The RSA Blog

The medical model of mental illness: we’re not convinced

Blog

11 Nov 2011

A great systematic review has been published in this month’s British Journal of Psychiatry. It has the slightly less than tabloid-friendly title Biogenetic Explanations and Public Acceptance of Mental Illness: Systematic Review of Population Studies, but behind the dense title is a really useful and important piece of work.

Learning about learning

Blog

11 Nov 2011

Matthew Taylor

Given the growing possibility that the movie ‘Meltdown 2 – this time no one is safe’ is about to be played out across the UK, I feel an urge to write about the economic crisis. Maybe I will over the weekend. But today - before moving on to my main topic - I’ll make do with asking ‘what should us ordinary folks do?'. Yesterday morning my old friend Robert Peston -who increasingly sounds like Private Frazer from Dads Army on mood altering drugs (‘we’re doomed but, hey, it’s kind of amazing’) - used the word 'Armageddon' twice on the Today Programme. The other night I chatted with someone who had spoken recently to both a group of financial industry folk in Japan and hedge fund traders in the UK, all of whom apparently said they has bought and stashed gold bars. I don’t know where to get gold bars, even if I had the readies to buy them so what should I do: wait and hope, buy basic provisions, take my cash out of the bank? Any useful tips out there?

Civic Symbolism: What's in a Poppy?

Blog

10 Nov 2011

Benedict Dellot

There’s something quite satisfying about seeing others wear a poppy, even if you aren’t wearing one yourself. The scene of lots of people milling about with little red flowers on their lapel is both moving and visually striking. It impresses not simply because of the number of poppies on display, but more so because of what they represent. They are in effect – and without trying to look too deeply into this – collective expressions of care, solidarity and respect for those who have fought and sacrificed their lives for others.

Enterprising types?

Blog

09 Nov 2011

Matthew Taylor

As the economic gloom sits over us, as indifferent to our misery as a rain cloud at a test match, we screw up our eyes in search of rays of light. Stories of plucky start-up businesses and bold entrepreneurship are among those rays.

From Chicago... to the RSA: two group facilitation methods to help you put an end to ‘aimless drift’

Blog

08 Nov 2011

Chicago gave rise to the radical community organising approach of Saul Alinsky (made famous by its Barack Obama connection - and a rather unexpected endorsement by David Cameron).

Nudging towards organ donation: Wales leads the way

Blog

08 Nov 2011

Today, the Welsh government has published proposals to change the way organ donation is organised from an opt-in to an opt-out system. The soft opt-out system they propose would allow people to register their preference not to donate, and would include some flexibility so that families can still refuse that their loved one’s organs be donated after they have died. The Welsh government said that a bill will be introduced in 2012, legislation in place by 2013 and the system up and running by 2015.

Goodbye to a very special man

Blog

07 Nov 2011

Matthew Taylor

Here are some of the things I learned from my friend Philip Gould, whose sad death was announced this morning.

Mistakes, integrity and being a professional

Blog

07 Nov 2011

Last week it was reported that a doctor who had made mistakes in over 20 operations was returning to work. The doctor in question, Gideon Lauffer, made some serious errors while practising as a general surgeon, including two which led to the deaths of patients. In 2007, Mr Lauffer accidentally perforated the bowel of Terry Harris, a previously fit and healthy 68-year old, during a routine gall bladder operation, and Allan Scammell died from blood poisoning after Mr Lauffer sewed his bowel to the wall of his abdomen, also in 2007.

I'll have less of your lip

Blog

04 Nov 2011

Matthew Taylor

I’ve always been a bit of a misery when it comes to sponsored larks for charity. True, I ran a marathon and raised a few grand some years ago but running 26 miles is a serious – if ultimately pointless – activity. Indeed, one of the things that kept me going all the way to the line was avoiding the humiliation of being passed by a ten foot carrot or both halves of a pantomime horse.