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...

Star-studded and in a good cause. “Prop 8 - The Musical” starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more… from Jack Black Similar Posts: Rudd govt anti-same-sex-discrimination bill depends on the Senate balance of power by tigtog Arsehats of the week by tigtog News from the ACT ...

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...

The Maternity Services Review is finally out. But you knew that, because last week the Australian Medical Association published a badly flawed paper designed to suggest that private obstetric care was the only safe way to birth a baby. And the buzzword for today is: “collaborative care”....

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...

Seeing as Facebook has decided to claim that they own rights to any content on a website that has a “click to share on Facebook” style button (along with all the rest of their new claims over User Content), nearly everybody will be removing that particular button ASAP while they leave th...

OK, a selection from the last week of memorable and topical posts that have turned up in my feed-reader. There’s quite a few links, so I’m putting them behind a cut so as not to clutter up the front page of the blog. Add your own links to posts you recommend in comments: Violence Against...

I’ve posted a few excerpts about how slow and ineffective tax cuts are as an economic stimulus. But (as the saying goes) any jackass can kick a building down.  What does work? Beyond the partisan rhetoric, there’s good news.  Here are excerpts from an interview with Mark Zandi, economi...

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...