Society Daily 02.09.2010

An ambulance drives at speed down a busy London street — An ambulance driver faces losing his job for speeding. Photograph: John Li/Getty

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Today's top Society stories

Sharon Shoesmith given leave to appeal against court ruling on dismissal

Two arrested over assisted suicide of 76-year-old disabled man

NHS trust chiefs offered £130,000 to quit

Schools must "earn" poor pupil payment, charity tells Gove

Interview: Author Terry Pratchett on living with Alzheimers

Zoe Williams: Wishful thinking won't bring equality for disabled people

Peter Beresford: Cameron's war on benefit cheats

All today's Society Guardian stories

Other news

• The coalition will overhaul NHS mental health strategy "to give mental health parity with physical health in the NHS," according to care services minister Paul Burstow writing in Community Care.

• An ambulance driver faces losing his licence and job after being clocked at 112mph while transporting a vital organ between hospitals on a blue light call, reports the Daily Mail.

• The High Court will examine whether legal aid contracts for social welfare have been awarded lawfully at a judicial review next week, reports Inside Housing.

On my radar...

• Highly recommended: this fantastic, moving short film from the charity Veteran's Aid in which a group of ex-servicemen read Kipling's poem The Last of the Light Brigade... (thanks ThePavementMag)

• Blogger and HR expert Flip Chart Fairy Tales reflects on the latest chapter in Sharon Shoesmith's legal odyssey:

"As I said right at the start, I can't see how her sacking can have been within the law. From reading the judge's comments today, this is not looking good for Ed Balls or Haringey."

• Health Service Journal's analysis of the 30 most influential people in health over the last four years (aggregated from its annual polls). Just six women (none in top 15), and one ethnic minority (Lord Darzi). And headed by an ex-communist...

• Blogger Julian Dobson on Big Society, work, and the labour market...

• Dr Petra Boynton, who reveals that the "sexually explicit website" accessable on school computers reported by a scandalised Scottish Daily Mail is, in fact, this one...

• A typically insightful, honest series of blog posts over August by Craig Dearden-Phillips: stands-outs are this one on unions and social enterprise, and this one on pensions and charities who take on public sector employees...

• This tweeted observation from Rob Greenland, commenting on Edinburgh council's £90m cuts proposals:

"If other councils follow Edinburgh and look for cuts in "back office" social care costs, I wonder what that'll mean for personalisation? Will they work harder to cut the bureaucracy around personalisation, or will they just lessen their commitment to it?"

Events

Driving efficiencies in public sector ICT, 30 September, London: a one-day conference for senior IT professionals to re-examine the way they work, cut costs and deliver vital efficiency savings.

Public sector online, 4 October, London: a one-day conference examining how public sector professionals can engage with their audience to deliver services more effectively and strategically online.