It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
(From the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath)
Common Purpose
Chances are you have never heard of Common Purpose before and if not I’m sure you will agree that the phrase sounds fairly innocuous.
The phrase “With Common Purpose” has become a very popular soundbite with politicians recently and you may think it means everyone working together in harmony for a better society.
Do you know about the origins of the Swastika?
The Swastika is infact a representation of the sun’s rays and has existed for centuries in Eastern traditions including Hinduism and Buddhism as a symbol of peace and harmony. In Nazi Germany as we all know, and primarily associate it with, the symbol came to represent something very different and has become synonymous with fascism and evil ever since.
An organisation very active in the United Kingdom today called Common Purpose also uses a representation of the sun as its logo.
So What is this “Common Purpose”?
By their own definition Common Purpose UK is an educational charity (and incorporated company registered at Companies House in Cardiff, registration no. 03556983) delivering leadership training and development programmes for “all types of leaders”.
Common purpose trainees/members or “Graduates” as they call them are employed in a wide range of roles in both the public and private sectors. Police, NHS Trusts, Local Authorities, Quangos, etc.
So What is Wrong With That?
Common Purpose is not what it appears to be. From behind the nice politically correct facade, a picture of a very deceptive cult seems to be emerging. All of their training programmes are conducted behind closed doors under Chatham House rules of secrecy which means those taking part do not disclose the location, who was present or what was discussed to anyone else. Does that sound to you like they have something to hide?
Consider that council planning officials who are Common Purpose Graduates may be involved in these meetings with other Common Purpose Graduates who are property developers. Common Purpose Graduates are trained to put the goals of Common Purpose ahead of the goals of the organisations they are employed by – that is what effecting change is about. If Common Purpose graduates include police officers you can see how dangerous that could be. It is how police states are created.
Do a web search on Common Purpose and it will not take you very long to see that there is some very serious dirt being dug up on them.
What Common Purpose is in reality is a political change agent that is grooming the people who will run the country when our democratic system of government is replaced with a Pan-Europe post-democratic superstate. What elected representatives remain in place will be little more than a puppet show. This may already be the case and any future removal of democratic apparatus nothing more that a formality. Gordon Brown’s Cabinet contains an unprecedented number of unelected peers including one who is also a member of the Bilderberg Group and rubs shoulders with some very questionable and extremely corrupt people. Common Purpose is part of the Bilderberg agenda to bring the whole World under the control of international bankers. These are people without any moral compass, values or scruples and who don’t care how many innocent people, how many children die in the illegal wars that make money for them.
Name Dropping
Gordon Brown is dropping the Common Purpose name all the time and so are other politicians and party leaders. There may be a very good reason behind this because what they are doing with this subtle name dropping bears all the hallmarks of neuro linguistic programming (NLP) or in laymans’s terms brainwashing!
They talk about improving the state of the nation, weeding out corrupt bankers and fixing the economy (and saving the world in Gordon Brown’s case, wow what a guy!), etc which even if you think on the surface that it is just empty rhetoric, on a subconscious level you are taking in auto-suggestion (more NLP speak) of good things being done and the phrase “Common Purpose” is subtly dropped in. I believe the objective is to plant the impression in your mind, through association, of the phrase ”Common Purpose” being synonymous with doing good. This is how advertising works and it is done through repetition. Every marketer will tell you repetition is essential if you want to get your sales message across no matter what your product or service is. Notice too they always say things like “moving forward with Common Purpose“, not “moving forward with a common purpose”.
Hopefully now when you hear politicians on the news saying “common purpose” you will become alert to it.
We Need Transparency, Probity and an end to Secrecy
Slowly but surely the truth about Common Purpose is getting out. The only way they can be stopped is to expose them for what they are. I encourage you to do everything you can to spread the word about them and do anything that is lawfully possible to make things difficult for them and inhibit their activities. We must have nothing short of a full public enquiry into who Common Purpose are and what they are doing with public money. All of their documents must be independently scrutinised and Common Purpose membership declared by elected representatives and public sector employees.
Write to your elected representatives and ask them to look into Common Purpose. Send Freedom of information requests via http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/ to as many public sector bodies, councils, quangos as you can and ask for names of all of their employees who are Common Purpose “Graduates” and how much they have spent on Common Purpose programmes for their staff. They are legally required to disclose this information to you.
There are strict rules governing procurement of outsourced services (including training) by public sector bodies to ensure value for public money and that the people delivering the services have the necessary qualifications and level of competence. Invitiations to tender must be published and quotations obtained from at least three separate bidders. I intend to find out whether or not these rules have been followed in the procurement of training services from Common Purpose by public sector bodies in Scotland. It is noteworthy that Common Purpose does not have any industry or quality assurance accreditation for delivery of training services or personnel development. It is hardly surprising though since that would involve external auditing of their operations by a certification body (like the British Standards Institute) which cannot be done under Chatham House rules of secrecy.
Pyramid Scam
To the best of my knowledge Common Purpose do not advertise their courses in any newspapers, magazines or other publications. You would think if their programmes were as good as their website claims they would shout about it from the rooftops – no? Prove me wrong and tell me where I can find adverts for their courses and how to apply. You can apply via their website but the courses are not open. Common Purpose carefully select all the people they invite on their programmes. This is done by Common Purpose graduates recruiting leaders to take part in the training who in turn go on to recruit more leaders. This is the same way pyramid selling works and most people know how dubious that is!
Please post comments about anything you know or find out about Common Purpose or any direct experiences you have had with them or their Graduates.
Scotland Against Common Purpose has no affiliation with any of the external websites links in this blog or with any political parties.