Blogs

Are you the best of the rest?  A shining example to the Co-operative Movement?

Yes?  Then what better way to show the world than winning an award?

To celebrate outstanding contribution to the co-operative economy, Co-operatives UK is calling on co-operators across the country to enter The Co-operative Awards 2013.

“What we think, we become. My father always said that…” was something that Margaret Thatcher said and signed up to. Given the influence of her ideas on political and economic life, it seems right, on her death, to consider what we think and who we are.

Her idea that society is simply the sum of individuals was clumsily put and widely and probably unfairly pilloried, but it is a prompt to think about something fundamental, which is the extent to which we act alone or act together. Martin Buber, last century, characterised this as looking to the ‘I’ or the ‘we’.

Congress 2013 takes place 28-30 June, Glamorgan Cricket Club, SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff, where government is driving co-operative innovation through the Welsh Co-operatives and Mutuals Commission.

Linda Barlow from Co-operatives UK, Co-operative Advice Team, provides an introduction to the Changes to Part 25 of the Companies Act 2006, relating to company charges as at 1st April 2013.

The March 2013 Budget saw a commitment by the government to consult on two important changes to the legislation governing Industrial and Provident Societies (IPSs).  On the assumption, that the changes receive favourable public support, many co-operatives registered as industrial and provident societies will be asking, “what does it mean for us?”

Linda Barlow, a Legal Officer in Co-operatives UK's, Co-operative Advice Team, offers an outline of the changes below.

Increase in the cap on withdrawable share capital

Local regulars and the world of music is rallying to save the Bell Inn pub in Bath.

Raising community shares to fund the buyout, the aim is to continue to run it as a much loved pub, now on a co-operative basis.

A guest blog from co-operative entrepreneur and writer, Bill Pardy

The world appears full of intolerance. Civility appears a thing of the past, a little used or understood concept in a world of wants and consumerism.

This intolerance is evident in the struggles and wars that have grown pervasive. In the developed world, it is most apparent in the disparaging commentary, the belligerent and bigoted responses and the use of malicious, hurtful even racist language.

The first full day of the Co-operatives UK National Retail Consumer Conference is just about over, and as usual it's been a day full of new ideas and old challenges. Today's speakers took the conference theme of "The Future of Co-operative Retailing" and built on it, each looking back at how we have reached this point in the UK retail sector but also where co-operatives can go from here.

Local produce is cheaper than local police, as a good way to keep communities safe and flourishing is to have a local economy that sustains local jobs and livelihoods.

A new study we have published today shows that every £10 you spend in a co-operative food store generates an additional £4 for local suppliers, customers and employees, providing a real boost to the local economy.