But this was just a warm up to yesterday and the annual report from Dame Glenys Stacey which clocked up 7638 hits in total. As a consequence, at the time of writing, we are merely 500 hits away from passing the 5,000,000 figure and that most recent million has been achieved in just over 12 months.
As is clear from the graph, although the long term trend is downhill due to staff leaving the profession or simply becoming disheartened, at times of significance this blog remains the 'go-to' place for news, information-sharing or support. Despite everything, we know it is still widely read within probation circles and will continue to be so for as long as people care about the important work we undertake for the public good.
Without doubt it's been another astonishing year of heartache, leaving do's, thoughtfulness, concern, support, anger, depression but also laughter, love and if truth be known, an awful lot of alcohol consumed in the name of the cause. I feel it's an absolute privilege to be able to keep feeding this monster in support of wonderful people struggling daily to make sense of the destruction wreaked upon us by Chris Grayling and his ideologically-driven acolytes.
I know we shouldn't rush to any kind of early celebration, but I honestly feel the tide of opposition towards TR is becoming unstoppable, together with reluctant political acceptance that probation is utterly broken and prison reform cannot take place unless it's fixed and fixed fast. For this reason I continue to feel there is still life left in this platform, not least in being able to play an active part in helping to shape that healing and fixing process.
Of course none of this is possible without you dear readers and for your contributions. Please keep the information coming in so as to shine a light on what we all know many in management and at the MoJ was rather kept hidden and unnoticed. Keep supporting each other in order to prove that despite everything, the probation spirit is still alive, it remains an honourable and worthwhile ideal that cannot be easily extinguished.
Thank you for your continued interest and support. It's Friday and I intend to raise a glass tonight and it would be wonderful if we could all do the same in solidarity and fellowship.
4999900 as I read it, so a massive congratulations & thank you.
ReplyDeleteI will be upstanding & a glass will be raised later this evening.
Jolly good show, old boy!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, are the British Library continuing to Archive all posts, and what academics are using it for research and teaching?
Many thanks Jim- you are to be congratulated!
ReplyDeleteThe support that comes from reading is invaluable. You can see that others think what you think. And you can say what you think on this blog without thinking you're going to br sacked. This blog helps to keep me sane. Thank you Jim.
ReplyDeleteWhere would we be without social media? Despite all the negatives of connectivity, kindred spirits are able to share their thoughts through social media and maybe sometimes influence the course of events.
ReplyDeleteWithout blogs such as this one there would be no immediate way of countering those in positions of power and authority who are accustomed to controlling information flows to serve their own interests. Power's bedfellow is always control and it doesn't like backchat. Thankfully, those holding status and corporate power can have an almost daily dose of Have I Got News for You... our very own WikiLeaks.
Whilst I don't like the term 'safe space' it's what this blog provides to those who work in, and those interested in, probation and wider criminal justice issues. Views can be expressed without fear of repercussions, because gone are the days when it was possible in probation to be a doubting Thomas without having to watch your back.
Each individual can make a difference, but what a boost it is to know that others out there are to varying degrees similarly minded. This blog is a tribute to the unremitting efforts of its blogger-in-chief to keep battling for ideas that we all know make sense. Jim deserves a knighthood, but I hope he would refuse it!
There was a private notice question raised in the Lords yesterday in response to the most recent probation report.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2017-12-14a.1670.4&s=chris+grayling
Well done on the 5million.
'Getafix
Thanks for flagging the Lords discussion up - will probably run with that next.
DeleteCongratulations Jim. Thank you for your and valuable tireless work. On a tangent: Frances Crook repeatedly states that the Berwyn prison cells are two bunks and an in-partitioned loo. I am told by others that the shared cells have computer sockets, and "en suite" shower and loo.
ReplyDeleteThe former description sounds like the new working links office nodel! Close down nice modern office with disabled access and facilities and put staff in decrepid old building with no disabled access or facilities.
DeleteI left 5 years ago but still read regularly to keep myself in touch with what is happening. I still live in hope that it's all reversed and somehow "fixed"
ReplyDeleteThank you Jim for your tireless work. Remember..Jim does this all in his own time and gets no financial reward! Would any of our CRC providers do that? I will definitely raiae a glass to the blog tonight. If the situation changes I would even consider coming back to probation but it would need to change from being profit motivated and target driven to putting public protection and welfare of service users first. Also put the relationship between probation officer and service user at its' core. It is only by building a working and trusting relationship that you can ever hope to effect positive change. That has either largely gone or is so undervalued and dismissed that many PO's with any integrity have been forced out. We know who we are and I hope we can all come together post TR abolition day to speak out publically about how we have been treated and how service users have been failed. Also how the general public and victims of crime have been failed because our hands were tied and we were sinking beneath massive caseloads grappling with a broken system. I for one would be only too happy to attend that meeting once TR has been dismantles in one way or another.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jim. From your 1,000,000th hitter and now your friend in the North East. I know it's been hard to keep going at times but I'm so glad you do. I'll raise a glass tonight to you and all my colleagues who are still on this roller coaster. Hang on tight, the bumpy ride continues.
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas and best wishes for a solution to this disaster in 2018 to all 21 CRC's and the NPS also to CAFCASS and our Social Work friends in Scotland working with offenders like we used to. We must all remain united in this and stand strong together. Spread the word and look after each other. Refuse to be beaten.
Deletewell done Jim. You are getting the plaudits you so deserve. You have battled, and won the battles against the pathetic trolls, and other angry critics. You have survived the undeserved criticism and stood tall. All these 'about time' revelations are finally filtering thro' to the powers that be and what a good time for this to happen as you celebrate more than 5 million comments. And you have Christmas and New Year thrown in for good measure!
ReplyDeleteA job well done. Stoke up over the Christmas break and be ready for the coming fight, with all of us beside you.
Thanks Jim I read everyday and have since the shambles that is TR. I have cried I've been angry but I continue to hope the job returns to something like the profession it once was. Have a great Xmas
ReplyDeleteWell I suppose some congrats are in order for having the guts and drive to do a blog n keep it going
ReplyDeleteHowever
Yes we all know CRCs are crap and failing but how can they improve if you are so willing to overlook one of the most important components (perhaps the MOST important). That being the needs of the service users.
Where does their opinion come into all this and why are you lot so readily able to rubbish any notion that these people should be listened to.
I daresay service users could tell you very quickly where and how the CRCs are failing so why ignore them along with a system designed to do so?
Surely thus you are as big a part of the problem as the CRCs
Have you bothered to read some of these posts, such as 10.11 which was mine? If you did you would soon realse that we are bothered about service users. I reckon you either have an axe to grind or are not a service user. If I am wrong then please feel free to be more specific about how we can help or perhaps more importantly book an appointment with your PO or ex PO and try to assist them in understanding what your advice would be. I am regularly in touch will ex service users as I believe we shouldn't just forget them once licence or order ends. I don't get any credit for this and neither do the othet PO's I know who do the same.
Delete''more importantly book an appointment with your PO'' thats right, just book an appoitment with part of the problem! jeez, clearly part of the problem. This is the kind of patronising idiocy we have to put up with
Deletethe blog has always been open for service users to make their contribution - of the good, the bad and the ugly. First and foremost is support, and to be able to do that, the officer and user must get to know each other and gain a level of honesty and trust both ways, to be able to open up/listen about current problems, historic troubles, and what the user really wants/needs and what can be offered/directed elsewhere. Of course stopping offending is at the heart of this, but coping with a problematic background and a resulting negative lifestyle needs a darn sight more than an occasional phone call from someone you have probably never met.
ReplyDeleteThe set up of the CRCs makes any of the above virtually impossible so I can understand why you feel ignored. But don't give up, most of the supervising officers feel the same as you - frustrated and angry that their skills cannot be used, indeed in some areas where there are high case loads and no privacy, very little of the above can be achieved. But keep trying, and understanding the frustration of staff who want to do their best. And please add to the blog your side of the story about why CRC's are failing. Good luck.
Agree, the CRC set up makes it virtually impossible, however, my point is lets not have any pretence that CRCs welcome feedback or even have any real or credible facility for that (and no pls do not mention feedback forms and they go nowehere). Also there is no real complaint process, thats one of the first things to go when you privatise something, it just becomes a dissenter detector to then be used to victimise the complainant.
DeleteKey here is the CRCs have no intention of improving towards its users and thus will continue to degenerate until implosion.
Then there will be a new lot all smiles n promises and will go round the merrygoround again ditto, unless there is an intervention to INCLUDE the services users in the make up of how the thing operates.
The continuous (and stupid) perception that all offenders must be wrong and thier opinions worthless cannot continue.
DeleteGet some mature intelligent users and a good cross section in a room run by an independant group, garantee anonymity and offer an incentive like 2xRAR days per session and agree to abide by results.
I daresay CRCs would be horrified to actually listen to thier users and thats why they need to be terminated.
When the TR train left the station and we had Hobson’s choice in ticket purchase. predicting the crash was clear: the timing was not.
DeleteThis blog has made the journey bearable. I have made many entries on here, yes anonymously to my shame, but it is the go to place to air the crass stupidity of this madness. Often I look for the humour in the CRCs piss poor attempt in trying to sell their model to us practioners. We know on a esthetically pleasing power point presentation it looks wonderful, but when you know the IT doesn’t support it and you ignore or dismiss the sage advice of seasoned POs who tell you that we don’t deal in commodities, we deal with people. Dinosaurs they sniggered under their breath. Service levels and spreadsheets is their mantra..... only this week in the great PF Interserve train carriage they fed us the latest workload measurement tool info. Apparently your caseload is graded by some weird and wonderful algorithm that spits out percentages... we are told that 110% is the pain threshold.. anything above that needs the manager to review and try to address... now maths was never my strong point; cosines, tangents, Pi and logerythms ...All lost on me..... percentages I got. 100% was top dog, now I find that no, in the world of the CRCs the workload management tool can be anything they want it to be..why do they publish such things without explanation... surely the must hear the dark humour from staff as some hapless manager trys to spin it out... oh how we laughed....
To conclude, thanks to all contributors to this magnificent blog and thank you to Jim the blog chief facilitator . We are Probation and will always be. This train will stop and go back from whence it came...when is the only question..... oh, Merry Christmas one and all.
well said
DeleteWell Done Jim 5,000980 as am reading. 2018 will see awareness raised on how ( 'staff, Human Resources and frontline employees ' all terms used to refer to real people), really feel. It is a new campaign to tackle work place abuses. Merry Christmas all.
ReplyDeleteThis article spells out that we are in a class war – and for the last 40 years the predators have been winning. I know we moan about our unions but we have to see the wider picture and appreciate that change will only come through voting for progressive politics. It the only way the prey can fight the predators.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/14/governments-control-capitalism-class-war-right-undermine-workers
I would like to thank you Jim your blog keeps me and many in our office going I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Patricia Johnson (stoic and compassionate chair) and David Raho (the man who took and does the job no one else dared do chair) you keep probation and NAPO alive and well during our darkest days.
ReplyDelete17.52 spot on
ReplyDeleteI don't often defend my organisation but I will say this, our service users probably have a greater and indeed more respected voice than staff, well unless you are in the "inner circle" that is. "When you walk through the storm, hold your head up high and don't be afraid of the dark". Light may only be showing dimly through the cracks but it's a start.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/probation-services-failing-privatisation-model-two-tier-system-risks-murderer-sexual-offences-a8108591.html
ReplyDeleteLord Keen of Elie:
Delete"My Lords, we do not consider that a root-and-branch analysis or going back to the drawing board is required at this time. However, we are taking active steps to address the very point that the noble Lord raises. Indeed, we are paying CRCs significantly more in the way of funding to ensure that they can deliver the services required, including, critically, Through the Gate services."
Aye, and there's the rub. Its all about throwing cash at the incompetent money-pit CRCs, NOT about anything else; and certainly not about accepting they are SO FUCKING WRONG!!!
Disgraceful beyond words.
It takes a brave and honest person to admit they are wrong. The cowardly and corrupt never admit they are wrong. Therein lies the rub!
ReplyDelete