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The common sense or "public opinion" changes its conclusions as to what is important
from time to time and should be led to do so by those far seeing people who are more conscious
than the majority of a wider strategy of human living many years into the future.
Once the environment was all important to local government, then came the swing to all the
social needs which arouse sentiment. Now there is some evidence of a swing back.
I must repeat my comments in my past report on the importance of the environment for if it
is not attractive we open the door to the two biggest enemies of competent social work; a high
migration rate of the population; a high emigration rate of the staff of the social services. With
this in mind I asked Mr. Ashcroft, Chief Public Health Inspector, to write before he retires this
year an article (page 26) on the environment, for hi s wisdom over the years has contributed much
to Council policy and his thoughtful essays in my Annual Report have been much valued.
Public opinion must be guided into new scales of values.
Field staff of all kinds should be trained and provided in sufficient numbers to mobilise
families to deal with their own problems rather than to carry out the patchwork action which only
deals with the immediate need. The provision of a Home Help, for instance, sufficiently often to
prevent a situation spiralling downwards is more important than using one to keep a higher standard
of cleanliness than is essential for daily living.
A scale of values which is new to some is needed in voluntary work. Voluntary work must
be seen by professional staff in particular to stand comparison with professional work, in that it
also is concerned with aspects of the real meat of problems and not just the frills - though different
aspects, of course, from those which require specialist skills. The attitude that the really demanding
and interesting work should all be done by paid staff while the volunteers do the easy and monotonous
work can take much of the blame for a low level of enthusiasm to volunteer in any population, as can
the view that professional staff may expect support from the senior staff of the organisation, while
volunteers have only the support of their inner idealism. People need satisfying and appreciated
occupations whether they are clients or volunteers.
The fact that the Social Responsibility Centre, whose Welfare Organiser, Mrs. Payne, writes
on page 43, has erupted with such vigour into the social scene of this Borough is because these
two principles were firmly grasped and acted upon from the start.
Public values may well be at variance with the opinion of a minority who are better informed
than average. There were several examples of this during the year. The Council's decision not to
re-open the fluoridation question was understandable in view of the glazed look of boredom which
this subject now generates in public personalities, and to this extent the anti-fluoridationists
have succeeded. Fluoridation, like all measures which are right in principle, will come one day.
It must simply wait its opportune moment. Let us hope for the sake of complete generations of
children that this comes soon.
The smoking of cigarettes, to which Dr. Poole refers on page 8 is another subject where
the informed can see so clearly what to them is frank stupidity in others, but which common sense
is not yet ready to accept. Cigarette smokers would be wise to read carefully what he says, and
ponder upon it.
The drug problem in the Borough - yes, there is one - was caught up in such an emotive
whirlwind that some felt that public opinion was wildly at variance with official opinion. In fact,
I do not believe that public opinion as such ever reached the pitch that a vocal minority would
have us believe, and the view of the best informed people - that there is a problem but that the
existing machinery is still the best way of dealing with it - was not much at variance with common
sense. - 5 -