Society daily 06.10.2010

• As few as eight free schools could open by next year - well short of Tory pre-election plans, according to a leaked civil service assessment seen by the Financial Times.

• Councils and local businesses could be handed control of inward investment and skills funding after a U-turn over local enterprise partnerships policy by communities secretary Eric Pickles, reports the FT.

• The 'big society' will be "a bit chaotic and disorderly", the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has admitted, reports Third Sector.

On my radar...

• Blogger David Wilcox (who has worked for the Big Society Network) rationalises and offers partial explanation for the "Bigstock" big society roadshow fiasco in Stockport. All very reasonable, David, but unlikely to placate the sceptical. For a flavour of how the story is playing on Twitter go here.

• Another superb blog post from Redundant Public Servant:

"650,000 job losses are too huge to understand except through getting to grips with the particular. To many we are all nothing but bureaucrats and the sooner we're doing 'proper' jobs the better. I wonder though how long that attitude will hold up. Not long after it became clear that I would be made redundant I had to explain this turn of events to a meeting of senior local politicians. They seemed genuinely shocked. 'But we didn't mean people like you,' one said to me afterwards in a half-apology. And I think that's one of the big problems coming over the horizon with the CSR. Cuts will move from the theoretical to the actual."

• It's Buggered, Mate. An Australian version of MySociety's FixMyStreet website.

• This very amusing "translation" of NHS secretary Andrew Lansley's Tory party conference speech, by Health Policy Insight's Andy Cowper.

• Civil society minister Nick Hurd's message to charities at a Tory conference fringe meeting: roughly translated as "Ask what you can do for your council, not what your council can do for you."

• Blogger Paul Corrigan on why we will be seeing "political micro-management in the NHS in an era of no political micro-management of the NHS."

• Blogger Flip Chart Fairy Tales, who examines why a council made 12 HR staff redundant, only to subsequently hire 11 more. Apparently it makes sense, and it happens a lot.

• This thorough dissection of the social enterprise charter mark, by blogger David Floyd

• Blogger and HR specialist Kevin Ball's very personal reflections on why Malcolm Gladwell is wrong about social activism and social media:

My ties with my social media network are not insubstantial, they are stronger than I realised before this week. This is a community. I'm grateful for the support of everyone in it and I can only see it getting stronger. Social activism or applied organisational use of the potential that networks offer aren't evolved yet. But I have more confidence than ever that it is only a matter of time.

• This online Q&A about the cuts with Leeds council's chief executive Tom Riordan, hosted by Guardian Leeds blogger John Baron.

• Conference fringe Tweets: including this one from Dr Phil Hammond

"Tory fringe Who can say with any confidence a Mid Staffs-type disaster isn't happening now? No hands up, including Lansley, RCS NMC GMC BMA"

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 yet know is which ones to support. And that's where you come in. There are around 8,000 UK charities out there that operate in this area. We are looking for 10 projects that do innovative, effective work with young people at risk aged 13-24. So if you work for a charity, and it fits the bill, please apply (you can find the link to the pdf download on this page). If you know of a charity that you think we ought to support, then encourage it to apply or nominate it on this blog, and we'll contact it on your behalf. Applications close on 8 October, the appeal will kick off in December.

Events

Capital Ambition Delivering services for London in an age of austerity, 15 November, London. Join leading practitioners across London to re-think, re-design and re-assess 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.

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