Review: Amanda Palmer, There Will Be No Intermission, Cambridge Corn Exchange, 20th November 2019

From the raw energy, that hits you like a hurricane, as Amanda beats out her emotion at the piano to the angelic, overwhelmingly powerful voice, that lifts the whole auditorium to the gods, this performance was exhilarating.

Photograph (c) 2019 Michael Hargreave Mawson

I laughed, cried, sang, and sat in silent admiration and compassion for Amanda's sharing of the visceral and essential parts of her life that have formed her into who she is today. There was a point where I felt unutterably sad but she lifted me again and set me free. Amanda held us every moment of the journey and then allowed herself to be held, by strangers, balanced on the railings of a balcony over the foyer, as she serenaded us with one final song. Music from The Dresden Dolls through to tracks from her current album and even Disney's Let it go (!) formed a sung accompaniment to the spoken themes of abortion, miscarriage, radical compassion, love, death, life...

I was held and transported by the energy, love, emotion and radical compassion of this most inspiring of artists. Tickets still available for some shows.

https://nointermission.amandapalmer.net/

https://www.patreon.com/amandapalmer/posts

https://twitter.com/amandapalmer

@amandapalmer

Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 - 14 March 2018) - one of the greatest scientific minds of all time.

However, this post is not about his scientific research and discourse but about whom such a person chose to be as a citizen. Here is the description of his politics from Wikipedia; this information if fairly thoroughly referenced on the Wikipedia entry so I have not duplicated those references here.

The Politics of Stephen Hawking

In March 1968, Hawking marched alongside Tariq Ali and Vanessa Redgrave to protest against the Vietnam War. He was a longstanding Labour Party supporter. He recorded a tribute for the 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, called the 2003 invasion of Iraq a "war crime", supported the academic boycott of Israel, campaigned for nuclear disarmament, and has supported stem cell research, universal health care, and action to prevent climate change. In August 2014, Hawking was one of 200 signatories to a letter opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue. Hawking believed a United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit) would damage the UK's contribution to science as modern research needs international collaboration, and that free movement of people in Europe encourages the spread of ideas.

Hawking was greatly concerned over healthcare and maintained that without the UK National Health Service he would not have survived. Hawking stated:

"I havereceived excellent medical attention in Britain, and I felt it wasimportant to set the record straight. I believe in universal health care. And Iam not afraid to say so."

Hawking feared that privatisation and use of agencies cause profit to be extracted from the Health Service. Hawking stated, "The more profit is extracted from the system, the more private monopolies grow and the more expensive health care becomes. The NHS must be preserved from commercial interests and protected from those who want to privatise it." Stephen Hawking alleged ministers damage the NHS, he blamed the Conservatives for cutting funding, weakening the NHS by privatisation, lowering staff morale through holding payback and reducing social care. Hawking accused Jeremy Hunt of cherry-picking evidence which Hawking maintains debases science. Hawking also stated:

"There isoverwhelming evidence that NHS funding and the numbers of doctors and nursesare inadequate, and it is getting worse."

In June 2017, Hawking endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 UK general election, citing the Conservatives' proposed cuts to the NHS.

Hawking feared Donald Trump's policies on global warming could endanger the planet and make global warming irreversible. Hawking said, "Climate change is one of the great dangers we face, and it's one we can prevent if we act now. By denying the evidence for climate change, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and our children." Hawking further stated that this could lead Earth,

"to become like Venus,with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and raining sulphuricacid".

Who am I to argue with such a great brain?

Stephen Hawking's death at 76 is sad but we should also celebrate what he achieved as a scientist and as a human being. That such a man should hold true to the philosophy and political ideals espoused by the above political detail, makes me sadder at his passing but also gives me hope.

NASA tweet 14/03/2018:

Remembering Stephen Hawking, a renowned physicist and ambassador of science. His theories unlocked a universe of possibilities that we & the world are exploring. May you keep flying like superman in microgravity, as you said to astronauts on @Space_Station in 2014 pic.twitter.com/FeR4fd2zZ5

— NASA (@NASA) March 14, 2018

BBC Radio 4: Four Thought. Katz Kiely - 'Change for the Better'

BBC Radio 4: Four Thought

On Wednesday evening, purely by chance, I caught Radio 4s Four Thought programme. The talk by Katz Kiely, entitled Change for the Better' was excellent and thought provoking and I would like to share some of it here, in highly paraphrased form.

To hear the talk in full use the following link:

Radio 4: Four Thought. Katz Kiely 'Change for the Better'

Kiely got 'bitten' by the spirit of volunteer-ism when she fell ill at Burning Man festival and was treated by volunteer medical staff in the festival hospital. Following this, she volunteered in a coffee bar at the festival. She was inspired by the incredibly positive team-work, even when doing mundane work, if people are given autonomy and allowed to make work fun. The difference it makes when you are rewarded and appreciated and when you care about the community you are working within and for.

Since then Kiely has advised governments, companies and international bodies on managing change. She says she is always surprised by how many organisations still adopt a top-down model of managing change, and she makes the case for a radically different way of doing so. (BBC Radio 4 brief biography)

Most people experience change by it being 'done to them', they have no choice in it and it comes from nowhere. This is the worst way possible of introducing change. From a neurological point of view we treat change as a threat and when threatened we are stressed, distracted, anxious, angry and so at our least collaborative and poor at social bonding. Our memory and performance are affected and we will not make good decisions. Such stress is contagious and it quickly spreads across organisations and communities. The only people who manage to stay engaged through this process are the initial decision makers themselves.

Kiely went on to say:

“Imagine an organisation where every individual is encouraged to be the best they can be. Companies that have empathy and transparency and respect and autonomy and fairness and connectedness at the core of their very structure and their brand.”

She sees some of the big tech companies as achieving this now (e.g. 3M, Google, Facebook.) They are proving that putting people at the centre of organisations works.

So much of what Kiely talked of I believe we are striving to achieve at JRF/JRHT and this was partly what made it so good to listen to but it also made me think. I believe that this sort of organisation is only possible if we are all on board with the idea and if we all actively engage with the process.

Kiely concluded with:

“We need to find ways of using technology that is driving change to strengthen communities rather than weaken them. To allow people to be the best they can be. Let's figure out ways of unleashing human potential.”

Yes let's!

(In this attempt to share the talk with you I do not do it justice, so do listen to Katz Kiely's talk in full if you have time.)

Social media and words out of context

Continually, when using social media, I see short sentences from well known figures and corporations used in emotive ways that are then re-tweeted, liked, re-posted etc. I often do this too but I also like to think I am discerning, that I do stop to think and find out more before I re-post.

Here is one emotive example:

While I have no love of Nestle I do have a love of truth and that this guy's words are continually posted out of context rather narks me. He was actually talking about how water needs conserving for essential human use - for life. The paragraphs from which one sentence was taken out of context are below. He did not actually say the specific sentence that is shown in quotes above, he does in fact say "I am the first one to say water is a human right." what he is arguing is that we do not as humans have a right to exploit water in an irresponsible manner.

[...]

"The fact is they [activists] are talking first of all only about the smallest part of the water usage," he says. "I am the first one to say water is a human right. This human right is the five litres of water we need for our daily hydration and the 25 litres we need for minimum hygiene.

"This amount of water is the primary responsibility of every government to make available to every citizen of this world, but this amount of water accounts for 1.5% of the total water which is for all human usage.

"Where I have an issue is that the 98.5% of the water we are using, which is for everything else, is not a human right and because we treat it as one, we are using it in an irresponsible manner, although it is the most precious resource we have. Why? Because we don't want to give any value to this water. And we know very well that if something doesn't have a value, it's human behaviour that we use it in an irresponsible manner.

[...]

Full article is here

York Festival of Ideas

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The Joseph Rowntree Foundation are again partnering with the University of York to bring a day of talks with the focus of Equality: The Economy's Holy Grail?

"...a stimulating day of talks exploring the interface between political and economic decision-making and its impact on social mobility and financial security for all. Speakers include Guardiancolumnist Owen Jones, leading economist John Kay, Sir Julian Legrand of the London School of Economics, and Lynsey Hanley, author of Respectable."

Panel discussions, debates,  and exhibitions - Friday 17th June from 10am:

The Politics of Hope
"Time Makes Ancient Good Uncouth" (Joseph Rowntree)
The Future of Banking
From Cradle to Graduation: Children and Economic Inclusion
How to Thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow’s World Today
Britain and Class: ‘We’re All in it Together’

The set of talks in 2015 was fascinating, bringing together renowned people from fields such as journalism, research, economics and business to discuss The Future of Democracy and Economic Growth.

Highlights for me last year were:

• The panel discussion on The Future of Cities chaired by Julia Unwin (Chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) that included Benita Matofska talking about sharing communities.
• Polly Toynbee and David Walker discussing "How the Tories took Britain to the brink"
• The panel discussion on Growth, Innovation and Inequality with John Kay, economist and author of "Other People's Money" as keynote speaker and including Kate Pickett, Professor of Epidemiology and co-author of The Spirit Level.

The Divide Documentary

​I am really looking forwrd to seeing this film at the end of May:

http://thedividedocumentary.com/

The Divide

From City Screen, York website:

Director: Katharine Round. UK 2015.

Inspired by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s bestselling book The Spirit Level, Katharine Round’s incisive documentary offers a more personal account of how inequality shapes our societies. It aims to unravel the mystery of why, despite increasing material wealth, social divisions and personal anxiety are increasing. The film weaves together thought-provoking, poignant stories of seven people that illustrate how economic shifts impact individuals’ lived experience and psychology. The narrative links people from around the world, including a busy Wall Street psychologist whose clients are battling breakdowns, a stressed fast-food worker struggling to survive, and a low-income carer who feels looked down upon. Through the juxtaposition of real lives with archive footage and news reports, a fascinating picture emerges of the ways that economies profoundly influence our beliefs, self-image and actions. This absorbing film reveals a refreshing, close-up perspective on the human story behind economic inequality.

The City Screen showing on May 31st is followed by a Q&A session with Richard Wilkinson co-author of The Spirit Level. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_Level:_Why_More_Equal_Societies_Almost_Always_Do_Better

Junior doctors begin fourth strike in contract dispute

The junior doctors and the rest of the NHS need our support. I posted on FB yesterday about a trainee midwife who had worked two 12hr shifts on consecutive days without time for food or rest breaks, many of her course have already dropped out due to the stress they experience and see around them that will only get worse once they qualify.

Who do YOU want to be treated by, who do you want your partner, baby, child, parent to be treated by?
I want well trained, alert, inspired, caring staff - they can't be that without proper rest, support, sensible working hours and OUR support!!

We can still have the best health service in the world, it does take money but WE are ALL worth it!!

Article in The Guardian
Junior doctors begin fourth strike in contract dispute