Magic time at matinee of Arcadia at the Old Vic. Perfect casting and top notch performances. The evolution of Septimus and Thomasina's relationship was so good it made my heart smash into tiny pieces. Stoppard at his majestic best share.google/wM8YxYgo5SDb...

Video: The cast of Arcadia - Old Vic Theatre

share.google

Loved chatting w @beccadove2.bsky.social and @andrewlaird.bsky.social for the Radical Reformers podcast. We majored on relational public services, digging into the history and asking how to embed real change today. Exciting moment. www.mutualventures.co.uk/post/radical...

Radical Reformers ep.111: Making Relational Practice the Norm, with Becca Dove, Camden Centre for Relational Practice and Transformation and Simon Parker, Bath and North East Somerset Council

In the latest episode of Radical Reformers, I meet Becca Dove, Head of the Camden Centre for Relational Practice and Transformation and Simon Parker, Executive Director of Resources at Bath and North ...

mutualventures.co.uk

New post just out: "Power to the People" Today we have a guest post from @jamestplunkett.bsky.social on how Labour can counter the "Britain is Broken" narrative by investing in civic life and giving people more control over their community. (Free to read) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/p...

Power to the People

How Labour can restore civic life and counter the "Britain is broken" narrative

open.substack.com

Don't think the #REDJanuary crew are here but day 2 run in the woods was an absolute corker. Have it as a timeline cleanse if nothing else.

Another cracking year for the utter carnage that is #DuvetKnowItsChristmas. The fundraiser for Centrepoint is well worth it so if you've got a few quid to chuck in, link is in @rhodri.biz's post 👇🏻. Rhodri, as ever you are a true gent🎄

Rhodri Marsden@rhodri.biz · 7mo ago

Unbelievably, #DuvetKnowItsChristmas generates such good will on social media that over the years we've raised somewhere approaching a quarter of a million quid for homeless charities. If you can spare a bob or two, sling some to Centrepoint, and here's the link: www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

Last month @nick80.bsky.social posted on LinkedIn seeking an accessible history of relational public services. I'm pleased to say myself, @beccadove2.bsky.social and @antlerboy.com have tried to rise to the challenge. We know it's incomplete but we hope it's useful. www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

Fancy reading an unashamedly unfinished history of relational public services? @nick80.bsky.social asked his Linkedin network if such a thing existed. @simonparker.bsky.social, @antlerboy.com and I had a go, drawing on 200 comments on Nicks post. Its a fascinating story www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

As ever, this is sobering but nonetheless required reading on where public services find themselves in 2025 (and beyond) and why. Top notch work from the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk team.

Nick Davies@njdavies.bsky.social · 10mo ago

NEW: @instituteforgovernment.org.uk have published pt1 of Public Services Performance Tracker 2025 covering local government finances and overall performance, adult social care, children's social care and homelessness Incredible work by @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social & @amberdellar.bsky.social

Sure Start is coming back. The Labour government is to open 1000 Best Start Family Hubs covering every local authority. The first will be in place by April 2026 & all by 2028. They will combine existing Family Hubs & the Start for Life programme & also cover areas without these services. 1/2

Government revives family services, supporting 500,000 more kids

Up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs to be rolled out across the country to provide wide-ranging help for families, such as parenting and early development.

gov.uk

When young people design relational practice training in their own words, on their own terms. And a short thread of why community-led participatory design matters a great deal🧵

I know the world is a bit of a bin fire and everything but for the love of all that is good and pure can someone please tell me how to turn off Copilot in Word.

Study on London 20 mph limits shows: - collisions ⬇️ 35% - casualties ⬇️ 36% - fatal/serious injuries ⬇️ 34% - child casualties ⬇️ 46% - child deaths ⬇️ 75% - walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists killed/seriously injured ⬇️ 28% etsc.eu/20mph-limits...

20mph limits in London linked to sharp fall in road injuries and deaths, new report finds

A new study published by Transport for London (TfL) has shown that the introduction of 20mph speed limits and zones on local authority-managed roads in London between 1989 and 2013 led to significant…

etsc.eu

"I don't want to rise 'above' my community. I want to rise *with* it." This sentiment is often expressed to me by young people. They want individual success *and* to see improved conditions for all in their communities. This is a theme I explore in this blog: mabdallah.substack.com/p/mattering-...

Mattering is not just inside people’s heads: Mattering, inequality, schools and solidarity

Luke Billingham is a youth worker for Hackney Quest and a Research Associate for the Open University.

mabdallah.substack.com

This year London is the place to see a stellar line up of women’s sport. Top athletes from across the world are competing in the capital and inspiring the next generation across the city and the globe.

Enjoying this by Mark Furlong. Packed with practice ideas for folk working in public services to intensify their efforts to strengthen formal and informal social connections of the people they support (with good reason, not just 'coz').

This from @pollymackenzie.bsky.social is so worth a read. "The future of the State is not just a technical project. It’s an emotional one. A politics that wants to build relational, preventative, participatory services must start by creating the emotional climate" www.linkedin.com/pulse/mobili...

Mobilising the people to remake the state

A short essay to mark the relaunch of the think tank Reform as "Re:State". Read the full collection by following the link at the end.

linkedin.com

More of this please. Co-designing play spaces with children and young people near their homes led to “what researchers say is the highest increase in children’s physical activity ever recorded by an intervention of its kind”

Bradford project produces ‘outstanding’ rise in children’s physical activity

JU:MP programme included co-design of play spaces, exercise in faith settings and interventions in schools

theguardian.com

Some thoughts sparked by a great event in Leeds yesterday on neighbourhood health and the UK government's Test, Learn and Grow intiative. How do we make neighbourhoods engines of change? medium.com/@jamestplunk...

Neighbourhoods as engines of change

On the need for bridges from the edges to the centre

medium.com

I wish we talked more about social infrastructure in childrens services. Plus this from Geoff Mulgan & co re the effect of declining birthrates on social support networks. If we want strong social support for children, we'll need social infrastructure to enable it tial.org/news/designi...

Designing institutions for a new demographic reality – TIAL

Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, and the Institutional Architecture Lab (TIAL) have partnered to explore how institutional innovation can help Finland navigate the challenges of demographic transit...

tial.org

Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · last yr.

New @bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk @britishacademy.bsky.social report today on the need for policymakers to not overlook the importance of investing in social and cultural infrastructure, and how we might go about measuring it www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/value-o...

I thought my first post on Bluesky should be something positive and motivational

This work is so inspiring ❤️

Becca Dove@beccadove2.bsky.social · last yr.

Turning national reform into an opportunity for local participatory design - a short story🧵 Today in Camden was the final session of our Design Group (frontline childrens services staff) and our Families Sounding Board (parents, carers and family members) working together on Family Help reform.

Turning national reform into an opportunity for local participatory design - a short story🧵 Today in Camden was the final session of our Design Group (frontline childrens services staff) and our Families Sounding Board (parents, carers and family members) working together on Family Help reform.

Join us for the launch of our upcoming report 'Closing the void' for a discussion on rebuilding trust in democracy from the ground up. With 💠 Charlotte Hollins @right-here.org 💠 Deborah Mattinson, political consultant 💠 @mds49.bsky.social @uclpolicylab.bsky.social Book your spot: bit.ly/44BsV5g

This from James is well worth a read if the current political climate is wearing you down (*puts hand up). There's some magic stuff happening to reimagine institutions so they have cooperative practices at their core. "Ways we can make our lives better together". Yes please.

James Plunkett@jamestplunkett.bsky.social · last yr.

The energy at the edges - a new post with some thoughts on the vitality at the edges of the system. medium.com/@jamestplunk...

⬆️ Are you ready to take your skills in public engagement to the next level? 👀 Take a look at our upcoming training! 👇 👥 Public Engagement Training 📆 Thurs July 3 📆 Thurs Nov 6 🗣️ Facilitating Public Engagement Training 📆 Thurs April 10 📆 Thurs Nov 13 www.involve.org.uk/news-opinion...

Biased I may be given this is the topic of my doctorate, but this free webinar on the role of community and social support in child welfare really does look terrific. Registration link in Cormacs post 👇🏻

Cormac Russell@cormacrussell.bsky.social · last yr.

Join us on May 14 at 4.00 p.m. (London) for a free webinar event focused on Child Welfare through a Community-Centred Lens with Dr. Bruce Perry, Cormac Russell and moderated by Melissa T. Merrick, President and CEO of Stop Child Abuse America. Click here to register: lnkd.in/gTFq7sQR

My mum sent me this for COVID day of reflection. First lockdown, my folks were shielding so the kids would bike to their house during their allotted exercise outdoors and write messages on their front path. My mum and stepdad are waving from the window. Surreal then and now.

Like many care-experienced people, I am ambiguous about #careday25 - it mostly feels like a day for big orgs to gain PR opportunities/fish for likes. That being said, it would be remiss not to mention Free Loaves on Fridays, written by 100 care experienced children & adults.

Free Loaves on Fridays: The Care System As Told By People Who Actually Get It

Buy Free Loaves on Fridays: The Care System As Told By People Who Actually Get It by Rebekah Pierre, Pierre, Rebekah (ISBN: 9781800183001) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

amazon.co.uk

🚨New publication klaxon🚨 My latest paper with colleagues from UEA is out now in advance access in the British Journal of Social Work. It's a scoping review of reflective group interventions with social workers & is available open access academic.oup.com/bjsw/advance... #AcademicSky #SocialWorkSky

Reflective group interventions with social workers: A scoping review

This article reviews research on different forms of reflective group interventions (RGIs) with social workers. The authors were interested in how RGIs—stru

academic.oup.com

We're live! The call for abstracts is now open for the JUSWA conference June 26-27 2025 at UCLan in Preston, UK. For everyone interested in social work research. Its titled: Shaping Our Future: Proactive messages from social work practice, education and research