Last week I was invited to Japan to speak on behalf of the Plunkett Foundation at the International Co-operative Agriculture Organisation General Meeting in Kobe.
I was asked to speak about Plunkett and the Dunsany Declaration for Rural Co-...
Last week I was invited to Japan to speak on behalf of the Plunkett Foundation at the International Co-operative Agriculture Organisation General Meeting in Kobe.
I had the pleasure of attending Co-operatives UK's Audience with Mary Portas. I asked her for one piece of advice that she'd give to a community learning to become retailers by owning their own village shop. In true retailer style, she gave me...
It was a great pleasure to be part of a lunchtime seminar for Defra civil servants on understanding social enterprise in a Big Society world run by Defra's Social Enterprise Strategic Partnership. My colleagues dealt with explaining about Social...
One of my fond memories of last year was meeting the chair of a shop that I'd been to the launch of. It was a great shop, much needed, and had been opened against all the odds. He spent several minutes pouring out all the had improved in the village...
One of the great joys of being part of the international co-operative movement is that one lifetime is far too short a time to know every form of co-operative action around the world. New experiences come along with a wonderful regularity.
The first day week is always a good time to think about what you hope to see in the coming year. Here are four wishes for the coming weeks and months.1. That more rural communities start to believe in what they can achieve together
The Coalition Government has the opportunity to learn from a 19th century co-operative mistake or to limit the opportunity that its Big Society presents. At present we have a Government committed to the mutualisation of public service and localism...
Fear of crime in rural areas is high, yet actual crime is lower than most urban areas. By the same token, fear of losing the local Post Office is high even though the network closure programme is long over and Post Office Ltd has been working hard...
It was great to spend time on Saturday evening with Tom Webb from the Masters of Co-operative Management at St Mary's University in Canada. Tom has been one of my great inspirations for over a decade now. His work on Marketing Our Co-operative...
