Articles

Citizen Network members share ideas, stories and writings on how to advance citizenship for real.

Article: 19.06.20 Putting Personal Budgets in Their Place Personal Budgets do not need to reinforce individualistic consumerism, they can be a route to a more collective…
Article: 18.06.20 Child Poverty: the New Normal in Education As the teaching profession debates the new normal in education and schools slowly reopen, Kieran Roberts discusses…
Article: 01.06.20 Social Care's Response to COVID-19 Chris Watson shares his observations on how commissioners in health and social care have responsed to the COVID-19…
Article: 27.05.20 Re-Imagining Our Streets Lynne Friedli shares an inspiring idea to convert residential parking spaces into green spaces for fruit, vegetables…
Article: 27.05.20 A Two-Tier Pandemic The COVID-19 crisis and subsequent coronavirus legislation demonstrates that Government does not value disabled or…
Article: 12.05.20 Contracting for ISFs Chris Watson briefly outlines the main legal features of an Individual Service Fund (ISF) and explores how community…
Article: 12.05.20 Confused Discharge in COVID-19 Alex Leeder argues that the NHS discharge policy was rushed through in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis and will…
Article: 12.05.20 COVID-19 and Cleaning the Thames David Zigmond explores the historical parallels between today and the public health crises of the…
Article: 04.05.20 Who's Counting Carers? Robert Kay expresses his anger at the constant failure to respect or even remember the existence of 7 million unpaid…
Article: 20.04.20 Public Spending in Sheffield Joshua Shepherd analysed public spending in Sheffield in order to understand the impact of the UK's centralised…
Article: 18.04.20 Scientists Inform, Leaders Lead Alain Catzeflis argues that the UK Government's behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis looks worryingly like…
Article: 07.04.20 Myths About Work and Mental Health Anna-Carin Fagerlind Ståhl shows how dangerous myths have evolved that protect government and business from…
Article: 06.04.20 COVID-19 versus Leviathan Bill Jordan explains how pandemics can create fundamental realignments of power and why COVID-19 may finally…
Article: 06.04.20 Does COVID-19 mark the end for markets in the NHS? UK Government response to the COVID-19 is an implicit acknowledgement of the limitations and dangers of a marketised…
Article: 06.04.20 COVID-19, The Black Death and Basic Income Bill Jordan explains why COVID-19, like the Black Death before it, may finally push the current elites to accept the…
Article: 02.04.20 The Upstream Response to COVID-19 Dr Simon Duffy sets out some key principles to guide local communities as they develop their response to the COVID-19…
Article: 25.02.20 The DWP Fails People with a Learning Disability Neil Carpenter describes the barriers to justice and economic security created by the DWP's systems.
Article: 25.02.20 Talk Shop - Citizens Assemble Citizens Assemblies are all the rage, but the Talk Shop model offers a low cost and grassroots approach which can…
Article: 24.02.20 Buurtzorg and Self-Management Buurtzorg is a powerful social innovation, started in the Netherlands, which enables self-management and…
Article: 22.01.20 Learning from Penzance Citizens Panel Gavin Barker shares lessons learnt from the recent Penzance Citizens Panel on Housing, Homelessness and Low Pay.
Article: 10.12.19 UK Food Banks in 2019 Lizzie Peck provides an overview of the emergence and rapid growth of food banks since the Coalition Government and the…
Article: 08.12.19 Undercooked Analysis Steve Griffiths argues that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has failed to be objective in its analysis of Labour's…
Article: 07.12.19 Accountancy is not Economics Steve Griffiths examines the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) critique of of Labour's 2019 Manifesto and discovers…
Article: 01.12.19 Why I Wrote Second Class Citizens Stef Benstead found that many people, like Christian Conservatives, care about poverty but have false beliefs about…
Article: 29.11.19 NHS Reform: Money Can't Buy Love David Zigmond argues that more money alone won't restore the NHS to the values of its birth. The NHS needs more trust,…
Article: 14.11.19 Private Firms Can Serve the Public Gary Wootton explains how the state can overcome the limitations of markets by creating procurement systems that…
Article: 13.11.19 The Reform of Social Care Regulation John Burton explains why the regulation of social care must change its culture and why we need something more human and…
Article: 12.11.19 Narrative Approaches and Inclusion Colin Newton provides an overview of the emerging use of narrative approaches in psychology and their relationship to…
Article: 25.10.19 How Are the Children? Are we achieving the goals set out in 1989 by the UN in The Convention on the Rights of the Child?
Article: 23.10.19 When in doubt ask the children Young people are our best resource, Colin Newton of Inclusive Solutions shares 6 simple steps to encourage inclusion.
Article: 17.09.19 Making the Private Sector Serve the Public Good Gary Wootton argues that we can do so much more to improve society by ensuring that the private sector works to serve the…
Article: 20.08.19 The Rights of Nature Gavin Barker argues that a new constitution for the UK should not just protect human rights, it should also protect the…
Article: 17.08.19 End Parliamentary Sovereignty Gavin Barker sets out the case for limiting the sovereignty of Parliament.
Article: 16.08.19 Creating a Veganic Farm Jo Kidd describes the beginning of her family's journey into veganic farming in Kent.
Article: 10.08.19 Universal Engagement and Civic Engagement Anna Grant argues that Basic Income could be an important policy for increasing democratic and civic engagement by…
Article: 02.08.19 Bill of Rights Including Social Rights Human rights need the full protection of the constitution, social rights + right to access the law must be included.
Article: 30.07.19 Why We Need a Yorkshire Parliament Simon Duffy gave this talk at the launch of the Campaign for a Yorkshire Parliament, in York on 27th July 2019.
Article: 03.07.19 Being a Think Tank in the North Written for Now Then Magazine, Simon Duffy reflects on the Centre's ten years in Sheffield.
Article: 01.07.19 Lobbying for Self-Directed Support Simon Duffy describes some of the strategies that can be used to shift systems towards the use of self-directed…
Article: 27.06.19 Reinventing Social Services Bob Rhodes argues that social work and social services has been undermined by three decades of failed policy and it's…
Article: 24.05.19 Go Deep with Inclusion and Diversity Facilitators, community leaders, politicians, community builders and activists put their heads and hearts…
Article: 23.05.19 Shameful Attack on Disabled People Brian Collinge explains how the government's failure to update the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) for people…
Article: 14.05.19 Inclusion Demands Communication Colin Newton argues that we need low tech, accessible communication systems that can be learned easily by everyone.
Article: 01.05.19 We Need to Talk But Not About Brexit Sheffield's Festival of Debate shows that social progress in the UK only begins when we start talking to each other.
Article: 25.04.19 Policed Industrialisation of Healthcare David Zigmond reflects on the enforced closure of his GP practice and imagines an intelligent dialogue with the forces…
Article: 28.02.19 Electric Vehicles: Good or Bad? Philip Adams provides an introduction to the benefits of using an electric car.
Article: 19.02.19 The Long Shadow of Winterbourne The values of inclusion and person-centredness which must underpin support are being undermined by regulations that…
Article: 12.02.19 Childcare Policy and the Economy Childcare policy in the UK wrongly assumes that professionalised solutions are always best for children and…
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