The problem of youth violent crime is a symptom of the deeper issues of child poverty, children’s emotional health, a less than inclusive school curriculum, the lack of special educational needs provision, and the dismantling of Youth & Sure Start centres over the last 14 years!

From being excluded in a church and prevented from being involved, to celebrating at Bath Pride WITH my church, that I lead. What a journey it’s been! Today is a day I will remember forever.

"I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it.” Mark Simmons’ Fringe gag voted the best. I liked his response even more. "I needed some good news as I was just fired from my job marking exam papers, can’t understand it, I always gave 110%.”

“Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”  Howard Thurman, mentor to Martin Luther King & author of ‘Jesus and the Disinherited’.

"We've got to take it seriously..." With youth suspended in school twice as likely to be unemployed by 24, Steve Chalke tells Ali Miraj that we need to understand why children are behaving badly to fix the problems.

We can never be silent in the face of injustice, racism, religious discrimination or the abuse of human rights. Every person, irrespective of their place of birth, language or colour of skin, owns an indelible God given dignity that we must honour & uphold. No exceptions!

GCSE results day. 👏🏼👏🏼 to all who’ve worked so hard & achieved so much! Celebrate!! But the question is how we support the children we call the ‘forgotten third’; who’ve struggled, not got the grades & for whom today simply reinforces their sense of not mattering? You do matter!

Can’t wait to meet lots of other wonderers, worshipers and lovers of life and God at Greenbelt Festival over the next few glorious days! And so happy to also get the opportunity of speaking at a seminar with my brilliant friend Julie Siddiqi!

“Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure”, said Rumi in the 13th century. Words of wisdom which, in my view, can be just as true for us in 2024 - given a will to work together for one another - as they were back then!

Thumbs up to making it illegal to possess or sell a 'statement' knife! But most blades used in youth violence are kitchen utensils. So each step we take to engage, inspire & offer young people better choices & opportunities will bring the best hope of saved lives & safer streets.

Join our vibrant Waterloo Community Hub team as Principal of Oasis Johanna, our primary school & SEND resource base, that works alongside our local church, secondary school, children’s centre, community centre & farm. Click here for more info & to apply: bit.ly/3WX4olO

Oasis the charity forms - 1985 Oasis the band forms - 1991 Oasis the band breaks up - 2009 Oasis the band announce a reunion tour for 2025 Oasis the charity is excited the band are back and announces it will celebrate 40 years of uninterrupted, continuous service in 2025!

It’s "not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole" declared the PM. Both solved by partnership with grassroots movements & faith groups, in a more imaginative, less bureaucratic, more collaborative approach to cost-effective, life-transforming community development!

Poor school attendance by any child is always a symptom, rather than the cause of the issue. What falls away first is engagement - the style of teaching, learning & support doesn’t fit the child - inevitably followed by their attainment and only then by their regular attendance.

Remember Benefits Street, the Channel 4 series that 10 yrs ago aimed to shame a whole community? Well it didn’t work! So read about what’s happened since in the life of an extraordinary local neighbourhood here: i.mtr.cool/kdvtzovrcx Maybe it’s time Channel 4 did an update!

As our jails run out of space & we build yet more prisons as a response, the deeper questions we must address are those of criminalisation & reoffending. And I believe the answers we seek are greater investment in early years family support, inclusive education & good youth work!

The story of my vision for Oasis (the charity I founded - not the band 😂) & stuff I've learned over the four decades of that journey! My conversation with Iain Dale for his All Talk podcast. open.spotify.com/episode/08oQ5J…   podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/259…

“I just know it’s a mad system. Instead of investing early on [in children’s wellbeing], we spend 20 times that locking them up  much later.” An extremely telling quote from the script of the new Sherwood session on BBC1.

Some of my initial single word/single phrase responses to the scrapping of single word/single phrase Ofsted judgements on complex, whole school communities. ‘Enlightened’, ‘hopeful ’, ‘outstanding ‘, ‘they’ve woken up’, ‘at last’, ‘yippee!’

Anyone can rock up with scant concern for, & knowledge of, the context of a school community & heap criticism on it. Ofsted got away with it for years. But today Christine Gilbert's independent review set up after Ruth Perry's death, shines a bright light on all that must change!