More Regulation, Global Regulation

The news just now had poor old Gordon Brown wriggling on a hook about the economic collapse around the world. Gordon rightly said you need to diagnose the problem before you come up with the solution, then ignored his own advice by talking about robust regulation, strongest possible regulation, global regulation. He's right and also wrong. It all depends what you mean by regulation.

The idea of Popper's Nightmare is that this steady process of centralisation has been going on for years, the slow undermining of local practice and knowledge leads to a position where local knowledge and the structures that support it is destroyed. Technology plays a part in this, just as it plays a part in the re-animation. But, if you were the bloke in Central HQ facing an imminent election, and not terribly popular, you might not want to think about long term solutions to the crisis screaming in your face. BUT, a short term knee jerk increase in centralised power weilding (often what politicians mean by Robust Regulation, Strong Regulation, and Global Regulation) is going to make things worse. It keeps us locked into the nightmare.

Still, as this is likely to be the strategy, the rest of us need to think up some tactics. Humour, and humanity, theatre and maybe music, poetry perhaps. Antidotes to the boredom and lifelessness inflicted by the increasing administering of rules and their policing.

We should wish each other luck.

Preparing for the next PLG for C&P, 28/29 Jan 09: structure of register

The complexity of this is mind boggling. What is in a name? How can we pin it down? What relation does it have to the practise, to reality, to the real?

Part of this document attempts to summarise points from documents received by HPC in its 'Call for Ideas'. Leaving aside questions of method, science, and truth, it is sufficient to note that 31 named institutions are quoted in this text, including Skills for Health, 'The NHS', IAPT, and New Ways of Working for Psychological Therapists.

Some other institutions include The Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, The Association for Rational and Emotive Behaviour Therapy, The Cambridge Body Psychotherapy Centre, The Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists in Primary Care, and the Stirling District Mental Health Association.

In the spirit of scientific endeavour it would be valid to note the huge variety of responders, including several people speaking in their own name. In fact, this might be the most important point to note. The practise that is currently in question (conjured up by the phrase 'counselling and psychotherapy) is enormously diverse. There are those who think this is the most valid characteristic of a dynamic, responsive field of work - it is close to the ground, answerable to the roots of its practise, known through its context and locality. There are others who think this is a horrible mess that does not convince The Public of its solid knowledge base. This latter group are the ones who work tirelessly to reduce the diversity to a singularity which will be more easily managed by faceless bureaucrats in a centralised institution. These would be the foot soldiers that knowingly or not form the army that populate Popper's Nightmare (see video link in the side panel).