July 2009 - Posts

Children's Society chair Bob Reitemeier was on Radio 4 this morning discussing the interim report of the Social Work Taskforce, of which he is deputy chair. Read More...
You may remember PY Gerbeau : professional Frenchman, committed Anglophile, the former EuroDisney chief who saved the Millennium Dome. Read More...
Funny how social workers are suddenly flavour of the month now that the UK faces a swine flu epidemic. Read More...
Posted by Outside Left
It would have made a formidable double act: Dame Joan Bakewell and Sir Michael Parkinson marching on Downing Street to protest about cuts in the number of sheltered housing wardens . Read More...
There has been an interesting development on asylum policy in the United States with Barack Obama's administration now allowing permits for women who are victims of domestic violence. Read More...
The controversy over the children's authors who will have to prove that they are not paedophiles (if it is possible to prove you are not something) before being allowed into schools has convinced me that the UK is on one big child protection guilt...
Dammit. We mention the words Tory and epiphany in the same sentence and up pop former leader Iain Duncan Smith and shadow home secretary Chris Grayling to discredit the mega-brainpower of the Outside Left policy unit. Read More...
It was another Tory epiphany moment. Nearly 30 years after Margaret Thatcher's flagship social engineering policy - the sale of council properties - the party has tacitly admitted that local authority-run housing was probably not a bad idea after...
Social workers and care staff are more than familiar with the vagaries of the Criminal Records Bureau. Read More...
The braindead who voted for the British National Party in last month's European and local elections will appreciate their leader's latest wisdom on dealing with those African boat people whose vessels are caught crossing the Mediterranean. Read...
There has long been a feeling that care homes - a view not necessarily shared by the providers themselves - should welcome pets owned by residents. Read More...
Until last night I was unaware of an alarming statistic: the number of cricketers who take their own lives is 75% higher than the rest of the population. Read More...
Is the media starting to change its mind about social workers? Read More...
A ruling from the House of Lords has widened the legal definition of disability. Read More...
Posted by Outside Left
There is no doubt that some people are doing very well in what for many are cash-strapped times: namely those on well-paid jobs whose mortgage costs have dipped quicker than the economy. Read More...
I would never have imagined bracketing the people who drive mobility scooters with Lewis Hamilton . Read More...