News

AUTHOR: DAVID HALL, DIRECTOR AT CLOUDY IT

Back in August (how long ago that now seems!), Microsoft 365 announced its first significant price rise for commercial users since the launch of Office 365 in June 2011. Those 10 years have seen huge changes in the platform, developing it from what many people then regarded as a set of worthy but unexciting programs for word-processing, data-crunching, email-sending and slide-presenting into an all-powerful software suite that’s been known as Microsoft 365 since 2017.

NEIL HOMER, DIRECTOR AT ONEILL HOMER LTD

Neighbourhood planning has come a long way in the last decade. Given its origins and untested introduction in 2011, it’s perhaps surprising that it has fared so well in the face of many challenges.

AUTHOR: JENEVIEVE TREADWELL, RESEARCHER AT ONWARD

Up and down the country, councillors and clerks are working with their communities to protect and improve the places they live. But they are doing so with one hand tied behind their back, with fewer powers and resources than other forms of local government. This system undercuts the impressive work that town and parish councils already do to help their communities take ownership of their place. It is time that we recognised their potential and gave them the powers and resources to take back control.

AUTHOR: JOHN FAGAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT SCRIBE

Did you know 88% of spreadsheets have errors?

AUTHOR: JUSTIN GRIGGS, HEAD OF POLICY AND COMMUNICATIONS AT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL COUNCILS

In my house, ‘levelling up’ is best understood as meaning advancing from one level or skill or power to another. Especially by my eldest who like many twelve-year-olds loves gaming online with his cousins and friends. Shouting at the screen also seems to be part of the gaming experience, although I can’t recall Pacman, Space Invaders or Daley Thompson’s Decathlon being quite that intense.

AUTHOR: NICK PHILLIPS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE ALMSHOUSE ASSOCIATION

It may seem odd to suggest that our future communities might be improved by looking at a housing model which has existed for 1,000 years. However, there is a lot to learn from a model which has had to adapt and change to survive hundreds of years of change and turmoil. Furthermore, as our recent research report shows, this model provides savings of £43m annually. Much of this is through the encouragement of companionship and reduced isolation. So what role could almshouses play in our future communities?