Leon A Smith's blog



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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The generosity of the community

By Leon A Smith, August 3, 2012

Until this week the subject of fencing (not the garden or criminal type) had been one only vaguely in my consciousness. I’ve never had any interest in fencing. I’ve never seen fencing. And even if I had thought about it for two minutes, I’d probably would have said – what is the point? No pun intended!

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Olympic Lanes

By Leon A Smith, July 26, 2012

It is extremely difficult, verging on the controversial, to write a blog this week without referring in some way, however obliquely, to the Olympics and/or to Olympic lanes. What a strange concept this is. Separate lanes for very important people throughout London whilst the rest of us sit and steam in the heat in the remaining clogged up lanes.

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Dementia needs to be de-stigmatised

By Leon A Smith, July 19, 2012

There is news this week of a “wonder drug” which could lead to 11 years of extra life according to scientists. A study by academics at Queen Mary University who found that people who regularly took a pill made up of 3 blood pressure lowering drugs, had large reductions in blood cholesterol and blood pressure.

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Long term care of older people

By Leon A Smith, July 12, 2012

This week it was reported in the media that a local authority was currently spending £450,000 a year to keep open a care home with just one resident. 13 staff are employed at the home in a small town near Cardiff. The council had tried to close the home in 2009 when it had 12 residents but this had not been possible due to pressure from relatives.

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When I'm 65

By Leon A Smith, July 5, 2012

This week sees the launch of the BBC season of television programmes called “When I’m 65”. It appears that the purpose of the season is to explore the aging process for a number of different people in a number of different settings. A number of celebrities are being used to front this, including Gloria Huniford, Lesley Joseph etc.

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When I'm 65

By Leon A Smith, July 5, 2012

This week sees the launch of the BBC season of television programmes called “When I’m 65”. It appears that the purpose of the season is to explore the aging process for a number of different people in a number of different settings. A number of celebrities are being used to front this, including Gloria Huniford, Lesley Joseph etc.

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While i am talking about things Jewish............

By Leon A Smith, June 28, 2012

A recent trip to Argos established that there has been a considerable run on gazebos this summer! I wonder why this could be? Is it because of the Olympics? Perhaps the Jubilee? Or is it simply because the weather in this country in the supposed “summer months” is just so awful?

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What does ethical mean?

By Leon A Smith, June 21, 2012

It’s a wonderful thing working for a charity – one knows, or at least one hopes that one is doing something positive and meaningful that is going to add value to the quality of life of our clients/beneficiaries.

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An age of information overload

By Leon A Smith, June 15, 2012

One often hears it is suggested that we are living in an age of information overload – newspapers, magazines, radio, television, dare I say blogs, the internet, digital TV, digital radio, etc. Information is relayed instantaneously to our phones, to our laptops, to our iPads and to our living rooms.

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Jubilee

By Leon A Smith, June 8, 2012

Even if I wanted to it would not be possible to write my weekly blog without a reference to the Jubilee. Albeit at the time of writing (Thursday) life is beginning to get back to normal. It really was an exceptional weekend where the whole country seemed to have become caught up in a significant level of hysteria – I mean excitement!

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Flowers and cheesecake

By Leon A Smith, May 31, 2012

How quickly Shavuot comes around – it seems hardly a year since last Shavuot was with us! For many this Festival is a key highlight of the year. For others it will be an irrelevance. Creeping up as it does without any warning in the middle of May – not a time normally associated with Jewish festivals!

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Communication-communication-communication

By Leon A Smith, May 24, 2012

There are many words and phrases which suffer from serious overuse in our day to day lives – both orally and in writing. My own particular favourite is “at the end of the day”. I always find interviews with David Beckham of particular interest – as he has a number of views which involve things happening “at the end of the day”.

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Over the top regulation

By Leon A Smith, May 18, 2012

As with so many aspects of our lives today the care sector is subject to very significant regulation. Nightingale House is now part of the Nightingale Hammerson charity and is regulated by a number of different authorities – the prime authority/regulator for the sector being the Care Quality Commission.

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Life is full of surprises

By Leon A Smith, May 10, 2012

Life is full of surprises – so they say! Nobody could have been more surprised than me therefore to have learnt in the Queen’s Speech that the government have decided after all not to act at this point in time on the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission on Long Term Funding of Older People.

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Roy Hodgson got the job instead

By Leon A Smith, May 3, 2012

Panorama once again turned its attention to an expose of malpractice/abuse in a care home. This seems to be a particular interest of Panorama and indeed the exposure of malpractice and mistreatment in a care home setting can only lead hopefully to tighter controls and minimise the chance of something like this ever happening again.

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Info fatigue

By Leon A Smith, April 12, 2012

One of the most famous and memorable soundbites when the Blair government came into being was “Education, Education, Education”. Education was a strong and powerful message, and through repetition 3 times clearly signalled the fact that Education was very high up on the Labour party’s agenda.

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All of this for 8 days

By Leon A Smith, April 4, 2012

A happy Pesach to all my readers – assuming there are a few out there!. Once again Pesach is upon us and as I have referred to in previous years, I believe there is every possibility that Passover preparations and the changeover for the Festival are probably on the largest scale here at Nightingale than anywhere else.

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The importance of identity

By Leon A Smith, March 23, 2012

Compulsive Obsessive Disorder can be a nasty business. A sufferer has an uncontrollable urge based on thought processes to obsess about certain actions – sometimes totally irrationally or illogically.

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A symbol of community in South London

By Leon A Smith, March 16, 2012

Last week I was away in Rome for a weekend and several weeks ago I was in Israel for a very short stay. When in Israel I had the pleasure of visiting the Western Wall – a physical place that always impacts upon me in an emotional and spiritual way.

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