The year has been flying in. The years seem to come and go faster with age. However, it’s been a productive year in many ways. I managed to finish my novel I Want to Live about the last years in the life of George Orwell and am confident it will be published next year, 70 years after Orwell finished writing Nineteen Eighty-Four on the Isle of Jura. I can see part of the northern end of Jura from here in Cullipool and that gave me the idea of researching his life and writing a feature film screenplay and then a novel about him.

Orwell’s insights into the way society was going make him more and more relevant as the years go by. The Edward Snowden revelations and the ways in which dark money from Russia and elsewhere influenced the Brexit vote and the American Presidential election last year show how much of a surveillance society we’ve become. Orwell also identified the ways that language was being misused to confuse and disguise the truth and how dictators rewrite history and create ‘unpersons’ to help them maintain power. Donald Trump’s ‘alternative facts’ are pure propaganda aimed at reinforcing the twisted minds of his core white supremacist supporters not at conveying anything like objective truth.

In recent weeks the misdemeanours of men in positions of power have been exposed by courageous women who have spoken out about the sexual harassment and assault they have experienced in the film industry, in the UK and Scottish Parliaments, in business and in local authorities. I am full of admiration for my SNP Councillor Julie McKenzie who has written Open Letters to the Leader and Chief Executive of Argyll and Bute Council about the unacceptable culture of sexual harassment which she and others have experienced within the Council. She deserves support across the political spectrum and from the trade unions who represent Council employees in trying to bring about significant changes in this culture.

Unfortunately, in my experience, harassment and bullying also exist in social enterprises and community organisations. I was a director of the Isle of Luing Community Trust from June 2008 and became its Vice-Chairman and Events Convener until I resigned in February this year. I resigned because I was not prepared to be associated with this kind of behaviour within the Trust and its Trading Company. Some people want to control everything and are negative about others whom they target with endless criticisms. Those who complain about harassment and bullying are blamed for doing so instead of action being taken against the perpetrators of this unacceptable behaviour. The proposals and efforts I made to bring about change were rejected by those in control.

I have not gone public about this until now because, living in a small community, I did not wish to see the Trust and its Atlantic Islands Centre business adversely affected by me speaking out publicly. Also, after many years of successful fund-raising and other work to build the Centre, it was something of a relief to get my life back and to have more time for my writing and for developing the work of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics. The good news is that these have gone from strength to strength since I resigned from the Trust board with a hugely successful Expressing the Earth Geopoetics Conference in Argyll in June and large, appreciative audiences for my poems and prose at the StAnza International Poetry Festival in March and Taproot, the Lismore Music and Literature Festival, in September.

However, it is obvious that this kind of behaviour is continuing to alienate volunteers, and the Centre’s reputation is being damaged by it to such an extent that it is no longer the community hub it became in its first year of operation. Trust members and the wider community are not being consulted or engaged by the boards about what needs to be done to improve the situation. This has to change. Just as within Argyll and Bute Council and other organisations, there needs to be full, frank discussion with Trust members and others about this negative culture and what needs to be done to change it. It will require a change in leadership within the Trading Company and listening to and encouraging new Trust directors to make the necessary changes.

I hope that the Trust and Trading Company boards will initiate this discussion with Trust members and the wider community before further disillusionment takes place. In any case, whatever happens, I’m looking forward to doing more writing through the winter and planning further geopoetics activities and creative work next year.