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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
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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
