Sign up to Society briefing email
Society briefing Please note, this is the last Society briefing of 2014. The bulletin will return on Wednesday 7 January
Is society ready for its ageing population? Take our survey
The Guardian is launching a new survey, which aims to assess how well the UK is responding to demographic change – and whether older citizens’ skills and knowledge are being harnessed. We’d like to hear from older people, their families and carers; from public services professionals working with older people and from interested members of the public. The survey takes no more than 10 minutes to complete.
Today’s top SocietyGuardian stories
- Birmingham city council to axe thousands of jobs as part of ‘dire cuts’
- Institute for Fiscal Studies criticises Osborne’s pursuit of tax cuts
- NHS bill for management advisers doubles to £640m
- More than a third of users of fixed-odds betting terminals are problem gamblers
-
Rising funeral costs ‘causing people to bury loved ones in back garden’
- Zoe Williams: As children starve, where’s the state?
- Letters: Looking beyond food banks to dig up the roots of hunger in Britain
- ‘Boiler on prescription’ scheme transforms lives and saves NHS money
- Deborah Orr: Choice in public services is a myth exploited by big corporations
- Vonny Moyes: I had postpartum psychosis. More must be done to help mothers like me
All today’s SocietyGuardian stories
In today’s SocietyGuardian section
- Thousands of working families forced to depend on charity handouts this Christmas
- Jack Monroe: Poverty has left me unable to open my own front door
- Paul Burstow: Why the UK should follow Sweden and provide more support for carers
- Zara Aziz: It’s time to rethink prescription charges
- Anne Perkins: No one will admit what is facing the NHS – but the crisis isn’t over
- Why firefighters are stepping up to strike again
- Books on the house as libraries move into pubs and cafes
- Linda Tirado: Any commission that aims to abolish hunger must first address income
Jobs of the week
- Director of services - England, Shelter
- Service director, children’s safeguarding, family support and social care services, Northumberland county council
- Head of programme, adult support and inclusion, Scouts
- Council member (registrant), Nursing and Midwifery Council
The Guardian’s public and voluntary sector careers page
Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs
On the Society Professional Networks
- Gifts that give back: charity Christmas present guide
- Live discussion, Thursday from noon: How can social care meet the challenges of recruitment and retention?
- Gudrun Burnet explains how housing workers in the community can spot the danger signs of domestic abuse and safely help those at risk
- Firefighters’ strike: ‘we are another public service being destroyed by government’
- Computer says no: NHS IT was not designed to operate at this level, writes consultant anaesthetist and author Ellie May
Pick of the blogs
- Nicky Clark: Asperger’s and me
- Dan Crossley, Food Ethics Council: Zero hunger report
- Jen Gold, Institute for Government: What Works Centres - can they deliver?
- Rick Flip Chart Fairy Tales: Which bits of the state do you plan to close, minister?
- Colin Talbot, Manchester Policy Blogs: Not So Much an Autumn Statement, More a (Tory) Manifesto for a Small State?
- Toby Blume, New Start: 2015 is the year the cuts will really kick in
Other news
- BBC: England ‘nation of pill-poppers’
- Children & Young People Now: Local authorities devise plans to beat child sexual exploitation
- CivilSociety.co.uk: ‘Scrooge Award’ is ditched after retailers find their Christmas spirit
- Community Care: Government keen on national admissions criteria for social work courses
- Independent: Government relies too much on ‘quasi-monopoly’ of G4S and Serco
- Inside Housing: Landlord orders tenants to remove outdoor Christmas decorations
- LocalGov.co.uk: Leicestershire plans to cut 700 jobs
- Public Finance: Pickles sets Birmingham improvement deadline
- Telegraph: NHS exec accused of cover-up awarded £60,000 for distress
- Third Sector: Government plans new £100m endowment fund to help charities attract social investment
SocietyGuardian blogs
Patrick Butler’s cuts blog
Sarah Boseley’s global health blog
SocietyGuardian on social media
Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter
Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter
Follow Clare Horton on Twitter
Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter
SocietyGuardian’s Facebook page
SocietyGuardian links
SocietyGuardian
The Guardian’s public and voluntary sector careers page
Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs
SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin
Email the SocietyGuardian editor: society@theguardian.com