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Altruism is holding Britain together | The Observer

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Reposted by Martha Gill

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · 4d

The second is on a little noticed counter to the narrative that social bonds are unravelling. By almost every indicator we are becoming more isolated, polarised and antisocial. Except one. Absolutely loads of people are volunteering observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Volunteers keep vital services afloat and offer an antidote to our ever more isolated society

Altruism is holding Britain together | The Observer

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Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · 4d

The second is on a little noticed counter to the narrative that social bonds are unravelling. By almost every indicator we are becoming more isolated, polarised and antisocial. Except one. Absolutely loads of people are volunteering observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Volunteers keep vital services afloat and offer an antidote to our ever more isolated society

‘They are treated with the most appalling hostility’: the...

2 7 30

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · 4d

I’ve got two articles in this week’s Observer. One is a big piece of reporting on lone asylum seeking kids arriving in Britain - a group is often missed out of the conversation observer.co.uk/news/columni...

The number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Britain has soared, and many are being put at risk having got here

Nuclear power is the future Britain rejected. Now it’s ti...

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Reposted by Martha Gill

denismacshane.bsky.social @denismacshane.bsky.social · Jul 27

observer.co.uk/news/opinion... The anti-science obsession of British politics has done UK great harm, Good new Observer taking this seriously by @marthagill.bsky.social

Energy projects in the UK are among the world's most expensive as we insist on reinventing the wheel

How can we change the culture of cover-ups? First, accept...

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 25

My piece observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

From grooming gangs to the NHS, scandals show us that whistleblowers are the exception – and dysfunction and complicity are rife

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Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 25

This means our current approach - inquiries to root out offenders and bad practice - don't take the source of the problem

To prevent cover-ups, we would need to totally transform the workplace

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Reposted by Martha Gill

Willard Foxton @willardfoxton.bsky.social · Jun 25

Yes. Huge incentives, notably keeping your own job, in staying quiet about this stuff. Great examples in ents where various alarming individuals keep working for years after it’s known they are dangerous because the dynamic is if you speak up you will be the one who loses your job

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 25

Why do people choose to cover up scandals?

My theory is that it's not 'bad apples', or 'dysfunctional institutions', as we like to pretend

Every modern workplace contains the incentives for coverups

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 24

1. Professionals want to be team players, fit in, trust others, be loyal and please those in authority

2. Responsibility is diffused, which makes it easy for people to rationalise away their part in the process

3. Habit eventually makes the harm seem normal

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Reposted by Martha Gill

John Kell @jmkpolicy.bsky.social · Jun 24

Exactly right. Any substantial organisation will be likely to circle the wagons and cover up failings.

Within it there will be some people who should know better but don't recognise their own complicity. And others who do but will lose their livelihood if they speak up.

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 24

We convince ourselves that institutional cover-ups are rare: the result of uniquely terrible people or uniquely dysfunctional systems

The ugly truth: cover-ups are the RULE

They are the result of normal human dynamics that come with every workplace

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 24

How can we change the culture of cover-ups? First, accept...

From grooming gangs to the NHS, scandals show us that whistleblowers are the exception – and dysfunction and complicity are rife

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Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 24

We virtue signal when a cover-up comes to light with expressions of shock and disgust - "how on earth could that happen?"

We fool ourselves that rooting out bad apples and installing new rules will help

The truth is these things rarely makes a difference...

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Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 24

1. Professionals want to be team players, fit in, trust others, be loyal and please those in authority

2. Responsibility is diffused, which makes it easy for people to rationalise away their part in the process

3. Habit eventually makes the harm seem normal

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Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 24

We convince ourselves that institutional cover-ups are rare: the result of uniquely terrible people or uniquely dysfunctional systems

The ugly truth: cover-ups are the RULE

They are the result of normal human dynamics that come with every workplace

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 24

Maternity scandals, grooming gangs, the infected blood scandal, the Hillsborough disaster, the post office scandal, Grenfell, Windrush, sexual abuse by priests...... wherever we find serious harm we almost always find large numbers of people choosing to conceal it

I call it "the cover-up rule"

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 23

Thank you!

Reposted by Martha Gill

Phil Tinline @philtinline.bsky.social · Jun 23

This is very good - it skewers the way institutions' leaders will convince themselves that bad behaviour can't happen because rules.

But we need to think more about how things actually work. We - especially senior managers - need to think much more in terms of who has power, and who really doesn't.

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 23

How can we change the culture of cover-ups? First, accept...

From grooming gangs to the NHS, scandals show us that whistleblowers are the exception – and dysfunction and complicity are rife

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Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 23

How can we change the culture of cover-ups? First, accept...

From grooming gangs to the NHS, scandals show us that whistleblowers are the exception – and dysfunction and complicity are rife

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 23

Cover-ups are not the exception, they are the rule.

What if the incentives pushing people towards complicity are features of MOST work places?

My piece for @observeruk.bsky.social

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 23

We have enormous capacity to be shocked by cover-ups.

Each time, we conclude they must be the result of uniquely malign characters or uniquely dysfunctional systems - and commission inquiries to rootle these out

Yet they happen again and again

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Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 23

I've written about institutional cover-ups in this week's
@ObserverUK
.

From grooming gangs to the post office scandal, wherever we find serious harm we almost always find very large numbers of people choosing to conceal it

Why? I think we've been getting it wrong

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Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 16

Enjoyed doing @lbc.co.uk cross questions just now with @simonmarksfsn.bsky.social - great fun

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 15

Far from being on their uppers, Britain’s upper classes s...

Despite vastly increased competition from other social groups, the aristocracy remains as influential in this century as it ever was

Martha Gill @marthagill.bsky.social · Jun 15

When activists rail against undeserving elites, this is surely a group that should come under attack

But somehow, it doesn't. Why?

My theory in this week's Observer