Humansolutions Bulletin - May 7th 2015

Neil has run his Time and Workload Management course in various parts of the country to great acclaim. It is now available online as an e-learning course. Why not sign up now and see what a positive difference it can make? Click on the link below to read more. https://www.avenuemediasolutions.com/product/time-and-workload-management-2/

We live in a world of soundbites and dumbed-down media messages. Having so many people competing for our attention and trying to capture that attention in a short time is bound to lead to an oversimplification of complex issues much of the time. Add to this the fact that there are so many people trying to earn a living by coming up with simple solutions to complex problems and a strong picture of oversimplification starts to emerge. Click on the link below to read more. https://neilthompson.info/index.php/dont-oversimplify-the-complex-or-overcomplicate-the-simple/

The Community is here for people on the autism spectrum, their carers and relatives, professionals working around autism and other interested people to share their thoughts and experiences. Click on the link below to read more. https://www.community.autism.org.uk

It is generally known that greater democracy is conducive to greater equality but the mechanisms whereby inequality undermines democracy are perhaps less well understood. It is therefore welcome that the IPPR think-tank has produced a report ... that sheds some much-needed light on this area. It defines political inequality as a situation where certain individuals or groups have greater influence over political decision-making and benefit from unequal outcomes through those decisions, despite procedural equality in the democratic process. The report finds that political inequality is intimately bound up with socio-economic inequalities and observes that as material inequalities have widened in the past three decades so has political inequality. Click on the link below to read more. https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/news/enemy-people-how-inequality-undermines-democracy

A new report ... from the Work and Pensions Select Committee lays out the case for conducting a full review of sanctions in the UK’s benefit system. It highlights the fact that “there is currently no evidence” on whether a sanction will increase or decrease the likelihood of a person engaging with employment support or actually finding a job. At the same time numerous recent reports have highlighted the arbitrary cruelty created by the sanctions regime. Cases include a person being sanctioned for attending the funeral of their best friend, another person being sanctioned for being taken to hospital with a suspected heart attack, one person being sanctioned for attending a job interview instead of going to the jobcentre and…

A protein supplement company has come under fire for its "beach body ready" ad campaign featuring a bikini-clad model. Performer and body image campaigner Juliette Burton is one of those who took issue with it. When she tweeted the company, she was surprised and hurt by the response. 'The past few days have been the 'maddest' I've had in a long time. And I use that word extremely carefully. I know madness. A petition to remove the ads has now gained tens of thousands of signatures online - including mine.' Click on the link below to read more. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-32497580