The Latest Bulletin

When a family falls into crisis -- and it sometimes happens, thanks to unemployment, drugs, bad relationships and bad luck -- the social services system is supposed to step in and help them get back on track. As Hilary Cottam shows, in the UK a typical family in crisis can be eligible for services from more than 70 different agencies, but it's unlikely that any one of them can really make a difference. Cottam, a social entrepreneur herself, asks us to think about the ways we solve deep and complex social problems. How can we build supportive, enthusiastic relationships between those in need and those that provide help? Click here to read more

On 6 November 2017, on the 800th anniversary of the 1217 Charter of the Forest, the new Charter for Trees, Woods and People was launched at Lincoln Castle – home to one of the two remaining 1217 Charters of the Forest. It now rests in the Lincolnshire Archives. During 2017 we reached out to all sections of UK society to define this new charter, and to build a people-powered movement for trees. More than 70 organisations and 300 local community groups answered the call and helped to collect over 60,000 tree stories from people across the UK, demonstrating the important role that trees play in their lives. These stories were read and shared, and helped to define the 10 Principles…

I have been in the workforce for more than three decades, and I can say without hesitation that positive cultures breed sound strategies and deliver results that exceed expectations. On the surface, it would seem like I am stating the obvious. But those who have worked for tyrants, or have worked in kill-or-be-killed cultures, know that they too can be successful, but the pain, drama and carnage doesn’t lead to long-term success... Click here to read more

In the wake of Black History Month 2017, Jane Tanner of the Women's Resource Centre describes how helping with her niece's school project brought the importance role models into sharp relief. Everyone needs that inspirational person; someone you can see pave the way to your more ambitious climbs. I strongly suspect that there are many women who, like me, have felt life is a disappointing quest for reflections of oneself. My mother and aunts are phenomenal women and fantastic role models. But outside of my immediate family, I craved to see black women in public life – ‘on the telly’ achieving in the way their white counterparts were doing. Thankfully this is (gradually) changing, however I continue to ask myself ‘why are black women…

Are you aware that Neil has written a number of e-books to complement his published work? Find out more by clicking here

When anyone mentions fashion, we tend to think of clothes, the latest designer trends and so on. Indeed, there is a huge, multi-million pound business based on fashion in clothing. But, fashion is not restricted to clothes or other relatively superficial matters. There are also fashions in thought and, because of that, fashions in behaviour. For example, think about how certain ideas have changed since your childhood. Changes in people’s thinking about same sex relationships is a clear instance of what I have in mind. With the changes in thinking have come changes in attitude, changes in behaviour and changes in how we relate to one another. These changes were in large part due to years of campaigning and political…

"NO ONE ever told me that grief felt so like fear," C S Lewis once wrote, and he was right. Stepping into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward, I tried to remain calm. But what was waiting behind those tinted-glass panels, I wasn't prepared for. Lying lifelessly on a bed with tubes attached to her body was my beloved aunt, unconscious and quite possibly, brain dead. Having to pace the hallways of a hospital is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. But grief comes to us all, in one way or another. "We all deal with loss: jobs lost, loves lost and lives lost. The question is not whether these things will happen. They will, and we will have to face them,"…

Sweeping education reforms have done very little to change the fact that in the UK, being born well is by far the surest route to prosperity. Since the 1980s, the degree of social fluidity in Britain has plummeted with more people experiencing descent than ascent. "Decades of educational policy have completely overlooked that younger generations of men and women now face less favorable mobility prospects than did their parents—or their grandparents despite having earned higher qualifications," Dr. John Goldthorpe – a leading sociologist at the University of Oxford and author of the study Social Class Mobility in Modern Britain: Changing Structure, Constant Process – told VICE Impact. "That is, they are less likely to experience upward mobility and more likely to experience downward mobility,'…

The Disconnected Mind is a research project that aims to discover how our thinking skills change with age, and what we can do to protect our cognitive health in later life. The project is funded by Age UK. Losing our thinking skills is one of the greatest fears about ageing. We don’t know why it happens to some of us but not others. The Disconnected Mind project aims to find out. Ultimately, that knowledge will help us to protect our cognitive health as we get older. In June 1947, over 70,000 school children aged 11 in Scotland took an intelligence test as part of the Scottish Mental Survey. The test measured their cognitive abilities in a consistent and replicable way.…

In workplaces up and down the UK, including the Houses of Parliament, people are rejecting the idea that those in positions of power can sexually harass – or even assault – with impunity. It’s inspiring to see so many women (and many men) speaking out and demanding better treatment. Because we’re not talking about a few bad apples here. TUC research suggests that more than half of women have experienced some form of sexual harassment at work. This is a vast, systemic problem whose implications can be felt in every area of our society. It goes far beyond specific industries, businesses or political parties. In fact, the issue is so serious that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. In the past few weeks, I’ve…