Society daily 05.10.10

• Religion is largely irrelevant to most young people, who rely on family, friends and themselves to give meaning to their lives, according to a Church of England study reported in the Daily Telegraph.

• Whitehall departments have missed a series of deadlines to enact a range of reforms and initiatives, including plans to publish the salaries of all civil servants earning over £58,200, says the Daily Telegraph.

• Cabinet office minister Francis Maude has said that government cash should go "direct to community groups" not to umbrella organisations which provide infrastructural support, reports Social Enterprise

On my radar...

• The NAAPS UK report Cuts or Putting People First? which makes the case for Shared Lives schemes - a kind of big society model of care and support of older people

• This blog by John Copps on New Philanthropy Capital, which asks: should government step in to save charities that go bust?

• Blogger Podnosh's report on a fringe meeting at Conservative conference, in which he admires Rory Stewart MP's "Buddhist" explanation of big society:

"It is clearly not about the government per se, the individual or business, probably not primarily about the voluntary sector. It is about community, particularly about local democracy. To use a Buddhist analogy the noble truths might be:
- We have a world dominated by government that is too rigid
- Solution to this is decentralisation
- The path is through something called the big society
Big society is not an object so much as an activity, not a funding stream or a pot of money."

• Richard Kemp, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Local Government, who argues persuasively why coalition proposals for elected mayors are "just plain wrong"

• John Tizard on Suffolk's "virtual" council experiment:

"The published papers have set out a high-level view of the intended journey (for this will take several years to achieve) – but contain little content addressing the how, the timescales or the risks inherent in such a bold venture. One wonders at the level and nature of stakeholder consultation and engagement with service users, staff and trade unions, local businesses, the third and community sectors, and local residents. Indeed, what consultation (if any) has taken place and what is planned to be undertaken as the programme is developed and implemented?"

• Blogger Saba Salman on Project Alcatraz: an extraordinary tale of a how a private distillery business in Venezuela turned itself into a successful - and profitable - social enterprise

• Children's commissioner Maggie Atkinson, who goes into bat in defence of Ceop, the online child protection agency whose independence is under threat.

• This tweet from Tory party conference by political journalist @MartinBright:

"Overheard at #cpc: Charity MD: 'What's the big society?' Tory MP: 'It's you.' 'Can we have some money then?' 'No, that's the whole point.'"

Preview: Wednesday's Society Guardian supplement

- Alan Travis on Social Impact bonds

- Clare Allan on mental illness and midlife crisis

- Denis Campbell on the BMA and the NHS reforms

- Randeep Ramesh on cutting universal benefits

Guardian and Observer Christmas Appeal 2010: help us decide which youth charities to support

This year our Christmas appeal will support charities working with vulnerable teenagers and young adults. That bit we've decided on. What we don't know yet is which ones to support. And that's where you come in. There are around 8,000 UK charities out there who operate in this area. We are looking for 10 projects which do innovative, effective work with young people at risk aged 13-24. So if you work for a charity, and you fit the bill, please apply (you can find the link to the pdf download on this page). If you know of a charity which you think we ought to support, then encourage them to apply or nominate them on this blog, and we'll contact them on your behalf. Applications close on 8 October, the appeal will kick off in December.

Events

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.

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.