Tuesday 2 July 2013

From Yorkshire to Jersey



A splendid weekend in Barney- highlight of which was Sunday lunch (yes, Yorkshire puddings obviously) at the King's Arms in Heath, a small charming rural village outside Wakefield.

A pint of Yorkshire Ale and the Hound!






And my 2 nephews-in-law enjoyed the attentions of the licking Sparkles! 









So a thoroughly relaxing time, which played well for our Commons launch of the FTN- acevo report.  Jeremy Hunt spoke about the role of the sector and how appropriate it was for us to be publishing in the week of the 65th anniversary of the NHS. He publishes a revised NHS Mandate on Friday- it will strengthen his desire to make the health service more transparent and to further strengthen moves to better ( and integrated) care for the elderly. Good to see so many members and NHS CEOs there. We plan more such events.

You can read the full report here.


And now I'm in Jersey- a fraternal guest of the Community Union, one of our acevo partners. The general secretary is a valued member. Community is a great trade union which recognises the part our sector plays and welcomes it; unlike many other unions that spend much time attacking us. It has been dispiriting to see how unions that ought to be allies of the sector turning on members and our sector staff. Hopefully one day we will see a change of leadership and change of tack. Many of our sector staff, who are natural union members are turned off by the way the big unions behave. Community is an honorable exception. So I'm glad to be here showing them support in difficult times for us both. While I'm here I’ll get a copy of “Third Sector”, which this week features yours sincerely being deeply modest, as usual. Wish they had touched up the photo a tad to remove some wrinkles. But must be modest....( And transparent I suppose!)

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