Harmless Fun? The Dangerous World of Cartoon Violence

I will admit to ambivalent feelings about a news story today which suggests that the violence portrayed on children’s television can be having an adverse affect on the children who watch it.In particular, the suggestion is that by witnessing such a volume of unrealistic representations of violence and its effects, children are failing to learn [...]

BBC + BNP = OK?

The growing controversy around the BBC’s invitation for British National Party leader Nick Griffin to appear on its Question Time politics forum programme this evening has many interesting angles. Essentially boiling down to people’s right to free speech, I’m interested in the assumptions that are being made about the capacities of the people involved (including [...]

The Power of Shame

When working with clients I’m always very keenly aware of the effects of shame in their lives, either past or present. Often people have very powerful experiences of being shamed as a child, either by parents or teachers or other Parent figures – as a tool for social control, shame can be a massively powerful [...]