We have just said goodbye to our retiring Chair, Gordon Samson, and welcomed Ann Landels as his successor. In doing so, we experience all the sadness at losing someone who has put so much into the organisation both in terms of his time and expertise but, perhaps more importantly, also his character and values. At…
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Jumping to Conclusions
I wonder if you stay in touch with people you were at school with? Frankly, the very idea of school reunions sends me running to the hills in a cold sweat, but in today’s digitally shrunken world it is relatively easy to keep in touch at whatever level you wish, so I have a chat…
Petrol Saving and Funding Policing
Now admit, are you one of those people who will drive well out of your way just to find fuel suppliers that offer a slightly lower price? A friend of mine will spend ages looking up who has the best price and then taking great pride in telling everyone how he had saved two pence…
Aim Higher
One of the most obvious impacts of having liberty curtailed is that it generates a sense of low self-worth and motivation. This is something we have all been experiencing of late and the covid-19 blues is a very real and difficult mindset to get over, even when you have supportive family and familiar surroundings. Maybe…
Another Drop In The Ocean
Mother Teresa is reported to have responded to a reporter who had commented that her contribution to helping the poor was just a drop in the ocean, by pointing out that an ocean is simply a collection of drops. I have been thinking as we near the Christmas break of all the little contributions which…
The Importance of a Soft Foundation
Opposite my house at the moment is a huge building site which makes for a messy outlook and a lot of noise from dawn to dusk. What struck me most was the huge number of people that turn up each day and then seem to get swallowed up in some big hole somewhere and nothing…
Any Job Will Do?
When I was a keen young drug worker, full of my own self-importance and believing with all the naivety of youth that I actually knew something, I tended to think in terms of outcomes rather than achievements. It was only after lots of hard lessons about real life that I began to fully realise that…
New Disclosure Rules: What Happens Next?
On 30th November 2020 changes come into law which significantly alter the situation for many people who have been denied access to jobs they have been suitable for, because of disclosure issues relating in some cases to old offences with little or no relevance to the job they were applying for. This is an area…