| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Ways the council could save money: Suggestion 1 | |
| Posted by: | Nina Thornhill | |
| Date/Time: | 18/11/10 21:48:00 |
| I digress from the main subject for a moment, as it was only last night a friend of mine reminded me how the world, indeed the country is not run by common sense, it's run by economics. However all is not doom and gloom in the ways of the world... with more than mere rumbles of discontent concerning the state of our current economic system, the birthing of new solutions is well and truly underway. No longer are people waiting for the government to act, people are taking action, new shoots are being planted in the grassroots.. This new way of thinking has already gone beyond the tipping point of 'IF only'. In the UK, social enterprises are springing up all over the place, 'corporate social responsibility' is the new buzzword and companies are falling over themselves trying to sell us their environmental and social benefits. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is spearheading new economic thinking, putting people and the planet first. Economists stuck in the old way of thinking only see financial value. New thinking expands this view considering the wider social and environmental value as well. Who would have thought a subsidy reliant rural bus service in Scotland had any economic value whatsoever.... after undergoing SROI (Social Return On INvestment bought to the UK by NEF) analysis, T2e operating in the rural Highlands established a broader social economic value, with a combined benefit to individual user and the state of about £9000 per year. With this new wave of thinking and acting, contracts such as the example given will simply cease to exist, as their true value (or lack thereof) will be seen for what it truly represents, long before pen is put to paper! |