Society daily 26.10.2010

Today's top Society Guardian stories

Baby P: officials failed to check on mother's violent partner, says report

Housing reforms cause rift in coalition

Police "incapable" of managing 20% cuts, says watchdog

School gay history lessons lead to fall in homophobic bullying

Polly Toynbee: Britain's housing time bomb

Cuts blog: spending cuts mean it's grimmer up north

Video: Danny Dorling on elitism in Sheffield schools

All today's Society Guardian stories

Other news

• The use of chemical cosh drugs for dementia patients will be cut as part of a "national action plan" proposed by a coalition of charities and private companies, reports the Daily Telegraph.

• The NHS faces a £6bn funding gap by 2015, according to a King's Fund report published today, says the Independent.

On my radar...

• This collection of posts, on Patient Opinion, around a mother's dismal experience of care for her daughter's depression, and the NHS trust's response to her complaint. Another great example of how interactive web technology can help improve patients' NHS experiences and enable services to be become more responsive.

• Colin Talbot's deconstruction of coalition spending review spin on health, education, police and council tax:

"Last week's spending review is already unravelling as dodges, spin, wheezes and downright lies gradually emerge from the thicket of numbers. First, the accounting tricks. HM Treasury famously preens itself as having a collection of the very finest minds Oxbridge can produce – a pity then their principal activity seems to be devising spiv-like ways of deceiving the punters."

• This video clip of an angry husband confronting protesters outside a US abortion clinic, courtesy of Salon.com (thanks @Claire_Phipps )

• "Stop doing what doesn't work" - the first in a series of post-spending review posts on innovation and the cuts on the Nesta website:

"For public services, [innovation] means changing or decommissioning existing services to reinvest in a different, better approach and means confronting fundamental questions about the 'right' way to deliver what the public need. Remember, both cuts and investments are a choice; what you cut now will start to define where you are going to end up."

• Paul Corrigan on the NHS and the "big society"

• Matthew Jackson on the New Start blog on why procurement is the new regeneration

• The normally formidable former deputy headteacher and Tory conference heroine Kathryn Birbalsingh, who is is left gushing and disarmed by the famous Etonian charm during a visit to Britain's most famous public school.

• New Philanthropy Capital's analysis of the spending review and what it means for charities and the voluntary sector.

Preview: tomorrow's Society Guardian supplement

• Tom Clark predicts that the coaliton's changes to council tax will lead to riots and make Iain Duncan's Smith's universal credit unworkable

• Rod Morgan, former chairman of the Youth Justice Board, welcomes its abolition in the quango cull.

• Hay Group's Peter Smith on super-councils and the management challenges of making cuts.

• Faisel Rahman on how doorstep lenders viewed the spending review as a bonanza.

• Bob Holman's lessons for the big society from 21 years of his Easterhouse project.

• Interview - new Charity Commission chief executive Sam Younger on making 33% cuts as its public consultation opens.

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 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

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.