Archive for Foot Notes

More than the population of Nottingham are now homeless. We need more than Robin Hood.

More than the population of Nottingham are now homeless. We need more than Robin Hood.

This awful revelation, from the latest official statistics, indicates that over 320,000 households in England have been assessed as homeless in the past 12 months, up 8% on last year and now the highest figure on record. More broadly, while homelessness in England, Scotland, Wales and…

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O for a sense of duty, not just a sense of self

O for a sense of duty, not just a sense of self

November 11th carries mixed emotions. Armistice Day and my son Rory’s birthday. Remembering the dead from horrendous human conflict and a jolly lunch in a local pub. This year, though, I am also processing my first ever visit to India and the political carnage across the…

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I’m not coasting. I’m composting

I’m not coasting. I’m composting

Autumn 2024 officially started on 22nd September. The weather was paying attention. Down came the rain and the temperature. And repeat. There are rumours of warm air from the Caribbean in early October but then it’s hello again dreary, clocks going back and breaking out the…

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If hope is back, we will need to work at it

If hope is back, we will need to work at it

At the recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the luminous Michelle Obama proclaimed that “hope is making a comeback.” With our planet as unstable as I can recall, with the reality of ‘back to school’ around the corner, a shot of positive expectation is timely and welcome….

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Flipping social conventions through scepticism not cynicism

Flipping social conventions through scepticism not cynicism

It’s tough not to be cynical. And if demonstrated by withdrawal, distrust of human sincerity, and abandonment of hope, there’s a lot of it about. A report from The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) indicated that turnout in the recent UK General Election was the…

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Releasing the grip of dopamine, towards a functioning culture

Releasing the grip of dopamine, towards a functioning culture

Our General Election is upon us, accompanied by political theatre of the absurd in France and the US. The journalists are on 24/7 alert, the forecasters primed for their Olympiad. And social media continues to do its thing. Endless bombardment, compromising our attention span, growing our…

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