August storms, strolls and shenanigans
Right – plans to have the July and August off were rudely interrupted by a former colleague asking me to help out with a governance review of a charity they chair. Given that it fell into my work priority of category of ‘people I like and projects that are interesting’ – I couldn’t say no. Took me into an operational world I had little prior knowledge about, in a febrile political atmosphere and gave me the opportunity to meet some really inspiring people. Also had the chance to work briefly again with Ellie – always a pleasure. Then had a ‘business review’ meeting with the always energetic Kevin – which was a good excuse to meet fo breakfast, laugh, reflect upon the work we’ve done together over the last year or so and promise to do some more together come the autumn.
Really enjoyed working closely with colleagues in Southampton over the last year or so helping with evaluations and service reviews of their alcohol and drug treatment systems and sepearely approaches to domestic abuse. These are all published (or about to be) on the city councils very helpful Data Observatory. Again through these engagements we got to work alongside providers, commissioners and wider stakeholders to get right under the skin of needs and possible responses in the city. And personally I managed to gain greater insight into just how tough it is trying to plan long term multi-generational solutions in a fiscal environment of cuts and / or short term grant funding.
So now back in the world of leisure time – I turned 58 last week. Which feels simultaneously ‘meh’ and ‘f*ck that’s old’. Both of which being equally true. Inside my head I don’t feel old – and still enjoy the things I’ve liked for years, be it playing sport, walking the dog, watching live music and laughing with friends and family. But walking up and down stairs and an inability to sleep through the night without getting up for a wee are permanent reminders of the passage of time. The other repetitive reminders of age include the little things I find myself doing more of: picking up other people’s litter or shaking my head wearily about the state of the world or how we end up in a place where so many people want to see Oasis…..
And then of course there is the relentless and deepening horror that we see every day. Dying children, people murdered queuing for food, starving medics and emaciated hostages – whilst individuals cling to their own sense of ‘power and virtue’. It exposes the fatuousness of the political establishment that ‘for decades has argued for a two-state solution’ while not recognising one the states officially. History will not judge this generation well as we stood aside and watched this horror – or used anti-terrorism legislation to quash peaceful protest or punk bands.
Madness.
In other madnesses – 2500 still languish in prison serving Indeterminate sentences for Public Protection. These sentences were scrapped in 2012 – but not retrospectively. All of these prisoners have served longer than their original tariff and many have killed themselves while in prison. With a prison system operating close or at capacity not resolving this injustice makes neither financial, nor political not moral sense.
And yet more – parliament is in summer recess so the likes of Farridge and Jenrick are all over the news stirring up anti-migrant sentiment, promising to deport everyone not from Kent and getting ready to look absolutely horror-struck if / when some of these protests turn violent. With so much war, instability and famine affecting the world right now you’d think this was a time to be more internationalist in outlook rather than pretending we can pull up some imaginary drawbridge.
Madness.
Still at least the war in Ukraine will end on Friday as Putin is bound to stop now Trump has given an ultimatum.
When it all gets too much there is always the world of music to fall back on. Am really enjoying (surprisingly) the new Paul Weller album which i feared might be crap as its a collection of reimagined songs that are important to him. But it’s actually really good. I also picked up a first press of In the City in the same week. So spanned his whole career in a couple of days.
But if you want my top musical recommendation of the year – listen to the new album by Sister John. It’s astonishing. It’s also released on Last Night From Glasgow – a really nice label.
