Society daily 07.06.11

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories Care homes firms on brink of collapse, union says Couples 'arbitrarily denied' IVF treatment, say MPs Doctors asked to identify potential terrorists under government plans Cameron and Clegg to 'show unity' over report on NHS reforms Media 'relaxed' over Bailey report on sexualisation of children Terry Pratchett's BBC documentary reopens debate on assisted dying Special report: Legal-aid cuts of £350m will bring chaos to courts, judges fear Terry Eagleton: AC Grayling's private university is odious Guardian live blog: the university tuition fees debate Kate Belgrave: Carers of children with disabilities need respite All today's SocietyGuardian stories Other news • Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for "cross-party talks" on the future of social care. You can read his speech here . The prime minister David Cameron is making yet another NHS speech at 1.45pm today. Follow it on our NHS live blog . • The Conservative leader of Cornwall county council has written an open letter to David Cameron warning of "widespread concern" over the government's NHS reforms , reports the BBC. • The landlords of stricken care home operator Southern Cross are working on a plan to wind down the company over the next few months, the Financial Times reports (registration) • Several local authorities have introduced charges for the previously free collection of green waste , with fees of up to £65 a year, reports the Daily Telegraph. On my radar ... • Blogger Rich Watts, who has written a fine and moving tribute to his father , entitled My dad and social care • Health blogger Paul Corrigan's report from a Nuffield trust seminar on how Saskatchewan province in Canada learned to do major health reform: "The main thing that I and the English audience learned from this seminar was to believe that if political leadership had skill, capacity – and above all bravery – it was possible to restructure some inefficiency out of the NHS. One English commentator said that the comparison with Saskatchewan was chilling. They could not see the capacity in this country to get out and argue the case." • Max Nathan's critique of Andrew Marr's Megacities TV documentary , on the Square Glasses blog • Blogger Broken Barnet on the withering internal audit report into Barnet council's controversial use of a private security firm , MetPro, which allegedly secretly filmed residents at a town hall meeting. "It is quite frankly a staggering, appalling indictment of the financial and managerial state of this borough: a catalogue of every conceivable act of incompetence you could imagine might take place in the worst run local authorities in the country." • The 100 social enterprise truths list , compiled by Nick Temple and colleagues, which I've just discovered is now handily all in one place. • Blogger Flipchart Fairy Tales, who brings to bear some interesting data to demolish the tired myths of "Red tape Britain,": "At the moment, the UK is a low regulation and low growth country. Whatever the reasons are for Britain's poor economic performance, red tape isn't one of them." • The uses and abuses of council awaydays , amusingly and expertly blogged about by We Love Local Government • This fascinating post by Gary Flood on why the current trickle of decisions to "offshore" local government IT services could soon become a torrent. See also this related piece by Peter Smith on the cost effectiveness (or otherwise) of such initiatives (via @nikluac ) • A very useful status update on the progress on the localism bill by Rob Dale at the Local Government Information Unit. • Blogger Fighting Monsters, who has artfully curated her own sagacious blog musings over the past three years on Southern Cross and the Care Quality Commission on to one very handy page. • The Guardian's Cutswatch map , which now has 250 reports – please add your own. • Wise words on the roots of the Castlebeck care home scandal in this post on on the CPEA Nose blog "Scandals like this in residential care are not about the size of the home, they are not about private versus public care and they are not even about resources for training or better pay. They are about having the right professional leaders of social care practice at every level - care worker, (registered) manager, responsible person, commissioner and regulator. The residents of Winterbourne View suffered in the devils workshop because of a multiple failure of leadership at every level." On the Guardian Professional Networks • Steve Gold takes a look at health services in Australia, Canada and Ireland , which have universal healthcare systems, but run on different lines to Britain's NHS. • Somerset county council review criticises Southwest One IT venture with IBM • Paul Jarvis, editor of Partnerships Bulletin, on how Scotland is exploring new ways to privately fund public projects : could a Scottish alternative to PFI provide useful lessons south of the border? • 'How technology can open up volunteering to whole new audiences who haven't previously engaged': Emma Thomas, chief executive of YouthNet, a youth charity dedicated to providing frank and unbiased information to enable young people to make informed choices • Author and social entrepreneur Robert Ashton: 'The government's giving white paper should be concentrating on the corporate sector , as well as asking us to dig deeper' SocietyGuardian blogs Patrick Butler's cuts blog Joe Public Sarah Boseley's global health blog SocietyGuardian on social media Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter Follow Clare Horton 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: [email protected] SocietyGuardian.co.uk editor: Clare Horton Email the SocietyGuardian.co.uk editor: [email protected] Interested in education policy and news too? 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