11 September, 2014

Check Your Privilege!

We all need someone to blame for
society's ills but are the "PC Brigade" simply
hard working people trying to do their
best in unimaginable circumstances?
For the past two years or so the UK has been on a soul searching mission as more  and more  examples of abuse of some kind have come to national prominence: the Jimmy Savile scandal and its aftermath which has seen several high profile celebrities in court accused of being sexual predators of some kind or other; we have heard allegations of corruption and abuse involving public figures such as the late MP Cyril Smith; and more recently the spotlight has fallen on abuse within the family and the local community – most recently the abuse of young girls by Asian men in the Rotherham area of South Yorkshire. Without wishing to minimise the dreadful nature of the allegations or findings, these events have been ready made fodder for the salacious monster that is the media and especially the tabloid newspaper industry. They have also been ready made platforms for solemn faced politicians, legal experts and moralisers to make pronouncements as to the state of the nation and what must be done. Government committees have sat and reported, the full weight of the courts is threatened and those who, it is deemed, should have prevented these dreadful happenings – the police, social workers, doctors, the BBC, teachers and the rest – have been pilloried. In the fall out from the Jimmy Savile scandal last year the newly appointed BBC Director General George Entwistle was forced out of post because someone had to be blamed for the BBC's failings in relation to Jimmy Savile - and this despite the fact that Entwistle was a long term and faithful servant of the BBC, recognised by all as a good and decent man and had had no hand in events that took place long before his tenure. His removal was filled with invective and hate such is the need for a sacrifice and that the mob be sated.   All the current angst, of course, may well be justified. Clearly, given the nature of the allegations and findings no person in authority can turn a blind eye; in short, something must be done – and rightly so we all cry. But just maybe our society needs cooler heads and more thought given to what is so wrong with our society rather than howling at those doing the job on our behalf. I am reminded of Friedrich Nietzche's comment: "If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you" - truly, as we wring our hands and scream abuse, what we see in society's ills is only a reflection of ourselves. 

And.......... in amongst all this I have another slight anxiety. This is not about whether those accused or found wanting should not be punished or castigated, nor is it in any way to deny the truth of the reported occurrences. Clearly, there is something very wrong in our society and it is right and proper that the issues are addressed - but it is our society and ourselves that we need to look at first rather than blame and pillory those who have worked (and, yes, maybe made mistakes) to try to solve the ills of our nation. In the photo above, just maybe we should be more concerned about the picture and the comment about the young woman and the messages that it sends to people about the sexualisation of young women and its effect upon wider society's attitudes towards girls and women rather than castigating "the PC Brigade" - and before we start throwing brickbats at the social workers, police, administrators and others who are involved on a daily basis with the problems that result in our towns and cities.

The present Home Secretary, Theresa May -  into whose “in tray” all this eventually falls has to be seen to do something. Now although Mrs May is not my favourite person I do have to say that she has managed the “can of worms” that is the lot of any Home Secretary very well. It is not a job that I would like. In short she is damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t. In this morning’s Guardian, for example, she is taken to task by an MP who complains that she has made the wrong choice to chair the enquiry into child abuse arising out of the Rotherham and other exposures. “Just when it looked as though the inquiry into child sex abuse could finally get under way” says the MP,  “it once again has to face whitewash accusations. After the absurd appointment of Lady Butler-Sloss, which ensured the inquiry got off to a farcical start, Theresa May has made the equally dubious appointment of a replacement chair in Fiona Woolf. This time it emerges the chair has close links with Lord Brittan. Yes, Leon Brittan, the former home secretary who has been accused of covering up a massive child abuse scandal. May’s inquiry was supposed to reflect the change in attitudes to these crimes, showing a willingness to bring perpetrators to justice and face failings that have destroyed lives. Above all, it was about telling the story of people who have been ignored for far too long”.
Theresa May - a good Home Secretary - but can she really
understand the issues and problems facing many for whom
she has direct responsibility? 

I’m sure that the points being made by this MP are entirely justified – but there is, I believe, another dimension. Let me explain.

Last Christmas while visiting my son and family in their village (Twyford in Berkshire) we went as a family to the village Christmas Fair – street stalls selling Christmas ware, Santa, fairground rides and the like – a very pleasant evening out. Twyford is a very wealthy place where top end cars are parked on every drive and no one would dream of shopping at (say) Tesco or ASDA when there is a local Waitrose! Everything at the Christmas Fair was done in the best possible taste – morris dancers, polite stall holders, no bad behaviour or drunkenness and  as I stood at one of the stalls I suddenly realised that Theresa May was standing at the side of me – she is the local MP and lives at the adjoining village of Ruscombe. It was good to see a minister of state supporting the local charities and community. In the background hovered her two “minders”. She bought something at the stall and then disappeared into the throng. This area of the country – the Thames Valley is, as I say,  the UK's “wealth belt” – all the celebrities live in the area, it is the home of the rich and powerful in every sense of the word. Mrs May is married to a London banker and I am sure lives a pretty privileged life – which I do not begrudge her at all.
Twyford Christmas Fair - enjoyed by all, and all in the best
possible taste of the Thames Valley.A far cry from many
parts of our unequal nation.

But, when I look down the list of government ministers I find that every single one, like Mrs May, represents a wealthy, leafy area of the country. The vast majority are in the pleasant green areas surrounding London but those that are not are based in equally affluent and pleasant places – for example, George Osborne who is MP for Tatton in Cheshire, one of the richest areas of the nation.  And when I look at those figures I can’t help asking myself how can these people have any concept of what it is to live and work in a “deprived area” or at least an area where there are significant social, educational, ethnic or financial problems. When I read of the dreadful problems in Rotherham like everyone else I was horrified, but was I surprised - no. South Yorkshire like many parts of our country, faces huge problems.  That does not excuse child abuse or lack of action on the part of those responsible for administering the area but I have absolutely no doubt that the police, social workers, teachers, health workers, local government workers and the rest each day are fire fighting in a way that does not have to happen in the Royal County of Berkshire, in the Cheshire’s millionaire belt or in Oxfordshire’s dreamy Cotswold landscape where the Prime Minister David Cameron is the MP.

One of the trendy phrases that became fashionable on social networking sites a year or so was “Check your privilege”. Its meaning is not always obvious, because all too often the well-intentioned phrase is abused. But roughly speaking, it is a way of telling a person who is making a point that they should remember they are speaking from a privileged position, because they are, for example, white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied or wealthy. It is, in other words a reminder that not everyone sees life like you – and often for perfectly good reasons based upon their upbringing, their environment, their cultural identity and so on.  And I wonder, if these well meaning Ministers can, from their wealthy constituencies and ivory towers, ever understand, say, why a policemen or nurse or social worker struggling to keep his or her professional head above water in a tough area for day after day after day and week after week after week sometimes doesn’t react exactly how they should. But when they don’t and problems occur they are routinely pilloried by those in power who not only have the privilege of hindsight but also can easily come out with the quick fix, easy solution to the problems – without ever having to address them themselves.
 A thuggish, unpleasant man with no comprehension of
people or places.But bizarrely he is our "Communities
Minister"- whatever that is! Just the sort that one would
not want in your community - loud, abrasive and totally
lacking insight or empathy. A Yorkshire man by birth but
now a"professional  northerner" living in the sunny south
where life is easier, pleasanter and more "rewarding" -
far from the poorer, less favoured parts of our nation.

I can relate to this from two of my experiences in the classroom. Many, many years ago, as a fairly newly qualified teacher, I had a child in my class called Steven. He had caused major problems in the school from the earliest times. In today’s terms he probably wasn’t so bad but in those days he was classed as a very difficult child – not unable but attention seeking, plain naughty, aggressive towards  the other children, dishonest and constantly demanding. This was not a tough school – it was a pleasant rural place where the vast majority of the children were able, high attaining and well behaved and their parents were supportive and anxious for their children to do well. When Steven came into my class at the beginning of the academic year I was determined to do what no other teacher had so far done - succeed with him. I would pour resources in, I would support him, praise him and I would ensure that every bit of work was specifically addressed to him so that he could feel valued and succeed. After half a term I knew I had failed. I knew that every morning I was planning lessons and arranging my own teaching style and class management purely to keep Steven in check.I was spending most of my time either sitting with him or at least hovering in his area so that I was constantly available and so that he did not disturb the rest of the class. And, of course, what I also realised was that in doing this was being to a degree “unfair” to the other thirty or so children in the class – I knew that I was giving able, hard working children work that they could simply get on with so that I could be available just to keep Steven on the straight and narrow and ensure that he didn't  disturb others too much. Finally, I also realised something else – any one of the parents of the remainder of the class could quite legitimately say to me ”Why don’t you spend as much time with my son or daughter as you do with Steven – it’s not fair – think what progress they would make if you did”.  I knew that I had to try a different strategy. I also knew that other teachers had started off just as keen and idealistic as me and failed. I had to become “hardened” to the fact that there would be other Stevens in my class and learn that although I must try my best there was only so much that I could do but I could not professionally or morally deny the others  for whom I was responsible just to favour one child. That was the reality of the situation. And in a way I believe that is a situation that many professionals working in difficult circumstances day in day out have to make. I also knew that in the hurly burly of the day, while trying to keep the lid on Steven so that other children could work and progress I had to cut corners, take decisions that I would not have taken in a different set of circumstances - and I knew that sometimes I made mistakes. Of course, as I gained in experience I learned other strategies, but for the rest of my career I knew that although I would try my very best in some situations one had to make hard choices which were not always the right ones but were necessary, in order that those deserving of your care and attention could be helped – not just those who shouted loudest.

So when I see social workers, teachers, health professionals and the rest pilloried by society and by those in power I often reflect......”If only you knew the reality of the situation”.  In the end these people have to make tough choices that under normal circumstances they would not wish to make, they will often regret this,  and, they are under such pressure in certain areas that they are continually “fire fighting” and managing one crisis after another that they will make mistakes. It’s the reality of the situation. When those who work and reside in the leafy suburbs come with their criticisms and quick fix solutions and have the great benefit of hindsight and the moral high ground I am immediately suspicious. I ask how can someone who lives and works in the delights of the Thames Valley have any conceivable  understanding of what it is to be facing the professional and moral problems faced by many employed in our inner cities and deprived areas year in year out. They cannot.
Yep......the blame game is in play

The second experience from my past is more recent. In the latter years of my teaching career and after I retired I spent almost 12 years working with, supporting and assessing young teachers and those training to teach. It was a very rewarding time and one which I look back upon with fond memories, partly because I enjoyed it but mostly because it was a huge privilege to work with these talented and hard working young professionals; I so often reflected how much better they were than I was at the same stage of my career. But I soon realised one thing. I could visit a classroom where the young teacher had planned a good lesson but for reasons often out of their direct control were finding that the lesson wasn’t going as it should - and, from my ivory tower, I could give a quick fix solution. As I watched I often thought to myself......”I’ve been here myself, this has happened to me” - a difficult child, an unplanned interruption, snow suddenly seen to be falling through the classroom window and the class erupts with excitement, a child sits in front of you and is suddenly sick, something that they children just didn’t ”get” despite the best efforts of the teacher. All everyday classroom things that are not always planned for but are outside your control – and the professional has to manage this on an every day basis. Often when I saw things not working out it was easy, as an outsider, to spot what was going wrong and why – a simple organisational or management error that the young teacher was making or a better way of explain something so that the children could understand. But all that, of course, was based upon my years of experience and of the privileged position I held sitting at the back of the classroom watching without any obligations or distractions or pressures. For the young, inexperienced man or woman standing at the front of the class trying to teach some mathematical concept to a lively group of 10 year olds whilst I sat judgementally at the back it was not so easy – what was so obvious to me was not so to the young teacher embroiled at the “chalk face” trying to teach fractions while little Jimmy throws a tantrum because he was up late last night playing on his computer and is now critically tired. I am sure that some of these social workers and policemen and health workers and teachers might, at the moment, be looking askance and ruefully shaking their heads as the great and good make their quick fix solutions and pronouncements from their positions of privilege far removed from the blood and guts of the daily grind. And I ask myself, rather than castigating failure why are those in power not supporting and building bridges. I can well remember that if a trainee teacher gave a less than successful lesson they knew it – they didn’t need me to weigh in with more criticism or pointing out all their failures. What they wanted and needed was positive advice, support and confidence – so that they could do their work better.

Just maybe, if there is a problem in many areas of our national life – and there certainly appears to be in the wake of all these scandals and dreadful happenings - then it seems that what the politicians and those in power should be doing is examining what is wrong with our society – for we are all members of that society, we are all guilty – rather than pillorying those who have been fighting the fight to the best of their ability under impossible circumstances. Just maybe, those wealthy government ministers living in their wealthy constituencies should be asking themselves what they can immediately - no ifs, buts or maybes - do to make some of the wealth of their areas available to those struggling to hold together society in the poor deprived areas where many of the problems occur. Maybe Mrs May should be ensuring that her banker husband directs some of his bank’s millions into ensuring that jobs are created in the poorer areas rather than in booming London! I won’t hold my breath – it’s easier to castigate failures – and anyway it’s good media fodder: "Home Secretary gets tough with lazy social workers" makes much better reading in the corridors of power and in these austere times than "Home Secretary increases funds for social support in under privileged  areas". 

A Ruscombe christening - all very pleasant and afterwards a
reception Buratta's in Twyford. Life doesn't get
much better - few social problems and few to blame here!
So, having recounted those tales I am left with two questions: how dare those in positions of power, who largely reside and work in ivory towers of privilege, wealth and remote from the reality of everyday life  criticise and threaten those who are trying very hard to succeed doing jobs that many would not take on. And, secondly, how can people like Theresa May, David Cameron, George Osborne  and the rest given their positions of privilege and the environment that they operate in possibly comprehend the world of the inner city or of places, like Rotherham,  where perhaps  things are going dreadfully wrong. I live in a village on the outskirts of Nottingham, I like to think that I am an aware sort of person, not particularly privileged or posh or wealthy but I am also very aware that I could not even begin to comprehend the lives and values and problems of many who live only two or three miles away from me. I could not begin to face their daily problems or know where to begin if I taught in some of the schools only a mile or two away. My world in my little village, not a particularly wealthy place, is only 3 or 4 miles away from inner Nottingham but it is light years away in terms of attitude, opportunity, culture and outlook; I could not begin to survive there. So how can Theresa May or David Cameron?

But, sadly, times have not changed. It has always been thus. It all reminds me of Kipling’s wonderful poem “Pagett MP” written over a century ago. Rudyard Kipling was born and lived for many years in India - a member of the British Raj when India was indeed "the jewel" in Victoria's crown. He loved the country, but knew that those like him working and living in there were viewed by those in England, and especially those in power, as having a soft life - a life of servants, pleasant climate, riches, indolence and luxury. Kipling knew that wasn't the real picture at all - hence is wonderful poem: 

Pagett, M.P.

The toad beneath the harrow knows
Exactly where each tooth-point goes.
The butterfly upon the road
Preaches contentment to that toad.

Pagett, M.P., was a liar, and a fluent liar therewith --
He spoke of the heat of India as the "Asian Solar Myth";
Came on a four months' visit, to "study the East," in November,
But I got him to sign an agreement vowing to stay till September.

March came in with the koil. Pagett was cool and gay,
Called me a "bloated Brahmin," talked of my "princely pay."
March went out with the roses. "Where is your heat?" said he.
"Coming," said I to Pagett, "Skittles!" said Pagett, M.P.

April began with the punkah, coolies, and prickly-heat, --
Pagett was dear to mosquitoes, sandflies found him a treat.
He grew speckled and mumpy-hammered, I grieve to say,
Aryan brothers who fanned him, in an illiberal way.

May set in with a dust-storm, -- Pagett went down with the sun.
All the delights of the season tickled him one by one.
Imprimis -- ten day's "liver" -- due to his drinking beer;
Later, a dose of fever --slight, but he called it severe.

Dysent'ry touched him in June, after the Chota Bursat --
Lowered his portly person -- made him yearn to depart.
He didn't now call me a "Brahmin," or "bloated," or "overpaid,"
But seemed to think it a wonder that any one ever stayed.

July was a trifle unhealthy, -- Pagett was ill with fear.
'Called it the "Cholera Morbus," hinted his life was dear.
He babbled of "Eastern Exile," and mentioned his home with tears;
But I told him, I haven't seen my children for close upon seven years.

We reached a hundred and twenty once in the Court at noon,
(I've mentioned Pagett was portly) Pagett, went off in a swoon.
That was an end to the business; Pagett, the perjured, fled
With a practical, working knowledge of his "Solar Myths" in his head.

And I laughed as I drove from the station, but the mirth died out on my lips
As I thought of the fools like Pagett who write of their "Eastern trips,"
And the sneers of the travelled idiots who duly misgovern the land,
And I prayed to the Lord to deliver another one into my hand.

Rudyard Kipling

The lovely church in Ruscombe, home of Theresa May -
a lifetime and light year away from the people and places for
whom she is responsible..
Just maybe the MPs, moralisers, London tabloid editors and legal experts should get themselves out and about a bit to work at the cutting edge. Maybe Mrs May and her ilk should leave leafy Ruscombe with its beautiful, quintessentially English church where my grandchildren were christened a year or two ago and get herself up to some of the poorer parts of our nation – not on a flying media/photo opportunity trip to wave the government flag but to work as a social worker, nurse, teacher or to man the police vans on a wet  Friday night. And then, just maybe, like Pagett in the poem, they might understand that there is another reality and quite a different  universe to the one that they inhabit. They might then learn a little about the reality of life and why people behave as they do, not as they should. They might understand why sometimes people fall short of what we all desire, why and how mistakes are made,  why the daily grind and the insurmountable problems might force people to regretfully make the best decisions they can in the circumstances they are forced to operate in. In short, they might be more humble.  I don’t, however,  see it happening any time soon.

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