I happened on the film, Shirley Valentine, on TV this week – unexpectedly watch it to the end; there are dated/corny bits (since 1989) but I was captivated again by Pauline Collins’ irrepressible narrative. She plays a middle-aged, working class, Liverpool housewife who has allowed her life to stagnate; bored, isolated, discouraged, she wonders when she lost her hopeful, youthful self. Her pal wins a fortnight’s holiday for two on the Greek island of Mykonos – the trip triggers in Shirley a dramatic inward journey towards self-renewal. Pauline Collins’ depiction of Valentine ‘learning to love herself’ is a triumph. Whether from mythology, fiction or daily life – stories about an individual’s ‘empowerment’, come with an automatic feelgood factor.
The difference between myself and Shirley Valentine is that, unlike her ‘self-renewal’, I never really stopped doing what I wanted; some good decisions (intuitive); some bad (impetuous). Rightly, contentment in old age largely depends on how ‘at peace’ we find ourselves with our past; my ‘archive’ is a mixed bag, which causes some unease. My latest strategy is to tell myself, that what I have done with my life doesn’t really matter that much. This is not an exhausted ‘nothing matters anymore’ capitulation – just a realignment. My ‘mixed bag’ makes me normal; ‘awakened’ for me would be acceptance of ‘normalness’ – just another guy who’s not as important as he thinks: ”To see oursels as ithers see us”.
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Ten years ago, the Christie Report set out an inspiring agenda for change, that would put people at the heart of public services. This week, Stephen Boyle, the Auditor General for Scotland, reflects on this in the Scottish Housing Times. Christie was clear, that focusing service provision around communities would only work with increased recognition of the third sector; Boyle thinks that the Community Empowerment Act provides this – but I don’t. Scotland has an entirely missing local tier of democracy and the Local Governance Review to fix this has simply petered out. And when, in May and June, Scotland’s ministerial responsibilities were being allocated, there was no mention of either communities or the third sector. The voluntary sector has become a kind of afterthought.
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I was heartened by this blog by Karlene Doherty (5 minute read) about a joint project between DTA Scotland and the Scottish Land Commission – to help community groups unravel complex transactions for vacant land and buildings. She gives practical examples of six deals – each different, but a potential model to inspire others.
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My introduction to the behavioural sciences was at the beginning of the 1970s; the most dramatic change since then has been our understanding of the impact of a child’s earliest experiences. A new report by the Common Weal think tank says that Scottish Govt’s arrangements for early years learning and childcare are failing children with the greatest disadvantages.
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For at least a decade, we have been reading that neoliberalism is dying – that we must replace it; from taming Big Tech, to competing with China, Western Govt’s are abandoning free market policies. This a longer read from the OpenDemocracy platform (which I trust) – which offers insights to what the post-neoliberal future might look like.
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For the past year and a half, most children spent more time at home than usual – notably when the schools were closed. Research shows that levels of stress on returning to school have doubled (separation anxiety) and this Conversation piece offers six practical tips for you to help children navigate their anxiety.
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This quote from Jimmy Reid’s legendary rectoral speech at Glasgow University in 1972, can be read as a call for Scotland’s missing tier of local democracy.
“A necessary part of this would be the restructuring of the institutions of government and, where necessary, the evolution of additional structures so as to involve people in the decision-making processes of our society. To unleash the latent potential of our people requires that we give them responsibility. The untapped resources of the North Sea are nothing compared to the untapped resources of our people. I am convinced that the great mass of our people go through life without even a glimmer of what they could have contributed to their fellow human beings. This is a personal tragedy. It’s a social crime.”
That’s all for this week.
