The Daily Mail's front page today
Sign up to Society daily email briefing
Today's top SocietyGuardian stories
• Alcohol abuse contributes to big rise in deaths from liver disease
• Former Dale Farm resident loses court case over caravan home
• Wayne Hemingway: The British high street is dead – let's celebrate
• Stefano Goodman: Online dating with a disability
• Suzanne Moore: We should be less afraid of intervening in chaotic families
• Sadhbh Walshe: The double imprisonment of battered women
• Zoe Williams: Ripping off young interns is routine, but it's still wrong
All today's SocietyGuardian stories
Budget 2012
Here's the view from the newsstand on George Osborne's third budget (via ConservativeHome editor Tim Montgomerie). You can see all the Guardian's news, commentary and analysis here. My colleague Patrick Kingsley has put together this clever animation of some of the key points. The BBC's Mark Easton writes that the Treasury's Red Book shows the biggest losers are the bottom 20% and the top 10%, and notes:
... while there has been much attention paid to the squeezed middle today, perhaps it is worth noting what is likely to happen to the group described to me on Twitter today as "the squashed bottom".
(thanks to Julia Unwin for the link)
The Children's Society has posted a budget response video on YouTube. Policy director Enver Solomon says:
This budget has been a missed opportunity to help the families who are really in the most difficult situation in this countyr today.
The Itsmotherswork blog has done a great job of rounding up some Twitter reaction to what she's dubbed the "Sheriff of Nottingham budget". On Twitter Bernadette Horton (no relation), comments:
We now welcome Pensioners 2 the Party of Outcasts which include the Disabled, Sick, Working Poor,Children, + Public Sector Workers+The North
The We Love Local Government blog has an alternative take on the speech, including the false promise of the day, the sort of good news announcement of the day, and unfathomable thought of the day, and the trailed 'big announcement' that was actually only the same as what we've had before. One that made me chuckle was:
Moment of the day:
Local Government staff disappearing off to the local shop to stock up on cigarettes before the 37p increase kicks in.
So, let me get this straight; you'll run across the road and stock up on ciggys to save a one off £1.11 on three packets but won't save £30 a week by quitting?
On the Guardian Professional Networks
• Budget pledge on online services: 'so simple even an MP can use them'
• The functions and title of social work need legal protection, warns Hilton Dawson
• Government thinking on regional pay is flawed and fails to take the circumstances of civil servants into account, argues Prospect's Dai Hudd
• Charities must be trusted to protect data and use technology in the best way to support their donors and service users, says Dan Sutch, head of development research at Nominet Trust
• Simon Birch reports on how employee ownership transformed the fortunes of money makers Woollard & Henry
• A system giving patients responsibilty and shared ownership could address the challenges facing the healthcare sector, says Becky Malby
On my radar ...
• The Limping Chicken , a new UK-based website on deaf issues and culture. The site is edited by deaf journalist and Guardian contributor Charlie Swinbourne, who writes today about bringing up his hearing daughters in a deaf family:
Like all parents, as your children get a little older there's a pang of regret as they leave certain stages behind. The newborn, the baby, then eventually the toddler are all consigned to history as they learn to crawl, then stand up, then walk and talk, start going to school, stepping up to the next stage of their journey towards the person they are going to be.
We're incredibly excited about Baby's development as she discovers a world of speech and sound, but we will remember with great fondness the 'deaf' version of her – the Baby that signed and tapped and waved and absorbed the world as though all the information she ever needed could be seen.
It's been a beautiful time.
There's also been a lively debate on this review of the BBC's documentary Rita Simons – My daughter, deafness and me (still available via iPlayer).
• Thought for the day from Tony Butcher's Social Care Insight blog: do we need a specialist social care thinktank? He writes that debate around the health and social care bill has highlighted the low public profile of the sector:
The Kings Fund and the Institute of Public Policy Research both, certainly, provide excellent contribution to the social care debate but their primary focus is elsewhere.
Social care is diverse but no more so than health provision and obviously the two overlap in significant areas. We need to achieve greater public awareness and interest in social care but, at present, lack the structure and gravitas to engage the attention of the majority of the mainstream media and, through them, the general public.
Perhaps we need a Think-Tank solely dedicated to social care to disseminate research and practice, command media attention and generally raise the profile of social care or, perhaps, more professional recognition of those who work in front line care (a College of Registered Social Care Managers?) to add to the College of Social Work.
Putting social care high on the national agenda is important and we need to look at how this can be best achieved for the benefit of the millions involved in social care.
• An interesting post on public health reform on the Mindapples blog. Prompted by the Guardian's first public health dialogue earlier this month, Andy Gibson writes:
With the increasing drive towards payment by results, it will probably be the simple, easy to shift, highly measurable targets that get priority, because they are easier to commission effectively. Yet when you consider that the biggest cost-savings and radical efficiencies usually come from systemic, multiple-effect interventions, this is an issue that the Government should be taking seriously.
Public health doesn't really work that way. Many of the most important public health questions in the UK today are simply too complex and interconnected to be tackled in isolation. A targeted intervention can be undermined by other factors such as the closure of key services, or wider social and economic factors. This is a particularly concern for our area, mental health and wellbeing, which is notoriously difficult to measure and to affect through isolated interventions. With mental health issues costing the UK £77bn a year, and up to 50% of mental health problems seen as preventable by the Department of Health, the opportunity for systemic interventions in this area seems obvious.
Our particular interest at Mindapples is in helping people to take better care of their minds, which could support many areas of public health, just as the 5-a-day campaign has had a systemic effect on our physical health. It seems a no-brainer to me that if everyone in the UK takes better care of their minds, this will help address a great many health and social issues. But there seems to be no way in the current framework to commission this kind of systemic solution to multiple problems. Will public mental health fall through the cracks again?
Other news
• BBC: NHS faces 'decade-long savings drive'
• Children & Young People Now: Disparity in child disability provision exposed
• Community Care: More men needed in social work, says role model
• Independent:Biggest fall in NHS staff for a decade
• Inside Housing: Ministers urged to ring fence public land
• LocalGov.co.uk: Nine in ten councils accept tax freeze grant
• Telegraph: Doctors must be trained in care of the dying: report
• Third Sector: £40m Budget allocation will not stop advice services from closing, says Justice for All
Events and seminars
Digital communications and campaigning for charities
Thursday 19 April, Kings Cross, London
This half-day seminar will enable you plan, implement and manage your online campaign to maximum effect. It will give you practical advise on how to get the most out of popular social media websites as well as help you define your target audience. This event is a must for anyone needing to plan a campaign to create relationships with supporters to champion your long-term aims.
Local Government Leaders Quarterly
19 April 2012, Kings Place, Kings Cross, London
This series of evening events has been designed to help public leaders discuss the key issues facing local authorities as they struggle to manage punishing funding cuts while spearheading a revolution in public service delivery. The event, consisting of a debate followed by round table discussion groups, will offer a forum to share problems and find solutions with your council peers.
Places are free but limited and available by application only.
SocietyGuardian blogs
Patrick Butler's cuts blog
Sarah Boseley's global health blog
SocietyGuardian on social media
Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter
Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter
Follow Clare Horton on Twitter
Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter
SocietyGuardian's Facebook page
SocietyGuardian links
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
Guardian cutswatch - tell us about the cuts in your area
Public Leaders - the Guardian's website for senior managers of public services
The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page
Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs
SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin
Email the SocietyGuardian editor: society@guardian.co.uk