Friday 6 June 2014

TR Day Four

I've seen that guardian jobs are specifically advertising for New Zealand and Australia probation officers working in the UK a higher salary than a standard PO. 

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The text of the guardian advert placed by 'Criminal Justice Skills' : Are you a Qualified Probation officer from New Zealand or Australia?

Are you looking to continue your career in probation whilst in the UK?

Criminal Justice Skills is a market-leading supplier of staffing services to the offender management work community

Currently in the probation market we have a scarcity of candidates with background in probation. In order to address this problem we are currently looking for candidates who are experienced Probation Officers, looking to break in to the UK Probation Service. Several of our probation trust clients are interested in employing probation officers from Australia and New Zealand on interim contracts. We are considering offering assistance to any probation officer from Australia or New Zealand who reside in the UK, and who may be interested in this line of work.

We are running a course in the next 3 months to place experienced Probation Officers from outside the UK who have a minimum of 2 years+experience. We will take you through the policies and procedures, as well as train you on the electronic systems that are currently being used in the Probation Service.

Main requirements for a Temporary Probation Officer Role are:

2 years minimum experience in a Probation Officer role
Available to work immediately, and have proof of eligibility to work in the UK
Experience in caseload management of offenders
Have not been dismissed from a probation officer role
This is an exciting opportunity to enter an industry where there is a lot of opportunity to work, and with an agency who are experts in recruitment in to probation.

If this is not right for you, but you know someone who would be suitable. Please call up with their details, and we would pay you £50 in vouchers for the referral if placed.

If you would like to be considered for this position and have the relevant experience, then please apply below.

The Red Snapper Group acts as an employment agency (permanent) and as an employment business (temporary) - a free and confidential service to candidates.

The Red Snapper Recruitment Group is an equal opportunities employer.


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No real problem with where we get appropriate qualified officers but the crass insensitivity of NOMS/MOJ again seeking to shit all over the workforce they have .....I continue to be amazed how a large civil service based organisation can GET IT SO WRONG!! They must have the most incompetent staff and no regard for staff whatsoever ...splitting staff, de professionalising, advertising for new NPS graduates, Aussie PO's ...what next???

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Simon Garden @TheParoleOfficr on twitter has noticed that they have just taken the advert down. Thanks to him he managed to get a screen shot of it.

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Bosses last few months: We're splitting in June - get used to it! We'll be two new exciting (etc) organisations
Bosses this week: Why are you acting like we've split? We need to work together for the sake of the business!


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I am a PO in a CRC. Last month I was managing 40+ cases, either high risk of harm, sex offenders, serious mental health problems or domestic violence. I was writing a PSR a week and Parole and breach reports when needed. This week I have 17 cases, no reports to write and once I've caught up on the backlog of the previous difficult caseload.... very little to do. Meanwhile, my PSO colleague has 91 cases, my old colleagues in NPS are overwhelmed and we are advertising for people to come from Australia and New Zealand to do what I was doing and still can do. Just bloody bonkers.

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Quite agree! I am a PO in CRC with half the caseload I had previously, as NPS colleagues start to look hollow eyed. I am prevented from writing PSRs, proposals for breach reports, managing MAPPA cases - my bread and butter! I feel as if I am operating with one arm behind my back. As for recruiting from Australia, I am lost for words!

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PO in CRC - twice the caseload, stressed to hell while NPS po's are kicking back, relaxed with small caseloads and knocking out reports. Similar with PSOs. Nationally, makes no sense whatsoever, inconsistent resourcing choices, staff shafted left right & centre.

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Just received an email to say that all CRC staff to carry on writing PSR's to minimise business failure/transition. They should have thought of that when they SHAFTED US ALL, why should we this was their idea. Also delius will not allow CRC staff to write PSR's, great another system F****k Up. They seem to be making this stuff up as they go along to pretend and LIE to Graying that everything is going smoothly. Next week they will tell us to keep all our high risk cases.

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Really good to stay in touch with other colleagues suffering the pain associated with this mess. Interestingly enough, I wonder how it is working in other areas - the SPOC (Single Point of Contact for CRC to contact in the event of Risk Escalation). Clearly there has not been any, or maybe a few which a Duty TM is dealing with. 

West Yorkshire is a huge area, you would have thought 12 months was sufficient notice and pre warning that the CRC's, in every office, would need to know who the SPOC was, as would the SPOC of course. We had a team meeting yesterday and apart from some clarity about how we need to manage HR PPO's/DRR's in the absence of the one colleague who knows what to do - we did not really make much progress, although we did identify a colleague who wants to work with women in NPS - previously all women were accommodated at another building, with a member of staff co-located there (the local woman's project) now all the previous directives about seeing women separately, and at a place conducive to their safety and needs, is no longer necessary. 

It is becoming more apparent that anything which doesn't neatly fit into TR, just gets displaced or those at the coal face are seemingly 'expected' to resolve the problems which arise.....................not bloody likely. In my team we are doing what we do best - work with clients and then, spend small amounts of time on confusing IT systems and Shared Services, just in order to be sure we'll be paid at the end of June. It took me 2 hours yesterday to clear my Officers Diary in NDelius - never used it - never saw the need to duplicate work and then went for a curry and a good belly laugh with some colleagues.

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Half a dozen cases allocated to CRC this week. NPS crown court colleague/s unable to complete RSR or any other paperwork "due to lack of time". Then it turns out crown court NPS staff have asked if one of the city CRC teams can pick up a dozen reports. This is Week One. Utter meltdown. IT DOES NOT WORK, Christopher Stephen Grayling. TR DOES NOT WORK.

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Courts all over the country not able too input results and in our office, ndelius chucking us out when trying to update contacts including breachable absences. I have given up and stopped trying to input the contacts. The clients won't be breached.

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Anyone else noticed that addresses are missing from NDelius? We've noted a few cases so far where current addresses have just disappeared and been replaced with old addresses. Meant I couldn't do a home visit (don't worry have managed to contact him and inputted new address and rearranged home visit for next week and have raised it at work) just wondering if it is national issue? I am assuming it is. It is worth checking and as could cause major issues if it goes unnoticed.

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On ND, on Monday they changed me to my IOM role but all my cases are still under my old OMU role. No alerts are showing in my officer diary. To input a contact I need to do so under my IOM role but it defaults to my OMU one. To get from my OMU role to IOM, it is 72 clicks. I managed to do this in 23 seconds. If I input 25 contacts a day, that is 575 secs (10 mins) spent on clicking to find my correct team; approx an hour a week. Luckily there is a quick way which is 'only' 11 clicks (6 secs).

Meanwhile, I see some enterprising person has designed a 'novelty mug' currently for sale on a well-known online auction site. 10 sold in 24 hours - I anticipate heavy demand and increased production.



60 comments:

  1. I hope Graylings dept and all the bidders read this blog. It will give them an accurate insight into the truth of what is going on, rather than the one which is fed back to them of how smoothly things are going. Bidders be warned if our employers didn't realise what we do and shafted us you'll have no chance of understanding the intricacies of our work, you'll become public fools again, or are you used to this reputation.

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  2. Sorry forgot to add that the mutuals were also involved in the shafting so they have no clue as well.

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  3. First week and it looks like an sfo. The question must be asked. Would this have occurred if needless time hadn't been spent on TR process?

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  4. Our service - allowing CRC PO's to register as 'sessional' NPS staff - so as to be able to do Flat Rate Reports.......I assume when the sell off takes place, this will be questionable if not a breach of NPS/Data Protection Act/Official Secrets Act? I too hope the bidders are watching this blog, as everything is being done, shady or not, to give the impression TR can or will work - it won't, and stop bloody kidding yourselves, you people at The Ministry of Just What Exactly?

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  5. Is it fair and equitable that one organisation (HMG) owns 21 competing businesses? Monopolies Commission might want to consider this? They wouldn't sanction selling all 21 to serco. HMG also run NPS - conflicts of interest everywhere!

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    Replies
    1. Went to monopolies commission website:

      "Competition Commission has closed down"

      Delete
    2. Email sent to competition and mergers authority:

      """An interesting thought raised on a probation-related discussion site (slightly amended for clarification by myself):

      "Is it fair and equitable that one organisation (HMG, i.e NOMS) owns 21 competing businesses, i.e. The 21 CRC companies? Monopolies Commission might want to consider this? They wouldn't sanction selling all 21 to serco. HMG also run NPS, i.e the new civil service arm providing probation services - conflicts of interest everywhere!"

      Is this a situation worth investigating or exploring?"""

      Delete
  6. my message is simple. SOS

    if people are still in work its cos they're frightened of going off and getting disciplined - Im sure nobody would work for either side if they had a choice. You couldn't make it up. Merge us back asap!!

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  7. Reminds me of a 2005 Mori publication about the extent to which media reflects or forms opinions. If it's still relevant 9 years on I would suggest that to get MPs attention we need to focus on getting some of these issues in the Telegraph or Times.

    Here is the link:
    http://www.ipsos-mori.com/DownloadPublication/240_sri_you_are_what_you_read_042005.pdf

    And an extract:
    Crime/Law & Order
    Crime is the fifth most important issue on average, and here it is Telegraph
    readers who are most concerned (despite being more likely to live in the relatively low crime East and South East), with Guardian readers least concerned (despite the fact that a third of all Guardian readers live in higher crime London). When we control for variations in profile through statistical techniques, there is still some relationship with newspaper readership (with, for example, Mail readers more likely to be concerned and Guardian readers less likely), but this issue is particularly related to age and ethnicity, with Black people more likely to see this as a key issue, and young people less likely.

    What MPs read
    Alan Milburn recently suggested that it will be vital to the success of Labour’s election campaign for the party to pay less attention to the media and get out and meet real people. The analysis here suggests this is only half right. While it appears from our data that the influence of papers across a wide range of subjects can be overplayed, there does remain an important impact on some of the key election issues. And, when we look at the newspaper readership of MPs, if anything it would be better to encourage them to draw from more widely across the range of sources available. For example, two thirds of Labour MPs regularly read the Guardian, but fewer than three in ten read the Telegraph and only
    around a quarter read the Mail or Sun. Similarly, while around eight in ten
    Conservative MPs read the Telegraph or Times, fewer than one in five read the Guardian. Politicians should be encouraged out of their Guardian or Telegraph bubbles, to help them understand the large influence newspapers still seem to have on some key opinions.

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    Replies
    1. Good points - I suspect Daily Telegraph (acccording to Private Eye) is chasing Dail Mail downmarket and would like to see another more recent report simlar to the Mori one.

      It seems as if we are now into a campaign of attrition, now the split has happened. I wonder whether JB thinks it worthwhile to invite/request/republish guest blogs from PR specialists and others who may have useful suggestions about how we might be more effective in our various ways, including with so called Social Media?

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  8. Off topic, but another demonstration of just how bad the criminal justice system has become with private sector involvement.

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/480570/3-000-is-lost-in-translation-for-a-migrant-who-stole-two-10p-bags

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    Replies
    1. The farce began when Tadas Tarkutis, 26, was arrested after he swiped a pair of “bags for life” from a Sainsbury’s store in Scarborough, North Yorks.

      He claimed to speak no English so police requested a Lithuanian translator who made a 120-mile round trip from Harrogate to spend four hours with him in custody.

      Tarkutis was charged with the offence but the same translator was not available when he appeared in court the following morning.

      A Latvian speaker was then mistakenly summoned from translation firm Capita – the service costs up to £200 an hour.

      The woman set off from Rugby in Warwickshire – only to find she had made a wasted six-hour, 320-mile round trip when she got to Scarborough magistrates court last month.

      With no one able to speak for him, Tarkutis was put in custody – costing up to £750 a night – and returned to court the next day.

      This time a Lithuanian translator was correctly supplied by Capita and Tarkutis, from Birmingham, pleaded guilty.

      He was jailed for six weeks as he was in breach of a suspended sentence for an earlier theft.

      But the jobless offender was not told to pay court costs, or for the stolen 10p bags, as he is penniless.

      A court source who blew the whistle on the farce said: “It was as if someone just picked out a country that begins with ‘L’. It was ridiculous.”

      Oldham-based Capita, which has a £300million contract with the Ministry of Justice to provide translation services, blamed the booking error on North Yorkshire Police.

      A police spokeswoman said: “We will work with Capita to look into the circumstances as to why the wrong interpreter attended court.”

      The Crown Prosecution Service said the decision to jail Tarkutis validated the decision to bring the case to court.

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  9. I s anyone out their paying attention, PLEASE MERGE US BACK. This is not working and falling apart at an epic rate.

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  10. Now is the time to form the truly National Probation Service taking all staff into the new organisation. Justice ( and the victimisation of our fellow citizens) should never be for profit and it is not too late to reform us into one cohesive workforce to serve society as we always have done. Altruism would return with our good will, the loss of which has been severely underestimated.
    When working as a PO in my trust ( one of the smallest) my line management consisted of an SPO, an Office Manager, a Lead Manager then Director and finally a Chief Executive Officer. In addition there was a HR and Finance Department. There are massive savings to be had by rationalising the management structure alone leaving the staff to fulfil the core functions of the service.
    This has stalled badly and there will be a cost so please look at Plan B and transfer CRC staff into the NPS so service can resume.

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  11. Agree with the principle of one service but the consequences of civil service status for our NPS colleagues looks dire!!

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    Replies
    1. but surely not worse than privatisation?

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  12. Email from Greater London Branch about NPS pay system headed

    URGENT FOR ALL NAPO MEMBERS WORKING IN THE NPS: -

    http://www.napo2.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=694

    Email from Napo National Officers about Interim arrangements for National Officers: -

    http://www.napo2.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=696



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  13. Jim, can you post any more details about the mug - cos I WANT one!!!!! I've searched on eBay but can't find it. Thanks.
    Deb

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    Replies
    1. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221457814889

      Last one! Good luck

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    2. Have only just come in to read the link details; now says 'page no longer available' so think I have missed the boat. Shame as it would have been the most perfect enduring silent protest on my desk.......
      Deb

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    3. Don't worry Deb - I'm assured more on the way!

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  14. The prison I work in is dangerous not enough staff to form working relationships; the good will is gone and I fear that someone will be killed. If the politicians and senior management butted out we could save this omnishables. It is clear now that trying to manage from the centre will never work. We need to keep posting the truth on this blog in the end the truth will out, they cant control the news agenda all of the time.

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  15. This is been a week of hell. Things can only improve can't they?????!!!!!!!!??!!!

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    Replies
    1. No not in state that its in currently things won't improve but will get progressively worse making our jobs increasingly difficult. risk escalation, RSR, no access to delius,oasys requesting and getting things signed off, bureaucracy etc. No things won't improve. they need to press the button this weekend and reverse things back to what they were like last week for things to improve.

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    2. No I was not being serious about things improving at 19:21

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  16. I have never looked forward to a Friday as much as this one. Opening the second bottle of wine already.

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  17. Interesting to see all those NPS sifted staff who abandoned the fight against TR because they were satisfied that *they* were 'staying in Probation' up in arms again now they feel personally affected once more...

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    1. Couldn't agree with you more. when they shafted us I couldn't get anyone from NPS to help me, even pleaded with them to fight with me, all I got was I chose NPS and got it, and looks of we are the chosen ones. It would be poetic justice for them to feel what we went through and are still going through. Not one of them wanted to rock the boat in fear of being re-allocated to CRC, I was often reported to managers for my attitude and fight against privatisation, it wasn't the service that made me surrender it was my colleagues who were not saying boo and who now want CRC PROBATION OFFICERS to carry on writing reports for them and covering work they cannot do so that they don't fail and the split remains. They brought into the divide and rule I didn't expect probation officers to fall for all the colonial bullshit.

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    2. I would love to say that this wasn't the case but unfortunately, however you look at it, it sort of is.

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    3. I am in nps .. And I have never stopped fighting. I am a napo activist. And have felt quite alone in that in my nps team. Besides the fight was never about how TR affected us.. It was about how risky it was to the public and our clients. Nps in my office have been very stressed this week

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    4. As you stated you felt alone in your NPS team, exactly my point. I would love to know why NPS staff abandoned the fight, it feels to me that the true ethos of probation is in fact in the CRC.

      Sad to hear NPS staff are stressed maybe now they can rise and join the fight.

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    5. What are the chances of another strike ballot do you think? I seem to remember that IL hadnt ruled it out in one of his recent missives or is that just wishful thinking on my part? We might get a stronger ballot response this time around. Could be a powerful message on top of everything else that's happening.......
      Deb

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    6. I am all for striking couldn't happen fast enough for me. Unions are not saying anything. all they want is evidence, you give it to them and never hear from them again. I don't know what they are doing with all this evidence of the failures of our practice in TR, does anyone know.

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    7. I am anon 21:37. I wish it were the case they'd be more up for fight but it's more the case of being resigned to split . Don't follow all the news campaigns etc so don't get the fight for the sell off. I've been pulled for being to vocal etc and sometimes feel like an outsider for being such an activists.. Also been told by my new spo 'you r a civil servant now' . Which is why I've stopped signing my name at the end of my post. Cos been warned about Facebook and twitter. It's like some people have been assimilated into the noms/Moj Borg collective

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  18. Heard today that PbR no longer happening and that under 12m prison sentences no longer going to be managed as bidders cannot afford to deal with them. Thought the whole point of TR was because Graying said we cant have offenders leaving prison with only £46 in their pockets and no support. What the held is this TR all about, apart from stressing the hilt out of everyone. I have never looked forward to a Friday night as much as this one. We are at breaking point and staff are just not coping.

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    Replies
    1. Is that true. It would make my weekend if it is. Was it from good source.

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  19. If this is the case, I wonder what gloss the MOJ will put on it? This will effectively be the end of the vision! Custody Plus all over again!

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    Replies
    1. You sound disappointed, they need to bin it it was a very poorly thought out plan. Good riddance to TR.

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    2. I welcomed the opportunity to be able to assist short term, revolving door prisoners. We managed to do some good work with STP's as part of our IOM cohort, and it is depressing to see the same people perpetually on the court list.

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    3. This work still could have been continued with and expanded without TR.

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    4. ^^ Yes. If the Trusts had been freed from the straitjacket of the PTRS and just told to reduce reoffending in their areas, using their local knowledge of what was needed and available, the Government's stated objective could have been achieved without any costly, demoralising restructure and privatisation.

      Of course that wouldn't have helped achieve their unstated objective, which was to sell off a high performing service to their mates in the private sector.

      Delete
  20. Is that definate in regards to pbr and under 12 months? I've heard rumours. I was one of very few out on strike in my office, I'm NPS and was never in doubt what a car crash this was going to be for all, CRC and NPS, lets hope Grayling goes in the impending reshuffle, which may give them the escape of pausing till after the next election. Hopefully NAPO have a FOI asking how much additional monies are being spent on agency staff too!

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  21. Why am I not surprised. This has never been about under 12 months or pbr. That was just a reason needed to push through graylings reform of probation. I also suspect there were probation leaders who were well aware of this. This is the way politics works. shame probation has been used as a football.

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  22. This maybe true, in our CEO's blog 2 days ago they notified us that voluntary redundancy was up for offer, and we can put in for expression of interest, if Pbr is not happening then they probably want to get rid of staff. This is the blog to CRC's. Has anyone else had this information.

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    Replies
    1. Voluntary redundancy for whom? Everyone? I'll take it! Is it enhanced?

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  23. Our ACE reckons both the NPS and CRC will have to take on more staff to survive.Suspect the EVR is for back room staff (so called) and Head office staff

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  24. I think that anyone who took leave or carried on working when they should have been on strike should be very very ashamed of themselves. I am in a specialist unit which remains NPS but even though my job appears safe ( for now) I am beyond angry about what is happening to our service. We must not give up now - I think things could still be turned around but only if we report the crap that is going on and give our full support to future action if and when it is taken. For all those doing extra sessional work please think about the long term outcome for everyone and stop focusing on short term gains. This is after all what we encourage our clients to do.

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  25. The advert offering posts to PO's from outside of the UK , Australia and New Zealand was also offering to pay £27 hour....

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  26. Jim have you heard any rumors, would love to know if prb is not happening. It sounds as if different things are happening in different areas and we are getting mixed message, Some areas want staff and others look like they are offering redundancy, there seems to be a sense of uncertainty and panic. Hope this blog contributed to getting the truth out.

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    1. Rumours only - but well-founded rumours I'm sure. There is definitely trouble with the bidding process and the potential bidders know they've got the upper hand.

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    2. And Vera BairdQC, PCC for Northumbria is on record as saying the prisond minister (presumably Jeremy Wright) said that supervision of under 12 months sentenced prisoners is not going to start soon.

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    3. I cant understand the PI that says from 1st Nov supervision for U12mths will commence - it seemed a bit vague about who would be doing this. Can anyone shed any light??

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  27. I think they might just have begun to realise that a lot of the under 12 month custodials may actually have to be allocated to NPS.

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  28. I work in a specialist unit and have been allocated to NPS. That has not stopped me going on strike because I want to fight to do what I can to save our probation service. I think people who have not supported the strike action should be ashamed of themselves and those that are doing sessional work should consider the damage they are causing in the long term instead of thinking about their own immediate gains. I would fully support further strike action even though my financial situation is poor at this time.

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  29. EVR email has come out in wales and is only for back room roles and upper managment. Find it highly unlikely that evr will be offered across the board when there are so many front line staff vacancies.

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  30. Just found this useful blog (no time to suss it out at work. . .) and have now for the first time in 18 yrs in Probation been forced to take l/t sick leave due long-term stress and anxiety about the farcical 'sift' process which landed me in the CRC and the fact that I feel wholly deprofessionalised, marginalised, thoroughly shat upon by the former Trust and MoJ, and the worst I've ever felt over 30yrs + at work in my life. No-one who isn't in the CRC appears to understand how totally demeaning this is for qualified PO's, although some NPS [former] colleagues appear to have rather more insight and sympathy than others. Sorry if this sounds very pathetic and 'poor me', but it's a good opportunity to get it off my chest. Each day brings fresh scandal about the TR joke. The entire process has got to be illegal, surely??

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    Replies
    1. Well thanks for posting Anon at 12.09 - I hope you have found some stuff that is uplifting and supportive.

      I recall a sense of shame when a GP told me I had work related stress and I felt somehow incompetent and diminished.

      I eventually had to take early retirement, rather than risk fighting via an employment tribunal - I was given a lot of support from Napo - mainly through the negotiation process, when I realised that I had been working in ways that were damaging myself for many years and pushed myself beyond a point of no return, trying to cope with one too many reorganisation when a disability I had always had (dyslexia/dyspraxia) though hidden from me, handicapped me from the start, especially as in my earlier years I had much admin support whereas then I was all of a sudden expected to be a probation officer, typist and computer operator - despite the last two of those jobs not being mentioned in my contract of employment.

      However, I got over it and realised just what an abusive employer probation frequently is, and that was years before the now notorious sifting.

      I reckon, maybe the best thing - which was hard for me - was to turn the probation switch off and focus on uplifting things rather than keep re-running the nonsenses in my head. What has been put in place is flawed, from what I can understand it seems almost impossible to do the job as one was trained and as experience tells it should be done. That some - too many it seems to me - are prepared to soldier on, is their concern, maybe some are avoiding doing it properly - there seem a few clients who are around the internet, who feel really let down, so maybe some pbn folk are consistently giving a bad service.

      I know: - my last manager lied, and avoided the real job, probably because she had never done it properly and had got into management to avoid clients - she seemed generally scared to ever meet one, going to considerable lengths to avoid them, but somehow sustained her employment, playing at management, leaving a generally experienced team to deal with the real issues.

      So eventually, I just let go, even though I tried going back a couple of times - this is turning out to be about me and is may not be helpful - I did almost 30 years - I know I was professionally competent - because of the recognition I got and responsibilities I was given to publicly represent probation.

      What is being expected of dedicated staff is unreasonable - obviously different folk are affected differently - the TR scheme is seriously flawed - it is wrong that practitioners should be expected to just make it work.

      I believe the sooner TR collapses (if it is not to be abandoned or majorly amended) the better in the long run for probation and the public - it is just tragic that honourable folk are going to get hurt in the process - no blame should be attributed to them.

      I hope Anon1209 can perhaps get away from Probation websites, at least until a sense of well being returns - if you feel able to share your experiences with your MP, that could help, although, as I discovered watching the debates over the last year or so, MANY, are surprisingly ignorant of the true concept of probation and the complexities involved in officers balancing all the competing demands of society, as they strive to engage with damaged, deranged and sometimes instrumentally destructive people (most of whom are usually clients!). Those MPs are unlikely to be supportive as they strive to advance their own careers whatever the impact on constituents.

      It is summer, there are good things to do, even good old films to watch on TV - at times even probation folk owe it to themselves to actually put themselves & their families FIRST - then they may eventually be better able to deal with the tough stuff the job throws at them, or even get strong enough to decide - I have done that long enough - time for a change - I am not personally responsible for probation for evermore!

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    2. Very sorry to hear that you've been driven to go on long term sick, but I know for certain that sadly you are not alone. Your feelings are shared by many, many others and some feel letting off steam on here is helpful - I hope so.

      I intend to republish your contribution as part of a roundup of views on TR one month in and hope this ok with you.

      Take care, look after yourself and stay tuned as they say. Thanks again for making contact,

      Jim

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    3. I am pleased about that JB - it would be terrific if your blog can somehow celebrate the efforts of colleagues - especially those who have needed to stand aside for the time being - for whatever reasons.

      Sadly - my experience of probation - particularly when I realised just how isolated some colleagues & relatives get when I was an Edridge rep back in the 80s is that sometimes we are not good at honouring and upholding the contributions of at least some folk who cannot carry on. Maybe we have an unconscious fear that such conditions might be 'catching' or of not wanting to be publicly associated with folk who some would wrongly say failed whereas - my experience was that some who withdraw from action, actually expend extreme effort, so that they keep going literally till they break, rather than sensing they are becoming overwhelmed and withdrawing (perhaps temporarily) and so be able to "regroup and fight another day" - rather than as I probably did in 2002/3 - carry on "past a point of no return".

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