Dr James Partridge OBE passes away, leaving behind a legacy of life-changing work and devotion to others, as the pioneer behind the face equality movement

James was a social entrepreneur, author, loving husband, father, grandfather, and the architect of the global face equality movement. Dr James Richard John Partridge OBE, passed away suddenly, but peacefully on Sunday 16th August 2020, at Princess Elizabeth Hospital, Guernsey. He was a wonderful and devoted husband to Carrie, father to Simon, Charlotte and Harriet,

FACE IT – A new book charting my crusade

Every author who’s waiting for their book to come out will experience pangs of anxiety in the middle of the night! What have I missed out? Should I have said that differently? Or better? Who haven’t I thanked? And many more agonies… FACE IT may have been long in gestation but that hasn’t saved me

Facing up to the world of AI

You may have missed a Linked In post last week by my great friend and ally, Susan Scott-Parker, founder of Business Disability International (bdi) — and this is a good opportunity for me to thank her profusely for her invaluable support and inspiration over many years. This is almost plagiarism on my part but I

Re-activating my blogging

It’s been 15 months since I last wrote a blog – and that’s partly because I’ve been very busy setting up an international alliance of NGOs that want to turn the campaign for Face Equality started by Changing Faces in 2008 into a global movement. It’s called Face Equality International and here’s the link: http://www.faceequalityinternational.org.

Reflections on a brother in arms, RIP

My dear brother, the Rev. Canon David Partridge, died a few weeks ago and so many people have shared with the family their memories of his immense life as a pastor in his parish, Warblington with Emsworth, and as a committed pacifist and campaigner on many controversial causes like homelessness, anti-apartheid and the Israeli-Palestinian rapprochement.

Better to spend more on looking good than doing good?

On Tuesday 10 November, I spoke in a debate at the Oxford Union, organised by the Oxfordshire Community Foundation. This is the text of my speech. The motion for debate: “This house believes that there is nothing wrong with spending more on looking good than doing good.” CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Good evening, Mr President, Ladies

Why powwownow’s Zombie advert offends

Ten days ago I saw an advert on London’s transport network. Called ‘Avoid the Horror’, it featured a group of Zombies standing around a commuter on a packed tube train. Their faces display a variety of scars, bleeding mouths and exposed teeth, distorted by plastic masks. It was a disquieting moment because I came face-to-face with

Revisiting ‘The Elephant Man’

It’s more than two years since I blogged on the greatness of Joseph Merrick and John Hurt, two men who helped, in their different ways, to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by those living with an unusual appearance in today’s looks-obsessed world. I was prompted to look back at that post after Time Out

EastEnders – we must be thankful for our world-leading burns care

Like millions of other people, I’ve been following EastEnders closely these last couple of weeks. My interest was sparked – if you’ll forgive the pun – by news that there was to be a terrible fire at the Moons’ place, after Alfie sets a bin alight in the belief he can remedy his financial woes

A week of connections

I love Round Britain Quiz but frustratingly rarely get all the connections. Here’s a conundrum for you: “What links a sculptor from Oxford, a speaker at a conference in Gdańsk, an actor in EastEnders and Dr Scroggy?” The answer is… Last weekend, I met Martin Jennings who sculpted Sir Archibald McIndoe’s statue in East Grinstead