It doesn't do to rock the boat!

My column in the Herald Express 6th March 2014

Sometimes I simply want to hold my head in my hands and weep with frustration. I suspect that many readers often feel the same way. The frustration, for me, is usually watching events unfold over which I have no control. World events obviously fall into that category and in this age of 24/7 news escaping from that reality is hugely difficult. These days even events on my doorstep too often happen that have me scratching my head. In this case it is not the overwhelming catastrophic happenings that dominate world news but the smaller things that occur without the community questioning events.

Perhaps I have always taken it for granted that those in positions of leadership are working for the greater good of all and yet in truth my trust is perhaps misplaced too often. But then I ask myself whether it is a trust or more worryingly my failure to fully engage in the hope that someone else will pick up the sticky stick and sort things out! Of course if you don’t hold a position of power then attempting to make sense of a situation is often difficult because you simply cannot gather all the facts. For those that do hold power locally speaking up can also be a worry, especially when you rock the political stability of a particular group.

Two events locally made me reflect upon the impact of speaking up when others would rather that you did not. The first was a public meeting which included local councillors and council officers. Something was said by a speaker that seemed untrue to me. I didn’t have all the facts and asked later whether what was said had been fact or a spinning of truth. It was at it turned out a misunderstanding by the speaker but it worried me that neither had spoken out to balance what was said because of the political landscape. The point is that decisions had been made about the fabric of our community based upon that misunderstanding. How often does that happen?

The other was the chopping of Nick Bye from the list of folk seeking election as a councillor locally. From what I have read it seems that the decision was made because of views that he publically expressed that didn’t reflect the political appetite. It is for me always a worry that balanced opinion is too often supressed because it doesn’t fit the agenda of a particular group. Of course it doesn’t do to rock the political boat unnecessarily but when points have been well made it is a worry when they get stamped upon. Whilst I may not have always agreed with Nick’s opinion I have always thought his words to be balanced.

It seems to me that in these seemingly troubled times we all have a duty to make our views known without fear of taking a hammering! It is hard to do too often and that is a shame. Of course I am not talking simply about being critical of something or someone all of the time. If we are not happy with something that is happening then what we have to say must be balanced and factual. Gossip tends not to work that way but neighbourly debate does, if allowed to flourish!

This brings me neatly on to a new acronym that popped up the other day. I was sharing a meal with a friend when he told me that he was now an IMBY! Now I knew that a NIMBY was an acronym for not in my back year but IMBY was a new one on me. He then told me that an IMBY meant that something was in his back yard! As it turned out what he was talking about was also not quite in my back yard but was now impacting upon my view across Torbay.

What is in his back yard is the new huge block of flats and the giant crane at the edge of the Oldway Mansion estate. This development is located where once the little Furnham Wood nestled next to the derelict council owned retirement home. He wasn’t too worried when under the redevelopment of Oldway Mansion because the thickly treed Furnham Woods stood between him and the new building that would replace the small demolished retirement home. In the past when he had wanted to lop limbs from trees that crept over his garden he had to get the permission from the council. You can imagine his surprise when many of the trees suddenly got the chop removing the woody screen. He also hadn’t quite got his head around the actual size of this new build and nor had I! That is why he has now become an IMBY!

I did read the other day that the folk redeveloping Oldway Mansion have yet to sign the lease and so sought confirmation. I’m still waiting to hear but did read that the signing has yet to happen. I guess that means that Torbay Council still pick up the tab for keeping it all together for the while. The only development that has happened is the new block of flats and ownership of that plot seems to have changed hands a few times. Hmm.

So sadly in the home town of former tennis star Sue Barker the numerous tennis courts at Oldway will remain closed for another year. It saddened me that as Andy Murray dominated Wimbledon in 2013 Torbay’s contribution was to close twelve tennis courts. I’ve been given all the reasons for that but the fact remains is that they were closed. New courts were to be opened at Oldway Mansion for the summer of 2014 but that seems unlikely now. Frustrating! Hopefully the Oldway Mansion lease will be signed soon; but what happens if it is not?

Keep the smile!

Mind the Gap between the rich and the poor

My rambling words as a guest speaker at Preston Rotary Club Paignton on the 18^th February 2014

David Neita - poet

When Mic Christmas asked whether I would be a speaker at a Preston Rotary it made me reflect upon the past 30 or so years because it was about that time that I last came here to speak! How bad must I have been last time for it to have taken so long to be invited back!!!
“Talk about what, Mic? I asked. “Well that’s up to you!” he said ….and so it is. However when I happened to see that my listing was as a Herald Express Columnist and that sharpened my mind somewhat. Mic also phoned last night and said “Oh by the way it is a ladies night!” One script immediately chucked in the bin!
Had I not noticed the Herald Express listing I might have rambled on about the history of Harbour Sports since many of you will know that after thirty-five years Harbour Sports has slipped into history. It was an adventure but then all good things must come to pass……Where else would you get a job being paid to dunk pretty girls dressed in rubber up and down in cold water!! Or driving topless Swedish girls around in a speed boat!! Of course it wasn’t all like that – but we taught sailing, windsurfing, ran yacht charter, speedboat rides and of course the famous Aqua Sausage! Here is something to think about at Aqua Sausage time. Some bright spark thought that this was something we didn’t need and so we had all the Torbay councillors at a meeting debating the future of an inflatable toy on a sandy beach in Paignton!
I might also have spoken about my life at South Devon College where I lecture on a part time basis plus developing projects and partnerships. One of the interesting things that I do at the College is running a one evening a week thirteen session course which is a foundation for those who might want to follow a career in counselling, mentoring and communication. It is life changing experience for students who will learn to see the world in a very different way. Let me give you an example…WATER GLASS (get them to think about at least ten different uses for a water glass). Point – changed thinking.
I might perhaps offering a few details of my work as a personal mentor for folk leading small and medium size entrepreneurial companies. This is I have to say, a growing aspect of modern life IN AN ANXIETY generating world! Being at the sharp end of a small company can be a lonely experience! We all seek that safe lap to sit upon whilst quietly sucking a thumb!!
Another theme might have been my interest in the place of theology in a secular world and the attractiveness of religious fundamentalism today as a political tool…………………………
But I’m not!!
Tonight will be about something that is near and dear to me and the reason for me popping up as a columnist. In passing I am also a blogger and for those that don’t know a blog is really a column in cyberspace or on the Internet if you like!
For those of you who read my rambling rhetoric in the Herald Express will know that my ‘thing’ is about community cohesion and concentrating on the positive rather than the negative! Usually, when I write, I attempt to end with a simple “Keep the smile!” phrase. You see a smile can offer light in a sea of darkness and to be quite honest is a much better aspect than walking around with a face that appears to have been slapped with a kipper!
We live I think that you will agree, in difficult times. Way back in 2003 I scribbled a note on the BBC Money Box website about the danger of self-certification mortgages. It seemed to me that after the deregulation of the banks and the demutualisation of the building societies we were cruising in dangerous waters socially. We had opened the sweet shop but didn’t ask the gatekeepers not to eat all the sweets!
When the financial crash came in 2007 we all looked in horror at the American sub-prime mortgage market and then went white when folk like Northern Rock fell over. But why were we surprised? Certainly those at the sharp end who had eaten all the sweets seemed to quietly drift clear of the crash!
I think that it might have been Ian Hisplop who suggested that Sir, now Mr, Fred Goodwin should have been paid his payoff in £1 coins on the back of a flatbed truck parked in Toxteth!
There was a half-hearted attempt seek responsibility from the gatekeepers and I hear the endless rhetoric but it seems to me that those with in charge of the ‘sweet shop’ still appear to be dipping in quite happily.
Someone said a little while ago that “Unless you dress a few of the irresponsible gatekeepers in an orange jump suit and accommodate them in a locked 6 x 4 room with a man with a fang tattoo called Marvin then little will change!!”………………………..
The thing is that when a financial squeeze comes the most vulnerable take the pain first. Sometimes being amongst the ‘most vulnerable’ can of course be a self-inflicted wound as it was too often with self-certification mortgages. Why? Let me explain.
In the self-certification age the folk taking out an often too expensive mortgage simply asked how much they had to earn in order to get the purchase price (and more since we then lived in the time of the 125% mortgage!!). The figure was given which could be much more than they were actually earning – but who was checking. No one! Why? Simply because for the BONUS EARNING agent and mortgage lender it really didn’t matter! House prices were rising on a daily basis and folk were living on credit. Homes could be repossessed and the house sold on to cover the short fall, perhaps even at a profit. But when the fiscal slump lumbered over the horizon the gap between the wet and the dry made eyes water! Night night Northern Rock and welcome to the trillions of government lending to hold the rickety financial system together. Those who had made the profit from all this rode off into the sunset leaving behind them broken dreams and decimated pension funds.
 I have a friend (that may come as a surprise to some of you!) called David Neita and he is a poet. You may know of him or listened to him reading his socially challenging messages! I’d like to read a few lines of a poem called Mind the Gap.
Mind the Gap between the rich and the poor
If nothing is done it will extend even more
The rich live on Excess Island in the middle of Deprived Sea
when the wealth of the world is enough to satisfy everybody
If wealth is distributed, then wealth will increase
If there is no social justice there can be no peace.
You would have needed to have spent the past six months alone in a darkened room not to have been aware of the draconian cuts to local council budgets! Here in Torbay our elected mayor has just announced £22M in cuts and many groups supporting the most vulnerable members of our society have been hit very badly.
It simply isn’t good enough to look around and say “Well that’s not my problem!” In the words of David Neita “If there is no social justice there can be no peace.”
We live, as I have said, in challenging times and it is for all of us to reach out. Pay attention to what is being said and done. Listen to the words and check whether the outcome or likely outcome matches the rhetoric! Take care not to join in the demonization of those in need simply as parasites and wasters! Stigmatisation is a dangerous game to play…………..
Local councillors and members of parliament have many reasons for seeking election. Whether you bothered to vote or not is a matter for your own conscience, but this is not the time for sitting back with a shrug of the shoulders. Engage with our elected political leaders and see whether you can help shape the future. The stability of our community requires engagement from all of. That’s you and that’s me!!!
I would like to leave you with a few words from Albert Einstein, who has a clever chap and seemed to know a thing or two……
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

……………………………………There you go!! But whatever you do KEEP THE SMILE!

Celebrating what we have rather than chasing elusive images

Photo: Jon Stannett - sunrise over Stover

My column in this week's (6th February 2014) Herald Express......

As you have probably guessed, my mind is a curious place at the best of times. This morning, for example, I watched the sun rise over the ocean whilst listening to Patrick Cassidy’s beautiful song Vidi Cor Meum. You may remember that piece of music from the films Hannibal and Kingdom of Heaven. The combination of the atmospheric music and the stunning rosy red sunrise seemed to lift my spirit and sent me drifting, metaphorically, on the high thermals. I don’t know whether you have watched the sun come up over the water, but it really is worth the effort. These are hard times for many and anything that for the moment can lift the worry is to be much sought after.

It is very easy in these days of 24/7 television and endless hours of drifting through social media surfing around the world pausing only for a micro-second before travelling on. Therefore to take the time to appreciate the reality of our beautiful coastline and wooded hills is, in my opinion, essential. Celebrating what we have rather than chasing elusive images spinning in cyberspace is to be encouraged!

Of course to make the most of what we have requires a mind-set that looks for what we can build rather than constantly looking for ways of reducing, cutting and closing. We can all contribute that mind-set in quite simple ways. For example picking up the fast-food carton that has been casually discarded and placing it in a bin! That basic action helps to build a positive community because it also sets an example to others.

Curiously it is the very administrators of Torbay that unwittingly, I hope, reduce the ambiance. Those who read my words will know that one of the many things that trouble me is the proliferation of signage. Paignton Harbour has been my stomping ground for many years and I have watched the growth of signs telling folk mostly what not to do! In a recent conversation with an officer I had been told that the intention was to reduce the signage around the harbour estate. It came as no surprise the other day when I found a whole cohort of parking warning signs around the harbour. Keep in mind that the harbour is part of the structure of Torbay it did annoy me when the wording said that this (the harbour) is private property. What? You can see why I need the stunning sunrise!

The thing is what are we attempting to do in Torbay? We spend hundreds of thousands of pounds encouraging folk to visit and to set up business here and then give them a hard time with draconian parking charges. The new signs on Paignton Harbour say that you agree to pay £100 if you park in the wrong place! In the past the harbour attendant would wander along and ask you to move if you were causing a problem.  Keep telling folk that they are not welcome will eventually have the desired administrative outcome when they stop visiting. The other day two major retailers closed their shops in Torquay and whilst that may not be down to relentless parking charges they are without doubt a contributory factor.

I’ve also been reflecting upon Gordon Oliver’s desire for Bay-wide BID status. At the moment Business Improvement Districts have been limited to Paignton and Torquay. Gordon’s idea, which was rejected by the Business Forum, was to have the whole of Torbay included. As a business inside a BID area means that you have to pay an additional amount over and above your business rates. Can you imagine the additional income available if every business in Torbay had to cough up? Great way of adding more income but you can imagine the squeal from already beleaguered businesses hidden away! I gather that a few folk inside the existing BID area have challenged the payment. The BID after all is for additional facilities rather than paying for things that a council should cover. Their question, I gather, is about how the money is spent rather than the revenue request itself.

I started this column talking about things that lift the spirit and that is certainly a theme in life that I will always seek. Part of that journey is making sense of what is being said and that isn’t quite as simple as it may sound. Listen to what is said and check the validity especially when it comes to revenue spend. What are the implications of proposed developments? As assets come up for sale can we be sure that things are as they seem at first glance? We must all pay attention and make our views known to the decision makers. Although we keep being told that we are all in this together it is increasingly clear to me the gap between those that have and those that have not is getting wider by the day. Political groups are already gearing up for the elections next year and therefore you have an excellent chance to catch the attention of MPs and Councillors. Make your voice heard and your vote count!

Keep the smile.

One of Devon’s best kept secrets

One of Devon’s best kept secrets has to be Paignton Harbour! That never ceases to amaze me. I am also regularly amazed by the number of local people who don’t know that Paignton has a harbour. When you have such a wonderful resource that has for so many years been underused then you really must start scratching your head. The lovely little harbour has its own quiet beach that is dog friendly throughout the year. How nice is that!

Oddly enough the harbour used to be a hub of activity but so much of that has changed. But why is that? The Rowing Club and Sailing Club both still attract good numbers. The Sea Scouts still bob around on the water and yet all is not the same.

One major change has been the arrival of numerous signs, street furniture and regulations telling people what they cannot do! Where else would you find a large board displaying all the local bye laws? Where else would you find wires spread around the harbour walls to stop folk fishing? Torbay Council really must think what they want here because the messages seem confused.

In my opinion the quaint little harbour could be the very thing to make Paignton the place to visit. Using this wonderful place as a ‘honeypot’ destination might be that essential ingredient that we attempt to breathe new life into the local economy!

People love food and the growth of fish restaurants has been phenomenal recently. Paignton Harbour already has a number of wonderful restaurants and eateries in addition to shellfish merchants. Did you know that you can buy fresh lobster here? 

We can build upon this with fish festivals and other events that will bring thousands flooding to Paignton. I can almost smell the wonderful aroma of a giant pan full of bubbling paella being cooked in the open air on the harbourside! 

Celebrate Paignton Harbour – you know it makes sense!

I wrote the words for the free Mini Herald Express newspaper recently. Just to add to the frustration I would like to add two other little points.

The first is that, due to a misunderstanding, Paignton Harbour is outside the Paignton BID (business improvement district) area. This beautiful little harbour is therefore only mentioned in passing and yet it is, as I have already said, a natural hub or if you like a tourist honey pot. The Paignton BID folk recently punted the possibility of statues around the town. I immediately thought of Ilfracombe and Damian Hurst's Verity standing proud over their harbour. It attracts thousands.

Then to rub salt into the wound Torbay Council have appointed a parking control company to extract revenue from hapless motorists. You can debate the sense of that policy but what really gets my goat is the fact that the signs say that the harbour is private property! That is simply silliness and will frighten visitors away.

With one hand we talk about regeneration and with the other we find ways of scaring folk away.

Let's give hope on jobs to young

My column in the Herald Express 9th January 2014

Ah Pandora’s Box! Do you know the story? Having been told not to open the box Pandora simply had to see what was hidden. Once open all the nasty things now in the world jumped out. In these curious times it is worth remembering that the last thing left in the box (or jar) was the Spirit of Hope. As we travel through 2014 it is so important that hope dominates all that we do. Hoping for a better world and a stronger future has to be something that will work for the greater good of all.

With that in mind I was saddened by the results of research commissioned by the Prince’s Trust that indicated that hope was in danger amongst the young. It seems that a third of all young people either suffer from or at risk of suffering from depression. That has to be a worry for all of us. It certainly worries me, which regular readers will know. What is also a worry is the number of suicides amongst the young. That cannot be right in any society. Yet given the poor prospects for so many young folk you can start to understand how quickly hope ebbs away.

Think about the young graduate after battling through A Level studies followed by a degree before sadly catapulting into a depleted job market. After all that study finding yourself dressed up as a giant chicken promoting a fast food outlet doesn’t do much for self-esteem! I’m positively ancient now but years ago when I left college getting a job was the natural outcome. It tended also to be a job that reflected all the hard work. The old style apprenticeship was also a recognised way to a secure future.

We keep banging on about apprenticeships today for our young folk, but as Vince Cable confirmed, it is a big ask when the hourly rate is usually £2.68 an hour. This is something that the government is thinking about apparently and I hope that the outcome is a more motivational starting rate.  But there is no doubt that if we want to energise the next generation then jobs must be found because being valued does so much for self-esteem. To come home after a day at work with money to buy the things you need should be a self-evident platform for any community.

Learning new skills to carve a career path will without doubt build the hope for a meaningful future. So many good people, including the Prince’s Trust, are doing their best to make people aware of this. To take away hope is a dangerous thing. I’ve said this before and I plan to carry on banging the proverbial drum!

The thing is that a lack of employment means that more and more people are being forced into poverty. The cold weather amplifies that point as we all struggle to pay spiralling utility bills! Being cold isn’t much fun and being constantly anxious about finding the money to pay for fuel simply compounds a feeling of misery.  We can’t just shrug our shoulders and say it’s the way it is!

Justin Welby is the new Archbishop of Canterbury and his New Year Message for me was a breath of fresh air. His thrust was the need to tackle poverty in our own communities. Oh yes, we do have poverty in Torbay! Hearing someone like Justin Welby publicly make that statement at the start of 2014 was an inspiration. If you have the time please do find it on the Internet because it is, in my humble opinion, worth a listen. If you also have the time please do take a look around and see whether you can help those too near the edge in our own community.

There is one more other thing that I wanted to say in this column and that is to do with the progress at Oldway Mansion, or more accurately the lack of progress. In a previous column I had said that Torbay Council must be pleased that this rickety building is off their hands. I light-heartedly then said that at least I think that it is off their hands! It seems that the lease has still to be agreed but there is hope that will happen later this year. That’s something to look forward to. Meanwhile it will be another summer without tennis at Oldway which is a shame. I gather that the tea room has also closed and that was the only access for tourists to the stunning entrance area of Oldway Mansion.  Local tennis star Sue Barker has been flying the flag for Cockington and it occurs to me that it would be rather nice if we could get her support for tennis in Paignton in this post Murray Wimbledon win season.

It is a shame that we didn’t manage to get a summer of 2013 and 2014 out of the Oldway Mansion tennis courts but there you go. Doubtless the tennis coach who once had a vibrant business there might have a view. We do have other courts in the town but the loss of ten or more courts is a big hit locally. I should add that I don’t play tennis and this isn’t a personal agenda!

Keep the smile.

Visions, dreams and reality!

My column in the Herald Express 24th December 2013

Visions, dreams and reality! Headlines these days too often tell of the dreams and visions publicised by our political leaders offering the promise of a better future. It’s worth thinking about that as we let 2013 slip into history and look forward, hopefully with excitement, to 2014.

Keeping with the theme of dreams and visions it is also worth remembering the prophets throughout history who attempted to foretell or foresee the future. Many carried a mystical message from God whilst others simply looked at the world around them and said all this will end badly boys and girls if you don’t mend you ways!

Thinking about the historical prophets foretelling the future I was once told by a wise abbot (or at least I thought him wise) that I seemed to be a something of a modern day prophet. For a brief moment I thought that sounded quite nice but then he reminded me that things tended to end badly for prophets! A little bit of research confirmed the shocking truth that the community didn’t always want to hear the message and the easiest way of dealing with that was by lopping off the head of the prophet. Hmm.

I guess what I am saying is that whilst the dreams and visions can be fascinating we must not lose sight of the here and now.  That simple act is not quite as simple as it may seem. In these days of constant media input with twenty-four hour news and the casual spinning of truth things often are not quite as they seem. Not only that but there is a tendency to take for granted the antics of folk who continue to take more than their fair share. You will not have to stretch your intellect too far to find numerous examples where the gatekeepers of power seem to benefit disproportionately.

It is important for all of us to take note when the rhetoric of dreams and visions blows warm. That warming wind can mask the true nature of what is likely to happen or perhaps more worryingly might never happen. Does the dream work for the greater good or is it simply a money making event for the few. It is a duty for all to take notice and call to account. Not that I have anything against dreams and visions but I do worry about scary nightmares!

In a previous column I mentioned the Mayor’s Budget meeting at the Riviera Centre and the little questionnaire doing the rounds during the evening. I also said that there would be another chance to attend a similar meeting during January 2014. At the time the meeting was to be in a room at Paignton Library but that has now been changed to Thursday 9 January at the Redcliffe Hotel  (7-9pm). The Redcliffe Hotel is on Paignton’s lovely seafront. The sea actually washes against the wall of this atmospheric hotel. How nice is that!

If you can find the time it really is worth attending this meeting and making your feelings known. At the very least you might get a better understanding of reality. Having said that many of us have already become very aware of the economic here and now as the austerity cuts slice through so many things that we had taken for granted.

When you read this Christmas will have come and gone. Hopefully for you it was a joyous occasion and perhaps captured something of the simplicity of a traditional Christmas. I have always loved Christmas Day, starting with the first church service of the day, heading home for breakfast and presents before gathering for a traditional lunch.

This weekend is New Year’s Eve with a ring of endless fireworks around the world. A time for New Year resolutions which hopefully will contain a little more than simply wearing a tracksuit and staggering to the gym!  One resolution that we might all share is to make an effort to make this curious world of ours a better place. To do that we really must help each other and keep a careful eye out for those who might slip between the cracks as the austerity screw turns ever tighter. This is your time and your community.

But whatever you do for the new year please start with a smile!

Keep the smile.

Find ways to building rather than knocking down...

My words in the Herald Express Thursday 12th December 2013......Curiously since writing this I've bumped into a voluntary organisation struggling to cope with the sudden influx of folk seeking help as those most vulnerable take the pain of this fiscal mess.....

One of the things that you get to do when constructing a questionnaire is to select the questions that you want to ask and leave out the ones that you don’t want to ask. When you get to fill in a questionnaire you don’t have that luxury!

Why am I telling you this? Well recently I popped over to the Riviera Centre, also known as the Riviera International Conference Centre, to a very crowded Mayor’s Budget proposal evening. I estimated that around five-hundred people had braved the cool night air to hear about the pain that this budget is likely to inflict. That for Torbay, I have to say, is a very good turnout.

Most of us were sitting around tables with a councillor and an council officer to mentor. We were all clutching a questionnaire that offered the opportunity for us all to ‘have our say’ on the ‘tough decisions’ that have to be made in order to set a balanced budget. I’m not going to labour the point here but the lady sitting next to me must have been reading my mind and immediately made a comment about the questions being asked!

I did ask the council officer on my table what would happen if Torbay set a negative budget. It seems that cannot happen because it would be illegal! Hmm. That didn’t really answer the question but in many ways it was a rhetorical observation. But here’s the thing. How far can you push a population with draconian cut after draconian cut? One immediate call was for an increase in council tax. Explain that to a low wage family facing huge increase in utility bills, rising food prices and a complete tsunami of other soul destroying fiscal onslaughts! Of one thing there is no doubt and that is that the gap between those that have and those that have not is getting worryingly wider by the day.

You can have your say by filling in that questionnaire, by making contact with your councillors, by attending the next public meeting at Paignton Library on the 9th January 2014, by chasing your member of parliament or indeed simply becoming more aware of what is actually going on. You have a voice and you have a vote at the next election.

I have always had in mind that story about a frog in a bowl of water and suddenly these days I am feeling very frog-like! You see if you placed that dear little chap in water that was too hot he would simply hop out at speed. But if the water is cool then he is a happy-chappy and doesn’t notice that the water is heating up. Eventually the water becomes too hot leaving our sad little frog with no energy left to hop. Do you get the picture?

I’ve written about the nature of our social landscape before and at that recent meeting it was obvious that those who would feel most of the pain would be the vulnerable. Many of those folk do not attend public meetings as a rule and often have little or no access to computers. If you have a social conscience that must be a worrying concern.

I did make a note of a number of comments made by Gordon Oliver during the evening which included “I share your view completely” “I share your emotion” “With your help we can do it” “We’re very happy to listen – but the reality is!” “Let’s continue to talk” “It’s not my decision!” Against that backdrop were the comments of people who bravely attended having been homeless and sleeping rough. As one man said “These cuts to organisations helping those with little will result in deaths!” Certainly the loss of support to places like Factory Row will be catastrophic for many of our most vulnerable citizens.

I would like you to think about something. We constantly bang on about cutting spending and say very little about generating income. That doesn’t mean selling off assets because you can only do that once! What it does mean is looking very carefully at cleverly creating income from the assets that we have, both in terms of facility and community expertise. A number of folk are already working toward that and we need to build the portfolio. We have amazing skills within the community and need to liberate that energy. So let’s start looking and find ways to building rather than knocking down.

Ultimately it will be about working together for the good of all and whilst we probably know this it still seems a hard thing to make happen. So when it comes to building a questionnaire you might now think of a few more questions that you might want to ask!

Keep the smile.