Society daily: Free childcare scheme to be extended

We've changed email address. Please add us to your safe sender list. Having trouble viewing this email? Society daily 02.09.13 Free childcare scheme to be extended Hannah Fearn theguardian.com, Monday 2 September 2013 07.35 EDT Child and teacher in a nursery. Photograph: Photofusion Picture Library/Alamy Society daily returns today from the summer break to bring you our usual roundup. Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Free childcare scheme to be extended to 40% of two-year-olds • Lobbying bill threatens free speech for charities, says top lawyer • Nick Clegg rejects call for ban on unpaid internship adverts • 'Addict' Britain is worldwide hub for sale of legal highs • Festivalgoer's death prompts drug warning • Will Hutton: Birmingham's last hurrah for local pride before civic Britain is culled • Campaigners petition for release of 'Britain's most violent' prisoner • Now supermarkets want you to live over their shops • Agency workers paid up to £135 a week less for same job, says TUC • Julie Bindel: a queer sort of politics All today's SocietyGuardian stories The pick of the weekend's SocietyGuardian news and comment • Two thirds of nurses have considered resigning, says survey • A glass of wine a day may be good for mental health, Spanish study finds • Is middle age such a bad thing? • Hugh Muir: the meaning of Martin Luther King's speech – then and now All Saturday's SocietyGuardian news and features All Sunday's SocietyGuardian news and features Jobs of the week • Programme policy manager, Action Aid: "You will have worked on shared advocacy and research projects, effectively lobbied civil servants and government officials and gained an understanding of UK policy institutions." • Assistant director, policy and research, Barnardo's • Cumbria safeguarding adults board, independent chair, Cumbria county council • Senior practitioner, information and assessment, London Borough of Hackney The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs On the Guardian Professional Networks • In a nation obsessed with homeownership, rising house prices are in the government's best interests, says Frances Cairncross • Boris Johnson's fire brigade cuts could put lives in danger, warns Catherine West • 'My ambition was always to be a scientist, not a civil servant' reveals Melody Clark • Dick Vinegar, the Patient from Hell, on the delicate path the new chair of the General Practitioners Committee must tread • Older people should be supported to carry on living at home, writes Catherine Murray-Howard • Inspiring young people by fusing fun and gaming experience with stories of social issues On my radar ... • An interesting post on the US-based Health Care Blog, which raises concerns about the DSM-5 manual for categorising and identifying mental health conditions. Dan Peters notes that under the new guidance up to 50% of the population could be rendered unwell, with gluttony diagnosed as binge eating disorder, grief as major depression and first time drug users at a college party labelled with the diagnosis of substance use disorder. But, often, obtaining a label is the only way to get help for problems which require some support, says Peters: I am not suggesting making up diagnoses to get benefits for a client, but rather without a diagnosis, no doors – either financial, treatment, or accommodation – can open. You cannot get help if you have a significant deficit in understanding people's facial expressions and emotions, but you can get help if you have Aspergers Disorder (now called Autistic Spectrum Disorder); you cannot get help if you have executive-functioning weaknesses and challenges, but you can get help if you have ADHD. • A BBC experiment to track how easy it is for disabled people to travel across London, one year on from the Paralympic Games. A video diary follows former Paralympian Ade Adepitan and disability campaigner Christiane Link's attempts to cross the capital as fast as they can. Watch their efforts here. • The Spectator's Alex Massie gives gaff-prone celebrity chef Jamie Oliver pause for thought. The TV presenter and culinary entrepreneur angered poverty campaigners last week when he complained of impoverished families feeding their children chips while sitting in front of an expensive wide screen television. They should learn about good nutrition from their Spanish and Italian counterparts, he said. But the facts don't bear his argument out: Italian children are more likely to be obese than British children, points out Massie, and children in southern Italy are more likely to be overweight than children in the wealthier north. Being poor is no fun at all. No wonder the poor crave sensation – salt, sugar, tobacco, alcohol, drugs - in any form they can get it. Perhaps they would be better off if they had a better diet and I don't doubt Oliver's sincerity in trying to help people cook better – but still cheap – food but, often, people don't eat poorly because they're stupid or lazy but because that's the food available to them and, actually, because they want something a little more "tasty" than stale bread. • The £3m National Empty Homes Loans Fund, which launches today. The fund was created after broadcaster and architect George Clarke, presenter of the Great British Property Scandal, campaigned for action on empty homes. The funding pot is a joint initiative between Homes from Empty Homes, the Ecology Building Society, Whitehall and 39 local authorities which have agreed to help bring the 710,000 empty homes in England back into use. The fund will offer loans at a fixed interest rate of 5% to help owners of empties meet the decent homes standard. Renovated properties will then be let at a maximum of 80% of market rent. • The hidden stories behind Britain's migration statistics. Left Foot Forward takes a look at the real figures behind Britain's apparent increase in migration levels. We now know that 26% of live births last year were from mothers born outside the UK, up a little from the previous year. Overall net migration also increased in the year to 31 December 2012, from 176,000 to 215,000. This change was not caused by an increase in immigration – the number of arrivals actually fell. Rather, the increase in net migration was caused by a fall in the numbers of migrants leaving Britain: 30,000 fewer left in the year to December 2012 compared to the previous year. Other news • Scottish Herald: Running, jumping and throwing has significant impact on child development • The Telegraph: Help to Buy plan 'will make houses even less affordable' • Local Government Chronicle: Public health ringfence extended for a third year • Inside Housing: Westminster council tenants in B&Bs slashed to zero • Third Sector: Big Lottery Fund's social investment support programme postponed • Independent: How TB took over the world SocietyGuardian blogs Patrick Butler's cuts blog Sarah Boseley's global health blog SocietyGuardian on social media Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter Follow Clare Horton on Twitter Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter SocietyGuardian's Facebook page SocietyGuardian links SocietyGuardian.co.uk The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin Email the SocietyGuardian editor: society@guardian.co.uk You are receiving this email because you are a Society Daily subscriber. Click here if you do not wish to receive Society Daily emails from the Guardian News and Media. Click here to find out about other Email Services from the Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396