Reflections, 29 August.

Cloister corridor of Santes Creus Monastery,Tarragona,Catalonia,Spain.

On my mind this week.

I've been thinking about the nature of diversity.

It's one of those words that suddenly become de rigeur, enters the lexicon of items to be included on checklists, and non-debatable. To question it is to commit heresy. It goes along with others, such as "vulnerable", "conscious", that carry tremendous power but are dangerous if used carelessly.

Antonyms of diversity include uniformity, agreement, standardisation and stability - all staples of processes and efficiency.  It gets even more complicated when we see diversity as a suitable collection of other underexamined labels, for example, gender, ethnicity and others that are clearly visible but pay less attention to those that are not, such as intent, mindset, or family circumstances. It is easy to create boxes that are easy to tick, so we can say "job done". But, unfortunately, it quickly becomes a form of "culture wash" in the same ways as compa…