RSA Comment



Archive for February, 2011

Regrettable Turnover, Underperformance and Change Fatigue

Fri 25th Feb 20117 Comments »

The pressure of cuts will not always see the strong survive. Cary Cooper argues that in public services it is often the best people who go and that managers should act fast.

I recently spent time with some senior public sector workers in local government, the health service, police, fire service and education. They were all worried about the substantial cuts, but surprisingly they could also see the opportunities of doing things differently, given the necessity of making savings.

They felt, however, that there were two constraints on them. First, that some of their best and most talented people would leave – either through the voluntary redundancy schemes or be poached by the private or voluntary sectors – creating a massive ‘talent vacuum’. Unlike the private sector, who can use financial and other levers to retain people, this is unavailable or rarely used in the public sector, which leads to their second major issue, underperformance. (more…)

The Public Voice of Obesity

Thu 24th Feb 201112 Comments »

Patricia F. Sadio FRSA asks whether the Big Society is the perfect partner for combating obesity.

Obesity has become a popular issue in the last four to five years. We have had scare stories akin to voyeurism: camera angles of oversized stomachs, friction-creating thighs, headless crowds of fat people, half ton mums and sons, piles of calorific, fat-laden horrors masquerading as food and (literally) belly busting surgery.

Meanwhile, the Change4Life campaign, celebrities like Jamie Oliver and Davina McCall, and even Homer Simpson have been signed up to making a difference. But for who?

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Choosing Peace

Mon 21st Feb 201114 Comments »

Responding to Mary Midgley’s recent article in the RSA Journal, Diana Francis FRSA asks whether the Society can contribute to the debate about demilitarisation as part of the shared mission of 21st century enlightenment.

Mary Midgley’s article in the December RSA Journal, refuting the notion of the supremacy of selfishness in human life, was eloquent and heartening. It chimed with my own thinking and writing over recent years.

Together with Mark Stevenson’s ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ it encouraged me to think that, as a new Fellow, I might be able to join with others in the RSA to explore and advance the goal of global demilitarisation and the cultural rejection of war as uncivilised, unnecessary and utterly alien to the spirit and values of 21st century enlightenment.

Matthew Taylor, in his stirring paper asserts that the ideal of the good life ‘can be derived from an account of the kind of society in which we want to live and the kind of people we are and have the capacity to be’. In other words, our capacity for goodness makes the good society possible. As Mary Midgley argues, we are not doomed by our destructive, egotistical nature, destined always to operate on the eat-or-be-eaten principle. We are supremely well equipped for cooperation and kindness.

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Seeing the Wood for the Trees

Thu 17th Feb 20116 Comments »

The debate on ownership of the public forest estate has touched a nerve. As the government abandons its plans to sell off forests, Sue Holden FRSA argues that there are greater issues at stake.

It is great that so many people feel so passionately about our forests, that the government has decided to rethink: more people signed petitions about the government’s proposed changes than any other issue in the past. However, it is a shame that the debate has been so simplified and politicised.

The arguments about whether public ownership is right for forests is important but there are many more factors that will determine whether woods are looked after well, protected and made accessible to the public. The public forests deliver huge public benefits now and these must be guaranteed whatever the future structure of the estate.

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The English Baccalaureate

Wed 16th Feb 20115 Comments »

Robert Hill FRSA explores this week’s schools performance tables and plans to assess results against the new English baccalaureate; he is not impressed.

It is absurd to invent rules for a race after the event has been run. Not even the powers that be of Formula One motor racing, which has done some pretty weird things in its time, have attempted that.

The definition of humanities is hopelessly narrow (no recognition of religious education, for example) and the list of qualifications included has been exposed as arbitrary. But it is neither the timing nor detail that is the problem.

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The Benefits of Outdoor Adventure

Mon 14th Feb 201116 Comments »

For too many young people, their life is impoverished by little or no contact with the natural environment. Randall Williams argues that benefits of active involvement with nature requires a better response.

Think back for a moment to your childhood. What was your favourite or special place?  For the majority of today’s adults, their favourite place was out of doors, in most cases beyond adult supervision. Ask the same question of today’s generation and the odds are that the answer will be their bedroom, interfacing with technology rather than the natural world. As for being beyond adult supervision, the likelihood is that every second of their lives will be monitored, far beyond the age once thought necessary.

‘Nature Deficit Disorder’ is a phrase coined by Richard Louv to describe the human costs of alienation from nature. Natural England has published figures that show that only 10 percent of children play in natural spaces: this is despite crystal clear evidence of the benefits that arise from engagement with the natural world.

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RSA Animate – Language as a Window into Human Nature

Mon 14th Feb 201118 Comments »

In this RSA Animate, Steven Pinker shows us how the mind turns the finite building blocks of language into infinite meanings. View the full lecture at the RSA.

Climate, biodiversity and the bigger picture

Wed 9th Feb 20118 Comments »

Climate has become so dominant in discourse on environmental politics that it can seem like it is the only issue that matters. Not so, says Tim Hirsch FRSA, who argues that the positive role of biodiversity conservation could help energise public action.

Ask the average, well-informed punter to name the most significant current environmental threat to human societies, and she or he is very likely to answer climate change. Indeed, it is common for people to use climate change and the environment interchangeably.

As long ago as 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) concluded that climate change was just one of five principal drivers behind threats to the benefits we derive from the planet’s ‘ecosystem services’. These services include fertile soils, purification of air and water and protection from disasters such as floods and storms. (more…)

Darwin, Morality and Human Behaviour

Tue 8th Feb 20113 Comments »

Responding to Mary Midgley’s article in the RSA Journal,  Clem Henricson FRSA examines the question of what part morality plays in our evolution.

In her article “The Pseudo-Darwinist Conspiracy” for the RSA Journal, Mary Midgley drew attention to Darwin’s analysis of the innate sociability in human and other species, rightly saying that this has been eclipsed in recent years with an exclusive interest in the operation of competition reflecting the mood of the times.

Indeed in his examination of human motivation Darwin went on to identify morality as the mechanism by which sociability is prioritised in human conduct. It enables us to manage fleeting and contradictory impulses that run counter to pro-social behaviour.

Darwin reflects on the multiple impulses and instincts and the combined capacity for memory, intelligent thought and language that typifies humanity. His conclusion is that morality would have arisen in any species with comparable intellectual capacities, and that it is the result of a need to order and prioritise impulses so as to avoid regret over succumbing to one at the expense of another. (more…)

Universities of Tolerance

Mon 7th Feb 2011No Comments »

The UK’s universities are increasingly places of diversity as well as learning. Richard Brown FRSA argues that this makes them uniquely placed to increase tolerance in an interconnected world

In theory we live in a world which has never been more flat and interconnected. Where we can travel easily to experience different cultures, access virtually all the knowledge that we are likely to need and hence are able to understand and appreciate a wide range of views. But in reality our world remains divided between cultures and religions where intolerance and fundamentalism seem as strong as ever.

The RSA is rightly emphasising the importance of building relationships based on trust and a shared sense of ethical values that transcend religions and cultures. This is central to its core theme of 21st century enlightenment. Through its projects in the UK, the Society places an emphasis on building the social capital and networking capabilities that are crucial to the success of nations and people in the 21st century. But can it learn not just from further afield but from the past? (more…)