The Productive Pessimist

  " Woke" is an appropriated term that, like most appropriated things, has been completely altered from what it originally meant. Originally used by African-Americans to communicate the warning that "unexplained" deaths of African-Americans were almost certainly the result of white violence and racial intolerance, the invocation to "stay woke" was a gesture of concern and compassion, a reminder that the world was not a safe place for people whose faces didn't fit. It still isn't a safe place for anyone who is visibly "different" - no matter ho w subtle that visibility is: from the size and shape of a nose to an accent, from the spelling of a name to the texture of a curl. From someone's height to the pitch of their voice, from the way they hold themselves, move, or speak, to the amount of support from others they need to manage day to day life. No w, ho wever, " woke" has been appropriated by the Left to mean "having...

  BBC Panorama Life School Wirral   (trigger warning for physical and verbal abuse, discriminatory language) prompted us at The Productive Pessimist Ltd to reach out as a matter of urgency to Life Wirral.   While the school has, rightly, been closed by the local authority, we have identified serious risks for any situation any of the leadership team from Life Wirral may enter into in the future, and for any attempt to re-establish the brand if re-education around both effective support and education for SEN children, and effective and appropriate management practice generally, is not provided or engaged with. The problems of Life Wirral aren't isolated. They are problems that are entrenched in British ideas of management, whether that is management of adult members of staff in a business, management of students in a school, or management of behaviour.  Britain is a nation built on conquest and control, and the Protestant concept that people 'earn' compassion, a...