It was a dogs life….

We said goodbye to our Ledley over the weekend – nearly made it to 15 and lived his best life. Has also forced me to learn how to upload images to blog posts – every day is a school day. As every dog owner will tell you – he was the smartest, taught us all about living in the moment and loving life. And now he’s gone – leaving a big Collie sized hole in our family as we have to adjust to a ‘new normal’. Small observations already – not really enjoying not getting up to walk the dog or having to think a bit about how to fill the time. Also remembered this morning that most people eat the crusts of their toast – something I haven’t had to do for years. Was also able to vacuum the hallway without being attacked by 25kg of enraged hound.

Luckily we had the Euros final to look forward to as a distraction….. grateful to Gareth Southgate for 8 years of leadership. He was clearly a decent person, painted a great picture of what a diverse and inclusive ‘England’ could be and I think has demonstrated great leadership by also knowing when the time was right to step aside / turn the page / write a new chapter etc etc. Funny watching the game with some young people bemoaning the fact that ‘we always lose in the finals’ while us oldster sat sagely to the side muttering about ‘try living 50 odd years getting nowhere near a blooming final’. All about perspective I guess.

Workwise we’ve just landed an exciting new evaluation contract.

I also had the very real privilege of talking to the Q Seed participants about leadership, growth, social entrepreneurship and values. I recommend you check out Q Seed – funded through Lloyds Foundation and is designed to support black and global majority leaders working in the justice system. I left the session inspired, in awe and optimistic for the future.

Politically – at home it feels good to be in a period of calm, with the new government appointing experts to support departments and grappling with some profound problems (prisons, NHS, armed forces etc) in a measured way rather than chasing headlines. We’ll see how long thecalm lasts – particularly over the summer when parliament goes into recess and jouranlists get bored….. let’s enjoy it for now and be thankful we are not in the US.

Musically – I just bought the new and astonishingly good new album by Cassandra Jenkins. Treat yourselves and give it a listen. Can’t wait to see her again in November.