Nothing Ventured (William Warwick Novels, 1)

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Nothing ventured, nothing gained is a proverb that is over 500 years old. We will examine the meaning of the expression nothing ventured, nothing gained, where it came from, and some examples of its use in sentences.

Harry is called to talk about his role within the force and it happens to be within the art crime section when he remarks about a painting. His comments do not go down well because he makes a discovery that they had a forgery. He is then catapulted into the Art & Antiques unit in Scotland Yard and a detective is born… So when people say that children growup faster today than in previousgenerations, they are confusingappearance with reality. Children maylook like they are growing up faster –they may be adopting adult styles andmannerisms, and engaging more withadult technology and culture. But whenit comes to everyday freedoms, thehorizons of childhood have for decadesbeen shrinking steadily. There are ofcourse exceptions; in a small minority ofcases children may have too muchfreedom, and their parents may exert toolittle control. Nonetheless the broadpicture – of children spending ever moretime under the watchful eyes of adults –is undeniable. The lives of some groups– disabled children, for instance – canbe especially restricted. Despite this, children and young peopleface growing adult anxiety over theirsafety, across many aspects of theireveryday lives. While we do not wantchildren to come to harm, our fears canlead us to underestimate their ownabilities and to overreact to extremelyrare tragedies.Daily Telegraph A pacey tale of fakes, forgeries and ripped-off Rembrandts worthy of a TV crime caper Risk-benefit assessment brings together in a single procedurean assessment of both risks and benefits. To quote thepublication Managing Risk in Play Provision: ImplementationGuide, which outlines how risk-benefit assessment can beapplied in play services and facilities, it “focuses on makingjudgements and identifying measures that manage riskswhile securing benefits”. The approach is supported byGovernment, and crucially has been recognised by the HSEas forming part of the risk management process, asrequired by health and safety regulations. After graduating from university, William begins a career that will define his life: from his early months on the beat under the watchful eye of his first mentor, Constable Fred Yates, to his first high-stakes case as a fledgling detective in Scotland Yard's arts and antiquities squad. Investigating the theft of a priceless Rembrandt painting from the Fitzmolean Museum, he meets Beth Rainsford, a research assistant at the gallery who he falls hopelessly in love with, even as Beth guards a secret of her own that she's terrified will come to light. Nothing Ventured is the incredible and thrilling novel by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer. When tryouts for the team were announced, Tanya doubted that she could quality, but she thought : nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Being clear and explicit about benefitsnot only helps with risk management, italso provides a sound basis forevaluating programmes and activities.This is an important point because oneof the criticisms of some outdoorlearning initiatives is that they are notalways well evaluated. The method set out in Managing Risk inPlay Provision Implementation Guidedoes not involve any scoring orarithmetic, since such procedures canbe confusing and difficult to applyconsistently in play and learningcontexts, and moreover can struggle tocope with the subtleties and dilemmasthrown up by real-life situations. Instead,it puts forward a narrative approach thatsimply encourages those carrying outthe assessment to state the factors theyhave considered and the judgementsthey have reached. One challenge is that within organisationsit is rare to see a consistent, coherentapproach. So while face-to-face staffmay want to give children experiencesthat expose them to a degree ofmanaged risk, their managers, or theircolleagues in charge of health andsafety, may take a different view. Enable Scotland is a charity thatcampaigns for a better life for childrenand adults with learning disabilities andsupports them and their families to live,work and take part in their communities.One service it offers is to provideactivities and visits for children andyoung people, including adventurousand outdoor activities. In response toworries that the activity planning wasbecoming too cautious and overlyinfluenced by the impetus to removerisk, the charity developed a risk-benefit assessment form that gatherskey information about the benefits forparticipants. The form asks about thebenefits to the person of taking part,and how would the person feel ifprevented from taking part. The formalso asks for information on whatcould go wrong – but the nextquestion is ‘what could be done to geta positive outcome?’ ConclusionsEducation in its broadest sense is not just about delivering acurriculum. It is about giving children the chance to extendtheir life skills. It is about developing their confidence. It isabout fostering their resilience and sense of responsibility.And – let us not forget – it is about the enjoyment,engagement and excitement of venturing out into the realworld, with all its capacity for uncertainty, surprise,stimulation and delight.Nothing Ventured... Balancing risks andbenefits in the outdoors aims toencourage readers to take a reasonableand proportionate approach to safety inoutdoor and adventurous settings, andto reassure them that managing risksshould not be a disincentive toorganising activities. It is not a ‘how toguide’. Rather, at a time when manywonder whether society has gone too farin trying to keep children safe from allpossible harm, Nothing Ventured... addsits voice to the call for a more balancedapproach: an approach that accepts thata degree of risk – properly managed – isnot only inevitable, but positivelydesirable. Why doesadventure matter?Few would disagree with the view that parents, teachersand others who look after children need to take a morebalanced approach to risk. Adventurous activities are a keyresponse to this plea to redress the balance around risk.They are amongst the most engaging, enjoyable andrewarding learning activities that children and young peoplecan do, inside or outside the classroom. They can buildconfidence, offer new experiences, provide insights intocharacter and even transform lives. They have the power todo this precisely because they are up-front in their goal oftaking children beyond their existing competences: theymake explicit demands on those who take part. Nothing Ventured... is aimed ateducational and recreation practitionersand managers working with children andyoung people, including teachers, youthworkers, early years, play and out ofschool professionals and others workingin children’s services. It has a focus onadventurous activities, although much ofthe content is relevant to other learningcontexts. It is written with an Englishlegal and policy context in mind, but isalso relevant to those engaged inoutdoor activities in Wales, Scotland andNorthern Ireland, and – to a degree –beyond these shores.

Thrilling, absorbing and entertaining, Nothing Ventured introduces a character destined to become one of his most enduring legacies. Continue the series with Hidden in Plain Sight and Turn a Blind Eye. Her husband was one of those unfortunate men, called speculators. He believed that to gain thousands, thousands must be put in jeopardy—“ nothing ventured, nothing gained,” was his rule, and he practiced it to perfection. The second, Poppleton v Trustees ofthe Portsmouth Youth ActivitiesCommittee, involved a man who fellfrom an indoor bouldering wall afterattempting to jump from one part of thestructure to another. The man sued theoperator and was awarded damages,but the case was overturned onappeal. The Court of Appeal took theview that there were inherent andobvious risks that did not need to bebrought to users’ attention and did notrequire special training or supervision. English Outdoor Council, in cooperationwith the Outdoor Education Advisers’Panel (2005) High Quality OutdoorEducationA suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.

While William follows the trail of the missing masterpiece, he comes up against suave art collector Miles Faulkner and his brilliant lawyer, Booth Watson QC, who are willing to bend the law to breaking point to stay one step ahead of William. Meanwhile, Miles Faulkner's wife, Christina, befriends William, but whose side is she really on? This does not let those who organiseand provide adventure activities off thehook. Previous tragedies have shownthat lives have sometimes been lostneedlessly because actions anddecisions fell well below the standardsany reasonable person would expect. While this Act did not change the legalbasis for liability claims, it has had theeffect of emphasising the existing needfor the courts to take into account thebenefits of activities when consideringthe duty of care. Recent cases haveprompted lawyers to suggest that thecourts, in the wake of the Act, acceptthat some activities carry with them aninherent level of risk.For instance, judgements about howchildren are supervised can be difficultto get right, particularly with older youngpeople and during less structured orunstructured periods. Supervisory staff canfeel under pressure to intervene at the firstsign of trouble. This in turn can close downvaluable opportunities for participants tolearn for themselves the implications oftheir actions. It can also lead those takingpart to feel resentful or hostile at what theysee as unnecessary and unreasonableinterference. If it is recognised in advancethat one of the aims of the visit is to allowparticipants some freedom, choice andcontrol, and the chance to take a degreeof responsibility for their actions, this willsupport a more balanced approach tointerventions. This is especially likely ifchildren themselves are made aware ofthe expectations about their behaviour,and are given the chance to reflect onand discuss how they should respond tothe freedoms they have been granted. The benefits of outdoor education arefar too important to forfeit, and by faroutweigh the risks of an accidentoccurring. If teachers follow recognizedsafety procedures and guidance theyhave nothing to fear from the law. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)supports over 275,000 people aged14-24 in a programme that, accordingto the charity, “aims to instil a spirit ofadventure, and have a lasting impacton young people’s behaviours, skillsand life chances”. A key part of itsprogramme is for participants to carryout an unaccompanied expedition thatmust be completed through theparticipants’ own physical efforts. TheDofE’s Expedition Handbook is clearthat “adventure and discovery alwaysinvolve some measure of risk”, thatexpeditions should involve respondingto a challenge, and that one of thebenefits of doing an expedition is thatparticipants learn to manage risk.While the initial level of challenge isdetermined by the team, “the weatherand the demanding surroundings inwhich the expedition takes placealways necessitates the teamresponding to a series of unforeseenchallenges.” The Expedition Guide alsostates that, of all the qualities entailedin the safety and well-being ofparticipants doing DofE expeditions,“that of sound judgement is the mostimportant. Sound judgement, alongwith responsibility and maturity, arisesfrom effective training coupled withprogressive and varied experience overa period of time. It cannot developunless there are opportunities toexercise judgement.”