My Governor Election Statement

I'm standing for (re)election as a Public Governor of Cambridgshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust - the NHS organisation that provides the mental health care for the Cambridgeshire region, with votes closing on the 31st May 2010. I have been a Governor for 2 years since the formation of the Trust as a Foundation Trust. 

Below is my election statement. If you are a member of the Trust you'll have received a voting form and if you agree with my statement I would welcome your vote.

2010 Election Statement

If re-elected I’ll continue to represent those who feel unheard, misunderstood, inadequately cared for and isolated by mental illness, whether sufferers or carers. I’ll also focus on cost control and value for money as well as new ways to engage closely with users using Internet technology. 

I’ve been an active voice as a Governor, involved in anti-stigma, information provision and getting out on the street and online with direct action and communication.

My experiences have brought me into close contact with the devastating effects of conditions such as Depressive Illness and related aspects, whilst highlighting the misunderstanding and stigma associated with mental health issues. I'm dedicated to doing everything possible to change this perception and improve the care available for sufferers and carers, who often go unsupported.

 

I'm passionate about "levelling the playing field" for mental health, with greater provision, awareness and education, ensuring available funds are well spent.

If re-elected I’ll continue to represent those who feel unheard, misunderstood, inadequately cared for and isolated by mental illness, whether sufferers or carers. I’ll also focus on cost control and value for money as well as new ways to engage closely with users using Internet technology.

 
I’ve been an active voice as a Governor, involved in anti-stigma, information provision and getting out on the street and online with direct action and communication.

My experiences have brought me into close contact with the devastating effects of conditions such as Depressive Illness and related aspects, whilst highlighting the misunderstanding and stigma associated with mental health issues. I'm dedicated to doing everything possible to change this perception and improve the care available for sufferers and carers, who often go unsupported. 

I'm passionate about "levelling the playing field" for mental health, with greater provision, awareness and education, ensuring available funds are well spent.

How to make election stats say anything you want

I'l be honest - for the first time in my life I've been gripped by the UK 2010 election and the workings of the politics.

We live in such a different era to when I was first able to vote: wall-to-wall blanket media coverage, 24 hour opinion and speculation, and something I've found particularly interesting, helpful, amusing (and silly at times): the whole social media channel - which in a sense has given real-time interaction and access to opinions that are not edited by TV moguls with an agenda.

However - that's not to say all this coverage has been excellent or impartial - far from it. Nothing is more annoying to me than selective use of facts simply to create spin - and there has been plenty of that.

So, I thought I would list out some of the key facts from the outcome of the election and list some of the possible statements that can be made - all true - but selected depending on what spin you wish to give.

If i had more time I'd turn this into an interactive tool that allows you to construct any statement you wish, but for now, here are the guts of it.

Quantity of votes

(Con ~10.7m ~8.6m Lab LD ~6.8m) source bbc

CON > LAB
CON > LIB DEM
LAB > LIB DEM

Thus

"labour did not win"
"lib dem did not win"

CON ~ >1/3rd vote
Lab ~ <1/3rd vote
LidDem ~1/4 vote

"~2/3rds did not vote for con"
"~2/3rds did not vote for lab"
"~3/4ths did not vote for Lib dem"

+ "and yet they are getting their policies implemented" etc.

when it comes to seats

CON < 326 (the number required for an outright majority)
LAB < 326
LD < 326

thus:

"con does not have a mandate to govern" or "con did not win"
"lab does not have a mandate to govern"
"ld does not have a mandate to govern"
"we have a PM that was not voted for"
"we have a Deputy PM that was not voted for"

CON + LD > LAB
LAB + LD > CON
CON + LAB > LD

thus:

a con + LD coalition represents the majority
a lab + LD coalition represents the majority
a con + lab coalition represents the majority

Because both coalition parties have to compromise on policy:

"con no longer represents their voters / has sold itself down the river"
"LD no longer represents their voters / has sold itself down the river"

and so on..

I've not even covered level of turnout, which means something like ~35% of the populations' views are unknown and thus can be used to reduce the mandate of all the above figures.

You can do this stuff all day.. :-)

Some customer service tips for couriers

I find couriers one of the hardest of service organisations to deal with, so here are some suggestions to substantially improve their customer service.

1. The reason you had to leave a card is because I'm not available during the day. Thus if you are going to leave a contact number, make sure it's available AT NIGHT. 
2. It's all very well leaving a card to arrange web redelivery - but the whole benefit of this is that you can relieve yourself of responsibility of my parcel sooner & more reliably. So it's not acceptable that I can't arrange it for the forthcoming day, especially when you can still have at least 24 hours to organise it. You managed the logistics in <24 hours when it was sent, so why not again?
3. If you're going to leave something in a safe and secure space, at least leave a card to say so. I'm indeed grateful for your trouble, but it could be there for weeks because you've hidden it so well. Just a card will do.
4. Why not answer the phone once in a while? Some of us customers are actually friendly and we're actually trying to help you discharge your duties. Oh, and being able to call the LOCAL branch is kind of more helpful since that's where you have my parcel. 
5. Get your driver to wait more than 8 seconds after knocking on the door. Once in a while I'm on a call, in the shower, or just plain on-the-top-floor - it's silly for him to miss me, or for me to fall down the stairs getting to him. 

This is real basic stuff - driven by customer experience and customer satisfaction - not targets and KPIs and time-based metrics. Of course, if you follow these above rules, you'll actually deliver more parcels more successfully anyway. Win-win wouldn't you say?

Bullying for love...

Once upon a time I worked for a company who released an HR policy on bullying. Part of that policy claimed that bullying was in the "eye of the beholder" - i.e. if you felt it was bullying, it was. 

My reaction at the was one of slight incredulity - how on Earth could such a thing either be provable or enforceable. Policies without teeth are surely pointless?

Many years on I actually see the point and I actually disagree with my former self. Perhaps I'm older and wiser and understand human nature a bit better.

Perhaps I thought that bullying was always something physical. Perhaps I thought it had to involve coercion. Perhaps I thought that the bully always got their own way. I don't believe any of that now. 

For starters, bullying is most definitely in the eye of the beholder: different people respond differently to being subjected to the same behaviours. 

The confident employee who is pal-y with the boss may take jibes, swearing, back-slapping, throwing of objects (lightheartedly or otherwise) and unreasonable demands with a pinch of salt. A less-confident employee may, on the other hand, take such things very much more personally. It might affect their work and their ability to feel open. It might further harm their confidence. It might make them start to fear engaging with their boss. If it gets to that point, then actually whether you label it "bullying" or not, it's a problem - it's "inappropriate behaviour".

Which begs the question - what is bullying? 

Is it physical? is it coercive? Is it about someone else getting their own way?

It can be all of things, but it doesn't have to be. 

For example, inaction can be as damaging as action. Blanking or ignoring someone can be damaging and controlling. Busting a gut to produce a great piece of work, only to be met with silence and blankness can obviously be hurtful. If this is directed discriminately at specific individuals or is part of an ongoing pattern, even more devasting. This type of behaviour is sending psychological signals to an individual - controlling them in a subtle way - in my book, bullying.

The same is true of an explosive temper. (Interesting word "temper", also meaning "make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate; "she tempered her criticism")  Of course all humans have in in-built anger mechanism and have times when this needs to be released. What we try to do is ensure that in the workplace, at least, this is - if you pardon the pun - tempered. If it is not, then it can create a culture of fear. If employees' actions or mistakes are met with colleagues' explosive rage then, again, this is essentially a psycholigical tactic to control another employee's actions - whether or not that tactic is done consciously or unconsciously, spontaneously or in a considered way.

Probably most people agree that rage and anger and temper and other 'destructive' emotions certainly have the potential to cross that line in the sand that separates "enthusastic personality" and "someone who gets things done" from "bully" and "tyrant"; and different people will draw different lines. But the conundrum for me is that I also think bullying can be done in a spirit of generousity and love. Yes, really.

I argue that any kind of controlling behaviour is a form of bullying. It doesn't matter what the motivation for that behaviour is - when one person tries to systematically control the actions or desires of another, it's bullying.

You see this sometimes happen in families. Take, for example, the person who always insists on paying for meals out. Always. On the surface it's an act of kindness and generousity. But what this behaviour does is deny anyone else the same privilege. It denies anyone else the same expression of kindness or generousity towards their family. IT DENIES ANYONE ELSE THE SAME. 

It turns out then, that this behaviour, when performed relentlessly, is selfish - even though it is driven by generous motives. Now that's wierd. 

That's why bullying IS in the eye of the beholder - because it's about the EFFECT of behaviours. It has less to do with an absolute value judgement of the behaviour of the bully, and whether their actions are well-intended and apparently harmless.  

Well - food for thought (am I'm not paying). 

There are two ways to save money...

There are two ways to save money without undermining what you do: reduce cost and cut wastage.

When I recently invested in my bread machine I thought I was probably doing the former - reducing cost - because I anticipated the price of raw ingredients to be much less than the price of the finished product (a loaf of bread). 

It turns out this assumption is not as starkly true as I had hoped. Sure - there is a lower price point for raw ingredients, but it's more marginal than I had imagined. Silly me for not doing my ROI (return on investment) calculations based on more detailed research/discovery.

Notwithstanding, my bread machine is still saving me loads. How?

Because, for one, it's cutting down wastage. The ability to make my bread "on demand", to make the appropriate quantities I need, AND the ability to store the ingredients until they are needed (rather than keep unused bread until it is mouldy) means my purchasing and consumption patterns are much more closely aligned. I'm putting less into the system, but still getting what I need out. And it's fresher - i.e. better quality. In a sense, my process is more lean.

But there's a third factor two - possibly even the most significant - that is contributing to my results: transformation.

That's right - I have transformed my behaviour. And this is the third way to cut costs - by changing what you do.

In the case of the bread maker, my behaviour has changed so that I eat more bread, more often. This change in behaviour translates into less eating of other, more costly, foodstuffs (such as snacks and ready meals). And that is where the significant savings come. If I can feed myself on bread and soup for a day, it'll cost me, say £2 - when I might otherwise have spent £5 or £10 on alternatives (TV dinners, take aways, or even home-cooked meat & two-veg). The effect of transformation is stark. 

And this is how it applies in business too - technology is an enabler. It may slice a bit of cost off here, enable a slightly more efficient process there - but ultimately, it's by transformation - change in behaviour - that the big bucks can be saved. 

So there you go - the essence of business process transformation in a nutshell - or indeed, a bread machine.

Finally tempted my brother to the dark side...

After what must be the best part of 20 years driving exclusively volvo, I never thought my brother would defect. But he has! He's bought a Skoda!

I think the pressure has been gnawing away from within the family network - not only did I defect from Volvo/Saab (I like my fast, swedish, quirky cars) to Skoda a few years ago, but so did my sister (at the same time and completely independently) and finally my mother recently, prompted by the UK scrappage scheme. 

The leap on paper was big for me - not only from a 300bhp SAAB to a "lesser" badge, but a diesel car at that. But, I was too tempted by the alarming regularity of rave reviews, much lower all round purchase & running costs, capacious load carrying, and a fun pokey engine in the vRS - which is essentially a Golf GTI by another name and body shell. 

I've never looked back. Thrilled by fun, low cost, high economy motoring, not a day goes past without the car putting a smile on my face. A spirited drive does not cost the earth, unlike that of my brother's volvo T5 - for which you have to take steps to arrange a bank loan before you give it a long blast through the mountains. And, should you care to chip your diesel vRS you can have 430Nm of torque propelling you past pretty much any line of traffic. Even my 300bhp saab only managed 400Nm. 

So, spurred by Skoda's current "tax free" deal (i.e you pay list price before VAT is added, saving about £3500 on a top spec car) my brother has jumped ship - also to a diesel Octy vRS estate. He won't regret it. Not to be outdone, I'm changing mine too - for the same thing. This is the first time I've replaced a car with one the same - that's how much I love my Skoda. 

It'll be interesting to compare cars - his is the manual, mine will be the DSG auto (with flappy paddles). Both will benefit from the new common rail diesel engine which allows a higher rev limit, and if my test drive is anything to go by, a smoother power delivery across the range. I was mightily impressed by the DSG - responsiveness, comfort and ease of use. I doubt I will go back especially once it's come into its own in all those M25 queues. 

Roll on March - we've ordered them only 2 days apart and from the same dealer - so they may arrive together. That'll make a nice photo :)

Upgrading to Windows 7 from XP without the pain

I've just completed my second of 3 (ultimately) upgrades from windows XP to windows 7.

For the first machine i just followed the standard Microsoft line and did a custom install "over the top" of XP. This takes your existing setup and stores it in a windows.old folder on the new machine running windows 7. You are then free to do with that folder what you will (such as delete it). This was ok on my first laptop as I'm just using it as a windows 7 media centre - didn't need my old stuff.

However, for my next (main) machine, that wasn't the case. It's the main machine that I use for all my personal work, which includes a lot of image creation and production (more on that in a later blog). I absolutely could not afford any downtime nor a whole weekend or more of solid copying and re-installing. (A process which from experience drags on and on for weeks in my experience.)

Thus the promise of a smooth migration, keeping all the existing XP setup alongside windows 7 was sufficiently tempting for me to take up. The system is called zinstall XP7 and you install it after you have done your windows 7 custom upgrade (keeping your old files in windows.old). When you install zinstall it wraps up all those old files and creates a fully functioning virtual machine of your old installation. Absolutely everything remains intact, all programs work correctly and all data is preserved. 

In use the system places an icon in both the windows 7 system tray and the XP system tray (is it just me that finds it quite clever it can install itself into an operating system that has been replaced?). Double clicking this icon allows you to switch between windows 7 and XP. XP is displayed full screen, even though it's running in a virtual machine and could theoretically run in a windowed container (I intend to try this). Presumably this is to make it less confusing for novice users - zinstall describes its mode of operation as "TV Channels" - which makes it easy to understand.

You can copy and paste between each system with ease, and see the file system on each system for moving files between the two. 

So what's the point of all this? Well - it means you can get windows 7 up and running, but keep your old system running in parallel - allowing you the time (as long as you want) to re-install and move applications and data to Win7. And if you have applications that will only ever run on XP, then you can keep them running indefinitely. 

It should be noted this is not the same as Microsoft's own "XP Compatibility mode" which consists of their own VM container ("Virtual PC") and a specially licensed copy of XP to run in it. The hardware requirements for their solution are stricter and you get an empty XP which you have to get your programs and data back into. This compares starkly with zinstall which is a one-click process and retains everything as is.

After 3 days, I'm giving zinstall a big thumbs up. 

A new 'intelligent' speed camera will soon be making its way onto the UK's roads.

The new cameras – nicknamed 'supertraps' – don't flash, can cover multiple lanes, and have the ability to differentiate between lorries and cars. Designed to blend into environment.
 
Unlike the UK's familiar yellow cameras, the new devices will be styled to blend with other street furniture. The first that many drivers would know about the camera's presence could be when they receive a fine through the post. 

Cameras will catch speeding truckers Speeding lorry drivers will also be targeted by the new 'supertrap' cameras, due to the device's ability to distinguish between trucks and cars. 

On many roads, lorries must adhere to lower speed limits, but convictions are difficult because current Gatso-type cameras do not differentiate between vehicles. Motoring groups question motives behind the new device.

The new speed camera has been met with criticism from motoring groups, which say that the stealth-like design of the device does more to catch speeding drivers than to slow them down. 

A spokesman from the RAC said: 'Camera positioning should be based on evidence that they will save lives, not to help balance the books for politicians.' 

The news comes after the Highways Agency revealed it is to spend £58 million on new digital cameras to monitor drivers using the hard shoulder on motorways.
 
[source RoadAngel]

I'm a musician: when will the music industry wake up and smell the coffee?

Illegal downloaders 'spend the most on music', says poll Interesting article in the Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/illegal-downloaders-spend-the-most-on-music-says-poll-1812776.html

I'm a musician; I sell music; I have an album on itunes (it's here if you want to sample it FOR FREE). So I have a vested interest in making money from my music.

But I'm also a consumer - and I understand what today's consumer wants.

The music industry needs to wake up and shake up. It's been pushing back against an inevitable tide for the last 10 years and it won't succeed in continuing to do so. I remember conversations over a decade ago with musicians worried about digital distribution and at the time DRM (in several forms) was emerging, but not mainstream. This, I said to those musicians, was how they would protect their Intellectual Property.

How embarassing. Of course, in my defence, the market was developing and the iPod was yet to emerge and no-one really knew what the appetite for digital music would be. A mere decade on and I simply can't believe how we lived without it, in the world of physical media. How quaint. Today: Portability, Mobility, Ubiquity - almost a byword for the modern age. An age that is shaped by the teenagers of today, not us old fuddy-duddies clinging on to the good-old-days.

So, Let the future roll on. 20 years ago, as I recorded my compositions to audio cassette, bouncing down from one machine to another, I longed to be able to have had my music heard, and from my dark teenager's bedroom had no way to do so. Digital production and distribution, now affordable to the common man, changed all that and enabled me to release 10 or 15 years of back catalogue on an unsuspecting world.

10 years ago I longed for the day that the world of music was digital: portable, mobile, ubiquitous - and now it's here. It's amazing. We can't go back. Who WANTS to go back? On my coach trip from Durham University to the snowy Highlands I would fill my bag with 10 or so cassettes and a walkman. My entire luggage allowance on a choice of 10 albums for an 8 hour journey?! Almost pointless. Not to mention a battery life of only half the journey. It was almost more trouble than it was worth.

And that's the point. That the sharp consumer end of things. That's what drives our behaviour and desire as consumers - and having tasten the forbidden fruit, we will not give it up. The music industry needs to recognise this, then embrace it. They need to learn to make their money from a radically new music economy. They can no longer shape it, dictate it: WE will shape it, for we are the information democracy. If you hadn't noticed, information is power, and increasingly that power is in the hands of self-organising consumers. Content (in perception at least) is a commodity - Loyalty is not; we can love you today and wave bye-bye tomorrow.

So, in my opinion, the only way to thrive in this era is to be a part of it - live it and breathe it; to be compelling, original, ingenious, accessible and relevant - not just as an artist, but as a business operation. Dinosaurs don't cut it.

I love the world of digital distribution - take my music, download it, use it, abuse and once in a while bung me a few quid..

This Halloween will be scary chez mr. nik

I was always captivated by theme parks as a child and always dreamed of building my own house with and a theme park out back. Of course as a child I didn't quite correlate how many millions of years of pocket money it would take to save up for quite such a project. Every once in a while I'd turn my bedroom into a "Haunted House" and scare the beejeesus out of my parents at how much string and sellotape an overactive child could destroy in an afternoon.

That dreamy inspiration has never left me though and every year I keep saying to myself I'm going to recreate that effect in minature at my current humble abode for Halloween night.

As some who loves sound and light and theatre, and knows a little bit about computers and electronics, I keep hatching a plan to put on a spooky outdoor experience for any would-be trick-or-treaters (in Scotland we called them 'Guisers') that dare to cross my boundary.

This year I really am going to try and get it done..

As I have my own recording studio, sound has not been too tricky to put together and I already have speakers in the garden concealed as rocks. From these will emanate wailing and gnashing and general moaning (sounds like a trip to Tesco), chains clanking and wind howling; so I just hope it's not too inclement on the night to drown it out.

Basic computer controlled lighting comes courtesy of my existing X10 home automation system - which allows remote control of 4 lighting circuits in the garden via a range of macros (e.g. to turn lights on and off in sequence). Lights can not only be switched on and off but dimmed, so I should be able to come up with some spooky lighting sequences. Some theatrical lighting gels allow me to colour some of the lights.

And of course a number of motion sensors can detect anyone creeping round the garden. I could, for example, detect the presence of a visitor as they enter the gate and trigger a spotlight on the dark secret buried under the decking. (Of course, I'm jesting. I don't actually have decking). Perhaps a skeleton scraping to get out of the garage door would do the trick.

Entrance to my gardenOfSensoryDelights would be through the underpass/carport at the side of the house. This is the perfect spot for a themed entrance. I can imagine an ominous sign here, warning visitors "Do not enter on fear of death" - assuming I can get it unstuck from my front door. The natural archway of the underpass is an obvious area to decorate with a few cans of 'spider web' - such that I can recreate that I'm-a-celebrity-get-me-out-of-this-pitch-black-tunnel effect. Once visitors make it past the cobwebs they'll be directed to turn and enter the GardenOfDoom at their peril.

The Ghost Train is still eluding me somewhat though - as it turned out Waitrose weren't too happy about me 'borrowing' a couple of shopping trolleys from their car park. Spoilsports! So, ideas on that front are welcome.

Boo!