tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post6155490396844682666..comments2024-03-14T09:50:44.315+00:00Comments on Psychological comments: The Trickster and her patsyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09320614837348759094noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-7090382794397798502015-10-29T12:41:17.526+00:002015-10-29T12:41:17.526+00:00They'd look good on the elbows of a brown cord...They'd look good on the elbows of a brown corduroy jacket, too. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-69920360387232751632015-10-27T16:34:56.822+00:002015-10-27T16:34:56.822+00:00Leopard fur patch pockets.... that's what I wi...Leopard fur patch pockets.... that's what I will wear at my next lecture.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09320614837348759094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-7182833091738209662015-10-27T13:40:11.434+00:002015-10-27T13:40:11.434+00:00I think with Ms Batmanjelly you had a mixture of t...I think with Ms Batmanjelly you had a mixture of two approaches, what Joan Didion in Slouching Towards Bethlehem called the "riot-on-the street-unless" approach, and a few of the techniques Tom Wolfe described in his essay "Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers".<br /><br />http://teageegeepea.tripod.com/maumau.html<br /><br />"...there were so many groups out mau-mauing, it was hard to make yourself heard over the uproar. You practically had to stand in line. It was a situation that called for a show of class. You had to show some style, some imagination, some ingenuity. It brought out the genius in seemingly plain people. Like there was one man with a kind of common name like Bill Jackson. He and some of his buddies had created a poverty organization, the Youth of the Future, and had gotten recognition from one of the E.O.E. area boards. But when it came to summer jobs, the Youth of the Future was out of it, like a lot of organizations. Apparently some people thought that was all the Youth of the Future was, just another organization on the poverty scene, just this Bill Jackson and his buddies from of the block.<br /> <br />So one morning about eleven o'clock a flamboyant black man in a dashiki turns up at City Hall. And this flamboyant black man, the Dashiki Chieftain, isn't running with any brothers from off the block. He is at the head of an army of about sixty young boys and girls from the ghetto. And even his dashiki--it's no ordinary dashiki. This number is elegant. It's made of the creamiest black and red wool with great leopard-fur cuffs on the sleeves and leopard-fur patch pockets on the front ... and a belt. You don't see a dashiki with a belt every day. And he has one of those leopard-fur African fez numbers on his head, and around his neck he has a necklace with beads and tiger teeth leading down to a kind of African carved head pendant. He comes marching up the stairs of City Hall and through those golden doors in his Somaliland dashiki, leading the children's army. And these kids are not marching in any kind of formation, either. They are swinging very free, with high spirits and good voices. "<br /><br />Camilla was a Bill Jackson for the Noughties. <br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-20161945903728118232015-10-20T14:36:22.524+01:002015-10-20T14:36:22.524+01:00Dear Marshall, There was a time when social worker...Dear Marshall, There was a time when social workers did social work, and I am glad you were able to do that! I was told by a Head of Social Work that by the 1990s it got very hard to recruit capable people, and sometimes posts needed to be left unfilled. In recent interactions with Oxfordshire health and social services regarding an elderly relative the social worker was by far the weakest link. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09320614837348759094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-50352275773716492162015-10-20T13:30:35.548+01:002015-10-20T13:30:35.548+01:00When I qualified as a social worker in the 1970s i...When I qualified as a social worker in the 1970s it was common to do intensive casework with the families of antisocial youth. Now, as I understand it, social workers are restricted to assessment, safeguarding, referral and record keeping. Marshall Colmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00293970978200882404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-63304347868944904902015-10-20T09:47:34.332+01:002015-10-20T09:47:34.332+01:00Taken as organisation, not laundry bag, but an amu...Taken as organisation, not laundry bag, but an amusing ambiguity, and kills two birds with one stone.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09320614837348759094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-3865060103732443082015-10-19T19:50:25.695+01:002015-10-19T19:50:25.695+01:00I've just realised that "outfit" is ...I've just realised that "outfit" is wildly ambiguous. As it happens, I meant her (dis)organisation rather than the contents of the dressing-up box that she likes to sport.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-47367274808880455322015-10-19T17:44:23.914+01:002015-10-19T17:44:23.914+01:00Local charities out to be better. The best thing t...Local charities out to be better. The best thing to give them is a bit of time, particularly as Treasurer.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09320614837348759094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-19707504874461256552015-10-19T17:43:29.394+01:002015-10-19T17:43:29.394+01:00Dear Marshall, As you say, Founders often linger t...Dear Marshall, As you say, Founders often linger too long. Problem with Kids Company was total lack of supervision. Plug should have been pulled long ago. Also, if Govt has a govt road building department, then use them, not contractors. Social service depts already doing this work. Her criticism of those services was a smokescreen: she never kept proper records.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09320614837348759094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-19681317390797247282015-10-19T15:48:28.375+01:002015-10-19T15:48:28.375+01:00Some years ago we cancelled our standing orders fo...Some years ago we cancelled our standing orders for charities: we decided that too many were either just political pressure groups, or gravy trains for the employees, particularly the senior employees.<br /><br />We are inclined now to give only to local charities, where we might hope to hear gossip if there's any misbehaviour. Of national charities the only ones we'd consider supporting are the Lifeboats (are they still OK?) and (it slightly pains this old atheist to say it) the Salvation Army.<br /><br />As for Ms Batmanjelly's absurd outfit, words fail me, almost. You'd have to be a grade A chump of Wodehousian proportions to fall for it.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4624586630299165335.post-16254133601732313352015-10-19T11:40:20.211+01:002015-10-19T11:40:20.211+01:00You have been misled by the word "charity&quo...You have been misled by the word "charity". The government increasingly contracts with not-for-profit companies to provide public services, the point of which is that it doesn’t get involved in day-to-day management. Government doesn't do it with contractors who build motorways; why do it with contractors who support antisocial youth?<br /><br />Kid's Company suffered from Founder Syndrome, in which an energetic and creative individual does something big that a boring administrator could never do. When the time comes for boring administration, the nice thing to do is to promote the Founder to Life President. Some won’t go and have to have their throats cut. The transition in Kid’s Company was too late. <br /><br />I get the impression that there’s something here of the British pastime of bringing down people who are too big for their boots. One day Camila is a wonderful woman working miracles in a spectacular organisation, the next she’s a trickster giving taxpayers’ money to smack heads. Oh, and she criticised people in authority.<br />Marshall Colmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00293970978200882404noreply@blogger.com