The Productive Pessimist

  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...

  With changes to the UK's welfare provisions making it harder for people facing mental health challenges to get basic financial assistance without  an expectation that they will be pursuing employment, British business can no longer carry on its time-honoured practice of subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) pushing people experiencing mental ill-health out of the workplace, and people trying to manage even complex mental health conditions can no longer assume that they will be allowed to focus on getting to a point of reliable stability before they have to look for work. The burden on people experiencing mental ill-health is cruel, especially for those whose condition is not  "just a normal response to the challenges of life", and is, for example, something like schizophrenia, bipolar, or one of the Cluster B personality disorders , which can be exceptionally disruptive to the individual experiencing the condition, not just those around them. At The Productive Pessimist ...

  We're roughly a week away from "full-on" festive season for many people.  For my household (Pagan - eclectic in general, with Norse leanings on my side, and Celtic on my wife's) we're just five days from Solstice, our winter celebration. For those who are mystically inclined, five is a dynamic number, promising positive change through effective communication - so, five days before one of my major points of celebration seems a good time to talk about the power of Productive Pessimism, and encourage you to consider making a booking for 2024 - or sooner, if you're ready for change right now! How Can Pessimism Be Productive?! I know what you're thinking - "Pessimism isn't productive! I don't want a bunch of Negative Neils whinging on around my ideas and projects!" Absolutely - nobody wants a Neg coming in and being a killjoy. That's not what Productive Pessimism is about - pessimism is "the expectation that bad things will happen...