Summertime musings…..

Haven’t written anything for a while – not sure if it was a social media detox or just a combination of being generally aghast with the state of the world and not having anything particularly interesting to add to the various debates.

Of course not having posted anything for ages means ‘the algorithm’ will bounce me further into obscurity…..

So here are a random collection the of thoughts / observations and musings:

Will go fully Linked-In and talk about work for a while. Just finished a really enjoyable engagement in Cwm Taf Morgannwg around the needs of those with ‘complex needs’ in those communities and the current systems’ ability (or not) to meet their needs. Met some fantastic system leaders, workers and people using the services. As we know from similar work the level and complexity of needs among some of our communities most vulnerable residents continues to rise as funding into local authorities and the voluntary sector has been under pressure. These are the long tails of austerity – where government cuts have had an enduring impact reducing ‘healthy life expectancy’ for both men and women. Most acutely felt in working class communities. There is also a long tail of Covid – for good and ill. Initiatives like ‘everyone in’ brought into the scope of services many people who were previously unseen, ignored or unnoticed. The costs of these initiatives are still borne in local authorities who now try to grapple with changing needs profiles, service re-configurations and the reducing availability of and increasingly unaffordability of housing stock.

What was perhaps as humbling as it was striking was that all of the clients we spoke to talked of a desire to been seen, heard and valued – whereas what they often experienced was a system of transactions which they had little influence over. Again – we know this stuff, we’ve known it for years. We also spoke with workers who felt disempowered and overwhelmed by the levels of trauma and complexity they were working with every day. It shouldn’t though be that difficult to put some humanity back into the system – for everyone’s sake.

We have also just started a new engagement conducting a strategic housing needs assessment for another Local Authority.

Politics continues to be as dispiriting as ever right now – it seems like there’s an almost pathological inability to take responsibility or just to accept that a decision was taken that turned out to be obviously wrong. We all see through the obfuscation and the attempted minimisation. Meanwhile of course those who literally fan the fires of division, hatred and despair are given unfettered airtime. Reform are now the lead party in a neighbouring local authority, there’s a planned flag shag march in my home town next week alongside significant rises in hate crime. And we’ve not even reached the summer holiday period yet.

Internationally things are just as crackers….. I was with an old friend only last week and commented “crazy times isn’t it – when educated, socially liberal left-leaning people like us can start any sentence with ‘well good for Iran that…'”. Can only hope that the falling ratings of Trump, Putin and Netanyahu means the world edges slightly closer to being rid of 3 despots.

Football – almost as momentuously as Spurs avoiding relegation on the last day of the season was our collective decision to give up our season tickets…. I first went to see Spurs in Div 2 against Mansfield Town in 1977 – they’ve been a constant presence in my life for well over 50 years. At times havng far too big an impact than was strictly necessary. So it will be odd – but feels like a natural part of the cycle from obsession, to ‘legacy fan’ to just getting really annoyed about the constant changing of kick-off times, the expense and utter mismanagement. And whatever happens – my eyes really did see the glory of the cups at White Hart Lane. Didn’t even need glasses in those days. Occasional trips and more regular attendance at Whitehawk for me. Already feel more relaxed about things.