Leon A Smith's blog



Cultural identity

By Leon A Smith, May 17, 2013

The Jewish Chronicle recently ran an interesting feature in which they asked numerous people, some of them well known, some of them not, to define their Jewish identity. The range of answers was diverse. Everybody identifies Judaism in their own way and at their own level.

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Who is Bert Tann?

By Leon A Smith, May 10, 2013

Bert Tann – who you may ask is Bert Tann? To me it’s a name evocative of the 1960s. Bert Tann of course died in 1972. He was the Bristol Rovers manager for 18 years from 1950 to 1968 At one point he was the longest serving manager post-war. His accomplishments as Bristol Rovers manager were in relative terms considerable. Bristol Rovers finished 6th in Division 2 in 1956 and 1959.

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Tagging

By Leon A Smith, May 3, 2013

There was an interesting article in the media this week about so called “tagging” of people living with dementia by a local police force. This announcement created a storm and was a hot topic for a couple of hours on various media talk shows.

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The Rich List

By Leon A Smith, April 26, 2013

It would not have been possible for anybody to have ignored the fact that The Sunday Times published last week their so-called “Rich List”. It has been trailed for months and is still being heavily publicised every day by The Times. I always get excited reading this magazine – then get bored with it very quickly. In fact, more than bored.

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A slightly surreal week

By Leon A Smith, April 19, 2013

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Quality care

By Leon A Smith, April 5, 2013

One of the sad and hard aspects of working in a care home environment is that people die. Because people are coming into care at the end of their lives, they are staying with us for a shorter period of time than was the case a generation ago. Death is not a way of life but certainly in the care home environment it is an inevitability.

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Not enough is known about dementia

By Leon A Smith, March 22, 2013

This week saw the news of an 83-year old gentleman who still has mental capacity, taking a decision to go to Switzerland for an assisted suicide. This gentleman presumably felt that he could not face the future that lay in store for him having been diagnosed with dementia. He was also unprepared to allow his family to suffer the rigours and distress of supporting him in his last years.

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Our society

By Leon A Smith, March 15, 2013

Since the Queen’s recent imposition due to illness, the subject of gastroenteritis has obviously been in the forefront of the minds of us all. After a brief recovery, there would appear to have been some kind of relapse and there is now speculation as to whether the Queen will be able to continue at her significant age to perform her public duties on a full time basis.

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Older People

By Leon A Smith, March 8, 2013

Nightingale Hammerson, one of the community’s leading charities, is entering into one of its most exciting periods. The 1st anniversary of the merger of Nightingale House and Hammerson House will be celebrated in April. One year in to the merger there are extensive development works either in hand or being planned.

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Market research

By Leon A Smith, March 1, 2013

It’s now a couple of months since the white smoke above the United Synagogue offices in Finchley has begun to evaporate and fade and we now look forward with great optimism to Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis taking up the role of Chief Rabbi later this year. Lord Sacks will be a hard act to follow as indeed was Lord Jakobovits before him ….etc…etc.

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Census data

By Leon A Smith, February 21, 2013

As further analysis of the 2011 Census data starts to trickle through, it’s fascinating to watch. Based on the information which we have, we see the gradual movement of the epicentre of our community – whilst on the one hand the Haredi community continues to grow rapidly primarily in North East London and in Manchester, at the same time there is another phenomena at play.

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The all time greatest leak

By Leon A Smith, February 14, 2013

It’s always startling to see the extent to which the government find it necessary to leak/trail the announcement of any new policies in an attempt to soften the impact of a stark announcement in parliament. The coalition government’s response to the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission would surely win a prize for the “All time greatest leak”.

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It’s just a bit cold with a little bit of snow

By Leon A Smith, January 25, 2013

Once again the light dusting of snow wreaks havoc in London. Newspapers have been full of despairing comment pieces relating to public transport problems and the closure of schools. Thousands of schools have been closed for reasons which are not always totally comprehensible or transparent. How many times have we heard that schools need to be closed?

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Culture and not religion.....

By Leon A Smith, September 20, 2012

As a long standing employee of Nightingale House (now Nightingale Hammerson) I’ve now chalked up some 39 Jewish (lunar calendar) new years! The new year is of course the time for making positive resolutions.

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Reflecting on the past year

By Leon A Smith, September 14, 2012

As we enter the new year, Rosh Hashana is a time and opportunity to reflect on the past year and to look forward to the next. Life at Nightingale House/Nightingale Hammerson has been to say the least full. This year our two charities merged and formalities were completed on 30th April. We are a significally sized charity providing care in both North and South London to over 250 residents.

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A metaphoric voice

By Leon A Smith, September 6, 2012

To say that the performance of the athletes at the Paralympics was an inspiration would be an understatement. What sheer strength and strength of character is required for athletes living with a significant disability to be able to perform at the highest possible level in a wide variety of sports. Athleticism, bravery, determination, are but a few of the adjectives which must apply

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Volunteers and donors

By Leon A Smith, August 30, 2012

A big “thank you” to Esther Rantzen who kindly visited Nightingale House last week to chat and schmooze with our residents. Her presence brought an enormous amount of pleasure to everybody who came into contact with her and we are indebted to her for sparing the time to be with us.

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A psychological block

By Leon A Smith, August 23, 2012

I mentioned some time ago that I thought myself to be one of a very small and elite group of people who were both Jewish and supporters of Bristol Rovers. A recent visit to Barnet Football Club indicated to me the ratio of Jewish supporters/followers of that club were probably significantly higher. The reason that I concluded this was twofold.

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Jewishly, how were the Games for you?

By Leon A Smith, August 17, 2012

On Wednesday night HRH The Duke of Edinburgh was taken to hospital suffering from a bladder infection. How extremely unfortunate and unpleasant for His Royal Highness particularly following on from a similar infection immediately after “Jubilee duties”.

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A vast untapped pool of knowledge

By Leon A Smith, August 10, 2012

It was sad to read this week of the passing of Sir Bernard Lovell – Sir Bernard was an astronomer who was best known for having created the famous radio telescope at Doggerel Bank in Cheshire.

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