I've always been a bit lukewarm towards mass appeals like Comic Relief.  The angry young man in me has sneered at the general public opting out of their selfish little lives for twenty-four hours to wear a silly red nose and part with a few quid, in return for a fundraising CD or some comm...

Everybody's talking about it.  We need to work out how to make our organisation sustainable, they say.  But what does it actually mean?  And is it possible? I work quite a lot with third sector organisations, and many of them approach social enterprise with a Robin Hood perspec...

Sometimes thinking can get in the way of action.  I drove past the offices of our local newspaper yesterday and passed a picket line of newspaper staff who are striking over compulsory redundancies.  I was invited to beep my horn in support. My hand hovered over the steering wheel and by...

It's not been a good 24 hours for Leeds.  Yesterday the Council announced 450 job losses, and today I learnt that high-profile social business Fifteen will not be opening a restaurant in Leeds after all. As a city which was lauded for its diversification from manufacturing into financial s...

There's something quite compelling about Noel Edmonds losing it, even if it's a calculated loss.     The story is that an army veteran who has lost both legs has been refused planning permission for a bungalow in the grounds of his Grandad's house.  Noel has taken up hi...

Interesting comment piece in this month's Social Enterprise magazine by one of the Social Enterprise Two - Liam Black.   In the piece (I'll link to it once it's online) - and in quotes in another article on the future of the Social Enterprise Coalition  - he has a good old go...

Two stories coincide this week to demonstrate how difficult it is to run the world in a way that is anywhere near socially and economically just. Workers at an oil refinery in Lincolnshire went on strike in protest at Italian workers being employed on a contract - and workers have walked out in symp...

I bought my first forced rhubarb of the year yesterday.  For those of you not in the know forced rhubarb is a bit of a Yorkshire thing - it's either grown in mysterious candle lit sheds, or, on a smaller scale, under a terracotta cloche.  The darkness tricks the plant  into wor...

It's up to you to decide whether you think Rafa lost it, or whether this was a brilliant tactical move to out-manoeuvre the grand master of mind games.   I think he's been very clever, but then I would.   He's used the kind of tactics that challenger brands the world over use...

As I write, retailers around the world will be anxiously doing their sums, wondering whether they've got any chance of making it through till next Christmas, or maybe even next week.  It's obvious that Woolies won't be the last legacy retailer to go to the wall. I believe that we&#...