On my radar...

• The Liverpudlian ex-Brookside actor and star of the TV comedy series The Royle Family Ricky Tomlinson, who has reportedly donated £1m to a children's charity in Liverpool.

• Blogger David Floyd on the dangers of "bogus" social enterprises:

"I share ...[the] concern about the tag 'social enterprise' being used as a mechanism to deliver full scale privatisation of public agencies, particularly parts of the NHS."

• Blogger John Mack's critique of Viagra advertising: Be a Macho Man! Ask Your Doctor for Viagra! (thanks @amcunningham)

• Blogger Fighting Monsters on the chasm between social work and social care management and the front line:

"The National Children and Adult Services Conference has had a lot of influential speakers – ministers, shadow ministers, heads of various services and quangos. I see (and maybe I'm wrong in this) no place for actual practitioners at events such as this ... Instead, they create little silos of managers talking to policy-makers talking to consultants talking to reporters. About Social Care. About us. But not to us."

• This speech on youth charities and the cuts by New Philanthropy Capital's Martin Brookes, at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services' annual conference this week (pdf)

• @NAVCA chief exec Kevin Curley, who used his conference address this week to urge charities to put housing and homelessness in their in-tray:

"As people who work in charities we are never concerned with who the government is ... We are only concerned with what the government does. I believe the government in recent times has made it more likely that people will become homeless."

• Children's minister Tim Loughton, who, borrowing a Gordon Brown policy, has declared that the Big Society bank will focus its resources on youth projects. The BS bank, it seems, will not be up and running until June, not April as anticipated.

• Big Society Suffolk blogger Richard Stacey's response to Suffolk county council's public defence of its "virtual council" (aka "New Strategic Direction") outsourcing plans. He concludes:

"No business manager, in their right mind, would ever decide that the best way to run their business was to out-source it. Outsourcing the functions at the margins of a business is sensible. Outsource what is core to your business and you will soon be out of business. You don't have to be Sir Alan Sugar to work that one out."

• Professor Cathy Parker's blogpost on the regional growth white paper (thanks @juliandobson)

• Arsenal footballer Nicklas Bendtner, who has revealed his music playlist for the Fairshare Music site, in support of the Centrepoint homelessness charity. He's young, rich, Danish and fashion conscious. So who would expect him to come up with these songs?

• Conservative Home blogger Tim Montgomerie's stock take of Conservative and Liberal Democrat compromises and significant trade offs over policy.

• This thoughtful (post-midterm US elections) post by Agebomb blogger Geraldine Bedell on the impact on politics of an ageing population:

"So will the very large group of older people associated with the ageing population be more idealistic than the old have ever been before? Or will they carry into old age qualities that owe more to those other babyboomer features, self-centredness and a sense of entitlement?"

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 received. A shortlist of projects will be submitted to a selection panel comprising Guardian/Observer and NPC staff at the end of October. Ten projects will be chosen.

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

Events

Capital Ambition Delivering services for London in an age of austerity, 15 November, 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, London - Free places available. Discover how the innovative use of technology will improve performance and response in difficult financial times. Speakers include Dr Timothy Brain, former chief constable of Gloucestershire; Andy Marles, chief fire officer from South Wales fire and rescue; Jason Killens, London ambulance service's deputy director of operations; Steve Whatson, director of ICT for the Olympics at the Metropolitan police service and Olympic security directorate.

"Big Society" and its role in local government 7 December, London. This is an essential seminar for managers and leaders looking for a practical definition of big society and how it will work within local government. As well as a keynote speech from the government's adviser on big society, Lord Wei, delegates will also hear first hand accounts of how other local government managers are implementing big society in their councils and the best practice they have developed.

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%