Help is in the Air
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From the roof of The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, London’s Air Ambulance provides a lifesaving service to people in their moment of greatest need. Their one helicopter covers…
Issue 32 – Beyond Duty
Hands, Spirit, Heart
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Fashion has truly come of age. No longer content simply to create looks that open people’s eyes, there is a growing tribe of socially aware designers who are seeking…
Being The Best
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‘This was no technical masterclass. This was blood and grit, a war of attrition. My mind could have given up on me at so many stages, and I just…
It’s What’s Inside That Counts
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If we could only persuade people to be more dutiful, more moral, more ethical. The trouble is – on the evidence of numerous past attempts – we can’t. And the…
Bigger and Not Better
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The concept of duty is defined in the workplace easily enough with a tightly drafted job description. But that covers only my duty to my employer. What of my duty to society, beyond employment? Here there are no bullet-point templates. As for going beyond duty – surely an objective a good society would encourage in its citizens – what might that mean, in today’s world? The Financial Times recently ran a series of articles entitled ‘Capitalism in Crisis’.
The Joy of the Job
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The Romans always aimed to leave a place better than they found it. Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. When you hear of someone who’s up for an award in the Queens Honour’s List, or being noted for their bravery for saving someone from a house fire, the phrases ‘beyond duty’ and ‘going the extra mile’ are typically rolled out. But to my mind, it’s pretty hard to get through life and to find some form of peace of mind without going the extra mile.
I Need to Have a Word
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Seeing his mother’s reaction to hearing Hitler’s speeches on the radio is one of Noam Chomsky’s earliest memories. As a Jewish child growing up during the Second World War,…
In a Barbie World
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I am increasingly interested in how certain actions first become acceptable to society and then, ultimately, something that you feel obliged to do. Following on from that, why do society and culture come to see certain behaviours or beliefs as acceptable when they are clearly damaging to the individual?
