In an essay and book of the same title, Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity (1995), Marc Augé coined the phrase “non-place” to refer to places of transience that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as “places”. Examples of a non-place would be a motorway, a hotel room, an airport or a supermarket.

Supermarkets are the vacuous supporters of the space known as the heart of the community. It used to be churches, then became the village pub, now its the supermarket. But I think the notion of a ‘heart of the community’ has been diluted by our attempts to support it.

Slavoj Žižek makes the point that art used to be about beauty. then came modern art which kicked out beauty and in that space put a toilet. (literally). then as thing change and develop the thing inside the space has become less and less relevant as the fight is not to keep something of beauty within that space called art. anything in the space will do. What become of worth is putting anything in the space, in order to maintain the existence of the space.

Community and the idea of a communal space being the heart of the community has changed and developed as has our understanding/ideas of community. I think that nowadays the supermarkets with their community noticeboards, consistent back packing days and free glass hire for the local community, are perhaps the incarnation what happens after the toilet has been removed from the space.

I was in a supermarket last week, as I walked in and picked up a basket i saw an old man, probably late 80′s sitting in a fold up chair at the door. As I walked past I heard a snippit of conversation between him and a lady who worked there.
‘has your taxi still not come yet? that’s terrible.’
‘no can you check for me’
the lady put back a basket and walked back past him.
‘I’ll go and phone and check they’re on their way you just wait there.’
the man sat beside the door, facing in the shop out of the cold air.

I went and did my shop. On the way out I noticed the old man was still sitting at the door. I walked out the door and saw a taxi. I went and asked who he was due to meet. The taxi driver told me the name and I said I thought it was an older gentleman inside. ‘Wait for me, I will be back.’
I went in and asked if the old gentlemans’ name was… he said yes. I said time to get your taxi then.

He asked for a hand to stand. I offered him my arm.
He said no he would need more than that
I tried to lift him under one arm.
He didn’t move.
I put down my shopping next to his and tried to lift him under both arms.
He did move but I was doing all the work.
I got him nearly straight and attempted to let him go.
‘No I can’t stand yet.”
I continued until he was straight.
‘I can stand now.’
He joked I should have brought my wheel chair.

I offered to take his arm for the walk to the taxi. other shoppers paused to offer assistance, to move his shopping for us. I accepted the help.
The man tried to turn round, but having sat so long, his hip had frozen, moving his right leg would be tough.
He hobbled slowly towards the door, rejecting my help, and complaining about his lack of movement.

He kept moving slowly. the taxi driver came and took his bags to the car.
I noticed a member of staff following us. Slowly. Waiting for us to move.
As we passed by the shopping trolleys he took one and wandered off.
The driver returned and took over escorting the man to the car.
I got my shopping bag back and headed for my car.

Its left me wondering why that stayed with me.
Its left me wondering how we care in communal spaces.
Its left me wondering how we engage with each other when so much of what we call community hubs, are non-places.

I am not sure I have any answers.
but I have some questions, and for now, that is enough.

So the boss of RBS has been awards a bonus of about £963000, in shares. And people are annoyed. Outraged actually. How can it possibly be right that these rich bankers get big bonuses?

I am not sure I share the outrage his bonus payment. In three points

1-
It’s in his contract. He has a good contract and is being rewarded in the way that the company said they would reward him if he hit certain targets.
Well done on exceeding at you job. You are worth this bonus (down £1m on last year)

2
£963000 worth of shares in RBS? Surely that’s part of the John Lewis style economy which the deputy prime minister was chatting about. (not the greatest idea nicks had.)

No seriously, the sum of £963000 is not that much money. (within the context of banking). Last year RBS paid in total around £1billion in bonuses to employees. In 2010 Lloyds Bank paid out £5-6billion in bonuses. The Guardian reported that, in 2010 RBS have spent $4.13million on US government lobbyists. Given these large figures the Chief Exec getting £963000 seems a small figure. I’d rather give the money to the Chief Exec than pay for US Lobbyists.

Within the general UK context of people getting pay freezes and rising unemployment this is an excessive figure. It seems outlandish that one human is worth so much money. Yet the question is why do we have this moral outrage against one banker when TV personalities, footballers and film stars all will earn more than this amount this year?

Wayne Rooney is reportedly paid £250000 per week. His bonus for running the bank is about 8.3% of Wayne Rooney’s income. Is that Fair?

3
Without some sort of root an branch reform of our reliance on the financial sector, you have congratulate the banks on playing the game well and winning that battle.

Politically the war cannot be won unless the UK can get itself reliant on something’s other than the financial and service sectors.
Without this we are over a barrel and even though we don’t like it. The banks will act with impunity. As they know the UK is reliant upon them, yet they can move as the ‘business case’ makes itself.

I don’t like it but given the things above…I am not sure I can join the moral outrage about it. Instead of outrage I took action, I moved banks to one I thought I would act in a more just way.

First Minister Alex Salmond at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh today outlined detailed proposals for the referendum in autumn 2014 on whether Scotland should be an independent country.

With under 1000 days until the referendum I should I suppose, start thinking about it.
My starting point is this…

Scotland has no barriers to being able to govern itself.
Scotland has the resources to be an independent country.

Scotland and the rest of the UK have done well together for the last few years.
Scotland the rest of the UK have grown together in an reasonably organic way allowing for each other to challenge and encourage each other.

I don’t think ‘devolution max’ is really worthwhile, a halfway house is not satisfactory to anyone. If we allow 16&17 year olds to vote, I think we have to open it up to every man, woman and child in the whole of Scotland.

Without a legally binding outcome what is the point?

My own position is…
Change can be good. Things will change. Change is not always to be desired. For me Scotland is a country which has retained a distinct identity from within the UK.

I haven’t seen a really convincing argument that independence is a change to be desired.
The current situation we have is very good for both Scotland and the rest of the UK

I look at the £13 million decrease our local regional council has had to its budget. And ask if I would prefer to live in Scotland with higher taxes and the regional council perhaps having an increase in budget or have council tax held where it is and council services reduced.

I don’t know quite how I feel about that. I guess I have 1000 days or so to work it out.

The thing which got my interest was their answer to the question. around their decisions about resigning.
answer 1

In answer to the Question why have you resigned?
‘I’m not leaving because i was pushed… I’m going because I’m a leader.
Leadership is not about popularity, not about the press, not about spinning. Its about making decisions that put your organisation, your mission and the people you lead first. It’s about doing things that will make them proud of the leaders, and that’s much different from being popular with them. It about taking decisions that may be difficult and personally painful.
that’s leadership, and that’s why I’m going.’

answer 2

- Have you considered resigning?
- I have not.
- Why not?
- Because I feel that people I trusted, I am not saying who, I don’t know what level, have let me down. I think they behaved disgracefully and betrayed the company and me. It is for them to pay. I think that frankly, I am the best person to clean this up.

I don’t know i can articulate what i think leadership is particularly well. But one of these answers comes pretty close to what i think it is. Unfortunately, I suspect it’s not the way of the billionaire.

Hot local news.

“Cycle lanes boost safer traffic.

Cycle lanes are to be installed between Lanark and Hyndford Bridge.

New signs, road markings and coloured surfacing will highlight the route to both cyclists and drivers.

The work is the first phase of a project that will create a new route between Lanark and Biggar which will connect to the Tweed Cycleway.

A total of £50,000 will be spent on the new scheme following a successful funding bid by the council to Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).

The road between Lanark and Biggar is already well used by cyclists so it is hoped that by providing dedicated lanes to make it safer for cyclists and drivers to share the road network, more people will cycle in the area and encourage more sustainable and active travel.

And even if people leave the car at home just one day a week – it can make a great difference to easing congestion and reducing harmful exhaust emissions.”

point 1 – The work started 3 weeks ago
point 2 – perhaps a better strategy to stop people driving the road, would be to install a pavement? all the way between Lanark and Hyndford Bridge. having walked the road numerous times the bit without the pavement and the lorries is slightly concerning.
point 3 – As I type this, looking at the road in question. the number of bike to have traveled the road today is 0. Perhaps a cycle lane is not the solution to the problem.
point 4 – safer traffic? I was unaware of any cyclist related traffic problems on the road, I doubt the gazzette would have missed such a story.

The problem for most cyclists (I assume) is the number of lorries on the route. one every 6 minutes or so. Its not as bad as main road Glasgow traffic, but it can get quite busy with large vehicles traveling at reasonable speeds.

the news release is here should you care to check i haven’t edited it for my own purposes.
Cycle lanes boost safer traffic

I am still paying off my student loan form that time but I got a job due to the successful competing of the course.

I also did a post graduate certificate while working full time. (not a year of relaxing then…) I was awarded a paid place on the course.

I felt really bad when one girl dropped out due to not having enough money to pay the fees. She was counting in getting a paid place.

I don’t know what’s right.
I do think the funding of higher education needs looked at. British institutions may have a certain cache but the ivy league is in a different league when it come to funding.

I guess I have a core belief in doing good things.
Free health care through the nhs. Good.
Free benefits for those who need. Good.
Free primary and secondary education. Good.
Free access to higher education. Good

I cannot get away from it being a really good thing.

I understand that it needs to be funded, and I understand that the Con-lib government is very committed to cutting things. To balance our books, (not the radical way I would do it but hey!)

Yet this seems a decision based on focusing britain on a service economy and buisness. It is focuses on money and not intangibles. Yet prime minister Cameron talks about the big community and of measuring happiness rather than GDP as a measure of how well the country is doing.

Who will look after -
Beauty.
Art.
Justice.
Freedom.
If they go, where is society?

That’s disappointing.
That’s worrying.

solas2010 was class
you should have been there.

great music, speakers, weather, activities, and fun for all the family.
it was great to be a part of something like this.
where sourcing affordable, local produce, sold at affordable prices, (£2 for an organic venison burger. nice!) was as important as getting the right band. Where giving the festival the right feel & vibe was more important than having a pub.

It was a delight and joy. I still can’t quite believe how well everything went. Someone gave me feedback based on turning Solas from a 4star festival into a 5star. Trust me, a 4star rating is deserved and accurate. It really was good. You should have been there.

thanks to lots of people I worked directly with including,
Dominic,
Hoggy & Gordon @GBR,
Ben & E&MS crew,
Bill,
Sam,
Martin & Dave,
Jonny @Wiston
and the solas directors.

Here’s to many more.

PS Becoming a Solas Saint would be very helpful. please consider helping Solas to grow and develop the conversation between Arts, Justice & Faith, http://www.solasfestival.co.uk/give.php

I think voting is important and you should do it.
So On you go.
do it.

P.S.
I think Gordon Brown doesn’t often get to do things on his terms. I was quite amazed at how good he was in the video clip below. yeah he was saying what they wanted to hear but i think there was a sense of him doing it on his terms, and his beliefs and values.

Feel free to disagree with him, or even vote against him. (Above all, do vote.) but the difference between hearing him talk like this and hearing David Cameron talk is marked and decisive.

I doubt any of them make sense, in a joined up sense but in my brain somehow they make sense….
– Steve Jobs thoughts on using flash in iPhone, iPod and iPad.
– A small section in the Andrew Marr show (BBC Sunday mornings) on the relationship between MP’s and the electorate.
– The current tranche of press releases from The Church of Scotland on the future of the CofS
– and an ecumenical meeting of clergy with the local Community Planning Partnership.

Something has to change.
I was thinking this as I sat in a two hour meeting between staff and clergy, and local political instruments. In the meeting the head of the local Non-Government Independent Charities which are core funded by the Local Government, (do you see what they did there?), saw an impotent, poor excuse for a meeting. I found the whole thing disappointing.

on reflection a couple of things hit me.
- we had chosen to engage, but the relationship was not an even one. we were being regarded as useful information and propaganda sources, but not ‘partners’. The power relationship was skewed so far out of kilter
- secondly our engagement had been needy. As minorities within the relationship, we had gratefully taken everything we had been given with a respectful and humble attitude. (Just like Jesus?) My friend came up with the paraphrase of Jesus ‘Innocent as lambs, slippery as fuck.” In our meeting we had got the innocent bit right, but the slippery, well we were probably grippy rather than slippery.
- thirdly our engagement was uncreative,without focus or agenda, and chaired in a bizarrely partisan basis by the chair who was part of our group.

something needed to be changed. Yet I am unsure how to articulate the change which is necessary.

I dont think my experience of this is unique, but when i then read the mass of press releases coming out of the Church of Scotland in the run up to the general assembly I began to wonder about how universal these thoughts are.(CofS have been talking about money, how they do church, part time ministry, Gay clergy. Just about anything they can.)
As I have read things from press releases, quote for ministers, and leaks from reports, I got that feeling again. As a pew dweller I have no real power within the church. Everything is decided by committee, (the essence of Presbyterianism) at local, and national level. this give democratic authenticity to decisions but there seems to be a general unwillingness to change. My problem here is my understanding of any church as the only institution which exists primarily for the benefit of those outside it.
Engagement is on the established terms.
creativity is not a noted by product of any committee meeting of any sort.

something needed to be changed. Yet I am unsure how to articulate the change which is necessary. (I am unsure I have articulated the problem well!)

Some light as shed on this by the small section in the Andrew Marr programme, where they did a bit on the relationship between the MP’s and the electorate. its basic theory was that the electorate think of it as an upper class lower class relationship. (MPs upper class, electorate Lower class) yet politician after politician, in their memoirs and comment thought of it more as the relationship between the masters and servants, with Mp’s being as the servants.

I am unhappy leaving that expressed view unchallenged, but when you apply that thinking or position to the CCP or the CofS, the power dynamic changes, and the opportunity for change becomes something which can be worked towards. the problem then is how to make change happen and something creative for those involved.

Hence the inclusion of Steve Jobs open statement on the relationship between Apple and Adobe. It does several things very well. It outlines the problems, and outlines the future course of action which seems sensible given the argument simply put forward.
(You can read it here. Thoughts on Flash @ Apple.com
His comments are accurate, seem reasonably considered, yet clear and decisive action is called for. Change is advocated for.

My dominating thought though reading this was who is doing this for that meeting we had, who is doing this for the CofS assembly stuff i have been reading, (even who is doing this for the MP’s). something needed to be changed. It was articulated well the change which is necessary.

I wonder where else that is done?
I wonder where else that is done creatively?

reecently I have been busy with thePROJECT, a series of interim events which are somehow heading towards a expression of festival focused on Arts, Culture and Faith within a uniquely scottish context.

I am quite excited about the whole thing and think it will be grand.
as well as names John Bell, Doug Gay, Mr Cutler, Iain Archer, We See Lights etc. it has been good just engaging with the people who have put all this together. It has been an excellent exercise in just being creative and thinking beyond a very narrow perspective. The perspective at work is kind or narrow and concentrated. that is good it delivers specifics and relevance. But this wider remit has been good fun.

I don’t know if it has been as challenging as it should have been. I focused on the Web side of things and this has been fun.
click for the project website

anyway if you are free and able to travel to edinburgh this weekend please consider coming over and enjoying “A day for the deliberate exploration of the arts, culture and faith. A comfortable place for insiders, outsiders and maybe especially those at the margins of the church.”

should be fun!