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Welcome!

We want to make the world a better place: by talking with, listening to - and potentially working with - people who see the world differently.

We - the people on this site (and, we trust, you) - want to make the world a better place. The question is: how?  An important part of the answer is: with help from one another - we can't do this on our own.  If we want to make this happen, we will need to learn how to cooperate, really cooperate, with one another.

Right now, the challenges the world faces, but also the possibilities for real change, are greater than they have been in our lifetime.  So we want to do everything we can to understand the challenges and come up with the best possible responses, to enable us to work together and make the best changes happen.

What the human race does today, and in the next few years - how we live, the choices we make - will shape the world, and decide our future.

We need to understand the practical challenges we face.  But we also need to explore ideas and beliefs, hopes and fears, because these are the things which drive our choices and affect the way we live.  And we need to explore them with people who do not already agree with us, because we will need to cooperate with as many people as possible if we are going to beat these challenges.

We will not learn enough if we only talk to those who agree with us, and we will not be strong enough if we only cooperate with those we like.

So we want to attract a wide range of people with different ideas and opinions.  With a range of differing perspectives, we can test the evidence for our ideas and explore the alternatives, so that we have good reason to believe the actions we take are the best we are capable of.  And we always need to be open to the possibility of understanding more, and changing our strategy.

Alongside the challenges, we also want to share some good news about things which give us hope end encouragement: if we are to overcome these challenges, we will need joy and strength just as much as we need clear thinking and accurate information.

We need to act, and interact, as people, with all the benefits and struggles this brings; we cannot pretend to be impersonal dispensors of objective truth.

The problems of this world are caused by people, and they must be solved by people.  Facts really matter, but they rarely persuade people to make the changes which are needed: alongside the facts, we need the personal stories.  Issues need to be grounded in human experience, so we can relate to the story and be moved emotionally as well as intellectually.

We will aim to be as truthful and honest as possible, but nobody is entirely objective.  The best we can do is be open and honest about our preferences and prejudices, do our best to make allowances for them, and be open to other people questioning and challenging our assumptions.

What Next?

Fee free to browse.  All the content on the site is available for anyone to read.  If you wish to contribute in some way, or simply support our vision of people cooperating despite disagreement, you are very welcome to join us, but please read the material in the Introduction first, to understand how we try to do things and why we have a small monthly membership fee.

This site is currently under development - we are still copying content across from the original site.  But there is enough to give you an idea of what we are aiming to build.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

 

Activity

Brian Monahan commented on Adrian Roberts's article Thirty Years in the NHS: a Community Psychiatric Nurse's view
" Thank you for this, Adrian"
Friday
Adrian Roberts published an article
[Back to Healthcare]
THIRTY YEARS IN THE NHS: A COMMUNITY PSYCHIATRIC NURSE’S VIEW
I will try not to make this too much about me, or about the patients, or even about psychiatry as such, but about the issues that I encountered regarding NHS policy and governance, during my thirty years as a psychiatric nurse. I can’t really give an insider’s opinion on the recent closure of NHS England, but I am sure that it will be beneficial to remove a layer of bureaucracy and hand back control to the…
Mar 21
Paul Hazelden posted an event

Mar 20, 2025 from 8:00pm to 9:30pm

Online

Mar 1
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Healthcare]
Introduction
Almost everybody agrees that the UK National Health Service (NHS) is in need of radical reform, so let's start to spell out what that reform might look like.  Other countries manage to deliver prompt and effective healthcare: it's not impossible.  But we have to want to do it, and we have to believe it is possible.
Details
Aim
For a start, we need to change the primary aim.  The NHS currently aims to deliver cost-effective treatment, but it should aim to…
Mar 1
Adrian Roberts commented on Paul Hazelden's article A Peace Deal for Ukraine
" Paul 
I think your penultimate paragraph is the best hope for peace, short of one side capitulating completely. I presume and hope that Trump's strategy is something like it. 
The Europeans and the UK painted themselves into a corner very quickly. Their justifiable outrage at the Russian aggression left no room for nuance. The Telegraph, Express and Mail in particular have made a huge investment in backing Ukraine, churning out propaganda about Ukraninian achievements, which I would like to…"
Feb 25
Adrian Roberts commented on Adrian Roberts's article Actually I don’t think Trump is All That Bad Really
"Brian 
Some quick replies to your points: 
As I said to Paul, I am dubious about any conspiracy theory. There may well be aspects that don't add up. But the trouble with conspiracy theories is that they end up even more convoluted and difficult to accept than the standard theory. For instance, the lengths that flat-earthers have to go to, to explain how it is possible to apparently go round the world - some propose a doughnut- shaped world for instance! In this case, Crooks would have known…"
Feb 25
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Social Challenges]
Introduction
Okay, the title is clumsy: demographics are the details of a group of people, so they always relate to one population or another.  When you consider the demographics of a population, you are often looking to see how they change with time.
When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, apart from the constant threat of nuclear war, most people believed that the most significant threat to the human race came from the 'population time-bomb' - the problems…
Feb 24
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Ukraine]
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office.  This was clearly never going to happen but, as I said (probably, far too often), ending the war was one promise I believed he was able to keep.
The war is an utter disaster for both Ukraine and Russia.  Ukraine has lost (to date) around 20% of her previous territory, and is being steadily pushed back.  Despite losing a chunk of their own territory, Russia is clearly winning the war,…
Feb 22
Brian Monahan commented on Adrian Roberts's article Actually I don’t think Trump is All That Bad Really
"Hi Adrian - Thanks for an intricate and substantial response to the US political situation - which clearly you have been considering for sometime.
Let me first add my support to Paul's remarks concerning the oh-so-convenient assassination attempts on DJT during the US election, particularly the first one by TMC.   Several things stand out to me, suggesting that we don't know the full picture about that one.  The ridiculous ease of access that TMC apparently had to the rooftop, for example. …"
Feb 20
Adrian Roberts commented on Adrian Roberts's article Actually I don’t think Trump is All That Bad Really
"Well, I assume they weren't typical liberals if they tried to assassinate someone! But obviously they had turned against Trump for some reason. Both left-wing and right-wingers have come up with conspiracy theories about Crooks and Trump's ear. Maybe the secret service were complicit in some ways, but it is difficult to see how Crook could have been intending to provide a false flag; he must have known that it would be virtually a suicide mission. Then again, many Americans believe that their…"
Feb 20
Paul Hazelden commented on Adrian Roberts's article Actually I don’t think Trump is All That Bad Really
"Adrian,
Many thanks for another helpful and interesting article.  As always, a lot to respond to!
Very quickly, I would like to comment on one small detail which 'pressed a button' for me.  I accept that liberals can be "just as unthinking", but you go on to say, "After all, at least two [liberals] tried to assassinate him", and I think that needs some qualification.  Neither of the attempted assassins were typical liberals. Ryan Wesley Routh voted for Trump in 2016; and Thomas Matthew Crooks…"
Feb 18
Adrian Roberts published an article
[Back to World Affairs]
Well, he is certainly pretty bad, but sometimes a knee-jerk reaction is unhelpful, and the opposition (lets call them the liberals, which is what MAGA supporters call them) can be just as unthinking. After all, at least two of them tried to assassinate him. And American is even more polarised than Europe.
You wouldn’t want Donald Trump as your boss. He can certainly be crass and vindictive, though at least some of his pronouncements are meant to be funny, and he talks in…
Feb 17
Sandy Engelking commented on Paul Hazelden's article Genocide: Remembering is Not Enough
"Two excellent books both by Francois Bizot who was imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge but later released. The Gate describes his cature, improsonment, release and his work as intermediary between the refugees in the French Embassy and the Rouge. Scroll forward 26 years, Duch the torturer is captured, Bizot his former prisoner and only survivor is a witness at the trial and meets Duch. Bizot wrote  the book Facing the Torturer about this trial, Duch and himself. "A powerful philosophical meditation…"
Feb 10
Paul Hazelden commented on Paul Hazelden's article What Makes the World Worse?
"Adrian,
Some good points: thank you.
But on the traffic light front, the situation is more complicated than most people assume.  Some traffic lights in Bristol, just off the M32, stopped working for an extended period, and the traffic flowed much more freely; there were no accidents.  People asked the Council to leave the traffic lights unmended.  The Council eventually explained that the purpose of those lights was not to enable the traffic to flow, but to prevent it from flowing freely:…"
Feb 10
Paul Hazelden posted an event

Feb 20, 2025 from 8:00pm to 9:30pm

Online

Feb 9
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Social Theory]
Introduction
In January this year, I attended the Holocaust Memorial Commemoration in City Hall. As usual, it was well attended. Also as usual, good people gave powerful talks: they told us about several stories of survival, and of the work being done to ensure that the worst genocide in history is not forgotten.
We must remember. This point was made repeatedly, recognising that the generation of eye witnesses is passing fast; the task of preserving these memories and…
Feb 9
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