To ring in real social ch ch ch changes everyone needs a say

I came back to work after maternity leave in November. It felt like the post referendum age was a time of possibility and people in all walks of life were thinking about how we might make Scotland and the world a better place. But now two weeks into the New Year, I can’t help feeling we are slipping back into the same old mind sets and behaviours. On Tuesday evening I attended a Scottish Futures Forum event at the Scottish Parliament on well-being. It’s a subject I have been interested in for years. The renowned Professor Giovannini spoke but I was a bit disappointed that he was really just preaching to the converted – only a small handful of academics and policy people were present at the event, and virtually nothing was said on social media about the whole visit.

If Scotland is to become a more socially just place, we need to think not only about what this means but how we’ll know a difference has been made

If Scotland is to become a more socially just place, we need to think not only about what this means but how we’ll know that a difference has been made. The obsession with GDP as a measure of progress does not help. It’s good that @FrancisStuart of Oxfam is part of the Scottish Government working group looking at the new performance framework for Scotland. Learning from or even incorporating some of the Humankind Index would be great but I was disappointed to hear on Tuesday that it looks like there will be little input from the wider population beyond the usual academics and policy makers. I can’t help feeling that in order for real change to happen in the system we need to find ways into this discussion beyond the already engaged. I think Oxfam did this well with humankind as it reached far beyond those usually engaged in this agenda. So before we get too far into January and a business as usual approach, I think we could learn from the lyrics of the David Bowie: “They try to change their worlds, Are immune to your consultations, They're quite aware of what they're goin' through” It’s not consultations that matter. It’s really listening to lots of different voices, and enabling more people to really participate in our democracy, that will make a difference.