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You are right John, all you can do is to proceed in a light hearted fashion and concentrate on best practice.

I would advise you try not to kid yourself though, you will always be ginger Im afraid !

Darren

No way, John. It was "fire fighting" at its worst (and stressful, as you may imagine). A total disgrace that should never be allowed!


... not only offer, but also give!


You and I obviously move in different circles, John. And as for the tabloid newspapers (or, indeed, any other), I never give them as much as a glance. But I do see what's going on "out on the street"!

Apart from two, all relate to the 21st century.

They say that there's a very large difference between reported crime and perceived crime, even between perceived and independent reports. It seems in the public mind that one crime heard of personally can soon be imagined as an epidemic.

When you think about it, perception is more important than the actual facts (if indeed you can find those)! Perception is what causes stock-market crashes, runs on banks, fear, and even panic (wars even, if you know your history). For instance, the popular (negative?) perception of (the services provided by) the NHS is often based on media scare-mongering, and yet when people actually need to obtain hospital care, afterwards they generally say things like "Oh, it couldn't have been better", "It was just like a hotel", "The nurses were wonderful" etc., etc. (no mention of the medical equipment, or the biomeds, of course).

The "media" has greater influence (power) than ever before, in our "small world", "global village" and wired world. To my mind, this is why education is so important, as it enables (should enable) the citizenry to think for themselves, "cut through the cr*p", see the wood for the trees, and make up their own mind on the issues of the day, in an informed, intelligent manner.

Will this be happening any time soon, I wonder?

Perception is one thing. Reported is another. But I see criminal behaviour every time I step outside, Chris. Do you and I also move in different circles, then? Or perhaps it's just that I did my training at the old school (you know, the one that advocated zero tolerance). Personally, I feel we have far too much regulation, too much punitive action, all sorts of "strange and unusual punishments". Too many petty rules, too many CCTV cameras spying on us (not to mention Council "Wardens" and the like).

What society needs (in my opinion) are crystal clear guidelines (and the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down seem like as good as any), and then the firm application of both the carrot and the stick. Meanwhile, "reward the behaviour you want more of" works well with animals (but if that fails, cattle prods etc. usually produce the desired outcome). But is it made clear (to our young people, especially) what the norms of acceptable behaviour actually are, when the so-called "celebrities" endlessly paraded before our eyes, and used as substitutes for decent role models, seem to spend most of their time behaving so badly?

PS: who knows, perhaps the Bishops will pull something out of the hat (mitre?) during the coming week?

Good point Geoff, I agree perception is very significant. It always amazes me when you watch the news and some tragedy has hit a small community. When a local is interviewed, one of the first things they state is "I would never of expected anything like that here, it is so quite". Tragedy can happen anywhere but a small local community usually perception is that they exempt!

We all go through life as observers, sifting information as and when it is presented to us. We can only live within our own bounds (body, senses). We may like to think that we can see things from another guy's perspective, but in actual fact we can't see what s/he's seeing (feel what they're feeling, etc.). We can't help but perceive (literally from our own point of view).

If you, me, or anyone else believes something (anything) to be the case, then for all intents and purposes (or as far as we are concerned), it is true. That is, what we perceive to be true (whatever the, er, truth of the matter), it is true (valid, etc.) - to us.

Each of use has this little conversation with ourselves (in the back of our mind - usually) going on the whole time. It may be known as "self-talk". And once we have convinced ourselves that such-and-such is the case, it can take quite a lot for others (or, even, "the truth") to persuade us otherwise.

An astute dude called Gen Kiyooka wrote:- "What we believe we are, we become. Our self-image and ongoing dialogue with ourselves (self-talk) define what we are capable of becoming and doing. Messages we receive from other individuals through various media and personal interaction are assimilated (in varying degrees) into our subconscious. Once we believe such messages at the subconscious level, they are as good as reality in our everyday life."

Is it not true? Just ask yourself that!

So ... if we believe that we work in shoddy circumstances, then we do. But (on the other hand), if we feel that everything is, by and large, tolerable ... then it is. Ah yes, the power of positive thought and the "can-do" (half-full versus half-empty) mindset!

I've always liked this picture by Banksy. It was described as depicting how the press has made people perceive that taking a stroll in the countryside will result in you being either mugged or molested!

I prefer this one! Oh yes, England's "green and pleasant land". But I would urge everyone to take a few minutes to click through all those images, Chris. They are poignant indictments of our times. I notice that many share my own loathing of the "supermarket trolley", and all that it entails. The guy is spot-on (for instance, how many of us have not seen this scene for real?)!