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Blog Post
The mainstream is broken. But for who?
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“The Mainstream media is broken” this was the rallying cry of over 100 people in 2017 as The Common Sense Network crowdfunded over £50,000 in 50 days to build a new independent news outlet for and by ordinary people. Whilst the phrase was...
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Blog Post
It’s all about trust
Read moreAs a journalist that writes mainly on social issues, a major concern for me is how I tell the stories of the most disadvantaged people in society. A lot of my work is focused on the impact of austerity, and I've reported extensively on...
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Blog Post
Why we need to tell different stories
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We commissioned ‘Telling a Different Story’ to create a more in-depth, collective understanding of how, and why the media currently reports on severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD) in the way that it does. Partly because we believe the media...
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Blog Post
Gateshead place inquiry: is learning a luxury?
Read moreIn Gateshead, we’re trying to understand how learning happens within organisations working in the field of severe and multiple disadvantage. We’ve interviewed 51 people across 33 different organisations. Our most worrying finding about...
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Blog Post
A look in the mirror? Can the “System Behaviours” be a useful mechanism to reflect on the health of a system?
Read moreWhat does a place look like when the different people and organisations in it work together effectively for people who experience severe and multiple disadvantage? How do people in that place behave to make a system that works? For over...
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Blog Post
A look back at the Lankelly Chase Power Inquiry
Read moreOver the past 18 months or so, Lankelly Chase has been trying to take a closer look at power. Trying and succeeding at points and failing at others - if there is one thing we’ve learned about power it’s that it’s slippery and elusive as a...
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Blog Post
New Hard Edges report is shining a light on SMD
Read moreIn 2019, people in Scotland are seeking, and in some cases being advised, to commit crimes in order to get the support they need. Let that sink in for a minute. Of all the findings of Hard Edges Scotland, most of which do not make easy...
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Blog Post
Brave and safe spaces: philanthropy and systems change
Read moreI don’t often get invited to events for ‘senior members of the funding community’ in the UK - perhaps because the work I’m involved in is quite unusual. Because of this, I had a sense of trepidation about joining the recent retreat...
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Blog Post
Data and disadvantage: are we learning anything new?
Read moreIn 2015, Lankelly Chase and Heriot-Watt University published the Hard Edges report on severe and multiple disadvantage. As well as showing the number of people accessing substance use, homelessness and criminal justice services at the same time,...
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Blog Post
The Games We Play
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I usually start a piece with a quote or by referencing an academic model. Something pertinent that someone I’ve never met has said or thought of. I do this for many reasons and if I am completely honest one of those reasons is that I’ve...