CONTENTS

Prologue – Fracture alert

Ch. 1 – Youth under Stress – Historical perspective on stress; Decline in relative happiness; The drive to acquire more stuff; Drying up of credit - until recently; Human connections through a filter; Listen only to the ‘news’ you want to hear!; Blurring of the public and private realms; Perfecting the personal image only for reality to fall short; The dark side of the messaging moon; Unexpectedly better after Coronavirus?

Ch. 2 – Polarised Politics – Style or substance in leadership; Intolerance to disagreement; The comfort of ‘people like us’; Learning Civics; Finding the ends of the political rainbow; Immigrant pontoon, twist or stick; Living with difference; Crusade for transparency in the forming of views.

Ch. 3 – Spare Rib to #MeToo Gender Wars – Political correctness rules, but I will speak my mind; Feminism and me in the 1970’s; Revolutions are different for everyone, be careful what you wish for; Are men or women ruling the world?; How much influence are women getting in running business?; What about sex?; Objectification or empowerment, the real battlefront; The moderation of VoxPop; Love and Respect are the keys, like always.

Ch. 4 – Office Interactions – Divisions of Labour; Divisions of Space; The march of digital technology; Failing to toe the line; Dodging the psychos; Open plan in more ways than one; Political Correctness and the Departments of Human Remains; Self Help the only option; Space dynamics; Leadership the ultimate face to face learning process; Individualism lives; Mental health the canary in the mine.

Ch. 5 – Coping with Trauma – Experience of war and PTSD; Trauma at the private scale; Traumas at a national scale; The Middle East crucible for suffering; Algeria; Iran; Kuwait; The domestic realm in Middle Eastern societies; Fundamentalism to terrorism; Poverty and deprivation; Vietnam; Colombia; Bereavement; #BeKind and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Ch. 6 – Homeland loves and hates – Pembrokeshire my county; An Island Love Affair; Remoteness induces melancholy; Sense of place through animism; Patriotism games.

Ch. 7 – Judgement in Context – Never mind the message, who is the messenger?; The loss of spontaneity in conversation; Gaining from a personal crisis in India; Can governments connect with individuals?; Context is everything.

Ch. 8 – Learning from cultural diversity – Perspectives on home and school; Over the garden wall – ‘Go West young man, Go West!'; Matemanship in Western Australia; Under the last white rulers in Africa; Out of the Anglophone bubble; Algeria 1975 to 1982; Morocco 1977; Bolivia 1978/9; Understanding team dynamics.

Ch. 9 – Meeting people halfway – Travel alone; Sing for your supper; Travel Light; Learn some of the language; Try to be a visitor not a tourist; Leave prejudices at home; Remain interested as well as interesting!; Don’t believe everything you hear, and embrace difference!;

Ch. 10 – Getting along with nearly everybody – Human talent for adapting; Notice me , notice me!; Routes to greater social awareness;; Body language when speech isn’t enough; Breaking out of the comfort zone; Reviewing how places work; Has my ideology evolved through life?; Re-shaping of values over time; Love, life and the pursuit of happiness.

Epilogue – Opportunities after pandemic