fjm

In the absence of anything else to discuss.. comments welcome on this proposal for a PhD (yes, I'm probably out of my mind). I have just sent it in for discussion. Start date would be September 2026.

Proposal title: With the Best of Intentions. Society, Economy and the British Charity Landscape.


Abstract:

This thesis sets out to explore issues arising from the charity legislative and customary environment and its effects on the ways in which our society and economy function. Although some charities may appear prominently in this thesis, it is not intended to be an attack on any charity, or on the concept of charity, and nor is it in search of scandal.

The contention of this thesis is that the legislative environment which has grown up to support charities is undermining our society and economy in a variety of ways, which include taking over sectors of the economy, exporting surplus out of communities, reducing the tax base of communities, and deepening regional inequity.

The starting date is 1993 and the Charities Act.


PhD Proposal: Mendlesohn

Introduction: What the public thinks a charity is, versus the wide number of activities and bodies that claim charitable status. This thesis will then focus on the most popular understandings of charities, those that support the poor, animals, children, health care etc. It will not look at Hospitals, Public Schools, museums and other similar organisations that have charitable status

Chapter 1: The cultural, legislative and financial environment from 1993 to the present.

This chapter will explore the rise of charity culture from the 1993 Charity Act, focusing in particular on Tony Blair’s desire for a more religious environment, the interaction with the contracting out culture, and the role of David Cameron’s Big Society in bringing many charities into direct engagement with the state at national and local levels, shifting the position of charity in the popular imagination from the provider of extras, to a key partner in the welfare state.

⁃
Chapter 2: The Charity on the High Street

This chapter will consider the emergence of the charity shop as a feature of the British landscape.
The chapter will consider the advantages granted to charities when they open such shops, the extension of the temporary lease to support the high street to the current situation where the charity shop(s) are a key part of the British high street.
The chapter will chart the expansion of charity shops into different products—second hand clothes, furniture, books, Christmas cards—and their impact on independent retailers (which will include the school jumble sale, the role of the second hand market for immigrant traders, and—I predict—in the near future the car wash). One element of this chapter will consider the more recent development of on line second hand trading and how charities have responded to this.

The role of charity contracting in undermining local other providers or those employed directly by the council,
Grants and how they distort priorities, render charities dependent and insecure
It will also explore whether large charities are squeezing out small, local charities.



Chapter 3: Charities and Regional Inequity.
The charity landscape is uneven. Increasingly it’s being noted that more prosperous areas have more charities; that even within a charity, more prosperous areas may have better stocked charity shops.
The chapter will explore the role of charity shops and other enterprises on the local tax base,
This chapter will also explore the extent to which charity shops — particularly those engaged in non local work— are exporting local resources in much the same way as any large retailer. (Large charities on the high streets. Colonialist economics )


Chapter 4: Employment and Engagement in the charity sector.
The affect of charity shops on the retail work available versus that if independent shops were present.
Women leave the workforce in droves around the age of 55. Much of this is not voluntary. When women (but not men) leave the workforce they become a resource for the charities. The result is that women in particular are caught in a catch 22 in which paid work dries up, but unpaid is actively solicited.
The pressure on charities to keep wages low; Contracting as a subversion of mission, contracting undermine charity (this doesn’t fit)
Officers v volunteers: who drives policy when the volunteers are related to/are beneficiaries?
Harassment, bullying and other bad behaviours in ‘nice’ environments.
The Trustee model as a Victorian ideology and its consequences (everything about us, without us).



Chapter 5: Exemptions, when charities wish to select what part of the body politic they work with.
Religious discrimination
The National Insurance argument, and minimum wage: when preserving a charity is more important than doing away with its need. (The opposition to the National Insurance increase: charities need to start thinking hard about why they should be treated differently when many do not benefit tax payers in this country, have specialist religious discriminations, etc); charities may serve a tiny population but demand relief that affects the tax base of a much wider population




Chapter 6: I am not convinced by this chapter. I think it heads off in a very different direction.


This final chapter will focus on the way in which “its for charity” can obscure ethical issues and lead to ‘bad behaviour’; un thought through ideologies, and the consequence of charitable structures. Again, this is not intended as an attack on any charity, but it does raise the issue that too tight a focus on ‘its for charity’ can be dangerous.

Legacies: On 29th March 2022, Third Force Newsapplauded the rise in legacies. It stopped me dead in my tracks. That rise was —almost certainly—due to Covid deaths. It was work remarking, but celebrating it seemed out of turn. Meanwhile, I had a number of friends who had cared for relatives, only to find themselves cut out of their wills. Expand

When a change in policy or law would challenge the business model. Hospices and opposition to assisted dying

Animal charities (not sure how to frame this.
• When the charity is dependent on the problem. Greyhound racing
• When the charity may be creating a problem: the import of overseas strays while our kennels are overwhelmed.
• When the charity has too narrow a definition of its beneficiaries: the RSPCA’s ’surrender for medical aid’ policy.

I give presentations for my organisation. It is an organisation concerned with governance that supports accountants.
I am passionate about governance.
My relationship with accountancy, is, let us say, a little less enthusiastic.
Feedback from my presentation at The Gathering, the big Scotland charity event.

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Very good speaker and not a wasted moment in the whole hour. Their passion for independent examination as a way to help charities to good governance really stands out.

Independent examiners - could anyone other than Farah Mendlesohn have made this more engaging - I don't think so (and no, the sharing of mints before the session didn't sway me at all). Bright, direct and informative.

This was fantastic. I learnt so much. I was expecting this to be really dry but it was really fun.
The cheerful and energetic Ms. Mendlesohn did a great job making accounting appear interesting. Lots of useful information.

Speaker knew her subject backwards and it showed!
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Not bad.

I plan to try and post on Mondays, but heaven knows if I will have much to say. This weekend has been special though because I finished the third draft of my book on Friday and have been clearing admin since and tidying my desk and all sorts of things.

One thing I've done is made a list of all the tasks that need doing around the house. The aim is to use March (in which I won't write) to do them.

Now here is the issue: for two very key reasons I am underskilled at DIY.

1) I grew up with my mother instead of my super competent Dad. When Dad did jobs for my mother, speed and getting out of there was his aim. So I never learned from him.

2) I have always been the youngest in any housing situation, and the other person always preferred to do instead of teach.

But I am 56 and Edward is 78. Now is definitely the time to get competent.

I'm going to start with clearing the garden of rubbish and sorting out plants (I know zero about plants) and then painting outside things, followed by painting walls and doors inside that didn't get done when we moved in (because I sacked the decorator who was taking the piss--I agreed to x amount 'which will take six weeks', to be paid weekly; not x amount per week for as many weeks as he could stretch it to by working four hour days).

So I think I'll talk about that this month (as well as other things that cross my mind).

Project Household starts tomorrow.

I pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave me birth;
Let me rest my eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth
Let me breathe unrationed air again
Where there’s no lack or dearth

Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet,
Of the cool green hills of earth [...]

We rot in the molds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.

We’ve tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned it’s true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.

Rhysling, Blind Singer of the Spaceways, "The Green Hills of Earth" (1947)

https://unbound.com/books/robert-heinlein

If I don’t do this convention report now it won’t happen.

My convention was rather strange, in that it was very much confined to the space of the Exhibits Hall. That might sound dull but it really wasn’t. It was also strange in that for me the fun was in seeing everything I’d had in my head for two years come into place very physically. I had realised years ago that my mistake in theatre had been to get involved in performance. I should have gone in for direction, so much, much more fun and I hold by that now. For all I enjoyed my panels, the real joy of the convention began when Shana Worthen and I stood in that empty hall, the banners newly rigged, and realised it was ours.

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As by the time I joined LJ I was no longer teaching American history, most of you probably don't know that I taught African American history (17th through the end of the 20th century) for almost a decade. My specialist period was 1880 to 1950 (the civil rights era everyone has forgotten) but I studied US and Carribbean slavery as an undergrad and taught it also.

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On Monday I passed my 365th day at work. I haven't quite finished my probation as I still have to submit an application to the Higher Education Academy, but I am still happy, they seem to be happy with me, and the honeymoon period lasted an entire year which isn't bad going (it's going to end in the next two weeks when I have to tackle two awkward situations).

Every new year needs a goal, and in addition to:
1. finish a book
2. stage an exhibit hall at Worldcon

there is

3. Work life balance.

Despite 1 and 2 I am making progress on this and began as I mean to continue with celebratory drinks on Monday night, and skiving off this afternoon (I have a meeting in Greenwich this morning and I am not going back to the computer. I will of course compensate tomorrow when the weather is supposed to be poor.)

So, assuming you want to, how to get to see Farah:

If you are in Cambridge ask me about lunch, after work drinks, and early dinners. Anything that ends later than 9pm is tricky unless I'm not at work the next day. Tuesdays are often bad because I have 9am meetings the next day and that means a 6:10 train.

If you are in London, then it's Friday evenings (when I'm working from home most days) and the weekends. Assume I am writing most weekends but can be tempted if it's after 3pm.


*This is a diploma mill that has somehow achieved recognition among universities by presenting itself as a quality assurance/chartered institute/academic fellowship. See here: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/professional-recognition. It accredits you as a "good" practioner by asking you to write an essay.

This is not a guess who is going to win, because it's the Clarke Award. The only time I ever managed to guess in advance I was a judge.

But my opinion and preference, for what's worth:

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Andre Norton style lost colony survival story in which young man sets out on a trek to find The Truth.

Good stuff:
descriptions of alien world;
sense of a language and culture dying;
worked through ideas on what happens genetically to a small colony;
modern high stakes ending.

Bad stuff:
girl-peer spends too much time thinking how very Different and Special, young man is*;
only two types of sex: vaginal for conceiving, anal for avoiding it, and it's all heterosexual**
I've read this story before, several times, so it's all in the execution.

If I were thirteen this is exactly the kind of book that would have got me hooked on science fiction.

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One more Clarke book to go, Intrusion



* This might have worked with a significant age difference but they are depicted as the same age, and generally speaking, 15 year old girls regard 15 year old boys as jerks.
**I'm happy to accept that women don't want to make children in this society with men who have cleft palates because of the risk to their future children, but this seems to be a society without love-drive to idiotic sex, or without blow jobs for just fun, and even without circle jerks for un partnered sex. Maybe there is homosexuality but I was skimming by that point.

I've just received a conference proposal that is utterly reliant on grants to break even. As this is not the first I've seen recently, I post below a quick guide to how to cost your conference.



Add up:
Cost of travel and accommodation for speakers
cost of food and drink etc*
cost of room hire
cost of equipment hire
cost of printing/paper/pens


Divide by the number of people you expect to attend.


That figure is the base figure that you are going to charge *students*. For the "Regular" rate, you add on, how much is up to you.

This ensures your conference breaks even,** with a little to spare for extras.

You then go looking for financial support. If you get it, you can offer student bursaries.


*this can be just tea and coffee, or you might need to provide other meals if you are isolated. Cost a banquet separately as there are many reasons people might not want to go.
** my first conference made a loss because I'd set the standard rate at cost + £20, and then given a student discount of £20. The problem was that more than 50% of attendees were students.