Latest Event Updates
What is Loneliness and Social Isolation?
According to research by the University of York, ‘Loneliness is a subjective feeling associated with someone’s perception that their relationships with others are deficient’ whereas, ‘social isolation is a more objective measure of the absence of relationships, ties or contact with others’. In sum the latter can be a choice.
Ben Lazare Mijuskovic writes in Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature (2012) ‘man has always and everywhere suffered from feelings of acute loneliness’, however, it is important to recognise that loneliness means different things to different people. It is equally important to be cognizant of that fact that some people will feel lonely spending just a day alone, whilst others can go months with minimal social contact or communication and not experience any negative emotions. ‘Some may be socially isolated but content with minimal social contact or actually prefer to be alone’ writes Julianne Holt-Lunstad, the lead author of a 2015 report on loneliness in Perspectives on Psychological Science. ‘Others may have frequent social contact but still feel lonely.’ As the Age UK Loneliness and Isolation Evidence review also points out it is ‘possible to be isolated and not lonely, and to be lonely without being isolated’.
This is the topic of research conducted by Kiren Zubairi, and led to the hosting of a conference on Loneliness and Social isolation hosted by the Kincardine And Mearns Welfare and Wellbeing network.
We were fortunate to have Kiren Zubairi author of the Zubairi Report on Loneliness and Social Isolation coming along to share her finding from the report. This qualitative study investigates the loneliness and social isolation experienced by under-represented demographics in Scotland, who often face multiple triggers including socio-economic disadvantage, poor access to transport and a lack of places and spaces that encourage connectedness and foster belonging.
The-Zubairi-Report-VHS-Nov-2018
Over the next few weeks this blog will aim to look at this topic; what are the causes, what are the effects of this, what can we do to address this issue, and what’s happening both locally and more widely to address this ever increasing issue.
Pop back next week to find out more!
Pissoirs and PB
The phrase participatory budgeting (PB) is widely recognised but perhaps not fully understood – at least not in the way that it’s being practised elsewhere in the world. PB Scotland is hosting a major conference later this month at which some of the US and Canadian experience of PB will be shared. In many other countries, PB is completely normal and has been mainstreamed for years. For instance, Paris commits 5% of its capital spend (£89m) to a participatory process. That’s the equivalent of 45 euros for every citizen – no wonder Parisians engage in such numbers.
By The Guardian
Arnaud Carnet was crossing Paris on his bicycle one day when something strange caught his eye: a dilapidated old urinal stationed at the foot of the high walls of the last operational prison in the city.
This graffitied, ripe-smelling structure was far from a standard street pissoir. Carnet discovered that it was in fact the last remaining 19th-century vespasienne urinal in the city. He decided he needed to save it.
“It no longer conforms to the comfort standards of today,” he says of the urinal (an understatement). “But it’s a piece of heritage and it’s in a terrible state in the middle of the boulevard – it’s not possible to just leave it like that.”
In January, Carnet submitted a proposal to restore the vespasienne to Paris’s participatory budget scheme, which allows residents to vote on how they want the city to spend €100m (£89m) – 5% of its capital budget.
The urinal is “part of the great Parisian history of public sanitation,” he says, though he admits he’s never used it himself. “The participatory budget is an opportunity to give it a second youth.”
Carnet’s project was one of 430 that went to public vote between 6 September and 22 September this year. Sadly for him, the vespasienne was not one of the 11 major projects and 183 smaller propositions that earned enough votes to become reality. Instead, Parisians chose projects that ranged from better recycling facilities to upgraded cycling infrastructure to programmes to help women who are experiencing homelessness. Read the rest of this entry »
Mapping the issues
In many respects a community share issue is an old idea in 21st century wrapping – the idea of raising funds by public subscription has been around for years. Most war memorials, for instance, that were erected after the First World War were funded in this way. But community shares are more than a simple donation. They offer someone a chance to ‘invest’ in a local project and sometimes even make a little return on that investment. The number of share issues has been slowly growing and recently they have been mapped. Interesting to see the range and geographic spread.
To see a Map of Community Share Issues that has been compiled by Community Shares Scotland
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is turning 30 this November!
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYPCS) are encouraging us to celebrate rights by telling 7-word stories.
To celebrate CYPCS want everyone to talk about why children’s rights matter, in a way that means people of all ages can take part. So they’re asking you to send 7 word stories about the human rights of children and young people. #7WordStory #CRC30
Further information here.
Transient Visitor Levy – have your say
The Scottish Government is considering introducing a Transient Visitor Levy. Also known as the Tourist Tax, this will create a discretionary power for local authorities to apply a tax or levy on overnight visitor stays.Island co-ops stay strong
In this post digital age it’s difficult to lose any data thanks to the powerful algorithms that sit behind today’s search engines. But paper records are harder to track down and the history of social enterprise in Scotland becomes much more anecdotal the further back in time you travel. Some skilled work by the archivists at GCU is gradually piecing together the story of who did what, when, and where in order to lay the foundations for today’s social enterprises. Community cooperatives on Scotland’s islands were the early pioneers. In some ways, nothing much has changed.
Scotland’s islands have the highest proportion of co-operatives of any part of the UK thanks to a long tradition of self-reliance, a survey has found.
The study by Co-operatives UK, the sector’s development body, said its survey of co-ops by local authority area found the Western Isles and Orkney topped the table with 8.16 and 5.91 co-ops respectively per 10,000 people. Shetland came in third, with 5.63. Eden in Cumbria came in joint fourth, with 4.55, followed by nearby Allerdale with 3.6.
The Scottish sector’s businesses are generally small, often community shops which provide the only stores in scarcely populated island communities. There are also credit unions, community energy companies and fishing co-ops.
The findings have been published as part of Co-operatives UK’s annual economic survey. It put its total turnover UK-wide at £37.7bn for 2018-19, a little over 1% higher than last year’s figure of £37.6bn and 2.75% higher than the £36.3bn in 2016-17.
The study confirmed that the John Lewis Partnership, the employee-owned group which includes Waitrose food stores, was the UK’s largest co-op with a turnover of £10.3bn; the Co-op itself narrowly behind on £10.2bn. Arla, the Denmark-based diary co-op, came third with a turnover of £2.6bn.
Excluding turnover, the data shows a slight decline in the sector’s size overall. The UK had 7,215 co-ops employing more than 233,000 people in the last financial year, compared with 7,226 employing nearly 235,000 a year earlier.
The report highlighted the Papay Community Co-operative, which runs the only shop and hostel on Papa Westray. The Orkney island has a resident population of about 85 people but is popular with island-hoppers on holiday. The business is close to Papa Westray’s airport, famous as a departure point for the world’s shortest scheduled service, a two-minute, 1.7-mile (2.8km) flight to nearby Westray.
Tim Dodman, the co-op’s secretary, said the business had an annual turnover of about £250,000 and employed four people, with some part-time help during busy periods. It also runs the school bus and local tours.
It was founded in 1980 after the only shop closed and no one could be found to run a new one single-handed. “The co-op ethos is very important,” Dodman said. “This is a small island and pretty remote. It’s much better to work cooperatively than have one individual in control of a lifeline service.”
By Sev Carrell, The Guardian
Will you challenge poverty?
The poverty that we see on our streets isn’t easy to reconcile with the knowledge that we are also one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Given the fact that every day we see people begging on the streets, queuing at foodbanks and experiencing homelessness, is there a risk we become inured to the extent of poverty? Each year, in an effort to shine a light on what’s happening on our streets, the Poverty Alliance coordinate a programme of activities during a week in October to Challenge Poverty. Could your community help to challenge poverty?
Challenge Poverty Week has been coordinated by the Poverty Alliance for the last seven years, and it is an opportunity to highlight what is being done to address poverty, showcase the solutions we can all get behind to solve it, and commit to more action in the future. The Week takes place from the 7th to the 13th October 2019.
Last year nearly 200 actions were delivered by 130 organisations, elected representatives and individuals as part of Challenge Poverty Week.
Why not take part? Read the rest of this entry »
