Blogging

Interesting article on the BBC's website about blogging.



"We are entering one era in which the technological infrastructure is creating a different context for how we tell our stories and how we communicate with each other"

Christmas Shopping

Last minute Christmas shopping this week in Oxford Street, London.

Weekend Before Christmas

The Sunday service at St Mary's led by Anna using a box full of kisses as the theme - the whole congregation making a long paper chain stamped with kisses and prayers for those who needs God's kiss this Christmas.

Kew Gardens in London on Friday - a magical experience with light shows and skating.

Nativity "Tasteless"

Friends

Excellent weekend seeing friends

Mary

Thanks to Jonny Baker for alerting me to this one. This image of Mary was created by Ben Bell to advertise local church services over Christmas - very simple idea, well executed and thought provoking.

Jeremy Deller

Just caught up with the Turner Prize and was inspired by Jeremy Deller's work. He doesn't make things, he makes events. See Tate web site.

‘A good collaboration is like going on a long journey without a map, never knowing quite where you will end up’. He acts as curator, producer or director of a broad range of projects, including orchestrated events, films and publications, which draw attention to forms of culture on the fringes of the mainstream or reveal hidden histories.

A Visit to Dixons

I have just come out of the presentation given by Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC at which he announced potential job losses of 3,000 and a big move to Manchester. These are my notes.

“For many people the BBC feels a long way away and very Southern” “We need to change our tone of voice and attract new talent in other parts of the country”



Mark talked about the importance of being more local and referred to “the local idea”

Included in his vision is a transformational shift of the BBC’s culture to a simpler more focused organization. He talked about the BBC having a central role in building digital Britain. The BBC can and should lead and succeed in the digital revolution. We will spend a higher proportion of the license money on programmes than ever before.

He wants fewer layers of management and said that at its simplest the BBC is a relationship between audience-creativity-content. There are barriers to creativity, he said, very little has changed. There are still endless meetings and emails. We need better forward planning and to delegate more to front line teams. Multi-skilling will be important if we are to become more efficient. We will spend less money on process and more money on content and reduce duplication. Managers at all levels will need to be more self sufficient. He would like to see better leadership and tougher management of poor performance.

Finally, he seemed to draw much about the digital age from a visit to Dixons. This is worrying if ever you have been there!

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

30 years ago as a teenager I visited a mental hospital with a group from our local Methodist church. In a secure wing we met a lady called Lillian who was there for the protection of herself and everyone around her. She was an amazing pianist and everyone in this locked ward loved her. I still have a recording made on the ward. A few years ago the hospital was finally closed and many people like Lillian were moved on.

I read in the Guardian today that 70% of people in prison have some sort of mental illness and that many of those who were looked after in those big mental hospitals are now “warehoused” in prison.

Around the same time as the decision was made to close many of those old Victorian hospitals, I was visiting inmates in Armley Prison in Leeds (also Victorian). Many of the young people I met there appeared to have mental difficulties. In contrast the level of hate and neglect they experienced was astonishing. Who can say whether they were aware enough to be held responsible for their actions?

I am left wondering for whose benefit many of our prisons exist. It may make us feel better to know that there is an inferior form of humanity to ourselves. But I suspect that many of these people have qualities that are in fact superior – certainly if Lillian is anything to go by.

Guardian article here