Embed from Getty ImagesOur reading today is taken from chapter 6 of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens: The month's trial over, Oliver was formally apprenticed. It was a nice sickly season just at this time. In commercial phrase, coffins were looking up; and, in the course of a few weeks, Oliver acquired a great deal of experience. The success of Mr. Sowerberry's ingenious speculation, exceeded even his most sanguine hopes. The oldest inhabitants recollected no period at which measles had been so prevalent, or so fatal to infant existence; and many were the mournful processions which little Oliver headed, in ...
Market Harborough's new mini-park is due to open at the end of the month, and today I noticed that its name sign has gone up. This is the project that so outraged the local Conservatives - it must be that parks are woke, or maybe friendship is? Maybe they both are? For news of plans for a much larger park just outside the town, see my story Harborough District Council buys land for rewilding project.
There is much talk about the crisis in mental health. A significant number of young people are not in employment or education, and there is a big rise in autism and ADHD diagnoses. There is an odd dichotomy between the advice you read in newspaper problem pages, like Philippa Perry's in The Guardian, and treatments offered on the NHS. In the former, childhood experiences are considered, with links made to current problems. The unique complexity of each individual and their situation is recognised. As a mental health professional, I found that this approach is the most helpful in bringing about ...
I was pleased with the motion at conference on Sunday, where conference overwhelmingly voted to back the SEND education motion. The debate consisted of those who had experienced that system as a child, facing adversity at school, others were parents who had to navigate the system where waits for EHCPs are well over the legal limit, or schools simply do not provide support. In this article, I wish to highlight the issues that a third group face, our young carers. We are the party of carers, and thus I was disappointed not to see any young carers voices emphasised in ...
Five years ago, Leicestershire County Council told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that it no longer ran any children's homes. And, I blogged at the time, its counsel announced this fact as though it were self-evidently good news. Opinions have changed over those five years. Today, Oakham Hub News is reporting: A council is proposing to open a new children's home in a bid to save costs and keep children taken away from their families closer to home. Currently every child in the care of Rutland's children's services is placed in a children's home outside the county, and ...
"Stoking the star maker machinery behind the popular song" And so, the massed ranks of the Party hierarchy, featuring an unexpected appearance from the Leader, swept aside virtually all reservations and moved responsibility for Westminster selections from the States to the Federal Party. Given the rumours of widespread opposition, the overwhelming nature of the vote in favour – and if anyone tells you it was close, it really wasn't – gives the new regime some credit in the bank as the transition takes place. I'd already outlined my concerns but, at the end of the day, the focus should be ...
Like most of us, I spend a lot of my time on Zoom and Teams calls. Discussions with clients and their people. Workshops and roundtables. Live-online sessions with course participants. Coaching calls with people like you. Anything from a quick ten-minute catch up to a half-day event with slides and break-out rooms and everything else. Because video calls are so ubiquitous and so simple to set up, though, it's easy to pay less attention to them than we would to their face-to-face equivalent. We should, however, prepare for and manage a Zoom or Teams call with the same care and ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 24 MARCH 2025 Seafield Road, Dundee - closed from its westmost end (in cul-de-sac) extending for a distance of no more than 20 metres in an easterly direction to facilitate a site access for a new housing development until November 2025. Blinshall Street (Douglas Street to 50 metres south) - closed until August 2025 for construction works. Douglas Street (Blinshall Street to Brown Street) - temporary traffic lights until August 2025 for construction works. Brown Street (south of Douglas Street) - closed until ...
One of the more eye-catching promises from Labour at the last general election was that familes would be £1,000 better off. However, things have not really gone to plan: energy bills are up by about £280, council tax is soaring, while water bills have risen by £120 a year. To coin a former Labour campaign slogan; 'Things can only get better', or can they. The Guardian reports that living standards for all UK families are set to fall by 2030, with those on the lowest incomes declining twice as fast as middle and high earners, according to data that raises ...
