Society daily 07.02.11

Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Health adviser sacked for speaking out in the Guardian • Cuts undermining 'big society', says senior charity chief • Super library arrives as hundreds of others face closure • Liverpool council attacked over plan for 50-storey Shanghai Towers • Research promises vaccine for all flus • Coalition faces backbench split over prisoners' right to vote • Christmas charity appeal raises £428,000 • Adoption diary: Talking to the children about their life story • SocietyGuardian columnist Carlene Firmin becomes youngest black woman to receive MBE All today's SocietyGuardian stories Other news • Business organisation the Institute of Directors has called for collective bargaining to be scrapped for teachers and NHS staff , reports the BBC. They are among a set of proposals to cut red tape and boost the private sector which have been described as a "Thatcherite fantasy world" by unions. The IoD has put forward 24 "freebie" proposals, which it says would cost the government nothing but would benefit growth, particularly in the private sector. • As many as 15,000 council workers earning more than £58,000 a year are to be named under government plans to force local authorities to cut middle management waste , according to the Daily Telegraph. Eric Pickles, the local government secretary, is to order councils to list the staff and detail their responsibilities. He said: "The taxpayer has a right to look under the bonnet of their council and see what decisions are being made on their behalf and where their money is being spent. • Nine out of ten English local authorities are intending to share more frontline services over the next two years, according to a survey of senior managers, reports Public Finance. The survey by law firm Browne Jacobson found environmental services and social care were the areas most likely to be merged . A similar proportion of councils, 89%, intend to share more back-office functions. • Protesters occupied a library overnight after a national day of action over threatened closures, according to the Independent. A group of about 40 people from the Save New Cross Library Campaign opted to continue their earlier "read-in" until noon yesterday. On my radar ... • New protest organisation the Campaign for a Fair Society , which is to challenge coalition cuts to services for disabled people . The campaign, which officially launches tomorrow, is supported by (among others) Lady Jane Campbell, the Centre for Welfare Reform and United Response. The minister for disabled people, Maria Miller, will be live online this Wednesday on the Guardian's Money site to take questions about DLA reforms. Post your questions here. • These new wiki how to guides for the voluntary sector launched by our friends at Know How Non Profit. Subjects available already include creating blogs, writing fundraising letters and developing a Facebook presence. • Big society latest. Interviewed by the London Evening Standard last week, Nat Wei explained his decision to scale back his role as big society tsar. Wei said he didn't believe he should have been paid for the role, but explained: "It's right that I should juggle making a living, seeing my family, and helping to change society, because that's what makes me like everyone else and not in a Whitehall bubble. Yes, I got the balance wrong, but I've rectified that. The Big Society is about all of us putting in the time we can." Meanwhile, writing for Progress magazine, Tessa Jowell says Labour's focus should now be on building the "good society". And the It's Mothers Work blog lists 10 conceptual flaws with the big society. For example, "It legitimises public sector redundancies when clearly the roles and responsibilities are not 'redundant', big society advocates just want people to work for nothing while cheerfully destabilising families and individuals who work for a living, not a hobby." We'll have an exclusive piece from Phil Redmond on Liverpool's big society project on the site later today. • The credit regulation bill , MP Stella Creasy's attempt to curb legal loan sharking, which was delayed in the Commons last week and has now been rescheduled for 14 October. Creasy, who was interviewed last year by my colleague Randeep Ramesh, has pledged to keep up the campaign between now and then. • This great post from John Merry , the leader of Salford council, on the New Start blog, setting out the impossible decisions facing local government: "Technical issues bedevil local government finance but the fundamental issue still should be one of fairness. Grants from central government were introduced to deal with the fact that councils such as Salford could not raise from rates the amount per head that, for example, Surrey could. Therefore if you cut the grant while giving councils the product of a 2.5% increase in their council tax you hit the poor and reward the rich. That is why I am sitting in my office agonising over which part of Chamberlain's legacy to sacrifice – close a library or stop cleaning the streets?" • Ongoing battle between the government and Nottingham city council, as detailed by the BBC's East Midlands political editor, John Hess. The council's leader, Jon Collins, has described housing minister Grant Shapps as "a fool" and communities secretary Eric Pickles "a buffoon" after refusing the CLG order to publish all town hall spending over £500. "There's no question of picking a fight for the sake of it or some kind of ideological basis for this. We are just standing up for Nottingham," he [said]. But Shapps countered: "It's actually quite arrogant of the city's leadership to say that it's their business and that the people shouldn't know. Perhaps they have something to hide." • This beautiful blog post from photographer Adam Long on the sell-off of "unprofitable" public land in the Peak District. (thanks @juliandobson ) • Roger Daltrey , Tinie Tempah and Liam Gallagher , who are among the names just announced for this year's Teenage Cancer Trust fundraising concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets for the shows in March go on sale this Friday. On the Guardian Professional Networks • A community hub in east London, threatened with closure by budget cuts , is an example of how localism could be undermined rather than enhanced by government's actions, writes Community Links head Geraldine Blake. • NHS organisations in the north-west of England are comparing data on their staff , such as sickness and turnover rates, using an online service supplied by the strategic health authority. SocietyGuardian weekend highlights • Ben Goldacre: Evidence supporting your NHS reforms? What evidence, Mr Lansley? • Living with schizophrenia • Unthinkable? Eric Pickles saves the libraries All yesterday's SocietyGuardian stories All Saturday's SocietyGuardian stories Events Public Services Summit New models, new relationships, a new era. 10 & 11 February, St Albans. Join leading thinkers, practitioners and policy makers for discussion and debate about the future of our public services. Mobile and Wireless Healthcare Enabling access to care at the point of need. 16 February, Birmingham. This conference is aimed at ICT and service delivery teams in the NHS to give them practical advice and guidance at a time where all we can be certain of is a reduction in public sector budgets. 2 for 1 delegate place offer available. Public Sector Procurement 17 February, Manchester. Only £99 to attend. A one-day conference for public sector buyers and suppliers, exploring new policy and innovation from across the north of England. Managing Public Sector Information 2011 Making the transparency agenda happen. 1 March, London. An essential forum for professionals involved in managing, storing, use and governance of information in the public sector, when the push is for increased openness and transparency. 2 for 1 delegate place offer available. 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