Trump: The good, the bad and the downright ugly

What's the impact of Donald Trump’s move against business commitments to diversity, ethics and inclusion and should we be concerned? If not, why are some in Gloucestershire too worried to go outdoors?

Dear readers,

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Raikes Journal, our digital email magazine covering Gloucetershire’s business, charity, education and training sectors - and more.

Today we try to make sense of what some of the noise from across the other side of the Atlantic, orchestrated by President Donald Trump, around diversity, ethical and inclusion policies - and what that might mean for Gloucestershire.

Why?

Anxiety levels in some quarters are through the roof. When we picked the phone up to one contact they told us the impact was such in their community that some people were feeling scared when they left the house.

We wanted to take a look at what that roll-back on DEI by big US firms with global footprints means for the UK, there are certainly plenty of those firms here in the county, and for UK firms committed to our own versions of DEI.

Are we really about to reverse the general direction of travel - towards a more inclusive, diverse workforce, a trend towards a business model …