Contexts Editor

Final preparation for this issue of Contexts has taken place entirely in the shadow of the beyond sad news of the death of Derek Love. As many of you will remember, a few years back (December 2014 – December 2015) Derek wrote a column for this publication, called My World You’re Welcome To It, an entirely idiosyncratic and passionate take on life, the universe and group analysis. I have known Derek for over 25 years and cannot believe I will not see him again. The final words of Derek’s (MWYWTI, December 2015) troubled creation Lavinia Palace, just about capture my thoughts on hearing of his passing: “Doc, tell me it isn’t so?” In honour of Derek, I bring here his “Ten Point Guide to the Large Group” (MWYWTI, December 2014), a particularly recognisable slice of him:

1 Don’t expect anything and you won’t be disappointed.
2 Speak if you can, it’ll get you connected, transform your relationship to the group and make it easier to speak in future large groups.
3 If you do speak, SPEAK UP.
4 But don’t hang around too long or the moment will have passed (see 9 below).
5 Keep it short and to the point – don’t ramble, rant or grandstand.
6 Don’t anticipate a response; it doesn’t mean that nobody loves you.
7 Depending on how long the group is meeting for, and how large it is, there may not be much development, in fact some are doomed to never develop i.e. at GASi Symposia. However, it’s usually the case that people can hear each other better after a few days.
8 If you insist that there is something the group should talk about then you are betraying its principles. Be a bit more Bionic – lose your memory and desire.
9 Remember, the group won’t stay on the same topic for more than 5 minutes – relax and float downstream.
10 Don’t expect anything and you won’t be disappointed.

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David Glyn recently put out an SOS inviting involvement in the production of Contexts. I am grateful to those of you who have responded and expressed an interest and will be in touch shortly. I am looking for people to take on a number of roles: book review editor; special issues editor; obituaries; commissioning. In my mind, the more people who become involved, the more Contexts becomes a group project, the less dependent (on the editor) and consequently more robust Contexts will be as a pillar of GASi life.

I am grateful for the feedback I have received about the new design of Contexts. I have been asked whether it is possible to download and print Contexts as a PDF. At the moment it isn’t possible, however, the next step in the evolution of the publication is to install this function at some point in the not too distant future.

This issue covers two events, the Autumn Workshop and AGM, as well as the Brexit (through the optics of attachment theory and GA) workshop. There’s a review of the documentary ‘Pioneers of Group Analysis’ and an article by Paul Coombe in which he applies Elias while considering the plight of refugees during a time in which he says we are moving away from interdependence towards “island state functions”.  Also included are the responses of the participants in the time-limited small group forum tasked with discussing the impact of online life on face-to-face encounters. I am very grateful to all who took part and gave so much of their time to the project.  The full transcript (130 pages) is also available. Finally, I am grateful to Harold Behr for so generously giving us his more of his wit and wisdom in both writing and cartoon form.