Society daily 15.02.11

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Elderly NHS patients' harrowing plight is revealed in report • Michelle Mitchell: Poor treatment is an attitude problem • One in five secondary school children 'abused or neglected', report reveals • Labour councils shed 50% more jobs than Tory areas • Ex-Labour donor praises 'big society' plans • Cuts blog: Domestic violence, spin, homelessness, Joanna Lumley • Charities face £100m gap when Gift Aid transitional relief expires in April • Ecstasy 'does not damage brain power' All today's SocietyGuardian stories Other news • Crime may rise if funding is cut for youth offending prevention projects in England and Wales, the Commons' Public Accounts Committee warns, according to the BBC. The committee says the cost of any reduction in funds was likely to outweigh any short-term savings, and it also warned the government's decision to axe the Youth Justice Board could be counter-productive. • Business leaders have called for the number of Welsh councils to be cut from 22 to seven , reports the MJ. CBI Wales has also called for a two-year public sector pay freeze. • A woman with a learning disability could be forcibly sterilised after she gives birth this week to stop her becoming pregnant again, reports the Telegraph. She is due to give birth tomorrow by caesarean section and could undergo an operation to sterilise her at the same time, if the court of protection agress. The usually secretive court will rule on the woman's treatment today, in a rare open hearing scheduled because of the overwhelming "public interest" in understanding the case. On my radar ... • Responses to David Cameron's relaunch of the big society project yesterday. Recommended reading: Polly Toynbee: Magical thinking can't save this national joke Madeleine Bunting: How PM fell out of love with citizen organisers Anthony Seldon: Time to take the 'big society' seriously Charity Times reports that voluntary sector organisations were not won over by the relaunch, with the consensus being the government is not doing enough to support the sector. Simon Burall on the Involve blog asks whether the big society can hold David Cameron to account , and Conor Ryan on the Public Finance blog poses the question Big Society or just BS? For a grassroots tale of the big society in action, see this video, which tells the tale of the people who took over running Chipping Norton lido - and then saw their local authority remove discretionary rate relief. (thanks @bengoldacre ). "What a fantastic way of treating the big society - you ask people to take over the facilities that you can no longer afford to run and then you clobber them once they're running it. So I say to anyone thinking about running a library, taking over a school - I wouldn't if I were you." • I loved the New Statesman's challenge on Twitter yesterday afternoon for consice definitions of the big society . Particular favourites include the contributions of Sir Joshua Reynolds: "Those who DO, helping those who have NOT, in the Stead of those who SHOULD have in the First Place." Plus this take by NotMushroomHere: "Big Society is expecting something for nothing, which Cameron and his Etonian chums were born into" And this picture posted by JaimeC_MCR • Two new posts on the Liberal Conspiracy blog, the first by Sunny Hundal following our news story today about council job cuts , which asks whether Labour councils are really cutting more jobs than Tory ones , and the second, by Richard Exell says not as many disabled people are fit for work as the government claims. • More thoughts on disability living allowance reforms from a carer's perspective in this post on EmsyBlog: "J's DLA is a lifeline for us. In a family that has a low amount of income plus has to pay for extras, the money means we can afford J's medication and the support he needs. Without his meds? He would be in pain, he would be ill and he wouldn't have the energy to complete his university course. Without his chair? He wouldn't be able to go anywhere. At all. He can't drive under medical orders, so he would be effectively housebound. Then of course, no DLA would mean no car, so he really WOULD be stuck." • This insightful blogpost by Paul Corrigan on NHS reform which challenges the government's stated motivation for its blueprint, that our health service is not as good as other countries'. A good companion piece is Ben Goldacre's latest Bad Science column, which takes ministers to task for their misleading use of statistics . • Shelter, which has just launched a campaign to Save the Housing Safety Net , along with a petition to try to get ministers to rethink proposed legislation which the charity says "amounts to the reduction of a vital housing safety net that protects people under threat of losing their homes ". • Photographer Bettina van Kameke, whose images give an insight into the daily rituals of inmates at Wormwood Scrubs prison. An exhibition of her work goes on show today at the Great Western Studios in London, and we've got a gallery of some of the images on the site. In tomorrow's SocietyGuardian supplement • New health inequality findings reveals that even in the wealthiest boroughs, some residents can expect to die long before their neighbours, Rowenna Davis reports. • Employing ex-offenders is a result worth paying for, writes Mark Johnson . • Martin Wainwright reports on a new system making musical scores more easily available to people with a visual impairment . • Charities will struggle with the big society as fewer, increasingly older people give money than 30 years ago, research shows. • Something's got to give in the charity sector , writes David Brindle . • Simon Parker, of the New Local Government Network , says renewable energy could revive council coffers . • Amelia Gentleman meets Maria Miller, the minister for disabled people . • Kate Murray reports on the Guardian Public Services Summit . • Forget economic theory, social anthropology could improve services, writes Sean Carey. On the Guardian Professional Networks • Dame Hilary Blume of Charities Aid Foundation says charity should not be about providing comfort zones for staff. • A government-basked initiative is trying to use India's experience to learn how to push down the price of heart operations. • Live Q&A from noon: What is the future for older people's social housing? Events Mobile and Wireless Healthcare Enabling access to care at the point of need. 16 February, Birmingham. This conference is aimed at ICT and service delivery teams in the NHS to give them practical advice and guidance at a time where all we can be certain of is a reduction in public sector budgets. 2 for 1 delegate place offer available. Public Sector Procurement 17 February, Manchester. Only £99 to attend. A one-day conference for public sector buyers and suppliers, exploring new policy and innovation from across the north of England. Managing Public Sector Information 2011 Making the transparency agenda happen. 1 March, London. An essential forum for professionals involved in managing, storing, use and governance of information in the public sector, when the push is for increased openness and transparency. 2 for 1 delegate place offer available. SocietyGuardian blogs Patrick Butler's cuts blog Joe Public Sarah Boseley's global health blog SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter SocietyGuardian on Facebook Like SocietyGuardian's Facebook page Society daily blog Society daily blog editor: Patrick Butler Email the editor: [email protected] SocietyGuardian links SocietyGuardian.co.uk Guardian cutswatch - tell us about the cuts in your area Public - the Guardian's website for senior public sector executives The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs SocietyGuardian acting editor: Anna Bawden Email the SocietyGuardian editor: [email protected] SocietyGuardian.co.uk editor: Clare Horton Email the SocietyGuardian.co.uk editor: [email protected]