In an effort to make the ideas behind the big society more concrete, the government has come up with a new white paper on ways it intends to increase the giving of money and time to the third sector. It’s…

At our family’s Christmas dinner, there was much hilarity as 4 separate copies of Stephen Fry’s autobiography were exchanged. Many of you reading this post may also have received books as a gift, and reading remains a hobby enjoyed by…

Christmas looks grim for nearly 70,000 people in Wales who are currently claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance.  Those who receive JSA’s £65.45 a week are unlikely to be splashing out the average household spend of £645 on Christmas, and instead face…

Whilst we all digest the latest analysis from the institute of fiscal studies that illustrate how “average incomes are forecast to stagnate and both absolute and relative poverty among children and working-age adults are expected to rise”, it is perhaps…

The Local Government budget settlement announced on 23 November was judged ‘as good as it gets’ by local authority representatives. It announced a revenue decrease for local authorities of 1.4% for 2011/12, followed by rises of 0.2% and 1.3% for…