make against the state, government, establishment or whatever forces of action may be present in the UK and I, rather than completely dismiss what they were stating, just escalated the case enquiry to a supervisor. I don’t think there was an aim to reduce the person making these allegations to a point where they felt that we weren’t willing to believe them but I don’t really feel that we did offer any major service on the matters that were likely to limit their lives.

The oddity of the situation, what I think feels very ironic is that I then several years later, is that I too entered a CAB regarding a matter which I think was, to them, wholly attributable to the likelihood that I was suffering with mental health problems. On the other side of the desk, what appears to be the case seems to be that there could be programmes of action against some members of the public that may not be part of the action of some longstanding tradition but because there are no clear links, evidence or motives they appear totally irrational, a reflection of illness. What can happen is that advice services are not strongly geared to do a great deal to assist people in this position and as a result even if there are intention to ensure that each member of the public is treated reasonably there isn’t a great deal that advice services can offer to someone who is in this position.

I may have been slightly honed by the influence of psychology and psychologists. Professionalism within psychology tends to mean not challenging the general assumptions within theory that the psychological professions have generated especially in relation to the notion that society may ‘cause’ some forms of mental illness – mental illness is the disease of the individual. There was always a suggestion from people in psychiatric training and who were linked to clinical psychology that it was not an area to question Policing as this is a professional group that may be called upon with exceptional cases with patients. Whilst this is not the type of matter that is challenged within academic psychology there are routes into this area. There is a journal of political psychology which is concerned more with the impacts upon politics of psychology rather than vice versa – and this is a matter which is regularly discussed by students and patients alike, however, there does not seem to be a strong enough debate on these matters within practitioner journals. Laid on top of that there is not

This and other ‘paranoid’ thoughts are in some ways easy to dismiss, though this can only appear to incriminate the advice service – maybe the politically correct response to someone who, to many may obviously have mental health problems, could be that we don’t have the facility to assist you, and that medical and legal frameworks do not appear to be suitable to address the matters that you’re raising. This of course could lead to greater dissatisfaction with the service that is available. There does seem to be a loophole that for instance the types of antics that go on in the film ‘Changing Lanes’ that could lead to a great deal of paranoia may not be that illegal, certainly not something that the Police would class as criminal harassment, and is not presently legislated against. Providing evidence of this type of action may be difficult to do as well considering the Police as servants of the ruling class actually investigating malpractice within workplaces that may otherwise not be considered as worthy of investigation. Perhaps a few well chosen cases to explore may result in costly delays to a business and result in such a deterrent to other businesses that there could be an incredibly strong counter culture against this type of instance occurring again. Paranoia may be worth reconceptualising from a number of professional perspectives considering the action that a service could take may shape what is or isn’t worth as conceptualising into a definition of paranoia.

It seemed that there weren’t necessarily matters that were related the thoughts of persistent risk and persecution only feeling that people were potentially threats – it consideration of these as being unlinked to data, theory or rationale which normally rings someone’s alarm bells that a person is really and truly mad. There is scope to assess risk and perhaps we have much stronger drives genetically to assess risk collectively and to form a culture to act on this than we acknowledge. When we lose this from our culture we maybe then start to malfunction – what a healthy individual has is access to this form of process and a meaningful link with it. This is evolutionary psychology in a form which is very closely linked to the foundations of the Ottawa Charter for health promotion. There could be very individual forms of risk assessment that are prevalent in our culture which may remain relatively healthy processes such as perceiving all motorists as a potential risk when motorcycling. When past the risk it is generally forgotten about, or at least no longer central in the mind of the rider. For someone with a mental heath problem their general perception of events becomes very unbalanced and recent risk events stay in the mind and are not left behind leaving clear focus. This is going a little Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but there does tend to be a need to continually assess risk more often than not alone. When dealing with the issues that cluster together that may be presented someone with a mental health problem may not able to prioritise, forget about issues which are likely to be fruitless and then deal methodically with those that are worth pursuing. They may also find that they can not interpret what someone is saying when trying to assist them and may continually become difficult to deal with. To a large extent I would imagine advocacy services may be expensive but necessary for people with this condition and I would hope that there would be services made available.

There are other features of the condition which are probably worth indicating but maybe are well covered elsewhere in the sites linked to support for people with mental health problems. I don’t think that I can really sum up much of what the condition has been like other than to state that it’s possible to cover up what feels like a living hell quite easily. I wish to describe the living details of what the mood disorder has been like – I do class people as being very lucky in some respects that they are connected to what is going on in their lives and that they are experiencing moods which are connected to the social events which are going on around them.

The general trend of reducing funding to psychiatric services and increasing police services may shift some responsibility onto Police Forces and PCSOs to deal more effectively with the preventative role they have in dealing with the situation. It becomes increasingly more and more important to consider the role of the Police along with other services in the prevention of mental illness. This may become an area for housing and policing officials to determine a research agenda for if current trends in service provision continue. There will be members of the public coming into advice service centres and stating that they think there are all manner of actions being undertaken against them – a proportion of which may be relatively accurate appraisals of influence which may limit someone’s quality of life. What advice are they likely to receive as part of conventional practice under the guidance of Mr. Brown will remain to be seen.

It was only a very few people that were subject to this type of allegation against the state government or of corruption although I don't know if that was NACABs classification or other reasons including avoiding staff dwelling on the illness state of the client group who were largely local. Having said that I have what appears to be very fractured recall of seeing several staff that I worked with during this period being grabbed and injected which is a little Jacobs Ladder but it’s unusual what I do seem to recall. I don’t know if this is highly creative memory but there does seem to be something that took place I can’t recall. I guess a major difference between being problematically mentally ill and having made a recovery is that I can at least get on with my life despite having unresolved recall of events.

As a final aside I vaguely recall there being some incidents with, I think, the group of grebos from the Cooperage. I assume that one of them was tipped off about some potential corruption and there was a low key attempt to ensure that people were informed about this years before the event – the event being the tsunami in 2004. In about 1993 or 1994, there was an attempt at low key publicity which was carried out, which appeared to be led by one of the grebos. On cardboard signage the terms ‘2004’ and ‘tsunami’ appeared at the bottom of Royal Parade outside petrol station for a couple of days. I don’t know if this was in relation to a computer which was named a ‘tsunami’ which was on the market before the South-East Asian tsunami of boxing day 2004 or not. Just because there was a tsunami in 2004 does not mean that it was linked to a corrupt process and there could have been a large number of predictions made of this nature which don’t appear to have any form of consolidating information to support them. I don’t know if anyone in Stonehouse witnessed this or made a record of what was on these rather odd cardboard signs, however, it would be interesting to find out exactly what was going on....this was the issue I was ignored by CAB staff in Birmingham over and it would be interesting if there were any records in Plymouth of what happened in the early 1990's

Redefining 'political correctness': should the British use a less politicised term of ‘common humility’?

There is more than a slight backlash against the movement of political correctness within the UK media as a whole and this is one area where the media seem in tune with the British public at large – what tends to be accepted in the UK is that there is no apparent alternative to the movement that ‘political correctness’ has become, when it may just be the beginning of a revitalised approach to human relations and how they are termed in everyday language use.

There may not be a single source, of course, of political correctness as a movement, though as the history of the situation gets formed, it may be possible to assume that there was a need for a perhaps international common framework to discuss and describe number of forms of disadvantage that resulted in lower social and economic status for an individual. This may as a result be an example of the process of globalisation of culture which marks the interchange between Britain and the US socially and economically. This may of course not be the case, there doesn’t seem to be an exponent from the US who would argue that the same terminology should be adopted in the UK or elsewhere in Europe that may have been seen to be suitable in the USA.

The backlash against global processes may reflect a resistance to the processes of globalisation as a whole, which may not be visible but is taking place in a great many forms through the discussion groups which were used to select appropriate terms to use within an organisation to avoid discriminatory action. Arguably, those who have disliked the new terminology of political correctness have not been connected to the processes of selecting the most appropriate language for an organisational context. There may be solid grounds to reject the use of terms of courtesy based upon language which does not connect with the social history of the users of the terminology. The process of managing this form of social change and ensuring that there were positive impacts all round are considerable. All of this creates a position where there may be a need to reject elements of the globalisation of culture and seek a national, regional or more local solution that are part of a more prominent movement which helps get those who feel resentment to the ‘politically correct’ on board.

Deconstructions of political correctness may include a more complex picture of competing interests that incorporate what I am stating. Would they indicate that it were a movement that it provides a means of avoiding discriminatory language which can not only restrict the development of the person that it is being used to describe but also to ensure that any one who is working with them may not be accused of discriminating against them? This also could be in the interests of an employer who may not wish to be involved in either providing substandard working conditions where harassment may take place but also may avoid the risk of prosecution through negligence over not addressing this type of matter. In whose interests does political correctness take place as a process may also be worth asking as there may be some benefits for the vulnerable groups who are not discriminated against, although perhaps there is a greater benefit for those who get to grips with how the terminology can be used so they can progress in their careers.

There may be good reason to question the beneficiaries of political correctness – as a movement political correctness may not have addressed any unequal power relations but only offered window dressing to those who were looking to absolve themselves from engaging in any meaningful form of social change. This type of change in language use is little more than a lubricant to capitalism and maintains distinct power relations rather than challenges them in any way. It would be interesting to examine who the major beneficiaries of political correctness have been so far. It does assist in some ways with the sense of a meritocracy and sense of social and economic freedoms.

The meritocratic nature of Blair’s Britain may be subject to further analysis at an appropriate point. We may then find that there are ‘relationally challenged’ individuals that are those who do not have a great opportunity through extended family or others who are ‘aesthetically challenged’ when looks are fully recognised as being a particularly significant issue in the preferences of employers. Maybe one day….

If social and economic power relations are not being challenged and there is an aversion to the US approach of political correctness which may be due to financial and public image reasons being central to undertaking the process of cultural change then there may be scope to undertake a more British approach. Finance and public image may not be matters necessarily central to British culture and there could be reason, despite common ground with the US, to separate and form a more British movement. This has been undertaken by the left wing councils of the 1980'S and not respected for what it was - maybe it is time to review this.

Mental illness – How heavily gendered should the diagnostic frameworks be?

Following a brief discussion with a psychiatrist who refused to put anger into a diagnostic framework I have considered exactly how the mechanisms operate which lead us to see women report more mental illness and men die younger, statistically speaking because of alcohol related diseases. It was a point made continually through the M.Sc. course I did that women may tend to get depressed, report symptoms and then get diagnosed with depression, thus elevating the statistics of women and mental illness – probably to a level they may be classed as accurate. While on the other hand, men presumably during medical examinations, may report that they have been drinking heavily and this not necessarily be converted to a statistic in relation to mental health. It will be a rather clumsy discussion to deal with such a nebulous terms as mental health, especially in relation to gender; while it may almost not be worthwhile raising these points, I do think some generalisations need to be questioned.

The frequency of reported mental illness does almost invariably indicate more frequent reporting than with men which may reflect how gender appropriate it is to report the symptoms of depression etc within the consulting room of a GP. If the information on the increase in male suicide in the UK is also considered – especially with regard to the increase in rate of suicide for young men. It is approximately twice as high as for women despite the implication that men have better mental health than women by the less frequent reporting of mental health problems.

Arguably, there could be more gendered concepts of mental illness relating to male and female forms of anxiety, depression and other well-being states which increase service use to a suitable degree. At present the diagnostic frameworks may make additional problems emerge and as a nation we could look towards more gendered and more appealing concepts of well being and mental health problems which encourage greater participation in health services that everyone in Britain is paying towards.

At present the use of existing concepts tends to continue an element within our culture which ensures that we are operating in the rules of the asylum and other institutions that we have not been able to make a clean break from over several centuries. There are possibly methods of social management that may be nearing an end in the next few decades which would require – it may simply be a change in nomenclature and make minimal difference but if managed across the whole of society as a significant period of change it could alter things for the next generation.

Whilst there may be some significant differences between Britain and Europe there could be adequate common ground in order to make this a European wide movement coordinated by the EU – this I think is wishful thinking but it could be an area for possible development – would most young men prefer different terminology applied to their life experience which puts them in a position to alter the way they live so they feel better? It may also be a particularly important step for the improvements that could take place for women and reduction in problems with their mental health as well.

This actually arose out of a discussion I had with someone who I knew who worked in the psychiatric profession. She tended to degrade some very intense feelings that had been reported to her of anger because they were not clinically relevant and wanted to home in on issues that were in the diagnostic manual. It strikes me as interesting that anger does not figure as part of the diagnoses that are made when it is to a degree expressed as being a socially appropriate emotion that men may express – are there other instances of men reporting feelings and these being ignored by clinical staff because they aren’t adequately stated in diagnostic manuals? It would be wholly unwise to suggest this outside of a blog in a more formal context as this is not based on a great deal of qualitative information, however, it may be interesting to form a corpus as is termed by Fairclough and to examine the discursive practice around this particular issue.

Whilst staff in mental health services may be committed to what they do, be willing to endure certain maltreatment which most people would be wholly intimidated and offended by there does need to be a strong commitment to the frameworks that psychiatric professional works within. There is a strong belief that the actions of staff who participate in such systems are going to result in significant improvements in the well-being of the patient. Unfortunately, the standards theoretically and procedurally that psychiatric professionals work to are not high and there isn’t a very strong explanatory framework for exactly why interventions work when they do. This is beyond the control of the vast majority of psychiatric staff – contributing further to the difficulties that they have by offering inadequate conceptualisations of how mental illness may be experienced within a culture only may serve to restrict the ability of the staff.

There are a great many concepts within the realms of mental illness, psychiatry and well being that may require significant review at present and while there are so called random attacks that mental health services appear to lack any understanding of why they take place this may be one area that could prove pivotal. Many of the diagnostic categories that are used to tend to exacerbate the mental distress that an individual may experience – for instance if there were action taken against an individual and they were classed as being paranoid for reporting it within mental health services many people would acknowledge that this could cause frustration and lead to anger, especially if there were a willingness only to employ mental health services as a result as a means of protecting the public at large, when there are individuals in the public who were causing such problems. This action of mental health services to have a negative and damaging effect upon the well being of the person reporting ‘mental illness’ could be classed as psychiatric iatrogenesis. It will be a long time until the staff within health services, politics and relevant sections of the Police acknowledge this term and its significance in terms of reducing the so called random and violent attacks.

Academic re-engagement – the drop-out’s guide to re-booting academic skills.

Having become disconnected from academia altogether after dropping out of a PhD in 1999 I have rekindled my interest in academia as a means of evaluating and appraising information and propositions – and as a means of relating to the world in the general terms. I had what I may as well describe as being a nervous breakdown that would appear to have been due to over work (what I think it was due to is a different story) – having spent long hours working on relatively basic tasks and not fully relaxing when I did have time off. I wouldn’t attribute the problem arising to the conduct of staff at University of the West of England which is where I was based during the period the meltdown began. If anything I’d say that the standard of convening in meetings was very high – if I had to say that there was a place where I’ve worked where this was the case I would probably select UWE. This does happen to a number of people in academia and I wouldn’t like anyone to think that this blog was aimed at them in particular – it is meant to be very general and not inspired by any single individual.

What I’ve put up on the blog, for the purposes of assisting others, it an outline of the process of re-engagement that I’m undertaking. It isn’t meant to be a short cut for those who haven’t spent a long time in academia as some form of distillation of what the key skills are but is rather meant to be some form of gradual re-engagement of those frequently used skills. I did find it difficult to find any information on this process of re-engagement and I thought that it may be well covered elsewhere on the web but one has to define one’s own process if it does not exist. It does surprise me that this is not documented elsewhere as there are frequently reported sub-clinical mental health issues experienced by academics and because of the nature of the working hours that some may choose this can be to a degree a health and safety risk, one of few involved in the job.

What I’ve listed is the sequential process that one would go through in the education system right the way through from the entry level to post-graduate level and comments on some basic tasks that I’m planning that will assist with rebuilding confidence and developing a sense of coherence about academic activity. If you wish to comment or add a link to relevant information please do so. Also, a number of theoretical perspectives may be applied to the process that may imply that other action is necessary as part of the recovery process. Arguably, from a social-ecological perspective recovery from mental illness may entail a review of the norms and behaviour that an individual may have participated in and change to them so that the individual is able to function within a particular social environment. It could be argued that minor breakdowns and panics may have an evolutionary basis and like the function of a psychosomatic illness may be argued to serve, that is to assist with re-engagement and socialisation (i.e. some form of change in cognition and behaviour may be required) there may be some argument that there is a need to have a mentor for this process who can advised on the norms of the social group that one is re-engaging in. [It would be interesting to get the comments of Prof. Paul Gilbert and Prof. Mike Hyland – and some comments from the USA who have undertaken more research on family within a community from a social ecological perspective than in Europe, as far as I am aware.

Here is the basic outline of the process that I will be going through:

Warming up – Basic skills level, Entry Level etc.
Review of basic skills and entry level courses. Describe rudiments of use of punctuation style which are associated with this level of qualification and may not be suitable at other levels.
Task –Examine how the basic skills would contribute to written communication and serving a purpose of communication within an organisation. Describe how these skills are comprised of the core elements of communication/literacy which are constant through each stage of this process.
Skills – List the skills that are involved in basic day to day tasks of writing and record number of mistakes made through misleading written communication, how much time and cost does this incur? What are the highest priority changes in communication that would need to take place as a result?
Consolidating tasks – Evaluate the utility of basic skills information and consider these along with other vocational qualifications in an academic setting. What skills do I use frequently and which skills would I benefit from developing in the short-term, medium term and long term?

1. Academic re-engagement: moving up to general qualifications.
Read GCSE Specifications for guidance on the quality of the writing that is expected through GCSE levels.
Task – Discuss and describe the qualities preferred at GCSE level writing. Outline why a style of writing may be acceptable at GCSE level of writing and not at others.
General supporting administrative tasks to develop basic skills in this area – scanning and photocopying. Ordering and organising of materials in order to leave them accessible.
Skills - Summarising articles with a few sentences in terms of content without reference to issues outside of the text? Paraphrase, summarise and precise – practice methods of doing each.
Consolidating tasks - Collection of range of materials that would support a 500 word essay. Write in short bursts of 5 minute blocks with 5 minute breaks. (build this up gradually to a normal work-break ratio, say work of 45-50 minutes in one hour and 10-15 minutes of break. Read newspapers for one week and plan a series of essays on the content on the basis of newspaper articles.

2. Academic re-engagement: moving up to ‘A’ level standard.
Use recommended text books to support the activity of writing to A level standard. Eg. NEC booklets and other ‘A’ level guidance – eg specifications.
General background tasks at this level - review, precise and summaries.
Task – Describe and discuss the qualities desired in the writing of A level writers. Identify if there is support for the proposition that the jump up to A level standard from GCSE is the biggest single step up in academia or if there are other steps which are more significant.
Skills – List skills and how these can be utilised at A level standard in a manner which supports development.
Consolidating tasks –Read through several months of practitioner journals and plan an article entirely based upon the content of these so it can be referenced with all propositions referenced where at all possible. Write several essay plans and carry these out if possible.

3i. Academic reengagement : moving up through to a university level.
This should ensure that the engagement in an academic planning process can begin with the issues of writing which is entirely based upon written sources such as books and journals and makes reference to other data through academic appraisal, such as following application of appropriate qualitative and quantitative research methods. This requires a thorough review of the research methods courses undertaken and review of literature on research methods. There are other texts which may be useful to make progress in this area such as University writing guides, for example, ‘How to get a first’ or other undergraduate writing text books.
Task – Describe and discuss the qualities of degree level writing and how different this is to A level and general qualifications level writing.
Skills – Measured writing – writing to achieve effects of change within a research field. Write to impact upon practice within a specified area using an analysis of interests of specified groups being written about. This should not take the form of a report stated in section 4 below but would draw from the same theme areas. Academic information should be converted to resource status for practitioners.
Consolidating tasks – Undertake a review of several academic issue areas and summarise how they could impact upon practice, write essay plans and indicating how the changes in practice should be termed.

3ii. Academic reengagement: writing at the standard of a post-graduate.
Examine if there are any text books aiming to take the student through from undergraduate writing issues to post-graduate writing issues. Use books such as ‘how to get a PhD’ and determine factors which elevate a piece of research work from Masters’ level to PhD.
Task – Describe and discuss the qualities desired in the writing of the post-graduate. What extra qualities are added to a piece of research through carrying it out to Doctoral standards – what are the major benefits of carrying out a piece of research to this standard and how does the writing style differ from degree and Masters level writing.
Skills – List and explore the issues of post graduate writing through summaries of doctoral theses and Ph.D. supporting text books.
Consolidating tasks – Examine the nature of research programmes and how these are structured and what level of contribution doctoral research would add to these.

4. Professional writing within an organisation.
Review the texts on report writing within a professional setting and summarise these.
Task – Discuss and describe the features of a report in terms of the process of gathering information and the style which is to be used within it.
Skills – List the key skills that are used in forming most reports within the area that a report would be written for.
Consolidating tasks - Practice reports and highlighting issues which arose within the report. Review several reports and examine whether or not they function within the guidance stating within the report writing guides. If they diverge significantly add in extra guidance on report writing and the style that this would need to be done within.

5. Leisure writing – contextualising academic writing within other writing settings.
Read through books on creative writing and on writing poetry.
Task – Describe and discuss the methods of writing and styles within each discipline. Review the above and contrasted to the academic writing books.
Skills – Aim to specify how different the styles are and what constitutes structure and style within this area.
Consolidating tasks – Evaluate poetry in terms of it’s form and content and aim to mimic this.

6. Writing and verbal ability.
Write a list which aims to breakdown of skills and listing of these and how they can be used together. Presentation structure and style of delivery etc.
Task – Describe and discuss the main features of several forms of public and private speaking and how these may be supported by the skills developed in academic writing.
Skills – Examine how different forms of research can be presented and what considerations need to be made for particular audiences giving examples.
Consolidating tasks – Summarise how several different scenarios could be approached and detail the types of problems that may be encountered and how to deal with these.

7. Revisiting statistics.
This is assuming that a social science degree was undertaken that involved some small reference to statistics….undertake a review of undergraduate statistics books (eg. Judith Bell, other stats from undergraduate studies (Howell ?))
Task - Examine statistical tests in relation to the work undertaken in community safety and the potential there is for tests to highlight statistical significance to be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of an intervention.
Skills - Use of statistics tests on data from real world situations.
Consolidating tasks – Practice several statistical tests on data from relevant agencies and get feedback on how to undertake these to provide information relevant to practitioners.

8. The graduates skills sets.
Summarise the extent and range of skills required for development within an academic context and when interfacing between the academic and real worlds.
Task - Summarise the process undertaken and some of the implications for practice. Aim to work on the personal weaknesses identified as ‘areas for development’ and identify system for prioritising academic skills development.
Skills - List skills and means to keep these in some form of rigour and ability to use them appropriately.
Consolidating tasks – Examine what skills have been regained and which ones were close to being developed and to work out a programme of development which is SMART and likely to result in development of further skills at a suitable pace.

I haven’t completed this process yet, nor am I sticking to it that rigidly – I’ve jumped around within it to a degree, and it would take possibly a matter of weeks to gradually gain what was lost especially when there may have been a great deal of time since the skills were last used. I guess sometimes they return quite quickly and while there may be some attention on this process as being rather too mechanistic and rather like a keep fit workout it does have the virtue of being clear so anyone could begin it. If there is nothing else to go on I hope this does not cause any problems. It is important for academics to control the process of work – as it is for anyone – and I hope that you can control (take out what is irrelevant and add on what is necessary to the bare bones here).

Best wishes…Steve.

Discourses of deformity – is there reason to engage in ritualised Charles bashing or should we offer our time to consider the London skyline?

The recent issues raised by Prince Charles relating to the London skyline may seem a little like asking if Londoners may eat cake – it is interesting from the national coverage that there have been a number of issues left out of the discussions – one of which is the considered need for a city to have a ‘skyline’, that is a profile view which reflects the character of the commerce and industry of the locality. This is largely an American issue and may not be that significant in terms of the nature of British cities, largely within the context of international debates and considering London as a global city, it is a relevant discussion. When I was in Australia a fellow backpacker scoffed at Adelaide because it was shown on a postcard with all the captial cities of each of the states of Australia as being the only one without a noticeable skyline as if it were not a place of the least significance as a result. I presume, perhaps wrongly, that this is linked to the development of big cities and the macho comparisons between cities as having greater prowess than each other because of the manhood of the skyline. However, for most people in London there are far more significant issues, in terms of the impact that decent town planning can make on quality of life through offering local services, a greater sense of safety in public space and suitable space to exercise in public. Unfortunately, maintaining a heritage of this type of matter has not been a preserve of the Royal Family – at least not in terms of how the mass media wish us to perceive them.
I have stated this before – there are a multitude of perspectives to take on the city as a geographical phenomenon. To an extent there may be some mileage in seeing the city as an organism which grows and changes to suit the challenges made to it. Reference to social ecology and the need for a discussion on how much of a living organism. The animal that may have run through city space for millions of years is now a pest to be exterminated. While I don’t wish to encourage foxes and rats within cities we are considering the urban zone as something which it is not meant to be. Does Prince Charles criticise forests for not having level trees? Maybe we as a nation should only support development projects in the Amazon which are likely to leave it tidy?
There can be a reframing of the buildings which have dominated London’s skyline for centuries can take place as part of a movement of updating the city rather than damaging it. Is this another difficult stage in the process of recognising that Britain is no longer a leading light in technology and what really hurts is that British engineering and design are not what they once were? Is there not scope to consider the changes made to the Louvre in Paris and the additional extensions which were meant to compliment the existing framework of the buildings? Is his highness employing any adequate frame of reference to evaluate whether or not the buildings which are being added to the London skyline are making any significant addition to the way London is seen? There can be a conflict between the modern and the post- modern – should this debate be reconsidered alongwith other thinkers not just within the bodies that his highness has assembled to restrict development Does this not reflect a healthy balanced and developing economy which is directed by several significant forces – perhaps they are too American and this is what the problem is?
It does make interesting reading having read some Goffman recently and the remarks on stigma – there is reference to the imoral individual as being a “….blemished person, ritually poluted, to be avoided particularly in public places….” (Goffman, 1987; p11) this does make me wonder what intention there was in drawing upon discourses relating to less than physically perfect individuals (read London being ‘pockmarked’) who presumably would be excluded from society (the international community) if they weren’t to improve their appearance. I did want to check the original speech from the text as there were also reports in the media regarding buildings in London being ‘dwarfed ’by the likes of Canary Wharf. It does seem unwise to select a discourse of deformity when challenging the development of a city like London which should be welcoming, supportive and innovative in terms of how it deals with disability.
A city is not some form of sculpture unlike the perceptions of architechts who may see it that way – it may in some respects be influenced by Plato’s observations of humanity working towards the ideal and everything in life being in some ways or other being a less than perfect representation of the ideal form. It does make me slightly concerned when looking at how good the architechture is in London whether or not Prince Charles has any significant regard for the likes of Coventry, Birmingham and Sheffield city centres. Are there just as strong moves to preserve what is left of the architechtural heritage of these places?
The centre of Birmingham now apears to be significantly better and has been described as having an American theme in the regeneration that has taken place. The design of the new Bull ring around St. Martin’s Church which resembles the flesh of a fruit around the stone at its heart, that is St. Martin’s, seems like quite a good example of urban design although it is questionable in terms of how effective views of Selfridges are at promoting the city from the other side of the shopping centre. As an emblem of the city centre it does seem like just as good a symbol of the city and is perhaps all that is necessary – perspectives on the skyline are just not necessary. Does the stone at the heart of the fruit interest the Royals in terms of how St Martin’s has become a strong symbol of the surviving city? Will they walk down from the New St. Station, which was literally buried, to the view over the bullring shopping centre on a clear day and wonder if the shopping centre was meant to symbolise the flesh of the fruit around the stone, the continuation of life, St Martin’s church.

Paying the criminal to keep out of trouble with the law: Is the political system ready for a solution to rehabilitiation that could work?

There have been a multitude of initiatives which haven’t worked particularly well throughout the last few years in relation to home affairs and particularly crime prevention. Crime prevention tends not be an area of social policy that most of the public appear to be that interested in and the notion of preferring a ‘bobby on the beat’ does tend to make some sections of the community feel secure despite evidence that this is a very costly means of reducing crime and increasing perceived levels of safety in a specified area.

One area that I think could be important in terms of home office business is to try to offer greater incentive for participating in rehabilitation programmes and for staying out of crime for the critical period after this process is complete – whatever this time period may be. I assume that this will vary from criminal activity to criminal activity.

This may also stop the criminal from being too disengaged with the process of rehabilitation which may be something that they don’t engage in but rather go through the motions and don’t bother to get involved in the perhaps challenging nature of therapy. The cognitive dissonance of paying for rehabilitation may make it a far more significant activity in the mind of the ex-offender.

Having read the issues that I’d raised before in relation to the scope of neo-liberalism, I still think there is some scope to examine the role of an enforced savings programme so that an individual pays both towards the cost of the rehabilitation and also saves for a one off payment after the critical period however long this may be, say two years or five years after coming out of rehabilitation or probation services.

There are exploratory papers online that are produced by Kings Fund on the subject area of paying the patient that in some respects may raise the concern that a person may engage in health damaging behaviour with some idea that there could one day be an incentive for doing so. See:

http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/other_work_by_our_staff/paying_the.html

Whereas paying the patient may not transfer at all well to ‘paying the criminal’, what could take place is tax free saving on top of or to use an ISA allowance to offer some incentive for not re-engaging in crime. This may actually fit well with the three leaders of the major political parties at present who have some affinity with the ‘neo-liberal’ (read conservative agenda) of charging the under-privileged for what they may have paid for already. If an individual has undergone a process of rehabilitation a small lump sum, perhaps enough to buy a car or put down a deposit on a part-rent part-buy home may be exactly what is required to ensure that someone has a strong incentive to stay out of trouble with the law.

There are significant differences when considering the difference between a smoker and a burglar and payment to them for stopping their activity. A smoker may have already contributed a great deal to the treasury in terms of the volume of tax that they have paid on cigarettes that they smoke (should tax on health damaging products be levied at a rate proportional to the cost to the state in rectifying the problem: if so maybe there could be greater taxes applied to skateboarding) whereas a burglar will not have. Getting the public interested in the statistics that would reveal more effective and sometimes cost-effective initiatives would also be a major challenge - this small idea may be more plausible to initiate as a project and gain more widespread support for mainstream implementation.

Privatisation - are there other methods of offering competitive public services?

Following on the blog late last week regarding the misinterpretation of what privatisation was about in terms of how it relates to socialism, the removal of Clause VI from the Labour party and other action that I think has led to a restriction on socialism in the west, it does cross my mind why Clause VI was removed when adapting it grossly and fundamentally may have been adequately for the Labour party. I don’t doubt that it could well have been a very strategic move which was aimed at promoting the fact that the Labour party were really ‘listening to the public’ and were moving on from all that was wrong with socialism, at least in terms of how Murdoch saw it. Whether or not this move has become seen for what it is does highlight how blinkered the media can be about this type of thing.

The dropping of clause VI was no doubt a significant milestone in terms of the operation of the Labour party to pander to the whims of the media who are dominated by private sector interests. I do feel the need to express some dissatisfaction that greater awareness of the flexibility of public services wasn’t explored. During the eighties there was a general ‘restructuring’ or reorganisation of the economy, not that it’s possible to stop this from taking place at any point anyway. There was the transition from what’s been called the 'Fordist' to 'post-Fordist' economy - that there was an era of mass-production in nationalised industries that were inflexible, produced masses of the same goods without any ease to vary what they produced through to an economy of nice, clean, environmentally friendly, small companies which were able to offer choice to the consumer because they’d eroded workers rights with the assistance of Baroness Thatcher. Hurrah..! erm I think not some how. The ‘Fordist’ as a means of economic production was a cheap, mass produced good linked to Henry Ford and the changes that have taken place in the economy since then have involved increasing the degree of flexibility. How much of this is really due to advances in technology and is really nothing to do with neo-liberalism or any Conservative politician.

Blair's milestone was not what it may seem to be - it was about the irradication of socialism from the Labour Party not about the modernisation of the party. A Labour party would have sought to modernise the way we understand nationalisation and not let everything fall into the hands of the private sector away from appropriate influence of the workforce. Have journalists allowed this to take place and not adhered to convention - are they, including the BBC staff, just the puppets of the private sector who have facilitated the process of nationalisation over Europe? I would hazard a guess that there have been several attempts to get adequate coverage of this type of issue – have journalists been restricted for doing this?

Delivery of nationalised services could have been revised fundamentally without taking Clause VI out of the Labour Party manifesto altogether – whether there was a strong enough attempt to request revision of the services that were available in a manner that was classed as flexible to meet the needs of the times, not the job-for-life-socialism that was probably necessary considering how badly the workforce were treated in many respects, will remain open to question. Maybe with the issues relating to the fuel pricing, particularly in relation to gas at present, and water-supply company problems that take place I do wonder if there could be again, delivery of nationalised services in a form that suits the times, as can be achieved with some pushing a shoving as we’ve seen in the NHS.