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Kindness is catching

I was in the car on my way to the hospital for a routine appointment the other day, listening to a piece on BBC R4 about how waiters and people in service jobs are experiencing less courtesy and more aggression as we go through this stage of the pandemic. People shout more and tip less, while servers in pubs and bars now have to ‘discipline’ their customers as well as serve them. 

‘Road rage has become restaurant rage,’ said one contributor, while another noted that the pandemic has turned us all into each others’ policemen, often pointing the finger at other people for acting irresponsibly or not taking the pandemic seriously enough.

I didn’t hear the rest of the piece because I arrived at the hospital for my blood test. I took my little paper ticket from the machine and as I sat watching the numbers slowly tick up towards mine, I remembered the sullen phlebotomist. The last three times I’ve been there I’ve had the same clearly unhappy guy take my blood. He never says a word except to ask my name and date of birth (fair enough, it’s not his job) and he always leaves me with a nasty bruise on my arm, so the whole experience is literally and metaphorically painful.

I don’t know his story. Last time I was there I almost enquired if he was OK. But I didn’t. 

So I was having an internal word with myself about being convivial and not judging, when my number came up. I walked in, sleeve rolled up, blood test requirements at the ready, positive attitude in place – and he wasn’t there. 

The woman taking my blood instead asked my name and date of birth, noticed it was nearly my birthday and, while doing the same one-minute job as her colleague, had a nice little chat about the Indian restaurant my wife and I were heading to that evening to celebrate.

When I got home I listened to the rest of the radio piece about how people are treating each other during the pandemic. It focused on how a positive attitude to other people, especially in trying times like these, is something you can only address in yourself. 

My ears pricked up because this is a major theme in our book, ‘The Talking Revolution’. Taking personal responsibility for the health of all our relationships, even the briefest of interactions, is something we can all do right now, without having to ‘police’ anyone or ask anyone’s permission. 

And it’s extraordinary how powerful the effect of that can be – far more so than complaining or blaming. It’s what I’d just experienced at the hands of that chatty phlebotomist, which definitely lightened my mood and made me want to pass it on. 

As the broadcaster said at the end of the radio piece, ‘Kindness is catching’.

By |2020-09-10T10:09:25+01:00September 10th, 2020|Uncategorised|0 Comments

When it comes to building trust, practise on the small stuff

Lack of trust has been cited yet again as a major impediment to the Brexit negotiations, as Boris Johnson has announced what looks to many like a retreat from the ratified EU Withdrawal Agreement and signalled a willingness, if necessary, to break international law. The French MEP Phillipe Lamberts said on BBC R4’s World at One; ’If you want to strike an agreement with anyone, I don’t think it’s a good idea to hint that you might not abide by past agreements with the same partner.’ 

Everyone knows trust can take years to build and seconds to destroy, and the push and pull of any major negotiation can stretch trust to its limits, but it got me to thinking about the negotiators themselves, as individuals. They do, after all, sit across the negotiating table one minute, and across the dinner table with family and friends the next, and trust – or its absence – plays just as big a role in both settings.

So how, and when, do you start to build trust? Clearly it’s no good waiting for the crisis to happen. That’s way too late. You have to start right now, by practising on the small stuff – the countless routine, apparently unimportant, interactions we all have that make up the bulk of our daily lives, like punctuality, keeping small promises and everyday acts of understanding and consideration. Here are four ways of doing that from The Talking Revolution.

  • Competence – demonstrate that you can do something to a certain level. For example, if you consistently complete work on time and to the required standard – or higher – you’ll be trusted with more of it and/or more responsibility. 
  • Predictability – keep your promises and act reliably. If you arrange to meet someone outside the station at midday on Tuesday, you meet them outside the station at midday on Tuesday. Simple. 
  • Integrity – demonstrate that you share particular values with the other person. They really value honesty and frank speaking, say. You do too. So they trust you to give your honest and frank opinion, even if they might not be thrilled at what they hear. 
  • Benevolence – indicate that you care about the other person. Which means you consider their welfare, feelings and needs when you make decisions that might affect them. And they trust that you’ll look out for them and their interests. 

Taking the opportunity to practise on the small, everyday stuff means that, if and when the big stuff comes up, that foundation of trust will already be in place and could actually prevent a crisis from developing at all. But if a crisis does develop, they’ll certainly make the challenges it brings much easier to handle.

By |2020-09-08T17:28:10+01:00September 8th, 2020|Uncategorised|0 Comments

Lose the label, look to the substance

I hate labels – as in the labels we routinely slap onto people as a way of dismissing them without further thought. 

I’m not a natural supporter of Tony Abbott, the former Aussie prime minister who’s just been appointed an expert advisor to the UK’s Board of Trade. He’s not to my political taste. But many people, it seems, are questioning his fitness for his new job on the basis of past remarks that are allegedly homophobic and misogynistic.

Now, it might be that Abbott has made comments which many people don’t like – and I could Include myself in that number. But to question his ability to act as a trade advisor on the basis of his alleged opinions in other areas is surely illogical. Especially as, according to several women who know him well – including his own gay sister – he is neither homophobic nor misogynistic. But sticking these labels onto him is an easy – and I think lazy – way of simply signalling disapproval of the man.

If we’re going to criticise his appointment, let’s do it on the basis of his past record in trade negotiations, which appears to be thin, to say the least. And let’s focus on the UK government’s willingness to appoint people to positions of power and influence on the basis of their political loyalty and ideology, rather than their ability and experience.

Creative conversation, which I champion, starts with understanding first – that is, seeking to be fair and accurate in how we represent others based on what they actually say and believe, rather than knee-jerk prejudice about them based on simple, dismissive labels.

That way, what we say is much more likely to be taken seriously than dismissed in turn as the knee-jerk reaction it is.

By |2020-09-07T14:30:22+01:00September 7th, 2020|Blogs, General|0 Comments

The Politics of Waking Up: a conversation with Indra Adnan and Pat Kane. Pt.2


In this second part of our conversation with Indra Adnan and Pat Kane, co-initiators of The Alternative UK, we explore how we can talk and listen to each other in a way that will shake things up but also encourage the flexibility and openness that’s needed for ‘the politics of waking up’ to emerge.

Both parts of this conversation were recorded before the covid pandemic but we think that – if anything – what we’re talking about here and what Indra and Pat are trying to do will become even more relevant in the post-pandemic world.

Check out this episode…

By |2020-05-19T15:27:29+01:00May 19th, 2020|Podcasts|0 Comments

The Politics of Waking Up; a conversation with Indra Adnan and Pat Kane. Pt.1


Indra and Pat are co-initiators of The Alternative UK, a political platform aimed at transforming the language and practice of UK politics – through what they describe as ‘a friendly revolution’.

They point out that 98% of people in this country aren’t involved in mainstream party politics, except to vote in elections, and even then turnout is low. But below the radar they see a burgeoning range of local, grassroots activism, sparked by many different issues, which isn’t reflected in the mainstream.

So – is a new kind of politics emerging, what Indra and Pat call ‘the politics of waking up’?

Check out this episode…

By |2020-02-19T13:20:58+00:00February 19th, 2020|Podcasts|0 Comments

The Disunited Kingdom – so how can we heal? A conversation with Kim Leadbeater and Ros Wynne-Jones


With Brexit upon us, can the divisions of the past four years be overcome? Kim Leadbeater, the sister of murdered MP Jo Cox and Ambassador for the Jo Cox Foundation, joins Daily Mirror journalist Ros Wynne-Jones to talk about the practical actions they are taking to help heal the social ruptures thrown up by this jarring episode in UK history.

Check out this episode…

By |2020-01-28T17:12:28+00:00January 28th, 2020|Podcasts|0 Comments

Helping, understanding – and revolution: a conversation with Gerard Egan

If some of the basic skills of counselling were used by more of us in our normal everyday conversations, the effect would be revolutionary. That’s the view of Professor Gerard Egan, one of the most influential figures in the world of psychotherapy. His seminal work, The Skilled Helper, is a core text for the profession and has been in print continuously since its publication in 1973 – it’s currently in its eleventh edition.

Gerry has been a big influence on our work from the outset, and we were delighted to be able to sit down with him in London recently, and catch up on his current passion…

By |2019-12-05T14:07:52+00:00December 5th, 2019|All|0 Comments

Trauma, Tea and Stickies – a conversation with Marina Cantacuzino and Jo Berry

The idea of talking to someone who’s caused us immense pain is always hard to imagine and sometimes impossible. But people like Marina Cantacuzino and Jo Berry are proving that well-handled conversations can lead to not just to reconciliation, but to transformation. In this episode we ask them about their approach.

Marina is the founder of The Forgiveness Project, which gives a voice to survivors and perpetrators of crime and conflict who have rebuilt their lives following hurt and trauma. Jo is best known for her work on reconciliation with Pat Magee, the former IRA member who in 1984 planted the bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton that killed five people – including her father, Sir Anthony Berry MP.

By |2019-12-05T20:16:03+00:00December 5th, 2019|All|0 Comments

Relegating Rankism – a conversation with Robert W. Fuller

Open, productive conversation can easily be stifled when there’s a difference, real or perceived, in the status of those involved. This is one of the many problems outlined in  ‘Somebodies and Nobodies’ the excellent book by  the American academic, writer and campaigner Robert W. Fuller.

It’s a passionate exposé of one of the last great ‘isms’ – rankism – which, like racism and sexism, deserves a special place in the dustbin of history. Anybody who’s ever felt the sting of being made to feel a ‘nobody’ by a (supposed) ‘somebody’ will instantly recognise the picture he paints – and maybe even want to do something about it…

By |2019-12-05T14:01:34+00:00December 5th, 2019|All|0 Comments
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