The Productive Pessimist

  Is it possible to believe we need to move away from "State-identified" inclusion, whilst remaining fundamentally committed to ensuring everyone is supported to pursue their personal definitions of success? I happen to think so. It often comes as a surprise to people "how left-wing" I am (although, in 2002, I was described by a Politics and Philosophy lecturer as "slightly to the right of Atilla the Hun"... my politics haven't changed all that much in the intervening 24 years...) Currently, there is a lot of noise being made about how "white working class boys" have been "abandoned and forgotten by decades of so-called inclusion" - with all the attendant free rein to racists and other bigots that you might expect such an announcement to generate, and groups who've been milking the funding cash cows of "supporting women and girls!" for the past 5yrs having very public fits of pique about how "their" funding i...

  TEACHERS, EMPLOYERS, & "OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS IS MY COMPLAINT" TYPES: .  Black, beige, grey, or navy knee-length, cotton shorts, worn with plain white or black plimsols, and a plain coloured short-sleeve button down shirt still look "professional".  There is no reason you should be preventing students or staff from wearing them, or complaining about people dressed "like that". . No, a fan that someone brought with them is not going to blow up your entire electrical system, or set fire to your office/classroom, as long as the flex isn't visibly frayed, and it's not plugged into an overloaded socket.  If you can't let go of your fixation on controlling everyone who is forced to be locked in a room with you for hours at a time - open a minimum of two widows. Put a fan that you  bought (so you feel secure in it being "compliant" with something or other) in front of every open window. . YOU DO NOT NEED TO "GO THROUGH PROCU...

  As Mumsnet et al (likely the only people actually "consulted" about Starmer's social media ban for under-16s) squeal and cavort about yet another "victory" (they believe their last one was the EHRC guidance about trans people...and tall women...and women with broad shoulders...and women with flat chests...you know, the one that doesn't  stop - and which they don't want to stop - a grown, clearly cisgender, violently aggressive man chasing a woman into the women's toilets, and assaulting her because he "thought she looked trans"...such protection...so much safety...), I'm already preparing for the reality that, as soon as this pointless act of government overreach and control for control's sake comes in, I'll have to hope like hell that people who have been very vocal about being anti-Digital ID actually put their boots on that ground, and engage with my freelance business being something I will no longer be able to run online....

  Image shows the acronym NHS in white on a mid-blue background Sir James Mackey, the head of NHS England, has said something that is true, but unpopular: The NHS doesn't need more money. Almost no established business needs more money. Very few new  businesses need a lot  of money. When you throw money at a problem, or even a series of problems, you don't actually solve  anything. Instead, you add a new problem - decision paralysis. The more money you have to solve your problems, the more things you could  do, and therefore the more choices you need to make. Humans typically aren't that good at making choices - just think about how common the complaint of "But how am I supposed to decide what to have for dinner every day for the rest of my life?!" is.  When, especially if it's just you, that should be effortless - you know whether you enjoy a lot of cooking or not. You know what food you like. You know how many stove burners and pans you have. You know how...

  Image shows the UK Houses of Parliament shot across the river Thames . The EHRC guidance on several  groups' rights - not just the "headline" of trans peoples' rights, and the entitlement to violence and abuse it has given people who aren't (yet) having their  rights "discussed" at government level. . "Simpler Recycling", and the "You're getting  more bins! We will  leave you with stinking, rotting refuse, and  fine you if you make one single mistake about what goes where, or some passerby dumps a crisp packet in your cardboard bin! No, we don't care  how little space you have to actually house all these bins!" . Constant media frothing about "young people who are unemployed and aren't even in any kind of training scheme!" and "how much it's costing the country!" These things seem very different and distinct from one another - just as many of the problems we face in business, or in our individual ...

  (Image shows a white woman's hand reaching over a paper notebook to a laptop, holding a pen.) This piece will be discussing the UK Local Authority Elections which took place on May 7th 2026; in that sense, it is "political." However, political positions and political judgements will not  form part of this post.  In the course of my work identifying the overall problem (it usually only is one  problem, just with many presentations) facing organisations, teams, and individuals, and working through the worst-case-scenarios to effective solutions, I've worked directly with serving Conservative councillors whose views very much aligned with the most right-wing positions in that party, and active members of Extinction Rebellion; my personal politics are irrelevant, the politics of the people I'm working with are irrelevant; there's a problem. My job is to solve it. Sometimes, political attitudes add to  the problem, but they have never actually been  the proble...