Community spirit

It is the time of the Christmas light switch-on in all the towns and cities around the UK. As you read this, the run-in to Christmas will be well under way: Christmas parties arranged; presents bought or at least shopping days fixed; school plays to attend; cards to post. No doubt there will be articles in the media describing how stressful Christmas is, not least because we have to spend it with our extended families!

Summer holidays may seem a long time ago but I clearly remember observing a lesson in the stressful nature of families when visiting a Welsh castle. Two brothers were holidaying nearby with their respective families as well as their parents. I know this because one of the brothers was offloading his frustration about a disagreement that had occurred that morning about what to do that day. The castle was obviously a compromise!

Yet you can't believe everything you read in the press. A survey in 2008, commissioned by the BBC, showed that Stoke was the friendliest place to live with just 22.4% of the city's 240,000 population feeling uninvolved in their community. However, another survey in 2008, by two universities, showed that the happiest place to live was Powys in Wales. The locals in Stoke put their result down to having their friends and family around them, whilst the researchers in the second survey similarly reported that factors such as social cohesion seemed to be more important than location. An area that is more socially cohesive increases the chances of having good quality interpersonal relationships and a good social network. It has long been known that a good support network leads to better health and personal satisfaction. So, family can be good for your health and happiness!

There is a maxim that you can choose your friends but you cannot choose your family. But there is danger in that choice. An article in The Sunday Times, again back in the slightly warmer but no less wet days of the summer, warned about the dangers of surrounding yourself with like-minded people. When you spend too much time with people who agree with you, each view you share is reinforced and becomes more extreme. Some of these extreme views may be innocuous, such as believing that Northampton is the best rugby team in the country. Others may have larger implications, such as believing that a particular technique is the solution to every NDT problem. The ultimate example is a terrorist cell. People who disagree with the particular view may be forced to leave the group or their dissent is used to confirm the majority view. This phenomenon is referred to as group polarisation.
If your family is anything like mine, then they are just as likely to disagree with you as agree, sometimes just for the sake of winding you up! And, if you disagree with the majority, you cannot leave the family. So, both you and they have to learn to cope with the disagreement. Although such differences may lead to the stress, which is particularly observed over the Christmas period when families gather together, they are likely to be of benefit in the long term and will certainly prevent group polarisation!

We all belong to the NDT community. Some people actively choose to be members. Others ended up in the community serendipitously: a bit like ending up in your particular family! But how do we treat it? Do we treat it as a family, accepting open and frank discussion and tolerating differences of opinion? Or do we split up into like-minded groups? Is it a coincidence that the only piece of recent correspondence lasting more than one issue in Insight was due to a polarisation between a European view and an American view? So, ponder this question over the holiday period: is the NDT community like a family, a polarised group or a collection of polarised groups? What would you like it to be? What would be of most benefit to you? What has been your experience? Let the editor know what you think: writing to him could be the excuse you need to escape from the family, at least for a short while – but don't reinforce his extreme view on Northampton's rugby team!

I wish you all a happy and stress-free Christmas.

Please note that the views expressed in this column are the author’s own personal ramblings for the purpose of encouraging discussion within the NDT Newspaper. They do not represent the views of the IVC, Serco Assurance or the HSE who funded the PANI projects.

Letters can be mailed to The Editor, NDT News, Newton Building, St George's Avenue, Northampton NN2 6JB. Fax: 01604 89 3861; Email: ndtnews@bindt.org or email Bernard McGrath direct at Bernard.McGrath@sercoassurance.com