Society daily 27.01.10

Full coverage of the Hills report on national inequality Unequal Britain: richest 10% are now 100 times better off than the poorest Reportage: life on the estate Blair promised to rescue The Hills report: an interactive guide Data blog: the numbers behind the Hills report John Hills: "equality of opportunity remains a distant ideal" The rest of today's Society news and comment Boris Johnson "to stand down" as Met police chair DPP defends decision to prosecute mother in assisted suicide case Community hospitals face threat of closure Amelia Gentleman on politics and the family Denis Campbell: US lessons on tackling obesity Today's Society Guardian supplement All today's Society stories Other news •The Tories would remove rules that prohibit social housing tenants from setting up business in their homes , reports the Times. • A recruitment agency that sought "reliable" and "hard working" hospital domestic cleaners was told by Job Centre bosses to rewrite the advertisement because it "could be offensive to unreliable people" , the Daily Mail claims. Welcome to the Guardian's Global health blog Health, as my colleague Sarah Boseley says in her new blog, is now a truly global issue. Aids, malaria, swine flu – these are now subjects of international controversy and policy debate. They are high up the political and international development agenda, and on the radar of powerful and wealthy philanthropists. As Sarah says, "There's a lot going on and it's political as well as philanthropic. It's admirable and, at the same time, self-aggrandising. Some of it is effective, some of it is not". She adds: "In that climate, I felt we should launch this blog because I think what is happening is exciting and important. I have a privileged ringside seat, as health editor of the Guardian. I want to chronicle what is going on, link it all together and make sure small but significant developments, as well as the big ones, are not missed. Some of it will be 'straight out of the notebook' stuff, without the careful revision that newspaper pieces usually involve – so apologies for the rough edges, and I'll correct anything if it's wrong. Some of it will be critical and opinionated, and I am quite certain plenty of people will join in and take issue with me (and each other) in what I hope will be constructive debate. This week Sarah is in Benin, reporting on a programme aimed at stopping pregnant women from passing HIV to babies. And Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and Melinda Gates wil be there too. • Follow Sarah Boseley on Twitter On the blogs • Adoption. It was just so much easier in the good old days, before interfering courts and social workers got involved. Blogger John Bolch at Family Lore found this fantastic orphanage advertisment circa 1893. Don't like the good looking, intelligent and healthy child you've sent off for (free postage and packing)? Return within 90 days and get your money back. • You don't expect Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal reform to find common ground with rightwing Toriesbut she says she agrees with the Thatcherite ex-minister John Redwood on prison reform. He had argued on his own blog that the prison population could be reduced if convicted burgulars, fraudsters and and car thieves weren't banged up but forced to pay financial compensation instead. "John Redwood is right," says Crook, who adds: "We need a radically different system that puts the victim at the heart of the system, not by ratcheting up irrelevant punishments but by offering support and compensation and recognition of hurt." • More vetting and barring scheme craziness, this time in the NHS, as pointed out by Health Service Journal editor Richard Vize on his blog (unfortunately the news story he's referring to is behind a subscriber paywall). Draft independent safeguarding authority guidance asks NHS managers to consider a range of personal characteristics among their staff which could prompt them to trigger an alert. Says Vize: "These include 'belief that one is entitled to or deserves sex', 'belief that one is entitled to exploit others financially' (presumably encompassing anyone who has worked in banking), 'presence of impulsive, chaotic, unstable lifestyle', and 'inability to meet personal needs responsibly within the context of interpersonal relationships'." The estimated cost of implementation in the NHS, reports Vize, is £12m. • By and large the public sector is archaic and out of touch, argues Craig Dearden-Phillips, pulling no punches on his blog The Naked Social Entrepreneur. Imminent cuts might just force public services into the modern world: for now, he says, it's "like one of those museums where people dress like Victorians and make their own clothes. Just bizarre." Society links Sign up to the SocietyGuardian email briefing Society on Twitter SocietyGuardian.co.uk Get ahead: the Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs