• Campaigners have called for government action to tackle the damaging effects of "passive drinking" and give communities greater influence over licensing laws, says the Independent

• Nearly two-thirds of the £15.9bn planned welfare and benefit cuts will hit working families, undermining government claims that they are "making work pay", according to TUC analysis published today

• The Charity Commission is to offer voluntary redundancy to all its staff and consider shedding some of its legal obligations, reports Third Sector, as it seeks to cut its spending by more than a quarter over the next four years

On my radar...

• Great blogpost from blogger Julian Dobson: Don't Look to London for Big Society Gold

• Lifestyles of the rich and famous ... the Mirror takes a long hard look at welfare secretary Iain Duncan Smith's living arrangements.

• Eric Pickles. When it comes to local enterprise, is his "localism" just "regionalism in disguise", asks the Tory leader of Medway council in LGC (thanks @ajrhayman)

"To put this into perspective... [the Kent-Essex- East Sussex Super Local enterprise partnership] is equal to Berlin, bigger than Madrid or Rome and more than Paris, Lyon and Marseilles added together. And, just to labour the point, the geographic area of these three English counties is greater than the whole of Holland, more than the land taken up by Luxembourg and a quarter of the size of Belgium. Is this really what we were promised by the government's localism agenda?"

• The supermarket Morrisons, has pledged to hire 1,000 homeless people over the next three years, according to People management.

• Blogger and social entrepreneur Mike Chitty's open letter to Lord Young, the government's new "enterprise tsar":

"I believe that what you really want to achieve is a society where more people do start businesses that survive and thrive. This should be the real policy goal. So how to get there? I would advocate that you should dissuade as many people as possible from starting new businesses."

• Blogger Fighting Monsters' sceptical look at the coalition's support for the idea of "care credits" for volunteers who help older people and disabled people.

• Craig Dearden Phillips predicts the Age of Austerity will end council dithering over social care personal budgets:

"I predict that as councils are forced to reform themselves in response to the CSR, a by-product will be lots of people moving to personal budgets. In public bodies change only comes out of necessity. Events - like the CSR - play the forcing role that in other sectors is played by the market. In that sense, one can be grateful for the end of the Good Times in the public sector."

• Suffolk county council's proposals to outsource all its council services, monitored closely on Big Society Suffolk, a promising looking blog by Richard Stacy.

• Harriet Harman's appalling "ginger rodent" jibe against financial secretary Danny Alexander. On the bright side, points out Max Atkinson, who studies these things, you can't fault it as an example of rhetorical technique:

"Whatever you might have thought about hearing the politically correct Harriet Harman referring to Danny Alexander as a 'ginger rodent', the offending sequence was a technically very effective example of how to use the Puzzle-Solution technique to trigger applause."

• Geoffrey Lean on why the government's proposals to sell off Forestry Commission woodlands are already running into trouble.

• Flip Chart Fairy Tales' blogpost on how the public sector gets rid of its unwanted staff:

"Redundancy in the public sector, rather than being a swift coup de grâce, is often a slow bleeding to death ... Often, it can take months. Interpretations of rules and policies vary between organisations ... In some circumstances, public servants can spend a year at their desks knowing they are being made redundant yet still being expected to turn up for work. The impact this has on staff morale and productivity, even among those who are not being fired, is easy to imagine.
Despite the reputation (not always deserved) that the public sector has for treating its employees more fairly, its redundancy process often borders on the inhumane."

Guardian and Observer Christmas Charity Appeal 2010

Nominations are now closed for our Christmas appeal 2010, which will support charities working with vulnerable teenagers and young adults. Many thanks to everyone who applied.

Our Christmas charity 2010 partners New Philanthropy Capital are now sifting through the 300 applications we recieved. A shortlist of projects will be submitted to a selection panel comprising Guardian/Observer and NPC staff this week. Ten projects will be chosen.

We will contact both successful and unsuccessful applicants once the panel has reached it decision after 10 November. The appeal will launch towards the end of November and run until mid-January.

Events

Transforming Social Care through IT. Finding your way in a changing service environment 8 December, LondonTake a practical look at social care provision, address the changing face of services and explore the reasons why technology is fundamental to the future of care. Register now and save 30%

Information Security and Identity Management in the Public Sector, 3 November 2010, London. Keeping pace with new threats. Hear from Christopher Graham, Information Commissioner and Belinda Lewis, Ministry of Justice

Capital Ambition Delivering services for London in an age of austerity, 15 November 2010, London. Join leading practitioners across London to rethink, redesign and reassess the way services are delivered

Guardian Social Enterprise 2010, 16 November, London. An interactive conference for anyone delivering public services or supporting social enterprises. Speakers include: minister for civil society Nick Hurd; Peter Holbrook, chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition; Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive, Social Enterprise London; Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive, Turning Point; Rod Schwartz, chief executive, Clearly So; Dai Powell, chief executive, HCT; Alastair Wilson, chief executive, School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Transforming Blue Light Services Innovating ICT for the emergency services, 24 November 2010, London.

Discover how the innovative use of technology will improve performance and response in difficult financial times.