Official Website of Author
Quotes of the month
"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?"
(Cicero as quoted in Harris, R. (2006). Imperium. London: Hutchinson, p. 264)
"Men are born free and equal in rights. These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression: My country is the world and my religion is to do good."
(Thomas Paine, in The Rights of Man (1792) and Common Sense (1776), had defended the French Revolution and the War of American Independence. His Age of Reason (1794), ‘a march through Christianity with an Axe,’ turned him from feted hero of the war in America to a hated antichrist. It has been said of him that, as the inspiration behind modern western society we are all Paine's children. He is memorialised in America and France, and in 1964 a statue of him was erected in his hometown of Thetford, Norfolk.)
About The Author
Malcolm was born and raised in 1930s Peckham, South London, with the exception of five wartime years as an evacuee, running wild in the countryside.
Having no effective education during evacuation, life drastically changed on his return to London, as he was sent to ‘posh school’ (which he hated) for years.
Over seven decades Malcolm’s career in social work has spanned the prison system, community work, psychiatric social work, teaching, central government, senior management roles, residential school and consultancy.
He has worked within the public and private sectors, in both the north and south of Great Britain.
A career-long trade unionist and member of BASW, Malcolm is an executive of SWU and the Austerity Action Group In September 22 he was appointed as Hon President of SWU He is an active member of SWAN and the Social Work History Network, the Parliamentary Labour Social Work Group and XR (Extinction Rebellion).
During the last 15 years, he has volunteered with the Youth Offending Service. During her lifetime, Malcolm’s wife Ann was also a social worker and NHS board member.
Malcolm has a daughter, two grandchildren, seven great grandnephews and nieces, and a close network of family and friends.
Publications Include
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Growing Old in Brighton (DHSS, 1980)
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‘Piggy in the Middle: Social Work Education – A View from the Field’ in Theory and Practice in Social Work, Eds. Roy Bailey and Phil Lee.Wiley and Son (1982).
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‘Looking Back’ in Social Work Past, Present and Future, Eds. Terry Bamford and Keith Bilton, Policy Press, (2020)
‘I have never read anything quite like this book before.
It's combination of family history and it's account of the development of modern social work, set against a background of national and international events and cultural and societal trends, must be unique.
It is a labour of love, and a testament to lives well lived and to work engaged in with dedication and radical intent.’
Guy Shennan
Chair BASW 2014-18
