Unfortunately it is back to the cuts in public service for this blog.
I help out at a community facility in North London helping people with computers. There is a lady who acts as a customer service officer at my centre. In addition there are a couple of other facilities that she also helps out at. For a few years she has helped out at exactly the same locations, which has given a chance for the service users to know her face and to be able to provide a one to one service. However the council that she works for has been told her that she has to relocate. What’s more she now has to take on other roles thus meaning the one to one teaching that some users have valued has basically disappeared.
Another upshot of this questionable decision is that the council involved expects people who wish to join the library go online to do this. This is fine for those who are computer literate, but what about those who in most likelihood need to be able to avail of the services how are they expected to join the library if they are not familiar with how an online form works.
I do begin to think that this is social engineering those that need the services of the internet wherever it is paying bills or finding out benefit information are being denied the opportunity of what they are entitled to.
Another area that some people are being denied is wellbeing. It is all very well having schemes such as Fit 4 Life but what is the point if there are not the facilities or the people to lead exercise sessions. Still government policy and common sense have never gone hand in hand
Friday 2 March 2012
Thursday 1 March 2012
The Financial Situation with British Football
Or the situation at both Rangers and Portsmouth. and no doubt other clubs.
The situation at both clubs has been one that has been evident for sometime, after all if you spend more than your means then surly you are going to end up eventually facing the consequences. The sad thing about this from a fans point of view is that many are being punished for the errors of those above. Or you could say that chasing the dream was what the fans wanted and that none realised what could go wrong.
There is also another angle at Rangers that question marks have been raised over how the owner was financing the club. Of course there will be some Celtic fans who will be thinking "whoopee well win the SPL"(Scottish Premier League) which in more likelihood they will, but this doesn't exactly make the product exactly valuable. I am sure the SPL will do all they can to keep Rangers going if to try and make the competition competitive. Especially if you think that most of the marketing of the competition around the world is marketed with both Celtic and Rangers in mind. You can see the same mistakes of Leeds United who had to lease back their training pitch, among many cost cutting measures due to them 'Chasing the Dream'
The situation at Portsmouth is a sad one as well. OK as with Celtic there will probably be Southampton fans going whoopee but one needs the other to bring some spark to that area of Hampshire.
I could go further down the league and talk about the situations at both Wrexham and Darlington both former league clubs who have struggled in terms of finding owners and enough support financially. Whilst the situation at Wrexham has improved and the fans trust have secured a deal the situation at Darlington is less so. The idea that one of the former owners decided to have a 22000 seat stadium when Darlington were in league 2 wasn't exactly ideal. Rather than allowing the fans to build up and then talk about expansion the idea went the other way, and now you end up with a huge stadium which barley has a third of fans filing it.
There are many other examples but Football never seems to have learned the lessons and even when Preston North End was founded as the first professional club there were still issues.
The examples of Wrexham and Darlington show that there are still communities out there willing to support their local clubs and long may it continue. After all AFC Wimbledon have lead the way in which fans were not prepared to see their team move away from their heartland and on to Milton Keynes, and instead follow their local team. These teams and fans are essential in keeping the spirit of local football and will be the future of the sport.
The situation at both clubs has been one that has been evident for sometime, after all if you spend more than your means then surly you are going to end up eventually facing the consequences. The sad thing about this from a fans point of view is that many are being punished for the errors of those above. Or you could say that chasing the dream was what the fans wanted and that none realised what could go wrong.
There is also another angle at Rangers that question marks have been raised over how the owner was financing the club. Of course there will be some Celtic fans who will be thinking "whoopee well win the SPL"(Scottish Premier League) which in more likelihood they will, but this doesn't exactly make the product exactly valuable. I am sure the SPL will do all they can to keep Rangers going if to try and make the competition competitive. Especially if you think that most of the marketing of the competition around the world is marketed with both Celtic and Rangers in mind. You can see the same mistakes of Leeds United who had to lease back their training pitch, among many cost cutting measures due to them 'Chasing the Dream'
The situation at Portsmouth is a sad one as well. OK as with Celtic there will probably be Southampton fans going whoopee but one needs the other to bring some spark to that area of Hampshire.
I could go further down the league and talk about the situations at both Wrexham and Darlington both former league clubs who have struggled in terms of finding owners and enough support financially. Whilst the situation at Wrexham has improved and the fans trust have secured a deal the situation at Darlington is less so. The idea that one of the former owners decided to have a 22000 seat stadium when Darlington were in league 2 wasn't exactly ideal. Rather than allowing the fans to build up and then talk about expansion the idea went the other way, and now you end up with a huge stadium which barley has a third of fans filing it.
There are many other examples but Football never seems to have learned the lessons and even when Preston North End was founded as the first professional club there were still issues.
The examples of Wrexham and Darlington show that there are still communities out there willing to support their local clubs and long may it continue. After all AFC Wimbledon have lead the way in which fans were not prepared to see their team move away from their heartland and on to Milton Keynes, and instead follow their local team. These teams and fans are essential in keeping the spirit of local football and will be the future of the sport.
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