Category Archives: Charities and Big Society

Teacambs – a meeting of public sector social media types in Cambridge

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

Just a short post today. Some of you will be familiar with the Teacamp network in Whitehall. Well, a few of us decided it would be a good idea to start something similar in Cambridge. So we did. We call … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Charities and Big Society, Public administration & policy, Social media | Leave a comment

Bringing Cambridge together

Posted on April 20, 2012 by

Summary This blogpost is aimed primarily at people in Cambridge – my home town – who can “make good stuff happen”. “For quite some time now I’ve felt Cambridge has the potential to be far greater than the 
sum of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Charities and Big Society, Social media | 1 Comment

Enquiry Week at Dept for Communities and Local Government

Posted on March 16, 2012 by

Summary On DCLG’s social media use during “Enquiry Week” Puffles bounced off a number of civil servants during DCLG’s “Enquiry Week” – one which I found out through Twitter but found no other publicity around it elsewhere. Aside from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Charities and Big Society, Public administration & policy | 2 Comments

On faith-based schools

Posted on January 29, 2012 by

Summary: With the expansion of faith-based schools, politicians have a duty to put in place better safeguards for those who choose to turn away from/reject the faiths that they have been brought up in. Some of you will be familiar … Continue reading →

Posted in Charities and Big Society, Education, training and exams, Mental health, Public administration & policy | 10 Comments

Please stop pricing us out of existence

Posted on January 7, 2012 by

This blogpost picks up on a number of themes written by @Penners_ in her article Living with grandma. Like may people in their late 20s and early 30s, I certainly didn’t plan on having to move back in with my … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Charities and Big Society, Education, training and exams, Employment and job hunting, Housing and transport | 4 Comments

Puffles’ Twitter Lists – Civil Society

Posted on December 23, 2011 by

…as opposed to “uncivil society”? Not quite – it’s the Government’s new term for the VCS – the Voluntary and Community Sector. Much as I’d like to have a vote on who our next head of state should be, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Charities and Big Society, Puffles' Twitter Lists | Leave a comment

In praise of mentors

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

It seems strange to praise something that I’ve never really had. Perhaps it’s because of that void that I somehow appreciate what I never had along with the positive impact it could have had. I’m talking about mentors. One of … Continue reading →

Posted in Charities and Big Society, Education, training and exams | 3 Comments

Freedom for whom?

Posted on December 14, 2011 by

“He who does not learn from his history is cursed to repeat it” – or so the saying goes. (“It’s always the men not learning from their history that is messing things up!”)  Actually, if last night’s Newsnight debate on … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Charities and Big Society, Public administration & policy | 2 Comments

The voluntary sector and community activists – responding to the cuts

Posted on December 10, 2011 by

I wrote an article for the National Community Activist Network - tweeting through @NationalCAN - a voluntary network I was introduced to by  Joe Taylor and Maxine Moar – the latter of whom I used to work with during my civil service … Continue reading →

Posted in Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Charities and Big Society | 1 Comment

Cutting hope or giving free money to the feckless?

Posted on December 2, 2011 by

There were two articles that caught my eye over the past 24 hours on the general theme of the cuts. The first being comments by the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith about ‘feckless parents’, and the second about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Charities and Big Society, Party politics | 3 Comments