Welcome Back To "Outrage Tennis"...
This wasn't originally going to be my top topic for this post, but I can't ignore the BIG news story of the moment...
The Short Version... Newspaper serialises book about Prime Minister Gordon Brown ALLEGEDLY bullying members of staff - which comes across as shoving, pushing and shouting at office staff. Brown's people say it's all lies. Head of an anti-bullying charity speaks out, saying people have phoned their helpline about bullying in Number 10 Downing Street. Charity has testimonials from Conservative MPs on its website. Cue accusations of political motivations behind the "breach of confidentiality" by the bullying charity head...
Bullying is no joke. It ruins lives - and it doesn't have to do physical harm to achieve that. The saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" sounds like it might have been written by a bully. It seems that the key points in this whole mess are:
1) Was the charity head right to "breach confidentiality"? If names were mentioned - the bullied were "outed", so to speak - then that is not only a breach of confidentiality, but a breach of trust. Charities of this kind need to be trustworthy - but to fight bullying, you need to confront it, and being a kindly ear on the other end of a phone line really isn't enough. Just as Ray Gosling took his future in his hands, and gambled it on revealing that he had helped a lover in extreme pain to die, all in the name of helping the cause of "assisted dying", bullying needs its own "water-shed moment", and maybe Christine Pratt saw this as her chance.
Some times, you just have to dive in, and start swimming. You can't just wait for the shore to come to you. Misguided? Perhaps. Opportunistic? Possibly. Wrong...? That very much remains to be seen.
2) Was this whole thing "politically motivated?" Pratt says her charity has no political leanings, despite the two Tory MPs writing in support on the website. Why no Labour support? Is bullying not a priority issue for them, perhaps? It should be. The sole evidence for the "political attack" view-point are these message of support - that, and the fact that this whole business makes Gordon Brown look bad... like he needs any help.
This is a very, very risky thing to do if the charity, book and accusations do prove to be an elaborate (if rather cack-handed) Tory fabrication. It can go as wrong as anything possibly can in the political arena - a backfire would see the Tories dead in the water, and this country stuck in New Labour clutches for at least another generation. The country can't possibly survive more of that. I am still to be even provisionally convinced.
3) Why isn't Brown fighting this head-on? If it is "all lies", then what harm can it do to come out and call "bullsh8" on the whole thing? Does he see himself as immune to criticism, like certain religions? Sorry, "el Presidente", but your position does not give you carte blanche to treat your staff like dirt, and demand their silence...
I struggle to be impressed by Brown wheeling out his "big guns", like Darth Mandelson and "Puncher" Prescott. The bully has two powerful allies - the silence of his victims, and the support of other bullies...
In Conclusion... I'm finding the "backlash" against the National Bullying Helpline's chief just as politically motivated, if not more so, than her intervention could ever be. Brown's supporters were the first to cry "political", after all... but I hope politics aren't the driving force behind this. Bullying is a serious matter for its victims, and making the matter a political football will not help anyone.
And yes I was a victim - I do not take this subject lightly.
Elsewhat... Back to my originally-planned "headline": which would you choose, dear reader? A part-time, maybe full-time job collating scientific data and adding the results to a database for the University - who came to you asking for your assistance - or another dose of New Liebour's hilarious "New Deal", possibly involving tedious bus journeys to the arse-end of Wherever, where you'll be subjected to the Same Old Sh8, and a nightmare of a work placement you take on just to get the hell out of there?
Looks like I'll be starting work later this week. No openings for project work, I'm thinking, but the money makes it all worth the effort - half-days sounds like a good idea...
The Short Version... Newspaper serialises book about Prime Minister Gordon Brown ALLEGEDLY bullying members of staff - which comes across as shoving, pushing and shouting at office staff. Brown's people say it's all lies. Head of an anti-bullying charity speaks out, saying people have phoned their helpline about bullying in Number 10 Downing Street. Charity has testimonials from Conservative MPs on its website. Cue accusations of political motivations behind the "breach of confidentiality" by the bullying charity head...
Bullying is no joke. It ruins lives - and it doesn't have to do physical harm to achieve that. The saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" sounds like it might have been written by a bully. It seems that the key points in this whole mess are:
1) Was the charity head right to "breach confidentiality"? If names were mentioned - the bullied were "outed", so to speak - then that is not only a breach of confidentiality, but a breach of trust. Charities of this kind need to be trustworthy - but to fight bullying, you need to confront it, and being a kindly ear on the other end of a phone line really isn't enough. Just as Ray Gosling took his future in his hands, and gambled it on revealing that he had helped a lover in extreme pain to die, all in the name of helping the cause of "assisted dying", bullying needs its own "water-shed moment", and maybe Christine Pratt saw this as her chance.
Some times, you just have to dive in, and start swimming. You can't just wait for the shore to come to you. Misguided? Perhaps. Opportunistic? Possibly. Wrong...? That very much remains to be seen.
2) Was this whole thing "politically motivated?" Pratt says her charity has no political leanings, despite the two Tory MPs writing in support on the website. Why no Labour support? Is bullying not a priority issue for them, perhaps? It should be. The sole evidence for the "political attack" view-point are these message of support - that, and the fact that this whole business makes Gordon Brown look bad... like he needs any help.
This is a very, very risky thing to do if the charity, book and accusations do prove to be an elaborate (if rather cack-handed) Tory fabrication. It can go as wrong as anything possibly can in the political arena - a backfire would see the Tories dead in the water, and this country stuck in New Labour clutches for at least another generation. The country can't possibly survive more of that. I am still to be even provisionally convinced.
3) Why isn't Brown fighting this head-on? If it is "all lies", then what harm can it do to come out and call "bullsh8" on the whole thing? Does he see himself as immune to criticism, like certain religions? Sorry, "el Presidente", but your position does not give you carte blanche to treat your staff like dirt, and demand their silence...
I struggle to be impressed by Brown wheeling out his "big guns", like Darth Mandelson and "Puncher" Prescott. The bully has two powerful allies - the silence of his victims, and the support of other bullies...
In Conclusion... I'm finding the "backlash" against the National Bullying Helpline's chief just as politically motivated, if not more so, than her intervention could ever be. Brown's supporters were the first to cry "political", after all... but I hope politics aren't the driving force behind this. Bullying is a serious matter for its victims, and making the matter a political football will not help anyone.
And yes I was a victim - I do not take this subject lightly.
Elsewhat... Back to my originally-planned "headline": which would you choose, dear reader? A part-time, maybe full-time job collating scientific data and adding the results to a database for the University - who came to you asking for your assistance - or another dose of New Liebour's hilarious "New Deal", possibly involving tedious bus journeys to the arse-end of Wherever, where you'll be subjected to the Same Old Sh8, and a nightmare of a work placement you take on just to get the hell out of there?
Looks like I'll be starting work later this week. No openings for project work, I'm thinking, but the money makes it all worth the effort - half-days sounds like a good idea...