"No, you don't have the right to an opinion"

I was effectively told by a rather prominent Professor of Politics. As I was not actually expressing an opinion at the time I found this a little unnerving.
What I had actually put to the Professor was whether I had the right to an opinion if I had read and listened to all the available evidence. Please note the word "available". 
Courts and juries are supposed to work on the available evidence - the facts put before them. The presumption is made that the people giving that evidence are telling the truth.
The reality of course is different. The evidence given is the truth as it is remembered or the truth as it is known at the time - when people are telling the truth.
People lie under oath. They will lie for any number of reasons. They will also make statements which are not true because they have forgotten or they are confused or they believe something else.
"Evidence" is not an exact science.
Courts make mistakes. It is one of the reasons I am so strongly opposed to the death penalty. More than one innocent person has been put to death because of false evidence. 
It is also why I support the appeals process. It presents an opportunity to right a wrong. 
Now let it be said here that in the case of a certain very senior member of the Catholic church I was (a) not in court to hear the evidence presented and (b) have not read the transcripts. But, I still hold an opinion and it is this, he has the right to appeal. Yes, he has been convicted of an horrific crime but he still has the right to appeal. I have read the opinion pieces written by two people whose intellectual and academic integrity I trust - in so far as I trust anyone - and they are of the opinion that there are strong grounds for an appeal. My background in both psychology and law suggests to me that, on the evidence available to me, he is likely to appeal. His legal team has been instructed to appeal. 
That appeal may or may not succeed. The important thing is that it must be allowed to go ahead.
It must be allowed to go ahead free of the immense pressure being placed upon the court of appeal by the court of public opinion and the media. Right now that is not happening - and that is wrong. 
If I am wrong to hold that opinion then so be it - but I believe I have the right to hold it.

The Pell verdict

was expected of course. Like many other people in Downunder I have been aware of it since December but I would have broken the law if I had commented publicly on it. 
I have a number of things I want to say here and I am well aware that they might not make me popular.
The first is this. The legal process is not yet finished. We have been informed that there will be an appeal. That may or may not succeed.
The second is this. The media and many others who have commented on the issue made up their minds long before the case even went to court that the defendant was guilty as charged. What is more they claimed he was guilty of everything he was accused of.
The third is this. Some charges against the defendant were thrown out. They were thrown out because the evidence was not there. The known facts showed there was not just no reasonable chance of a conviction but no chance at all. 
The fourth is this. The jury was under immense pressure to find the defendant guilty. The facts of the case in this instance were secondary to "getting" someone. The first trial failed because, it was said, the jury could not reach a verdict. The reality is that they came dangerously close to acquitting the defendant. I say "dangerously" because such an outcome would have been unacceptable.
Nobody wants to talk about these things. I tried, carefully and gently, to point this out to someone yesterday and I got accused of "supporting child sexual abuse". Nothing could be further from the truth. As a victim of it myself I am all too well aware of the harm it can cause.  I do not for one moment want to suggest that someone who has been subjected to it has not been harmed by it.
All evidence in such cases has to be treated with extreme caution. Any evidence given after forty years is tainted. People may not be lying but the truth, as they remember it, may not be what actually happened. Those claiming to be victims have too much to lose to even question to themselves the validity of their claims. The slightest touch given in sympathy can be remembered as violent assault when you turn against someone.
But, the verdict in this case may not be safe. We have to wait the outcome of the appeals process to know the answer to that.
There are other problems too. This morning's paper has made an enormous fuss about the case. That was only to be expected - but much of what they have to say is wrong. They are, quite deliberately, trying to ensure that any appeals process will fail. They are putting pressure on the judiciary to retain the verdict. It matters not to them whether the defendant is guilty or innocent. They want him to be guilty. They are also putting pressure on a religious organisation and those who run it. It matters not to them that this also puts pressure on all those who attend churches or synagogues or mosques or simply believe in a higher being.  It is telling them - stop believing because this is the sort of thing that happens when you believe. 
That's wrong. It's frightening. History shows humans have a need to believe in something be it Christianity, Communism, Confucianism or something else.

Bullying on social media

or something akin to it has apparently led to a well known knitwear designer taking extended leave.
I don't know what the story is apart from the fact that  her blog is not active. The "club" she had running is also in abeyance until September.  
Her blog is popular. It has hundreds of followers, perhaps more. The comments always seem positive.
I read her blog occasionally if I think she is going to talk about the design process. I always find it helpful to learn how other people approach the design process. In this particular case it is doubly useful because this designer had a stroke and had to relearn - or at least rediscover - many things. 
From her own comments I suspect she is, quite understandably, a little "spiky" or irritated at times. I sense her frustration when she can't manage to do something as quickly as she once could - and when the effort of doing it at all tires her. I don't know whether that is part of what went wrong. If it is then I imagine she will feel even worse. I just hope she can get through this and go on giving the people who do knit from her patterns the pleasure she was giving them before.
But the situation made me think about the problem of bullying again, especially bullying on social media. It seems everyone is aware of it but few people are prepared to do anything about it.
I have blocked a few extreme left-wing trolls in my time. I have blocked more  extreme right-wing trolls. I rarely comment on one newspaper site simply because there are a small band of almost constant commentators who seem to see the site as their personal domain. The site is "moderated" but this has not stopped this little group of making fun out of criticising even the most innocuous of comments. It undermines the whole purpose of the ability to comment.
I am wary of what I post but someone still took offence at something I intended as a compliment. I keep my Facebook account confined to a few people who are genuinely friends. The comment, "But Cat you could have hundreds of followers..." makes me shudder. I want to know people. If I was like the designer above I would set up a separate account for that purpose. 
Adults don't expect to be bullied. They don't always recognise bullying when it happens. They might acknowledge that someone isn't being very nice and avoid them but they won't realise the behaviour is that of a bully. One of the biggest problems is that those around them often don't recognise that sort of behaviour for what it is either.
Perhaps it is time people did recognise it.

The best person for the job

is the person who should be chosen for the job.
It does not matter whether that person is black, white, blue, red, purple or something else. 
There have been criticisms because out of four women and one man the man got the job. In this case the job is being the candidate for a seat in federal parliament.  People are crying out, "A woman should have been selected."
No, the best person for the job should have been selected. The women may be good, even very good, but they still need to the best.
We are not doing ourselves any favours if we don't put the best person for the job in the position which needs to be filled. Many  years ago a woman I knew was appointed to be the head of a small special school. It was said to be an excellent choice, "a real breakthrough".  At the time though I had my doubts as did some of those who had been hoping to at least be considered for the position. My ultimate boss at the time had his doubts too.
   "It's going to hurt your chances Cat," he told me, "It's going to do a lot of damage."
And it did. This woman was appointed because she had a disability. She wasn't appointed on the basis that she was able to run a school. She had actually never taught and was not even trained to teach,  The appointment was a failure. She was not able to do the job because she simply did not have the qualifications. Her disability had nothing to do with her ability to do the job.
At the time I was not old enough or experienced enough to even think of applying for the position. When she left I was transferred to the school as an assistant. A new head was appointed. He was often away. When he was away I was responsible but I was told I would never be considered for the position, indeed for anything other than a classroom position - and that only reluctantly. 
My ultimate boss eventually told me, "Go back to university Cat, you need to do something else. Nobody is going to take chances again."
And they didn't. Some would say it was a good thing because it hastened the move to dismantle the special schools and place the students in mainstream classrooms. 
But it also did a lot of damage. Forty years down the track and there is still a reluctance to employ people with disabilities. My ultimate boss is no longer alive. The last time I saw him he spoke again of that appointment and the damage it had done.
     "I wanted to see more women at the top," he told me, "And it didn't happen. Now it is happening again but for the wrong reasons. The best women available are leaving to do other things. I don't blame them but look at what we have missed out on."
And perhaps it is also because of my own experience that I don't believe in appointing someone to a role simply because they happen to be one thing or another or another. I simply want the best person available to fill the position.  I don't think "quotas" work if they result in the best people not being chosen.
Is that wrong?


 

Japanese knitting - His work is incredibly neat

and extraordinarily even.
We taught S.... to knit last year. He came along to the knitting group at the library and said he wanted to learn. 
He didn't have needles or yarn so I gave him a crochet hook and a length of yarn and G.... showed him how to make a chain. S.... spent the rest of that time crocheting a chain and then pulling it undone and doing it again. We told him to come back with needles and yarn if he wanted to learn.
Would he come back? We weren't sure why he was there. There has never been another male in that group. He is Japanese. We sensed he was lonely and wanted companionship if not actual friendship.
But yes, he came back.
The second time I showed him how to cast on and do the knit stitch. What did he want to make? A scarf? I thought he might give up part way through that. No. He returned the next time with most of one big ball knitted. I showed him how to join the next ball. He finished the scarf.
G.... taught him the purl stitch. He made another scarf - stocking stitch with neat garter stitch borders. 
And his work was neat, neat, and neat. His stitches are even. He dropped a stitch. I showed him how to pick it up. He knits with rhythm. His tension is even. 
The third thing he made was a cowl, still in plain knitting. I wondered when he was going to ask to learn something a little more complicated. 
We wanted him to come along last weekend for the family day at the library but nobody knew how to get in touch with him. Would he come yesterday? I thought he wasn't going to be there. He is usually there early. No S.... He heard about the day and is hurt we didn't include him I thought.
No. He arrived late. We greeted him with relief, told him we need his email address so he is on the list. I told him why. He looked a little puzzled at first and then laughed as he does when he feels a little embarrassed. He gave me his email address. 
Then he pulled out his new project. He had designed it himself. It is another scarf but it is patterned.  He showed me a mistake four rows down. He wasn't sure how to fix it. We did it the easy way with him taking the stitches off the needle, undoing it to the mistake and then picking the stitches up again while I stood there and watched and told him how to do it.
He could not have left the mistake there. He's a perfectionist. He reminds me of someone else I know. Her work is beautiful too. She plans, weighs, measures and blocks in a way that no other knitter I know does. Nothing gets wasted. She can make something out of the most disparate scraps of yarn - and make it look as if the whole thing has been planned, that it was intended to be that way. S... really needs to meet her so he can see how he can do even more and still retain his desire to knit something as perfectly as possible.
Yesterday I also started someone else on her first pair of socks. She was, rightly for her, more concerned about understanding what she was doing than perfection but I could see S... was puzzled by this.
Should he wish to knit socks his will be the perfect pair. 
We are lucky to have him in the group. He's setting a good example.

A handpainted "afternoon tea" set

is something I never expected to own. I have never wanted to own one but now I suppose I do.
It belonged to my paternal grandmother. It was a wedding gift.  My siblings don't want it so I am going to be "allowed" to have it.
But let me start a little earlier than that. This is also about what you inherit. My sisters married and they inherited quite a number of household items. 
    "You don't need them Cat," I was told. Perhaps I didn't. They also inherited our mother's jewellry and her wedding ring and the rings that had belonged to both my grandmothers. I was told "You aren't married Cat. You can't wear them." Perhaps that was right.
There was quite a bit of "good" crockery and cutlery that the Black Cat probably did need - having moved and changed partners more times than I care to think about. Middle Cat needed the sewing machine - repairs to the clothing of her  (then) two small boys. Her mother-in-law took the overlocker - she was the only one who knew how to use it. And there were other things that went as well.
But, oddly, the afternoon tea set was left there in the cupboard. There are cups, saucers, plates, a cake stand, a milk jug and sugar bowl. The set is complete. (There was never a teapot.) The pieces are made from bone china - not quite white. They are painted in bands of gold and navy blue. Each piece is numbered. 
I am a clumsy cat. Just holding a piece terrifies me. I have never used it. I am never likely to use it. We don't have afternoon tea parties in this house.
So, do I want it? Why would I want it? I have thought about this long and hard. I do want to keep it but not for what it is. I want to keep it because it is another reminder of my paternal grandmother, the person who taught me all the important housekeeping skills, the person who kept telling me "you can do it" when other people said I couldn't, the person who taught me to knit, and more. Grandma was the person who came when I was in hospital as a very small kitten. She was the person, along with my grandfather, who came to the only graduation ceremony I attended.  
Grandma married my grandfather against the wishes of her own father. Apparently the old man was furious that he was losing a "free" pair of hands on the farm. He had taken her out of school after just three years to work on that same farm. She had to educate herself after that - and she did. It was my paternal great-grandmother who gave her the afternoon tea set. I look on it as an enormous vote of confidence in my grandmother. It said not just, "I accept you" but also, "I know you are going to be not merely a good wife but a great one."
I know the tea set was not used that often. It may have been used more in the early years of marriage. I know they would have people to afternoon tea on a Sunday. Dinner parties were not as common then. My brother has the dinner set, the one we used at Christmas and on rare family gatherings. It's good but it isn't like the afternoon tea set.  My brother has the dining room furniture too, the "great chair" and the nine chairs without arms and the table with the extension which winds out. 
But, I think I have the tea set. It is there in the cupboard. Nobody else seems to want it. I may not remind them of it. Is that selfish?
I have to move it today because a friend is coming to take the old sound system which has not been used for the past twenty-two years. The connections are at the back of the cupboard in which the tea set has been kept. To get at those I have to move the tea set.
I have a box. I know I can do it.
And when our friend S.....has removed the connections I will return the tea set pieces to their place in the cupboard. I will look at the numbers on each piece and wonder who painted them.
And most of all I will look at them and think of my great-grandmother and my grandmother. They were both extraordinary women. The tea set is a little piece of Grandma. I want to keep it for that reason. 

"Training day"

are words which make me shudder. 
I was supposed to be attending one today. It was for some "voluntary" work I do.
Fortunately for me the person organising it said,
    "No point in you coming Cat. It's pitched at those who do tea duty."
No, it isn't actually tea duty but I knew what she meant. It is a compulsory unit for the people who go along on a regular basis to do something entirely different. I attend this venue when I am called in to help with communication issues. Although it is a "volunteer" position in that I am not paid I am there as a professional person. There are so few of us who work like this and we face such varied issues that a "training day" would be almost impossible to put together even if we were some sort of "group". 
But "training days" seem to be compulsory for everyone now. There was a "training day" at the local charity shop recently. They closed the place for the morning and an outsider came in.
The staff told me about it later. Fortunately the people who work there have a good sense of humour. They needed it because the "trainer" was trying to teach them about "customer relations". 
    "She was a lovely person Cat but she had no idea about so many of the people we see in here." (It's a big organisation which runs many services and many of their clients are welfare recipients who need a lot of help.) 
They had the "occupational health and safety" people in last year too. There were arguments about the way things were organised and handled. The volunteers there were prepared to listen but they despaired of the "suggestions" made.  Safety is an issue there and everyone knows it - because most of the people who work there are elderly. They are the people who have the time. The problem is they do things differently from some bright young "trainer" spark with definite ideas.
I am very glad I don't have to go to a training day which tells me how to make the tea or hold someone's hand in a crisis situation. 
Yesterday I asked P.... who works in the charity shop what she would have liked as part of the training day. She thought about it for a moment,
     "Well teaching us all how to use the new cash register would have been good."
Then she gave me a wicked little smile and said, "And perhaps they could come and train the customers to put things back where they found them?"
Now that would be training worth having.