Alice Sachrajda

The age we are living in is the ‘Information Age’. It is a time of digital communication and endless data. It is characterised by a stark reliance on quantitative analysis and interpretation. We have seen the culmination of this in the recent referendum in the UK. The referendum was the ultimate poll, an opportunity to answer a question based on a binary outcome. The result has precipitated a deep fracture in our society with ‘Remain’ voters at 48% on the one side and ‘Leave’ voters at 52% on the other.

Continue reading “Faced with the tyranny of numbers stories are our greatest currency” →

Guest blog for Counterpoints Arts

The senseless killing of Jo Cox MP is painful to bear today. I am finding it increasingly hard to comprehend our society, which seems to be in the grip of anxiety, mistrust and fear. The brazen UKIP poster unveiled yesterday implying that migrants are swarming into Britain is a malicious attempt to whip up these tensions. It is starting to feel like our humanity is unravelling.

For many years I have researched public attitudes to immigration. I have held focus groups all over the UK seeking to understand more about what drives public opinion about migration. I have listened to people say that we should put chips in migrants; after all we do it to our dogs, that European migrants should be made to leave because they take over the patch of the British drug dealers, that our country is so full that we are being driven into the sea. There is a seam of deep mistrust woven into our society and it does not take much to bring it to the fore.

How can our society pull back from this wave of resentment? Continue reading “It is our love for one another as human beings that makes Britain great, not a small-minded superiority that blames migrants for our problems” →

I was travelling back from a long day delivering training in Sheffield recently when I remembered that I’d seen an eventbrite invite for a Charity Meetup networking event. I had a little conversation with myself (come on, we all do it) which went a bit like this: “Alice, you’ve just gone freelance – this is exactly the sort of event you should be going to…” And in reply: “But I’m tired and hungry and networking can be so, well, awkward, do I really have to?” I’m sorry to say that ‘negative me’ won and I started going down the escalator in the direction of home. But then ‘positive me’ got cross with ‘negative me’ (it does that sometimes) and so, (second embarrassing admission) I got to the bottom of the escalator turned round and promptly went back up again. I’m pleased I did.

Continue reading “Feel the fear and do it anyway” →

Human beings are programmed to engage with stories and narratives. From an early age we use stories as a tool for learning and making sense of the world. As we grow older our lives are endlessly shaped by the stories all around us – we share anecdotes with colleagues and friends, we are exposed to daily news reports charting people’s lives and experiences, and we read literature to provoke, challenge and fulfil us.

But why are stories so viscerally powerful? What is the science behind the story? Continue reading “The science behind the story” →

Eaves Housing for Women, a beacon of support for women experiencing gender-based violence, has ceased its operations. It is a deep and profound loss to the women’s sector in the UK.

I worked at Eaves from 2005-2007. It was a privilege to work alongside so many brave women – staff and service users alike. It was a fierce baptism of feminist fire – a truly formative time of my life. Continue reading “Eaves closure is a devastating loss for the women’s sector” →