Tom Ebbutt

Public services should be designed to encourage or enable people to behave like citizens. In the private sector, with some welcome exceptions, they design to encourage people to be consumers.

It's back.

Bristol Beacon

Bristol big B

Bristol and Bath B Local

The Purposefest stage

Purposefest in full swing here at @bristolbeacon.bsky.social. Thank you everyone for all your questions! #BCorpMonth

A GWR train

an image saying Purposefest 2025 Bristol

A Paddington station sign

Bristol here I come!

My first #BCorpMonth stop is the wonderful Purposefest at @bristolbeacon.bsky.social. Beautiful day for it.

@blabuk.bsky.social

Welcome to #BCorpMonth!

It was a logistical feat to put immigration in place at Amsterdam but it's sorted now. Where there's a will there's a way.

291: The Man Who Escaped Auschwitz The Rest Is History · Episode

On this 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, I think of Rudolf Vrba, one of only a handful of Jews ever to escape the camp - who did it to warn the world. I told his story when I was a guest on the brilliant Rest is History podcast. You can hear that here open.spotify.com/episode/1Ezd...

As is this.
bsky.app/profile/anth...

Well worth your time.

History as an academic discipline is also pretty good for this - the idea of a teleological improvement in the human condition is far from mainstream there (even fringe?)

Irish writer and philosopher Charles Handy dies aged 92 Handy, from Co Kildare, preredicted trends years before they materialised as corporate realities

Rest in peace Charles Handy. A brilliant thinker on people, businesses and organisations.
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024...

(Some) LAs build great housing, but their capacity to do so is tiny.

The connected question is who are we expecting to do the building. If it's private sector developers, we have to regulate to get outcomes beyond profit maximisation. If it's eg Local Government, we have to build LAs capacity to act as a developer.

Would be interesting to see domestic / international pupil split on that

Belfast Harbour Commissioners Office brushes up well

A view across the Belfast waterfront towards the Harland and Wolff cranes.

Good afternoon Belfast.

Worth having a chat with @dominiccampbell.bsky.social c/f
ideasimpossible.org

So I can work for a (perceived) top tier "London" consultancy firm and easily live in Leeds. If I work for a (perceived) top tier "London" law firm it would be very hard for me to live in Leeds.

Agreed. But top tier consultants are now able to live / base themselves all over the country in a way they weren't before covid, the lawyers (still) aren't.

Agree on law. I think it's a bit different on e.g. management consultancy where there is an increasing amount of remote work / less mgt demand to come in to the office.

Guardian-owning Scott Trust to fold after 72 years Owner of Guardian Media Group – The Scott Trust – has changed from being a trust to a limited company. The move comes 72 years after the trust was created with the object of “securing the financial po...

Recognise it's reasonable to question whether the Tortoise sale is a good thing, but this "the Scott Trust is actually limited company" objection is a nonsense.

The reason for the Trust taking ltd company status is explained here, its objects are locked in etc pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/n...

Labour poised to announce £100m levy on gambling companies Money to be used to fund education and treatment of gambling harms in plans to be unveiled as soon as this week

Good to see the statutory levy for gambling, which requires operators to set aside 1% of their gross profits to fund treatment, research and prevention finally coming to fruition. Not least due to the tireless efforts of my @smfthinktank.bsky.social colleague @jranoyes.bsky.social

Five key takeaways from COP29 Fraught debate revealed the divide between rich and poor as the UN conference sealed a climate finance deal.

Better than nothing. But far from enough #COP29
www.bbc.com/news/article...

The Guardian environment pledge 2024 Five years on from our original pledge – here are six things the Guardian is doing to confront the emergency facing our climate and the natural world

"The Guardian was the first major international news organisation to achieve B Corp status in 2019 – which means meeting a series of criteria for high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability."
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Labour’s first budget should consider civic capitalism As we approach Labour’s first budget in over 14 years, it’s crucial that the party sets out an economic agenda that works in the interests of all.

Liam Byrne on tomorrow's budget:

"We still have too many businesses focused solely on maximising their own short-term gain. To create real change, boards must take a more holistic view of success which requires advancing a new model for marketplace success."

www.politicshome.com/thehouse/art...

Scammer steals 22 tonnes of Cheddar cheese from Neal's Yard in London The company says the theft has dealt a "significant financial blow" but that it has honoured its payments to the small-scale suppliers which the cheese came from.

"Despite what they described as a "significant financial blow", the business said it had honoured its commitment to its small-scale suppliers and had already paid the three artisan cheesemakers in full."

Well done Neal's Yard Dairy.

news.sky.com/story/scamme...

Chris Hoy shows us all what really matters on and off the field of play | Cath Bishop Greater imagination, ambition and perspective is required to set up opportunities and explore what’s possible

Well said Cath Bishop
www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/o...

Interactive: What is the climate impact of eating meat and dairy? Food production accounts for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. It takes up half of the planet’s habitable surface.

Transport is really marginal in the environment impact / carbon emissions of almost any foodstuff (unless it's transported by air) - good data here interactive.carbonbrief.org/what-is-the-...

If you can find them, Spanish soft fruit probably still being ripened by the sun (it's a sunny 25 degrees in Málaga this week)

Surely your number one consideration is if / how the greenhouses were heated?(!)