Fighting for good

This week I got called a “(voluntary) sector warrior”. I’ll take that.

I often say to people that I feel it’s my life’s work to make this sector more equal, more safe, more just, better in every way, really.

This week I wanted to focus on effective communication. I’ve been reading Cal Newport’s book on Digital Minimalism in between poking away in my email inboxes. At the last count I have two personal accounts, a ChangeOut.org account, a Lambeth Council account, plus various dormant accounts attached to past Lucies. My phone screen shows 5,232 unread emails. 5,233.

I could really do with a world without email. 5,234

According to Cal, email is making us miserable. Well, yes, but what to do about it?

My friend Matt introduced me to Yesterbox. Gmail has a plugin called Boomerang that lets you schedule when you send and receive emails. Some people swear by striving for Inbox Zero although this article says the opposite. My approach, for what it’s worth, is to do my best to file the important things and then sporadically dump emails older than a couple of months into a folder called “Old emails”.

You might wonder why I’m seemingly anti-email in my own email newsletter. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Well, I’m not anti-email per se, just email for the sake of email. Other communication channels are available.

Moving on. This phrase caught my eye in an article linked to here

Equity isn't a destination but an unwavering commitment to a journey.

So beware of trying to *do* equity and falling into these traps:

The Greenham Common protests began in September 1981, just at the beginning of my teens, and the beginning of my activist awareness. Forty years ago this year 🙀. Here are some tools for teaching younger generations about the Greenham Common Peace Camp and the women who protested so all of us could be safer:

Interesting and useful links 🖇️

This is an interesting article about the recent Charity Commission investigation into the National Trust and the wider implications for sector trustee boards.

Kew Gardens published its Manifesto for Change 2021-2030, a new strategy mapping out its mission and areas of focus for the next decade, including commitments to “accurately and equitably” represent the countries around the world that they partner with and re-examine their collections to “acknowledge and address any exploitative or racist legacies”, and develop new narratives around them. Good stuff.

Learning points 🎓

It was Lambeth Council’s Scrutiny Committee meeting this week on the topic of crime and disorder. Understandably much of the discussion centred on violence against women and keeping our streets safe for women following Sarah Everard’s abduction and murder, the arrest of a serving Met Police officer for the crime, and the subsequent police tactics at the vigil to honour Sarah. We were also interested to discuss the disproportionate use of Stop and Search and heard evidence from two campaigners from #ICFREE

The Borough Commander talked a lot about how building trust and confidence with the public.

I made the point that trust takes a long time to win, and a short time to lose.

What am I reading? 📚

I read Digital Minimalism a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t decided what to do about it yet but I do need to reclaim some time from mindless scrolling.

What am I watching? 👀

I love watching films about inspiring women in politics and was pleased to join Rally’s watch party for this film about Stacey Abrams’ Georgia campaign in the 2018 mid terms, voter suppression and political activism 👇

To get me in the mood, I also watched Selma this week.

The fight for voting rights is going backwards though, as the State legislature in Georgia passed a bill restricting voting access into law just yesterday.

What am I listening to?👂

I’m really behind on new music. Send me your recommendations, please.

Joy-giving things 😍

Very happy about my Bellis Perennis (daisy) that I planted last year. So happy to see them again this year 🥰

Have a lovely weekend

Love, Lucy

P.S. 5,254

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing progressive ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world.

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ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

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