President’s Bulletin

– hopefully into the BSG diary, shortly. One of the BSG’s current projects is W3: Workforce, Workload, Worklife. We were on track to take this forward in 2020, but as BSG members probably noticed, 2020 was not a normal year. For most BSG members, it […]

In England last year, the total volume of duty paid alcohol (or “booze” to you and me) was 1.2% less than the year before the COVID pandemic, which is good news. Some of us, at least, are drinking less. The […]

My cousin Chris, who lives in the USA, is unusual, by which I do not mean in any sense “strange”.  He is the most “English” person I know, but is a professor of German studies in Texas, at a university […]

In 1970, the world was a different place. It was not an easy time for the UK. The freedoms embodied in the swinging 60s were becoming tarnished. There were strikes, and the economy was not in great shape. Even the […]

“If Gladstone fell into the Thames that would be a misfortune, and if anybody pulled him out, that I suppose would be a calamity.” Benjamin Disraeli Why anyone should put themselves up for public office is something of a mystery. […]

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us – To see oursels as ithers see us! Robert Burns – To A Louse Any organisation or professional group that feels comfortable with itself all the time is in for a shock.  […]

The worst kind of nightmare is the one you cannot escape from. I don’t usually remember my dreams, but if I do the nightmare usually involves wasps and ice cream, a distant childhood memory. In the end I always wake […]

It is important that I update you on the status of our Annual Conference planned for May 2021 in Glasgow. On Tuesday the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre informed us that, the Scottish Government had extended their use of the […]

The late Alan Rickman was principally known for his role as the sinister Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films, but before he took up his wand and robes, he was a memorably evil Sheriff of Nottingham in ‘Robin Hood, […]

The main purpose of getting old is to be grumpy, live in the past, and above all complain about everything. I seem to be settling into the role quite well. It gives one the permanently satisfying inner glow, of living […]

It has been a hard couple of weeks. Across the country, more and more people are subject to restrictions as the second wave of COVID-19 washes up a little sooner than expected. Restrictions that determine who they can see, where […]

Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary for Defense under President George Bush famously talked about what is known and unknown. His description of “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns” caused some rather superior, wry, smiles at the time. It seemed impenetrably complex, […]