BEWARE THE GATEKEEPERS !!

                                                                               

                       Beware the Gatekeepers, including people and organizations who say that they are seeking reform, but in reality protect the Establishment against good reforms.In my experience, I include most Scottish mental health charities, the Scottish Mental Health Commission, and


                           HEALTH IMPROVEMENT SCOTLAND (MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM)



                                                                               

                   I also, quite surprisingly include large sections of Amnesty International.

                  Within any particular organization with otherwise outstanding credentials there may be one or two wily Gatekeepers, who sometimes infiltrate from less credible organizations or splinter groups,who try to control their colleagues in less positive ways. It is therefore essential to make all decisions as democratically as possible. In Edinburgh, I am particular scared by members of the so-called 'Magic Circle' of corrupt lawyers and politicians,  by some elements of the Freemasons, and by the upper hierarchies of our hymn-singing Churches.

           When reaching decisions within a group, it is usually possible to REACH A CONSENSUS if all members of the group have commonality of purposes. If the group is heterogeneous, for example if there are a couple of lurking closet gatekeepers in the group, then the decision making process can become quite distorted



           I would describe many people working on behalf of the United Nations as Gatekeepers, just as one example in their statistical assessment of poverty programs, which go beyond belief in achieving extremely little for poor and vulnerable people despite their nobly expressed aspirations: In the following talk, the speaker did not quote a single numerical Statistic as an outcome, even though the internationally acclaimed program started two years ago! I fell asleep during the strange self-congratulatory procrastinations, but was assured that I hadn't missed anything..

Tuesday 7 Nov 2017, Monitoring the World - the sustainable development goals and what they mean to statisticians.

Venue: ICMS
Address: 15 South College Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AA
Date: Tue 7 Nov
Time: Tea & coffee 17:30; talk between 18:00-19:00 

Speaker: Phil Crook 
Affiliation: The secretary of the RSS International Development Section and a consultant development statistician

Abstract: In September 2015 the United Nations General Assembly adopted seventeen aspirational "Global Goals”, stretching from “No Poverty” and “Zero Hunger” through “Gender Equality” and “Decent work” to “Climate Action” and “Peace, Justice and Strong institutions”.
The goals are associated with 169 targets and 241 global indicators and the annual report on progress towards the targets will cover every country, developed as well as developing. Data disaggregation to ensure that no-one is left behind will be a key feature of reporting. Experience in the UK and globally shows that targets and indicators such as these can have profound effects.
The talk will cover the process and politics leading up to global goals, the experience with the Millennium Development Goals which preceded the SDGs, and then the SDGs themselves and the statistical challenges and opportunities they are throwing up.