From Magic To Madness - UK Government's NLP Assault on Our Minds, by Brian Gerrish

From Magic To Madness - The Government's NLP Assault on Our Minds

by

Brian Gerrish

| Thursday, 12th November 2015

The 'collaborative' work of these people is based on psychology, behaviour change, economics, politics and government policy - all focused on us, the public. What do we know of the views, values and morality of these men?

The structure of magic is a good place to begin this short analysis of the orchestrated madness at the heart of David Cameron's Conservative government. Before we look at magic though, let's spend a little time analysing the madness. Where to begin? There's just so much of it.

Madness of War

Having already wasted £billions prosecuting a mindless unlawful war in Iraq, and while still entrenched in another unlawful, un-winnable, war in Afghanistan, Cameron began an unlawful attack on Libya, which culminated in the murder of Gaddafi and the brutal destruction of that country. Not content with death, bloodshed and mayhem, Cameron then ramped up the rhetoric for war in Syria - all to remove a sovereign Head of State, described by Cameron as a vicious dictator and murderer. As if this were not enough, Cameron then stood on the world stage to accuse President Putin and Russia of driving aggression in eastern Europe and the Ukraine. Not bad for a public school boy with no real experience of employment or the world. It would certainly be fascinating to take a look into Cameron's mind; a mind which is strangely destroying Britain's armed forces just as he warns of war with both Russia and the 'ISIL hoards.'

If the orchestrated madness of war is not enough for some readers, then perhaps we can mention the constant politics of 'change' without any definition of what is changing, and into what things will change. If the NHS is a prime example, then change for this revered bastion of the public good has resulted in chaos, breakdown, financial melt-down and death.

Change in policing has resulted in constant turmoil of policy and direction, false priorities of targets above common sense, dilution by Police Community Support Workers and latterly, savage cuts. Meanwhile rising crime is ignored, or re-worked as 'falling' in the statistics of blatant but soft propaganda.

Madness

Madness in the public sector is rife. Public infrastructure is at breaking point. Railways and public transport in general are creaking under an ever increasing traffic load and crumbling infrastructure. Billions are to be spent on High Speed Rail whilst commuters suffer as sardines in trains that may or may not run the 50 miles they need in order to get to work. Power generation is also at breaking point and the nuclear generation industry needs Chinese and French investment and expertise to survive at all.
Recognising that former governments are also to blame let's not forget fishing and farming, mere shadows of their former selves; shipbuilding, aviation and heavy manufacturing all mostly gone.

As industry and manufacturing have shrunk, quality education for our children has been reduced to nonsense, where LGBT+ and graphic sex education are more important than reading, writing, mathematics, and the life skills of running and maintaining a family home, whichever sex takes which task. With the demise of apprenticeships in particular, youth and young people now lack basic skills to produce anything of real value. They must buy and use the cheap and increasingly shoddy imported goods of overseas countries which so often use poorly paid 'slave' labour. That cheap purchase comes with the added poison that there can be no feeling of satisfaction or pride in 'I helped make that.' Universities, meanwhile, spew out psychology, humanities, surfing and media courses, with ever increasing fees attached, luring young people with the illusion of qualifications that are irrelevant to the world and workplace they face.

Whilst Cameron and his government plead no money under the banner of 'austerity', they find £6 billion for climate change, alongside the billions for war, the billions for foreign "aid" and the billions to support fraudulent bankrupt banks. As Britain staggers under this onslaught, our population is to soar to over 70 million.

Seen as a whole the UK appears to be descending into uncontrolled madness. An increasing number of people are saying so, but they are wrong.

Social, political and economic change at the hand of Cameron (and formerly Clegg), as well as Blair and Brown, is far from uncontrolled madness. It is calculated, orchestrated and measured madness. Not convinced? Then that's because you, the normal sensible person, are attempting to rationalise these policies and events with common sense. If you take a step back and assess life in UK on the basis that the intent is to destroy - to create chaos - then the policies and their effects make perfect sense - and so does the madness.

A Committment To Localism

Take Tory big man Eric Pickles. He has stated, "we are going to shake up the balance of power in this country. We are going to change the nature of the constitution. Be in no doubt about our commitment to localism. I know I look like an unlikely revolutionary, but the revolution starts here." No genteel blue rinse conservatism here then - he goes straight to revolution.

Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford, Nick Boles, went further. In his book, 'Which Way's Up: the future for coalition Britain and how to get there', he describes "Big Bang localism – a radical decentralisation to dismantle some of central government's most wasteful bureaucracies".  In public interviews he reinforced his written comments by stating that  "Chaotic, therefore, in our [Conservative] vocabulary is a good thing." As the Guardian remarked, the "chaotic world that Boles envisages is one in which different organisations set up in different areas, trying out different things; a mass experiment in which local people discover and pursue what they know works best. But critics fear that coalition 'chaos' will be destructive, not creative."

Boles may have said just a little too much as he was heavily criticised for his remarks. Nevertheless he lifted the lid on a worrying can of worms.
Listen to Tory, Labour and even Lib Dem speeches and their words flow with an increasingly unbroken smoothness of syntax and grammar, lubricated by nu-speak verbiage such as transformation, common purpose, cohesion, diversity, worklessness, resiliance, collaboration, cohorts, thought leadership, mindfulness, cultural intelligence, Big Society, Social Enterprise and more.

The Structure Of Magic

If it appears that the speaker is somewhat divorced from reality, you are right. Our politicians have entered a new utopia where they are unable to see the reality of our lives day by day, and instead they have entered a mental realm where all will be well at an undefined point in the future. Their cognitive processes no longer function on common sense observation and analysis - something far more darker and more sinister is at work. Enter the structure of magic.

Few readers will recognise that term as the the title of a book, but 'The Structure of Magic' was the early work of Richard Bandler and John Grinder who created Neuro Linguistic Programming NLP... and as the UK's NLP Academy says, "what started out with a wanton curiosity as to how geniuses performed their magic, has now grown into an international field of NLP trainers, practitioners, and people excelling as a result of applying Neuro Linguistic Programming into their professions and personal lives ..."

o what is the 'magic'?
According to NLPLife Training Consultancy:

NLP is a method of influencing brain behaviour (the 'neuro' part of the phrase) through the use of language (the 'linguistic' part) and other types of communication to enable a person to 'recode' the way the brain responds to stimuli (that's the 'programming') and manifest new and better behaviours. NLP often incorporates hypnosis and self-hypnosis to help achieve the change (or 'programming') that is wanted...

A cursory search for NLP online reveals nearly 30 million results. A vast number of these 'hits' are for NLP training consultancies and there is a remarkable consistency to their commercial promises.
Working with a trained NLP practicioner, of which the Master Trainer is the most revered, the 'student' aka customer will be inspired, discover their true potential, make the necessary changes to achieve their desired outcomes, become fully in charge of their lives, give outstanding talks, sell like never before, effectively install change programmes, revitalise their management skills, overcome fears and blocks and more.
Some 'therapeutic' NLP practitioners, known as 'psychotherapists', offer assistance with medical and mental health problems including pain relief. As if this is not enough, many of the NLP consultancies also offer courses in training NLP with their own unique brands of 'accreditation.'

Read the testimonials from those who have been NLP trained and they are invariably glowing statements of the 'best trainer they have ever had', 'the most wonderful course' or 'a life changing experience that is recommended to everyone.'

If it sounds too good to be true - it is.  Sorry to be blunt but NLP is a curse on this nation and the world in which it has spread.

If there is some doubt as to the aims of the origins of NLP as a result of the suspect histories of Bandler and Grinder which lead to dark avenues of socio-political psychology, US Special forces, CIA, Israeli Intelligence and murder trials (usually cloaked in a cult like disclaimer that these men were only interested in the therapeutic use of NLP), there is no doubt about the speed at which NLP training and practices have spread worldwide, particularly in the UK and USA. Yet most of the public are totally ignorant of NLP and the places and circumstances of its application.

Let's turn to the 'NLPLife' statements about NLP, as just one source,  and ask some questions...
"NLP is a method of influencing brain behaviour..." If our brain behaviour can be influenced, who will do the influencing, to what effect and for what reason? If we accept that overt training organisations such as NLPLife only have the best interests of the public at heart, is that true of all organisations?
"[The] programming manifests new and better behaviours..." Who is to say that the new behaviours are better?

In the case of a person approaching an NLP trainer of their own free will, perhaps it is reasonable to assume that the NLP trainer can be trusted in changing behaviour, and manifesting better behaviour - particularly if such behaviours are pre-agreed with the trainee or 'patient.'
Yet what is the situation where the NLP training organisation is not to be trusted and has another agenda at heart?

Behavioural Insights

Take the UK government which set up the Behavioural Insights Team for the specific purpose of using applied psychology, including NLP, to change the views, values and behaviours of individuals - that's you and me.

Sold on the 'nudge' that their work would help more people pay tax on time (so called behavioural economics) the project was so successful it has been expanded across government, and the 'technology' sold to the USA and Australia.

Established by the Cabinet Office with public money, the Behavioural Insights Team is now a 'social purpose company', 'in partnership' with the Cabinet Office. What does this mean? It is playing with our minds - in partnership with government (a part owner), but totally unaccountable to the public.

If you think you've grasped the Behavioural Insights maze, think again. It is a very deep rabbit hole indeed. Take the partner organisation  NESTA - "an innovation charity with a mission to help people and organisations bring great ideas to life."
Trustees include:

• David Pitt-Watson, Executive Fellow at the London Business School and UN environment programme's finance initiative and formerly assistant general Secretary of the Labour Party
• Dr Michelle Harrison, CEO of the WPP Government and Public Sector Practice and CEO of TNS BMRB leading social research agency servicing government, ex PWC executive
• Julie Mellor, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombusdsman
• Sir John Chisholm connected with QinetiQ defence, health and Cap Scientific Ltd.

There are more, all of whom we should ask..."who are you what are your values and what is your real agenda?" Buried at the dark heart of NESTA is Common Purpose and Young Foundation guru Geoff Mulgan, backed by NESTA's £390 million reserves.

The Conservative government's Mindspace document was published by the Cabinet Office on 2 March 2010. The paper states that 'Mindspace: Influencing behaviour through public policy' is so effective that "[behavioural] effects depend at least partly on automatic influences on behaviour. This means that citizens may not fully realise that their behaviour is being changed - or, at least, how it is being changed."

Let us consider that point: the government is changing our behaviour and we may not fully realise it.
Were the government to be moral, kind, loving, truthful and benevolent we might be happy for 'them' to change 'us.' We began this article with a brief summery of the wars, death, destruction, chaos and societal breakdown caused by David Cameron's government and earlier governments. Against this background and evidence, are these really the people to change us without our knowledge or consent?
Mindspace says:

in most behaviour change interventions, exemplifying desired changes is important for two main reasons. First, because the actions of high-profile representatives of government send implicit messages about behaviours it condones. If government is not displaying the behaviours it is encouraging in others, this will act against people's desire for reciprocity and fairness, while inviting charges of hypocrisy. Second, government policy should not give mixed messages about whether certain types of behaviour are encouraged or not.

Precisely. We measure government and politicians' track records against their lies, cover-ups, fraud, corruption, child-abuse and wars. The glaring evidence is that they are not fit to change our behaviour in any way, shape or form.

But wait, it gets better. Mindspace suggests a third dimension: "[Mindspace] principles can be applied to improve the process of policy-making." In other words, government attempts to change its own behaviour. This interesting statement contains a poisonous heart. We see no attempt by the government or its ministers to change their behaviour towards honesty, truth, love and morality. In fact all the evidence points that Westminster and the Establishment are increasingly prepared to lie in order to cover-up exposure of their moral depravity, perversions and criminal activity. Take Hillsborough, Chilcott and the Goddard CSA inquiries as just three prime examples.

Neither do we see Mindspace checking the behaviour and excesses of the government to which they refer. This then leads us to ask who is really controlling government and what their real agenda is? Clearly the Mindspace team are part of that agenda, because their views, values and ideas are being sold to the government, and overseas governments. Just who is Mindspace?

Paul Dolan is Professor of Economics in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics, Michael Hallsworth is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government (previously RAND Europe), David Halpern is Director of Research at the Institute for Government, Dominic King is a Specialty Registrar in General Surgery and a Clinical Research fellow in the department of surgery and cancer at Imperial College London and Ivor Vlaev is a senior Lecturer in Psychology in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London.

The 'collaborative' work of these people is based on psychology, behaviour change, economics, politics and government policy - all focused on us, the public. What do we know of the views, values and morality of these men?
Nothing.

Nothing at all, and yet they are funded to change us, and it would appear, government. Who funded them and what are the views, values and morality of the funders? Simple questions which pull apart the veil on a highly dangerous experiment on the public and our minds.

Let's try another question. The original Mindspace programme was unleashed on DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs), with a £multi-million budget from the Cabinet Office. The programme was 'trialled' within the department. Did these Civil Servants consent to that trial on their minds, or did they even know it was taking place? The agenda is sinister.

NLP Pseudoscience 

Returning to the subject of NLP, it is now time to highlight that NLP is a pseudoscience. In reality it is based on theory, hypnosis, self-hypnosis and black-box effects. At no stage do NLP trainers and 'psycho-therapists' really understand what is taking place in the brain. Their NLP 'input' achieves a response output, which may well in some cases appear beneficial, but the actual neural effect in the mind as a result of the NLP input, either directly or as a side effect, is not known.

This limitation of understanding of the effects taking place in the mind which is the target of NLP equates to an electronic black box, where the box can be employed to achieve an output from a certain input, but where the user has no understanding of the real processes inside the box. It is worth noting that concerns about NLP are now also being raised by the Clinical Psychiatric and Clinical Psychology professions, and especially in the lack of formal registration of psychotherapists and monitoring of their standards.

Whether or not we enter hypnosis, a trance state, in our normal daily lives - consider the 'missed miles' while driving, or the repeated question while you are 'lost' in a book - all applied hypnosis has risks. The hypnotic suggestion may not work in the way it was intended, or the person may not snap out of the hypnosis when commanded to do so. Even if an individual appears to 'wake up' it is possible for remnants of the 'programming' to remain undetected and active. These 'programme elements' may result in other unwanted effects sooner, later or after many years.

The risks to someone's personality and mind from NLP, hypnosis and indeed the latest government fad of 'Mindfulness' are considerably increased in children and young people, where the mind is already highly active, highly susceptible, and where the personality is not yet fully formed. Add an unknown undertone of mental state such as phobias, depression or other mental illness and the NLP practitioner can have no idea what his 'magic' might manifest. Despite this, very few of the NLP training consultancies, or psychotherapy consultancies, admit to these risks, or indeed warn of them.

In contrast NLP is offered as a safe, fun and effective way to improve your personal and professional life, usually by achieving an actual or perceived advantage over others, especially those who are not NLP trained themselves. What's more NLP trainers, trainees and subjects of that training promote an increasingly cult like admiration, praise and support for their teachers. "Wonderful course, by a fantastic man / woman that has changed my whole world" would be one of the milder accolades.

Within the NLP club, those not trained in NLP seem to be regarded as lesser mortals. Yet despite real concerns as to NLP effects and safety, NLP conferences, networks and groups are now spreading NLP within schools, colleges, communities, professions, and yes, governments.

No doubt my analysis will now be inflaming the sensitivities of NLP trainers and psychotherapists who may be reading this article. If they can overcome their prejudices, and stay with me and read on, they may perhaps learn something that will protect them and their families - and that is understanding what NLP has really unleashed.

Let us assume that some NLP can be used for beneficial purposes, and I would support that position, as I do hypnosis, with the acknowledgement and caveat of the associated and real risks. What happens when NLP techniques are used for immoral or deeply sinister purposes?
Consider the use of NLP to get a woman into bed, over-riding her consent and freewill. Rubbish? Search for the websites promoting this for yourselves.

What happens when a paedophile is trained in NLP? I asked this very question of one of Britain's top NLP trainers - a man who was concerned that political charity Common Purpose had 'borrowed' some of his intellectual work in their effort to train / re-frame future leaders. He went very quiet and then replied, "they would be able to abuse the children and the children wouldn't even know..."

What happens when NLP is used by a government that wishes to impart its policies and values on a public whether they agree or not? What happens when a sociopathic government wants to impart its policies and values on children and young people - casting the present generation aside?

The Common Purpose Effect

The political charity Common Purpose is one of the more pernicious users of applied behavioural psychology and NLP without the knowledge of the target audience and trainees. Common Purpose have targeted thousands of children and young people alongside the professions, public and private sectors, in their quest to create 'future-leaders' for global change.

This is the same Common Purpose that acted behind the scenes to whip up the Hacked Off campaign to call for the Leveson Inquiry into press and media, with the ultimate goal of greater government control of both press and media. What do we know about the views, values and agenda of Common Purpose? Certainly enough to say that they are obsessed with change and the drive for global governance via appointed specially selected (by them) future leaders.

David Cameron's government has lied and lied again over its relationship with Common Purpose. Whilst Eric Pickles has called it a waste of public money and something for Local Authorities to avoid, Prime Minster Cameron and Cabinet Minister Francis Maude have worked flat out to help promote it, not only in UK but overseas.

As just one example, it has been the Common Purpose infiltration of the NHS which has helped destroy the professionalism and compassion of the NHS management structure, which the UK Column analysed in detail in Towards a Million Change Agents. Their pattern of infiltration, subversion and breakdown using applied behavioural psychology and NLP, has also been repeated with great effect in the police, where we also now see a culture of bullying management and often cold indifference to the public they are supposed to serve and protect.

Tony Blair and John Prescott were so enamoured with Common Purpose that it was allowed to operate with the full support of the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and it was this government and Civil Service support that enabled Common Purpose to rapidly spread throughout the Civil Service and Public Sectors. That penetration and spread was facilitated not only by its quasi secretive networks and easy public money, but also by the use of behavioural psychology to win supporters and new customers for its courses without their full conscious awareness as to what was really happening.

Here we should ask that same question again: what do we know about the views, values and morality of those that created Common Purpose?

You have only to read Julia Middleton CEO's book Beyond Authority to identify a raft of bankers, global businessmen, intellectuals and government figures where egos, money and power figure highly, and humility and compassion very little.

Is it just a coincidence that the Cabinet Office has promoted both the Behavioural Insights Team and Common Purpose, both of which promote and use applied psychology, of which the public are not fully aware, to promote their socio-economic political agenda?

More than a few people have been heard remarking that politicians seem to be becoming alike. Mini clones in their style of dress, mannerisms and particularly their speech delivery. It was fascinating to learn therefore that an NLP guru has been working at the heart of the Conservative Party to train MP's in "speeches, campaigning, winning over opposition and generally improving their lives..."

Is it cynical to note 'improving their lives' not ours? Enter Mr Peter Botting 'professional storytelling coach' - his words not mine - who states he has trained some 80 odd Conservative MPs. What are Mr Botting's values and what is his morality? I have no idea.

he rich, powerful and famous have always engaged coaches and trainers, as have top athletes, for example. Have those trainers used applied psychology in their advice, encouragement and motivation? Undoubtedly so.
What makes NLP so different as a tool in the trainers' hands?

Simply that in the wrong hands NLP can completely re-frame the targeted individual installing completely new beliefs and values. A large part of this is the heightened ego, the belief in self, and the power of self to achieve more - usually over and above others and the needs of others. Once NLP has entered the target mind nobody really knows where the 'new' personality will lead, least of all the recipient.

Magic Wheel of Madness

Rotating the magic wheel of madness, we now have a government using Applied Behavioural Psychology on the public, where the policy and substance for that psychology has been created by those distant from government, and unaccountable to the public. Add the fact that we can now see that the politicians who are to drive and regulate this new attack on our minds, have been reframed themselves, as have a great many civil servants via Mindspace, Common Purpose and who knows what other NLP 'leadership' courses.

As the top NLP man told me a few years ago - a good analogy is to compare your brain to a new laptop. It works like a dream and performs well with multiple programmes and tasks. Add a favourite game or two, and that new screen saver, oh and the new social networking programme, and this and that, and the other.  One day the laptop freezes and the trouble starts. A small dose of NLP can be beneficial provided the trainer has your best interests at heart, but when one NLP session is laid over another and another during the course of months or years, it is like adding programmes to the laptop.

Imagine the laptop is young and the processor and memory not fully grown - can we expect trouble sooner? My expert said so.

Imagine the NLP trainer was NLP trained before he trained you. Who then trains you - the real person or an NLP reframed version?

Imagine you receive multiple Civil Service or NHS management, leadership or motivational courses over several years all containing NLP of which you were never informed. You read your tax demand - it is embedded with NLP. You listen to the Prime Ministers speech - it is embedded with NLP. You watch the news - it is embedded with NLP. Your partner says... "You have changed." You say..." I don't care because I am not like you any more....I am a specially selected future leader building a new world where everyone will be resilient and happy and equal, where diversity will be celebrated and the planet will be sustainable and climate change will be no more."

For those laughing at the apparent absurdity of that short verbal exchange, it is real. My research into Common Purpose, NLP and 'leadership / motivational' courses quickly brought a number of individuals describing worrying personality changes to their spouses, colleagues and children. Suicides amongst hundreds of children in South Wales and other locations across UK? Not one MP would take notice of the connections between NLP embedded courses and powerful but dark drama with embedded themes and messages.

If you have attended a diversity course, management course, 'change' course or leadership course, or indeed many others, the chances are that you have been exposed to NLP without your knowledge.
Imagine a politician who presides over a country with poverty, disease, poor medical services, unemployment, death in police custody, state spying and who condones torture. Imagine that man is so reframed in his own ego and self and world vision that he is prepared to spend £billions to prosecute unlawful wars to remove other heads of State that disagree with his aims and objectives. Madness? No, meet Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and the MPs of the British parliament who are now cloned into their new world reality.

NLP? Understand it and ban it, as an assault on the person.

Note: For the unawake, 'imagine' is a commonly used NLP 'trigger' word to help start the trance state of 'suggestibility.' But of course you knew that already. Or did you? Please research the dangers of NLP to keep you and your family safe.