Pistis reclaims Cause over Symptom (weekending September 14th 2019)

‽istis sat and pondered…  but what lies beneath?

‽ What if Gus Speth* was perhaps on to something in a shift in thinking ‘that the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change…  that with 30 years of good science we could address these problems.’ To: ‘But I was wrong.  The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy…  and to deal with these we need spiritual and cultural transformation – and we scientists don’t know how to do that.’?

‽ What if ‘leave Europe’ is not the answer? What if we consider that ‘the EU’ and ‘other Europeans’ are possibly just bogeymen (any contemporary reference to apparent activity by a prominent leave MP during a House of Commons debate is purely intentional) to distract from the fear of Conservative and Unionist Party disunity (that went well…) and fear of losing votes to the right? What if blaming social and economic inequality on ‘incomers’ and a supposed project to establish a multi-national ‘super state’ was possibly easier than meeting the needs of people and communities who felt left behind by social policy and political priorities?                                                                                                                                   

‽ What if the proposal to extend the period that overseas students can stay after completing their university courses was not just part of a possible plan to seem more pre-election liberal (‘nasty party’ avoidance strategy, level 1) but to make sure that the UK can continue to receive large tuition fees, recruit and retain (rather than receive large tuition fees, train but then lose) and ensure that we continue to meet our needs and maintain our dominance whilst incidentally depriving other places and people of their medics, engineers, scientists and similar experts who could potentially enable the world to become a more equal and just place?

…And if, perhaps, possibly, maybe we named, sought to identify and tackle cause rather than just symptomology - then what might be the fresh locus of our solutions and time; our energy, effort and commitments; our policy, practice and spending – and how different the world might be?

© Pistis

References/further reading…

* https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/3/3/22/htm

Philosophies 2018, 3(3), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies3030022 

Pistis reclaims The Cliché (1) Comfort Zone (weekending September 7th 2019)

‽istis collapsed from a challenging yoga pose and demanded to stay in the comfort zone whilst:

‽ perhaps Oti Mabuse executed the week’s most elegant sidestep on ‘Celebrity Masterchef’ – claiming not to be in her ‘element’

‽  possibly the Prime Minister realised that living the cliché might work as a candidate but not so well in the top job and blundered away from the possibly intimidatory and pretentious easement of a Latin epithet to the altogether less impressive: ‘big girl’s blouse’. Late news: both PM (awkwardly) and trainee police officer (unfortunately) embraced the cliché – one nearly over, the other nearly out?   

‽ maybe, The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons found the green bench a zone of just too great a comfort  

‽ perhaps, possibly, maybe 15 (or is it 14 now?) ‘Strictly Stars’ sashaying out of the comfort zone of the day job began to realise that after a journey on a roller coaster which they didn’t yet want to end, the forthcoming show of reality might not necessarily be a dream come true

But then, if we thought too hard about why ‘nothing’ rather than ‘something’ was generally either ventured or gained then just what domains of succour might we have stepped out from and what opportunities may have been missed, or indeed avoided.

© Pistis   

Pistis reclaims Education (weekending August 31st 2019)

‽istis sat, remembered and whispered: education, education, education. At the start of a new academic year just perhaps, possibly, maybe:

‽ leaked information about a potential £4billion boost to schools in England might reverse the fall of 8% per pupil since 2009[i] and level out the playing-field (or at least the ones not yet sold)

‽ a proposed pay rise for teachers might help reward all, help recruit and retain the best and drive public good to public outstanding                                                                             

‽ a renewed commitment to even just education, education… may be more than a softener and harbinger of a possible General Election

‽ education could indeed be as much about ‘lighting a fire’[ii] in the minds, hearts and souls of children, young people and all of us – at every age and stage – as it is about ‘filling a pail’ (waiting to be weighed and measured by GCSEs - or apparently unreformed, seemingly private school favoured IGCSEs[iii]).

And if that fire kindles curiosity, critical thinking, the pursuit of evidence-based approaches; prizes and promotes technical and practical skills; inspires an appetite for the arts, gives an opportunity to play a musical instrument, to sing and dance, to paint and draw; nurtures one’s own and others’ health, wellbeing and respectful and compassionate social relationships; promotes equality and celebrates both what we have in common and what makes unique; and meets the specific needs of every child and young person – then just think what else might be possible and how different this world could be!

References/further reading…

© Pistis

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[i] IFSA analysis, BBC website accessed 29.8.2019)

[ii] After W.B.Yeats

[iii] See DataLab research by Dave Thompson (https://schoolsweek.co.uk/study-suggests-igcses-are-easier-than-reformed-gcses/ )

Pistis reclaims International Days (weekending August 24th 2019)

‽istis sat and pondered how things might be different if perhaps, possibly, maybe the link between declaring an ‘international day’[i] and action was just a little more obvious. 

If:

‽ perhaps ‘World Humanitarian Day’ (19^th August) saw a little more ‘kind’ from humankind in whatever circle of influence was available

‽ possibly the ’International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism’ (August 21^st) saw greater transparency in the web of trade in arms (‘legal’ and illegal) and among those who support or benefit - and even an overt discussion about cause as well as what might be symptom

‽ maybe the 'International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief’ saw dogmatists, disciples and proselytes say ‘possibly, perhaps, maybe’ a little more, consider that there may be more than one ‘way’ and both preach and embody the tolerance of difference and the intolerance of violence and religion or belief as any sort of explanation or excuse       

‽ and the ‘International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition’ saw serious debate and realistic action plans to manage reparations (after all they managed to compensate emancipation)

…and then just imagine how united the nations could be.

©Pistis

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[i] See: https://www.un.org/en/sections/observances/international-days/ for a list of the 165 named international days across 137 different calendar days observed currently by the United Nations.

Pistis reclaims Electricity (weekending August 17th 2019)

‽istis sat in the dark during a power outage and pondered with wonder, appreciation, guilt, regret and shame how different (the world) might be if just perhaps, possibly, maybe electricity was thought about a little more… 

‽ perhaps by way of shining a spotlight (pun intended) on past and present geopolitical arrangements, on equality and inequality, on wealth and poverty, the control of distribution and the distribution of control – of empires old, new and virtual

‽ possibly by the apparent c.84% of the world’s population that does have access as well as the c.16% (1.2 billion people) that does not[i]   

‽ maybe by those with power to influence debates about public good or private profit and shape policies that retain an apparent bias towards fossil fuels (66.8%  v 16.3% hydro, 4.4% wind, 1.8% solar[ii])

‽ by those who turn on the light in the morning; charge their ‘phones, laptops and tablets; who reject the rechargeable batteries as too expensive; who read the timetable at every bus stop; who both drive through and stop at the lights; who give thanks for incubators and wired up medical equipment; who open the fridge, turn on the microwave, watch the TV and finally set the alarm on the clock (Doomsday or otherwise) and turn out the light    

…And, if it didn’t take an absence to appreciate a usually-present, then what else might be different?

©Pistis

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[i] Source: World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/milagros-rivas-saiz-electricity-access-sdg7/

[ii] Source: IEA: ‘Electricity Information Overview 2019’ free downloadable publication https://webstore.iea.org/electricity-information-2019-overview

Pistis reclaims the Emergency Services (weekending August 10th 2019)

‽istis Reclaims the Emergency Services (weekending August 10th  2019)

‽istis sat and sung the praises of the emergency services and responders who tragically had to recover a body but rescued others from the sea off Clacton and just perhaps, possibly, maybe… 

‽ helped save a Derbyshire town from having to change its name from Whaley to Wailing Bridge

‽ prevented an attack on another - by stopping a van and stopping a machete

‽ fulfilled their duties despite perhaps feeling like a pawn (or apparently 20,000 pledged pawns) being moved around a political chessboard when a strategic, holistic, carefully-considered, evidenced-based review of the resources needed to protect life and property, preserve order, prevent the commission of offences and bring offenders to justice might be a better plan

‽ did a more than decent job with integrity, good faith and compassion despite the hazards of sometime individual, institutional or systemic problems, the challenge of finite resources and public opprobrium.

How different the world would be if, for better or for worse, the ‘thin line’ was drawn more thickly or in a different place?

© Pistis

Pistis reclaims Humility and Caution (weekending August 3rd 2019)

‽istis reclaims Humility and Caution - (weekending August 3^rd 2019)

‽istis sat and pondered how different the world might be if just* perhaps, possibly, maybe integrity, humility and caution were a little more common and naked enthusiasm and hubris were a little less obvious…

‽ if perhaps public figures said what they meant (‘Brexit means…’ more than the repetition of a possibly contrived noun in a soundbite to shame an undressed Emperor) - and meant what they said undisguised by the aphorisms of a ‘dead language’, bluster, distraction, answering a different question altogether or living and thriving clichés and mantras     

‽ if possibly 52:48 was recognised as a small majority of those who voted rather than ‘the country chose…’

‽ maybe experts (including those with expertise from experience) were indeed valued, and if ‘evidence-based’ (with methodology scrutinised rigorously and due caution applied if reliability and validity can be questioned) was a more significant driver in policy-making - for if expertise and evidence don’t matter what else provides the foundation for policy?

‽ if competence and confidence were balanced so that effectiveness was maximised

‽ if ‘sorry’ was not the hardest word; if the mindset revealed by comments that offend was perhaps open to internal reflection and reconsideration and not so much batted away with a ‘taken out of context’

…then what else might be different in public discourse, in policy and practice and in the outcomes for us all?

PS: just*: a million-to-one chance?

© Pistis