Posted April 28, 2017

I’m enjoying a new experience; two weeks of intensive training by way of induction into a large, established organisation who have gone from a government quango to enjoying charity status. As a cultural ‘fire-fighter’ it has been eye-opening to see how they operate. I have resisted the urge to draw block and flow charts and have enjoyed being trained rather than being the trainer. I thought this would be a change from working in the Arts given their history and size but in fact, operationally it seems to be an all too similar story. Whilst absorbing the past two weeks I have been reminded of the following six quotes an thought this might be a suitable poetry antidote ;0)).

You might be able to guess the originators of the quotes…

1. If you want to milk the cow, give it good grass
2. Take off your management shoes and regularly walk in your customers shoes
3. Take off your management shoes and regularly walk in your staffs’ shoes
4. Never say goodbye, always ‘see you again’
5. Don’t build a brand, build a community.
6. Flow. Be the river not the rock.

If you have a major seller (product or outlet) are your senior management spending enough time with it - to value it, nurture it and keep it healthy? If not why not — no excuses. The heart of your business is your cash cow, everything flows from it’s centre. If you aren’t giving it one to one TLC or if you are managing from a distance and thinking it’s running itself, you are heading for a fall.

Do you know what it feels like to be your own customer this month? Make time. You can have all the best ideas in the world and employ all the best secret shoppers in the universe but they will never equate to the reality of standing in line amongst your own customers or working the tills alongside your own staff for the shortest and most valuable way to ensure your organisation is providing the best service/product and that your staff have got the best tools and processes to provide that service/product. You are never too important to let your feet touch the ground.

If you aren’t aiming for repeat business, then you shouldn’t be in business. If you know that customer’s don’t return then you are either lacking in ambition or your business is failing, eventually your organization will become inward looking and dinosaur thinking will take hold. Look forward, growth isn’t always about expanding in volume or size. It is also about growing your relationships with people - even in the largest of organizations. You believe in your organisation don’t you? So make it possible for others outside of it to do the same. Don’t build a brand, build a community.

As an organisation, aiming to be a solid, reliable ‘rock’ is admirable but time passes and change happens; being impervious to it, or worn down by it is not so admirable. Rather be like the river, make sure the structure and processes of your organisation have ‘flow’ and are full of desire routes. If you have obstacles within your organisation, they will be easier to spot. If you have challenges ahead as an organisation, a fluid approach will enable your organisation to flow around them rather than be hindered by them.

Comfort zones. I wonder how many people have settled into these during #lockdown? I have been blessed by friends who via the medium of interpretive dance (social media) have kept me relatively awake with quizzes, music suggestions and witty banter. It has also pleased me that the term “food porn” has become a socially acceptable hashtag along with its anti-slogan hashtag “not food porn”. This is how my lock-down has rolled. But now we are asked to tentatively return to some semblance of normality and I am looking to prick my consciousness back into fully functioning, which is why I am about to vent about math… bear with me if you have the courage.

I used to say without compunction that I hated maths. I have a form of date dyslexia that means I swap numbers around (ie. I might think three but write down four). It happens mostly when I am tired or stressed. I once compiled a Diary Dates page for a publication and would frequently get cold and frankly intolerant emails about publishing the wrong dates. I would break into cold sweats when proofing the thing. Until I discovered quantum physics and, in particular ‘Bell’s theory’ but I’m jumping ahead here.

I need to mention my daughter’s primary school teacher who once berated me for my hatred of maths and told me that I would only infect my daughter with this disease if I continued to behave in such a manner — well she had a point. There is no such thing as a person who can’t do maths, but there is such a thing as a person who has not learnt the basic foundation rules of maths, said aforementioned teacher and proceeded to teach both pupils and parents alike… wonderful woman — it became quite a rallying cry in Primary Schools for a while. When she discovered I still added up figures in my head (or tried to) before checking with a calculator, she clapped her hands in delight and forgave me for suggesting that the school should give more time over to teaching children how to present themselves in public, be confident to speak loudly and clearly (and slowly) or how to use a microphone and how a song, or play or presentation can be improved by not making the children stand in one long line… I digress.

I once worked in the Arts for a national youth arts agency that gave me a Region and a medium sized budget and had me travelling around the South East meeting, training and conferencing with some incredibly interesting, diverse and fascinating people. One day I was at a conference in a venue in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral delivering a session on learning styles, my point was that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that theories come and go but each individual child has individual needs and that whilst it may seem impossible to tailor education to a million different needs you can’t just put ‘learning’ into a box.

It was, unsurprisingly an open-ended presentation and it spilled over into lunch (which was very nice indeed, thank you). In my presentation I had somewhat bravely used a maths equation, turns out my group consisted of (amongst others) a scientist, two ex headteachers with maths degrees, a local government officer responsible for schools, with a background in finance…. you get the picture.

I was safely ensconced in a conversation about Bishop Stephen Langton who is buried half-in and half-out of Canterbury Cathedral (History) when the scientist turned to me and said “You’re a photographer?” (I sometimes use my own photos and sketches in presentations). He had my attention. “You’d be interested in Bell’s Theory”, he continued. Oh shallow me. My brain went ‘Bells?’ — ‘Church Bells?’ Then, ‘Oh! I had an uncle with the surname Bell this will be interesting…’ Don’t judge me. So began a journey into the heady and creative world of quantum physics and maths such as never before… Mind blown.

For me, Bell’s Theory is like an explanation of humanity, how we see and view and judge each other differently even when looking at the same thing/person/ideology from seemingly, the same stand point. I am going to poorly attempt to explain from a non-scientific viewpoint the theory but if you want a really good scientific, visual and audient education in Bells Theory start here, these guys at minute physics nail it

How does the universe decide which light photons to let through and which ones to block? What is the hidden variable that means that the maths doesn’t add up ? (Oh how I resonated with that one:0). Oh look, just watch the You Tube video.

This Bell’s theory example delves into the passage of light photons which when passing through, say a polaroid filter (sunglasses, photo filters) some of the light gets blocked. When you put another filter behind the first and hold it up to a light source the amount of light that passes through depends on the angle (rotation of the second lens). At 90 degrees rotation, 50 percent of the light is blocked but given that each lens has blocked only 15 percent of the light — it doesn’t add up and when you add a third lens voodoo occurs. I love how in the video the scientist talks about a ‘wiggle line’ of travelling light photons and how the cells ‘entangle’ — don’t we love how creativity makes science more exciting!

The point about Bell’s Theory is that like quantum physics, which is multi dimensional, the universe cannot simply be ‘quantified’ by fact-based math. Just as we, human beans are mini universes, defying logic and straightforward equations. We have these hidden variables. Which is why in todays society when, economists and politicians consistently try to pare things down to simple equations they will never deliver and often fail. Oops, digressing again.

So, for a softer example: Two good friends (entanglement) can meet another person but have completely differing views of that new person (wiggly lines of travel and degrees of angle) and therefore more or less of that persons hidden variables are exposed to the two friends depending on their perspective. Energy, light, matter.

Oh? Was that a yawn? Okay, enough. This all started when a friend posted one of those visual maths questions/problems on bookface where you have to find the missing sum. Mindful of not allowing my math trauma headspace, I started to give it some consideration. I cannot tell you how much sleep I lost over trying to work out how people came up with the numbers they came up with, even though I didn’t know the answer — although I have learnt the theory — that is that you are not seeing what is there. Said kind friend did attempt some gentle tips but this is the one that spurned this current stream of consciousness; “the eyes and mind are in cahoots to deceive you so be careful… it’s that sneaky brain lying to you despite what the eyes see…then, like all good maths you have to disregard what you think you know and work backward”.

Somewhere in that timeline of a hundred-plus guesses and groans and befuddlement I am certain someone mentions “Bells Theory”. I took myself out of my dis-comfort zone and went on a re-discovery of science and humanity which ended with the stinging news that the whole thing had been solved in three minutes by the friends mother. That was both a kick in the teeth and a whoop! for the female brain and one smart lady.

But also it reminded me of the other transformational part of that lunch-time conversation way-back-when, at some point I had mentioned my ‘date dyslexia’ using my Diary Dates experience as my example. The scientist shook his head and said, perhaps you need to look at this differently and find the hidden variable — what if it isn’t you? I went home, on a high of light photons and the beautiful alignment of art and science.

Later that week, I turned detective, pulled out three back copies of the Diary Date publication and matched them to the emails sent to me listing the dates — the dates I published were the dates given. However, another person was also emailing offering different dates. It wasn’t me — entirely. It was the chaotic way information was offered and then organised. Next time I collated the Dairy Dates page — I pointed out the anomaly. Science is awesome.

JLB July 2020

In a world that often feels fractured and hurried, moments of quiet generosity and shared creativity stand out like beacons. Over the past year, I’ve witnessed this again and again through the work of Sue Martin, an artist and teacher whose devotion to helping ordinary people explore their creativity transforms lives. From classes in prisons to community art projects across Wiltshire, Sue’s approach reminds us that art is not a luxury—it’s a bridge, a spark, and a source of joy waiting to be discovered.

Sue invited me to two private viewings last year that revealed the breadth of her work and her vision. The first paired drawings by Henry Lamb RA with artworks created by inmates from Erlestoke Prison, where Sue runs classes. Supported by The Longford Trust and shown at Messums West, the exhibition felt quietly revolutionary. Lamb, a reformist, believed you should look for the treasure in everyone you meet. It is a simple idea—but radical. Imagine what might change if we truly lived by it.

The second was Community Works: an exhibition of art created in the community, by the community, across Wiltshire over the past year. Delivered by SMARTEFACT*, the projects demonstrate that art is not an elite pursuit, but a shared, social act—one that can build confidence, spark connections, and generate joy in the most unexpected places.

At the private viewing, this ethos was tangible. The room hummed with warmth and generosity. People lingered, laughed, and pointed out delights to one another. Old friends reconnected, sometimes after decades. Colleagues whose creative streaks I had never known had work on display. And I found myself speaking with people I hadn’t seen since the turn of the century. It was quietly miraculous.

This spirit of connection found an echo in another event: a celebration of the life and work of Jill Low, who died unexpectedly in 2025. This exhibition was not about objects, but about gratitude, love, and memory. Stephanie Jalland—Director, theatre-maker—pulled the afternoon together with precision and heart. Alongside her husband Adam, Stephanie had previously brought imaginative, immersive performances to the Salisbury Arts Centre as ‘Hoodwink,’ and this event reflected that same energy of inventiveness and care.

On a Saturday afternoon in September 2025, people gathered to honour Jill’s heart, her drive, and her vision for the Arts Centre and the wider city. As Director, Jill had been both a visionary and a hands-on leader. With centre manager Catherine Sandbrook, she introduced firsts such as a contemporary Dance Company in residence, Obelisk, and developed a rich, multi-disciplinary programme that celebrated diversity in every form. Her passion for the Arts Centre—and its role at the heart of the community—was rewarded with strong Arts Council support and successful capital funding, leaving a legacy of bold, vibrant creativity.

That afternoon was joyous, emotional, and uplifting. Both Sue Martin’s projects and the celebration of Jill Low’s life reminded me of something rare and precious: that at a moment when the world can feel fractured, unreasonable, and driven by greed, wonder still exists. Generosity multiplies. Creativity is not scarce—it waits quietly, ready to surprise. And sometimes, things are not less than they seem—but immeasurably more.

*SMARTEFACT is Sue Martin a professional artist and facilitator, who works in a range of settings with a focus on rebuilding confidence in individuals. https://www.smartefact1.com/

https://artcaresalisbury.uk/portfolio/stephanie-jalland/

https://www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk/news/jill-low-a-force-to-be-reckoned-with

https://www.mayflower.org.uk/cultural-hub/artist-development/ (The Jill Low Award administered by the Mayflower Theatre)

A self-drive tour of Sardinia, arranged by Tui, gave us a wonderful insight into this beautiful island — a place of warm welcomes and spectacular views. Our first stop, Hotel Su Litha, set the tone perfectly: strawberry trees and pomegranates in the grounds, crafted home-made pasta, views from the balcony down over Bitti, and a swimming pool fed by a waterfall. Nearby Nuoro and Bene Tutti sat tucked away in the distant mountains, ancient and quietly impressive.

Motorcyclists the world over know Sardinia well. Its mountain roads host every kind of motorbike, from luxury machines to antiques and the very latest models, making journeys up, down, and along the high mountains thrilling but tricky — especially when sharing the road with (surely crazy) cyclists pitting themselves against heat, height, and beautifully built but winding roads. After expending a huge amount of concentration driving from north to south, I needed a long sleep, though the effort was rewarded with countless vistas and wonderful sights along the way. Coffee, pastries, pasta, pizza, and gelato kept the weary traveller going.

In Cagliari, we were drawn first to the old town and enjoyed a memorable lunch on the defensive battlements. The theatre was being refurbished, but the port boasted luxury yachts and a palm-tree ‘strip’ nestled below the hill fort. Surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, Sardinia’s beaches are, unsurprisingly, spectacular. We missed the coves and the salt marshes with their flamingos, but the contrast between coastal Cagliari and ancient Bitti was striking.

That evening, the bar at Hotel T served some of the best cocktails we’ve tasted, gently numbing memories of our mountain drive. The ‘T’ was a modern counterpoint to our rustic first night: luxurious bedrooms, though the restaurant and foyer merged like a classy shopping mall, offering more of a people-watching space than an intimate dining experience.

We recovered with a day of archaeology at a Nuraghic site, transported far back in time with a party of Dutch, Germans, and a mixed bag of other Europeans. Stone-built huts and towers hinted at a civilisation that once gathered here before disappearing behind the curtain of history. Greta, our guide, apologised for her English — though, given how poor our Italian was, it would have been churlish to complain. We were grateful for her insight. A nearby museum offered a wonderful exhibition, including a temporary display on the Terracotta Army. The quality of the photographs was stunning, and the recreated figures were powerful up close.

Our thanks then go to Hotel Tresnuraghes, its unassuming exterior hiding real treasures within, and to nearby Bosa — ancient, filmic, and alive with music and song. A meal of sea bream became a performance, while the local Malvasia perfumed the narrow paved and cobbled streets. Colourful tall houses, beautifully crafted door furniture, and thoughtful street fittings showcased Italian design at every turn, both ancient and modern.

Our final stop took us back north to Hotel Valkaranes, tucked into a hillside overlooking a blue lake. The road revealed teasing glimpses of sparkling water, a dam, and hazy blue hills. Once again, incredible food was served with pride and warmth, accompanied by fresh, fruity Sardinian wines and Ichnusa beer, now owned by Heineken. In the nearby town of Arzachena, art decorated the steps leading to a hilltop temple, creating a colourful visual feast.

From here, we found white sandy beaches where luxury boats drifted past in the distance, and warm waters shimmered with fish, glittering stones, and rocky coves. Our return to Olbia was tinged with sadness, watching jet skis race near the harbour before Pelican Bay. One last glimpse of Sardinia — a large island brimming with culture, warmth, wonderful food, olive groves, basalt mountains, excellent roads, and fascinating geology.

We have barely touched the surface.
We must go back.

As my first post to welcome in 2026,  I revisit something I wrote back in February 2025, whilst embarking on some research on 'safer communications' and the potential for AI and Social Media channels to disrupt and de-stabilise 'comms'. 

So here is my original article https://juliet.posthaven.com/ai-artificially-self-important-or-a-force-for-good with some excellent responses via ChatGPT, which, according to Wikipedia is a generative artificial intelligencechatbot developed by OpenAI, and released in November 2022. It uses generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs), such as GPT-5, to generate text, speech, and images in response to user prompts. 

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Here's the article entitled  Is AI artificially self important or a force for good? to which ChatGPT responded with:

 'Short answer: AI embedded in internet technology is not inherently our downfall—but unmanaged, poorly governed digital systems absolutely can cause serious harm. What you’re reacting to isn’t paranoia; it’s a rational response to a real imbalance between technological power and societal safeguards. Let's break this down carefully."

And so, this is what followed.... (my writing in italics)

AI isn’t the root problem — scale is

Scams existed long before AI. What AI and digital infrastructure have changed is scale, speed, and plausibility.

• One scammer can now reach millions instead of dozens

• AI can generate convincing voices, faces, emails, and documents

• Automation removes friction, cost, and risk for criminals

That creates a brutal asymmetry:

• Criminals need only a tiny success rate

• Victims must be right every single time

That imbalance is what feels dangerous — and rightly so.

For the criminals, it's a numbers game and they can target people all around the world with very little outlay and relatively accessible technology, plus they are often supported by larger organised crime networks but they view it as an easy way to make money, and they don't think of themselves as criminals but businessmen. 

The “numbers game” is structurally stacked against citizens

You’re absolutely correct that many perpetrators don’t see themselves as criminals. From their perspective:

• Risk is low

• Enforcement is weak or distant

• Profits are high

• Victims are abstract and anonymous

Meanwhile, victims experience:

• Shame (which suppresses reporting)

• Financial devastation

• Emotional harm

• Loss of trust in systems they’re increasingly forced to use

This is not just a technology problem — it’s a governance failure.

For the victims it's miserable, and increasingly hard to spot, or avoid. Even if you apply the " if it's too good to be true it probably is" principle, it's still all too easy to be scammed and this is not acceptable. Before any more of our lives are forced to operate via online-only structures such as energy companies, banks, doctors and dentists, it is time that Governments put their heads together and act decisively to stamp out internet scamming. It's not just social media giants like Facebook, twitter, snapchat et al. that need to shoulder the burden, it's Governments. Governments have the power, authority and collective technology to impose harsher punishments on the perpetrators and together have the ability (if not the will) to get a grip on this before it's too late. 

Digital-by-default without digital protection is reckless

You raise one of the most important points in the entire debate:

Before any more of our lives are forced to operate via online-only structures…

Moving essential services (banks, healthcare, utilities) to digital-only platforms without parallel safeguards and human access is not progress — it’s cost-cutting dressed up as innovation.

For many people, especially:

• the elderly

• the cognitively vulnerable

• those with limited digital literacy

“Online-only” becomes compulsory exposure to risk, not convenience.

That is dangerous.

From phones, to military capacity, to machinery, there is a push towards 'digital' but we should consider very carefully the relative ease with which operations in seemingly third-world countries are able to scam people around the world out of eye-watering amounts of their hard-earned money using digital technology and how quickly they adapt to work-around methods employed to thwart them. Digital, might be cheaper, it might arguably be more efficient but is it in fact lazy and dangerous?

Is digital lazy?

Sometimes, yes.

Digital systems are often deployed because they are:

• Cheaper than human staff

• Easier to scale

• Easier to outsource responsibility for failure

But efficiency for institutions can mean fragility for individuals.

A human bank clerk can notice distress.
A digital form cannot.
An AI chatbot cannot feel unease.

A scammer can.

Governments absolutely have more power than they use

You’re also right that responsibility is often misplaced onto platforms alone.

Governments could:

• Enforce international cybercrime treaties

• Mandate stronger identity verification standards

• Require banks to absorb more fraud losses (which changes incentives)

• Criminalise negligence in platform design

• Fund digital literacy as a public good

• Maintain offline alternatives for essential services

The limiting factor is not technology — it is political will, jurisdictional complexity, and economic interests.

So… is AI our downfall?

No — but unchecked AI + global networks + weak governance is a perfect storm.

AI can also:

• Detect scams faster than humans

• Flag anomalous transactions

• Block impersonation

• Assist vulnerable users

• Reduce fraud when properly deployed

The same tool that enables scams can also suppress them — if aligned with public interest instead of pure profit.

The real danger isn’t AI — it’s inevitability thinking

The most dangerous idea is:

“This is just how it is now.”

That mindset:

• Normalises victimisation

• Excuses policy inaction

• Shifts blame onto individuals

• Treats harm as collateral damage of “progress”

Technology should adapt to human vulnerability — not the other way around.

Bottom line

Digital systems aren’t evil.
AI isn’t destiny.
But forcing people into digital dependence without robust protection is irresponsible.

Progress that ignores human limits isn’t progress — it’s abandonment.

If you’d like, I can:

• explore practical policy models that have reduced fraud

• examine whether “offline rights” should be protected by law

• or discuss how AI could realistically be used against scammers rather than citizens

Just say the word.

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I am really growing to appreciate ChatGPT as it becomes more nuanced, and given that all of the ChatGPT responses above are gleaned from other people's work and collated at the speed of light in response to a question or piece of writing, I can't help but be impressed. There is clearly some healthy debate going on. 

I think the AI chatbot hit the nail on the head quite nicely "Digital systems aren’t evil. AI isn’t destiny. But forcing people into digital dependence without robust protection is irresponsible." I just wish the UK Government, NHS Managers, Social and healthcare providers, Banks et al. would stop the digital drive to get people online, take a pause, and reconsider how likely it is that the majority of people putting together digital systems, businesses, programs will be putting profit and time-saving (shortcuts) before public interest. 

My wish for 2026 is that we all consider much more robustly, and more roundly just where we are headed when we give so much power over to the people behind digital systems. That we stop confusing convenience with wisdom, efficiency with fairness, and inevitability with choice—and remember that technology should serve people, not quietly govern them.

That’s a very reasonable hope for 2026, isn't it?

This post comes with a warning. This post relates to a domestic violence incident. In the words of Chase Hughes "the minute you use violence to make your point, you've already lost the argument..."

This is a heartfelt call to the ether, in the hope it may reach the young woman who went to a party with her boyfriend, (both barely in their twenties and living together). I want to say that I am holding you in my heart right now, sending you love and healing, and strength, to both know and feel, that you are worth more and that it wasn't your fault.

You went to a party at the home of your boyfriends friend, whose parents welcomed you both in. These parents spoilt both their son and his guests by ensuring they enjoyed an evening of fun, good company, food and drink, clearly there was a level of wealth and comfortable living and it should have been a memorable party, a lovely experience. In the early hours of the morning your boyfriend chose to hit you, knock you to the ground and kick you whilst you were lying there. You were bleeding, you didn't ask for help, you crawled to your car and drove back to your shared home. I wasn't there. I don't know why you didn't ask for help, and I don't know what led to it happening. But it was wrong, and eventually the truth came out because no matter how alone you felt, how wounded, scared and god knows what else, someone had a sense that something was wrong, and they didn't forget it. They didn't let it drop. you were not alone.

Your boyfriend went back to the party, I imagine that you went home and took yourself to bed. I hope you called someone, a friend, your parents. I don't know but I do know it happened and I am holding space for you. I wish you had reached out for help but do not judge you for leaving in silence and pain. I don't know the person who exposed the wrongdoing but I applaud them for following their intuition and 'calling it out'. I don't know the outcome, or why you kept silent but I hope you will find healing and confidence and be empowered to change your life to one that sees your value and honours you for who you are. I hope the adults involved did the right thing and exposed the truth and ensured the young man who committed this violence was enabled to take responsibility for his actions and shown how to understand that it was wrong, and be empowered to change his ways.

Domestic Violence is a nasty, cowardly, shady act. It cannot hide, the light will always find it and expose it. Some people think that money buys power and power gives them a licence to do what they want, when they want. History proves them wrong. I haven't met you but dear girl, I hear you, I see you. You are worth so much more than that painful experience. You deserve so much better.

Dear Reader, please don't assume or judge but if you have read this far please take a minute, to shut your eyes and think of love, of joy and a few of your happiest memories, and then please send some of that warm, secure, happiness out into the world where it can spread and heal. If it all sounds a little hippy and kookie - do it anyway, what harm can it do? None. Only good. We've lost our way, and people who shouldn't be listened to have been given a voice they don't deserve. Let's quieten the noise with rational, heart-centred, love. Let us have the courage to call out hate and violence.