Society daily 18.10.10

Follow Society Guardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter Sign up to Society Daily email briefing Vote for Guardian Public Servant of the Year Today's top Society Guardian stories Parents' drinking is damaging millions of children, say charities Test could warn women of early menopause Thinktank warns against legalising assisted suicide Drug addict has vasectomy in return for £200 cash All today's Society Guardian stories Full coverage: the comprehensive spending review George Osborne to save capital projects from cuts NHS cuts to run deep as spending goes up Datablog: Government spending by department Homes cuts: south-east 'faces disaster' over affordable housing All Guardian public sector cuts stories Other news • Under the government plans for an IT revolution in the NHS , patients will be able to view their medical records online, compare survival rates and waiting times at hospitals across Britain, and email their GPs, the Daily Telegraph reports. • Scientists are working to develop silver-studded bacteria to combat the common cold and other illnesses after it was found that a winter vomiting bug is unable to cause infections after coming into contact with silver-impregnated bacteria, the Daily Mail says. On my radar... • Professor Colin Talbot's very useful Things to Look for in CSR 2010 blogpost. • Aibaihe's blog: a vivid account of life as a homeless person sleeping on the streets. • This blog post by social entrepreneur Craig Dearden-Phillips, in what looks like being a frank and fascinating series on the trials and tribulations of setting up a new business: "I have swopped the life of a busy hunter-gatherer CEO, bringing home a reliable 80-odd grand for a future of loans, no income, profound uncertainty and, for now, even longer hours than ever. Keeping it all up as a father, husband and citizen isn't proving easy." • Martin Wainwrights' marvellous account of the funeral of Jimi Heselden, the Leeds entrepreneur and philanthropist . • Philanthrocapitalism blog's look at the Shell Foundation: Can an Oil Company Get to Heaven? • Another council chief executive takes a pay cut :Joanna Killan in Essex, who is reported to be the fourth-highest paid local authority CEO in England, has chopped 5% off her £285,000 salary after the council decided her pay packet had to "better reflect the current economic circumstances." (thanks @AndySawford ) • An excellent post on the government's "war on benefit cheats" by blogger Billy Gotta-Job: "It's patently obvious that the war on benefit cheats is nothing to do with a considered, logical approach to helping the deficit reduction plans, nor one which is based on any proper cost-benefit assessment. But that is not its purpose. It never has been. Benefit cheats provide the same function in the UK as the Roma do in France. They are an escape valve for the anger and resentment that the "austerity" measures are building up." • Blogger D'Log's pretty accurate visualisation of big society themes • Nick Temple's collection of the best and most interesting social entrepreneurship and social enterprise links for September. • Housing and regeneration guru Tim Williams, who reckons it will be a "bloody" comprehensive spending review for housing , but predicts some radical new policy ideas to emerge from the wreckage of the UK's housing system. • A read-my-lips, cut-out-and-keep quote from housing minister Grant Shapps, made last month, and cited today by the National Housing Federation today as it warned of big cuts to housing budgets : "Building more homes is the gold standard upon which we shall be judged. The idea is to get a system which delivers housing in this country." • Chief executives who Tweet: @council_chiefs has found seven local authority CEO's on Twitter: any more out there? • This tongue-in-cheek Twitter observation from one of those chief executives, Derek Myers, chief executive and town clerk of Kensington and Chelsea council : "In the early days town clerks raised money, met their duties and kept the rest as their stipend. Would this appeal as a late addition to CSR?" In case you missed them... weekend Society Guardian highlights Big society guru sparks row with blast at "bureaucratic" charities Real lettings - the housing system making a genuine difference Polly Toynbee: the government's "fairness" will soon turn to dust" All Sunday's Society Guardian stories All Saturday's Society Guardian stories 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 Xmas charity 2010 partners New Philanthropy Capital are now sifting through the 300 applications we received. 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 its decision in early November. The appeal will launch towards the end of November and run until mid-January. Events 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. Society Guardian blogs Joe Public Sarah Boseley's global health blog Guardian awards Guardian Public Services awards 2010 Guardian charity awards 2010 Society Daily blog Society Daily blog editor: Patrick Butler Email the editor: [email protected] Society Guardian 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 Society Guardian editor: Alison Benjamin Email the SocietyGuardian editor: [email protected]