A Paradigm Shift is Needed
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This is an expanded version of the article which appeared in The Times on 6 January. To address fully the challenges in the provision of health care and social care in Scotland, I sense that we …


As the founder and CEO of the Core Solutions Group, I spend a great deal of time thinking and speaking about mediation, negotiation, conflict management, leadership and communication. I am told I should write some of these thoughts down… so, here goes…
This is an expanded version of the article which appeared in The Times on 6 January. To address fully the challenges in the provision of health care and social care in Scotland, I sense that we …
To address fully the challenges in the provision of health care and social care in Scotland, we may need a paradigm shift. In other words, a fundamental change in our way of thinking about how …
“Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears”. Surely some mistake, I thought; shouldn’t it be the other way round? Swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks? It was during Evensong at the magnificent …
Back in the early 1980s, the Cold War was at its height. As we learned in the recent BBC series “Secrets and Spies: A Nuclear Game”, the world came perilously close to nuclear war in …
“I predict Scotland’s NHS will not last until it is 100 years old.” The chair of BMA Scotland, Dr Iain Kennedy, has again called for a national conversation on the future of the NHS, urging …
John Sturrock has contributed the following reflections, on leadership in the NHS, to Reform Scotland’s excellent NHS 2048 initiative: “The key to doing well lies not in overcoming others, but in eliciting their co-operation.” (Robert Axelrod) “…whatever change …
“O, wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us!” I am writing this on Burns Night and reflecting on a recent conversation with an acquaintance. I left our meeting feeling deeply …
With Scotland’s constitutional issue set to take centre stage once again, many will be fearful that division and rancour may follow. Back in 2014 and in subsequent years, the debate has often generated more heat than light. …
I did something recently that I have not done for well over two years. I addressed a large conference audience – in person. Prior to arriving at the venue, I had flashbacks to early days …
It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog just about mediation practice. Other things always seem more important! However, as I was mediating this week, a thought occurred to me about a rather imperceptible …