Wish you knew you were Good

Looking out at a wonderful Perthshire scene bathed in warm summer sunshine, it has such beauty and stillness. Tranquility that I hope Amy Winehouse can now be part of. I think of her music and I hear Billie Holiday's Lover Man. Don't know why but guess Amy will not get to put her versions of those classics down anywhere now.

That is unless she has done a tune or two in recent recordings with Tony Bennett. How fortunate to catch that interview with him on the Radio the other day. Can't even remember which programme. But I'm glad because I'll now make sure I get hold of it - surely the last recording of the husky, raw Winehouse. Bennett said he thought she was the most natural jazz singer around today. They'd better press more copies of Duets II!

We all should have known things would end this way. Maybe we did but never dared say. Or maybe we were enthralled with the passion and talent so hot and bright, like children with a captivating sparkler that burns and is then no more.

Maybe someone told her not to mind the press, the nastiness, the uncertainty of fan-dom. Perhaps she couldn't hear.

It is such a tragedy. But it is the way of legends.

Thank you, Amy. May you now find your peace.

Exceptional talent or extremely Small Society?

It's rather curious the UK Government chooses to instigate policies that blatantly serve to undermine and work at cross purposes with each other! This 'exceptional talent' route is set to pit talents/skills and different migrants against each other, in exposing a contrivance of inequality and pre-judged (rather than equal) opportunities. More immediately, it positions its elite status even across the four ‘competent bodies’ selected to select who should or should not be granted admittance to the UK as such 'talent'. It seems other organisations were not competent enough to be considered in a fair and open process in deciding the 'brightest and best'. Not sure what that says about Scotland. Or Wales. Or Northern Ireland.

So that’s two policy areas, equality and procurement, at odds with the projected outcomes of the UKBA’s new immigration controls. A further two are integration and cohesion. High profile, contentious but well-meaning, these policy areas count for nought when it comes to ‘protecting UK borders’. The settlement proposals currently under consultation aspire to restrict or curtail the rights of individuals and families in ways that are likely to diminish their sense of belonging, of being part of our society, of being included and welcome.

How is being ‘set apart’ conducive to establishing an integrated, cohesive society? By the sheer fact of the ‘setting apart’, of placing one against the other, will disaffected communities thrive.

Besides, whatever happened to “joined up government”? Went the same way as the Small Society I guess.

BIG Society

Been meaning to put thoughts down about this for ages! Figure it won't happen unless I start somewhere, so here goes: version 1 -

To me, a Big Society is about everyone's participation in human society, feeling and playing our full part, not for personal gain but knowing there will be bountiful benefits to be shared all round.

It is not about volunteering as a chore, task or job to do any government's or authority figure's work. It is not about money, the economy or balancing fiscal budget. It so not about counting the cost!

It's about being BIG - open, expansive, broad-minded, compassionate, forgiving, welcoming, sharing, giving, contributing, mindful, respectful - with each other and ourselves.

It's about you and me, individual and separate yet together and for each other.

The Placebo of Politics

Why do politicians think they are magicians?

Promising this that or the other to win votes has long been their tactic to appeal to and to appease the electorate. They take advantage of our hopes to paint glossy pictures of how they will solve all our fears and needs. Over the years, we have believed them.

But with technology to hand, we have become more savvy. Or think we are, with the help of Twitter, facebook, blogs and 24 hour news. Increasing awareness of our 'rights', perhaps even of our 'responsibilities', also contribute to the general sensation that we are able to shape the world we live in. Still, for every 'jasmine revolution' there is a clampdown; in Bahrain, Syria, China - does it matter where? For every progressive thought, there's a fundamentalist backlash.

I don't suppose I am unique in feeling 'kettled' in by a shrinking world, a broken economy and 21st century values of our own making. No wonder the pressure is building. However, magic can't be the answer. Illusion only serves to hide things under the carpet, storing up grim realities for an even harsher day.

Politicians in the Scottish elections want us to believe their manifesto promises will bring more jobs, more policemen on the beat, better care for the sick and elderly, better education, better everything. All I get is a huge whiff of unreality. The money in the bank just will not stretch that far! There are no easy ways to get all we want or think we want. Never have been.

In fact, the law of unforeseen consequences is quick to show just how narrow authority-led pronouncements can be. A current key example is the controversial dictat from Westminster of a cap on overseas student numbers which started life as a way to contain net migration. Somehow, it didn't occur to our leaders that such policy would impact on the viability of Scotland's tertiary & education sector, on our economy, demographics, the job market, our international standing and more. The coalition government, for all its aspirations of new hope, transparency and 'listening' in a Big Society, has yet to acknowledge the full meaning of impacts for the UK overall.

There is an opportunity at this point in our collective history to connect the emerging factors in 21st century life, factors that reveal, even underline our inter-dependence and inter-relatedness as a human society. We can choose to look beyond magic mirrors and illusions towards the genuine article of a society in which each human person or group of persons is working at the potential we have with each other, for each other, for the country.

Or we can be beguiled by the magical offerings of the political parties and their election candidates. Four years may be a long time to rely on a placebo.

Woke up last Thursday to be told flight to Birmingham was cancelled. Because of a strike, I assumed. No, volcanic ash. Erhm, we've had April's Fool already.... Nope. It was no joke.

It's exhausting to think of all the natural occurrences of recent months. Blizzards and snowdrifts beyond living memory, earthquakes on three continents, now volcanic eruptions in Iceland. Seems relentless. Yet each time, we find ways to cope. The fighting human spirit, the dogged determination to get through, to get by, to get up and out.

Oh the effort of it! And for what. Make way for the next natural disaster.

But what if we bring all that good training, that instinct for survival, to bear on the un-natural economic 'crunch'. I suspect the seismic debt could succumb under sheer human will.

It seems to easy a 'way'.

Rights and Reasons

Seems such a simple thing to do -- believe that human rights or a human rights-based approach is the core value to live by. So why is it so hard? And why do groups, organisations or institutions find it so hard to uphold such a fundamental principle?

When my thoughts filter down to "It's the human condition", I can just hear scientists pooh-poohing my 'evidence base'. It has become crucial in 21st century World to have verifiable answers to everything, but the necessity of burden of proof means we can still fall foul of self-made rules when we conjure them into boxes whether they fit or not.

I guess the tension between my rights and your rights will always be the sticking point. Can there ever be such as thing as (unqualified) freedom? What happens when mine meets yours head on? It's the sort of encounter that brings on and perpetuates The Other as the undesirable, the problem.

So.

How do we as a civil society get to the point of truly valuing each individual for exactly what she or he is?

I think it is a tricky question. But one that has a first solution in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Surely.

Tunisia September 29 - October 4 2009

What still stays with me, even though it's nearly two weeks since we've been back, is an amazing connection I have made with a bunch of inspiring, concerned individuals of varying ages from Tunisia.

Never thought I'd have the opportunity but the British Council made it possible for me to visit this North African country with four others from Scotland. Over five days of 'Interaction', a leadership exchange programme, a dialogue has started that must not be allowed to fade.

So much energy. Passion. Shared beliefs. So many ideas for making a difference.

Watch this space as developments happen.