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Features

Adrian Bailey, new Chair of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, is well-placed to help co-operatives

Co-op's are not to be used for public service cuts

Adrian Bailey is one of the co-operative and mutual sector’s strongest friends in Parliament, though Adrian himself is careful not to over-stretch any claim of seniority. “It is equal with Andy Love,” he laughs. “He was also a Co-operative Party organiser before he became an MP.”
July 28 2010
Category: Politics

The Co-operative Challenge — seven days, seven regions, seven unique co-operatives

As part of Co-operatives Fortnight, Alicia Walker and Becky Crosweller — both graduates on the Co-operative Group’s Management Training Scheme — took some time out of their placements to visit seven unique co-operatives across seven different regions in just seven days. Discover what they got up to in their travel diary . . .
July 27 2010
Category: Wider Co-op Movement

A Mica store in Alcester, Redditch

DIY stores build a nationwide co-op

If you’re looking for a DIY and hardware business that has all the expertise of a small, independent trader but is able to offer the sort of value and promotions you expect from a major chain, Mica might be what you’re looking for. And even better, it’s a co-operative.
July 19 2010
Category: Wider Co-op Movement

Chris Leslie says it’s his job to fight for Co-op values and to scrutinise the actions of the Government

Chris the comeback kid faces up to challenge of opposition

Chris Leslie’s comeback as a Labour/Co-op MP is in sharp contrast to the heady days when he entered the House of Commons as the “Baby of the House”.
June 28 2010
Category: Politics

Cllr Steve Reed … ‘We’re facing cuts . . . we could cut services . . . or we could seek to find an alternative — that’s what we’re choosing to do’

Can co-operatives help cut costs for Lambeth Council?

About 25 years ago I attended a meeting of Labour councillors from various local authorities across the country. We started talking about problems with policing and a very serious councillor from the London Borough of Lambeth explained the answer: the solution, she said, was residents’ militias who would take over responsibility for law and order from the police.
June 25 2010
Category: Wider Co-op Movement

Plunkett Foundation Chief Executive Peter Couchman

Village co-operative a hit on the radio

After months of anticipation, the villagers of Ambridge in BBC Radio 4’s The Archers have celebrated the opening of their community-owned shop.
June 23 2010
Category: Wider Co-op Movement

DREAM BIKES … Sir Alan Sugar’s hand-drawn design (top) has been handcrafted by apprentices at the Oxford Cycle Workshop co-operative along with the design by world champion track cyclist Victoria Pendleton (bottom) with proceeds going to the co-op’s youth scheme during Bike Week

Oxford bicycle co-op helps build up dreams

Being asked to custom-build a pair of dream bikes based on drawings supplied by two clients sounds like a tough task for a group of young apprentices. When the clients in question are apprentice-firing Sir Alan Sugar and Olympic and world champion track cyclist Victoria Pendleton, the task seems daunting beyond belief.
June 23 2010
Category: Wider Co-op Movement

‘There were two things that shocked me about David Cameron’s speech’

Problems galore for Cameron’s ‘co-operative schools’ proposal

In the months before the general election, David Cameron made much of his intention to allow parents to set-up ‘co-operative schools’. Now that the new coalition government is in place, those proposals are being transferred into law — but have strangely mutated along the way.
June 15 2010
Category: Wider Co-op Movement

Lucy Findlay … ‘Customers feel proud to be buying from a social enterprise and can see the difference’

Enterprise Mark helps lift the social sector

Four months after its official launch at the Voice 2010 social enterprise conference, the Social Enterprise Mark is spreading across the UK.
June 10 2010
Category: Social Enterprise

Ed Mayo: 'We just need one thing to move forward and that one thing is confidence'

Ed Mayo: 'The time is right for co-operation'

Ed Mayo’s appointment last year as Secretary General of Co-operatives UK marked an important change of direction for the Movement. Ed is a very different type of person from his predecessor, Pauline Green. Pauline had been a serious political player, with influence across the Labour Party and Labour government, who had been leader of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament.
June 03 2010
Category: Wider Co-op Movement

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