Yvonne Hutchinson

Yvonne Hutchinson is the founder of community development consultancy, Community Chameleon and an expert on the Council of Europe/ European Commission's Intercultural Cities programme.

She has worked in an advisory capacity with a range of UK government departments and leading research bodies and was a board member of the government regulator, The Housing Corporation, from 1998 - 2005.

She was a member of the Social Exclusion Unit Action Team and a champion of  Neighbourhood Management. She continues to engage at the grass-roots and is chair of her local residents association in Huddersfield and a Director of the £8m DBI regeneration trust.  

 

A Party But Little To Celebrate

January 11th, 2012 by Yvonne Hutchinson

Beyond Apartheid: rural women in a changing South Africa was the title of my undergraduate dissertation in 1996.  Back then, the ANC was new to power and the ambitious Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) together with the interim Constitution seemed to hold out real hope for transforming the liv...

Unemployment; more than numbers

December 1st, 2011 by Yvonne Hutchinson

Why does this level of youth unemployment scare me?  Because it reminds me of the 1980s.  Back then, I remember how difficult it was to get a job and how few of my teenage friends even bothered to look when they left school, such was the sense of hopelessness.    This sense of despair among young people,...

Owing a Debt for the Euro

September 30th, 2011 by Yvonne Hutchinson

Well, he might not have been the most charismatic leader but serious times like these proves that it’s substance not style that really matters.  We won’t escape the burning house unscathed but we sure owe a debt to Mr Brown for not taking us into the Euro!

Hell Hath No Fury Like A PM Scorned

July 13th, 2011 by Yvonne Hutchinson

They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, unless, of course,  that’s where our former PM’s been hiding out. Gordon Brown ascended today from the bowels of oblivion to exact revenge and claim his pound of Murdoch flesh and the spectacle was something to behold.   I’ve never found Mr Brown a particu...

Time for the Separation of Press and State

July 7th, 2011 by Yvonne Hutchinson

Arguments for the separation of Church and State seem a bit of a red herring these days.  The separation that’s desperately needed now is that of Press and State.  The British press has far too much influence over state affairs with successive PMs lining up for the blessing of Rupert Murdoch.  Only now are...

Wayne Rooney; I Apologise

October 22nd, 2010 by Yvonne Hutchinson

On 4th August this year I headed out to Kenya on a busman’s holiday.  I thought the lift at Manchester Airport’s departures was all mine until a young man squeezed through the closing doors.  Glancing at him through the corner of my eye I noticed he was wearing a blazer and looked up to see if I was ...

A Pig’s Ear of Silk Purses

October 4th, 2010 by Yvonne Hutchinson

When George Osborne announced his first budget back in June I was surprised that mine was one of the few critical voices on his failure to means test Child Benefit (see Ring-fenced Lattes for Desperate Housewives).  It seemed an obvious choice.  For a moment today I thought common sense and fairness ...

Road to Damascus or Damned Mask to Tax Us?

June 30th, 2010 by Yvonne Hutchinson

How unconvincing is the Tory U-turn on prisoner rehabilitation?  I just can’t see the point in pretending that slashing prison numbers isn’t simply about slashing costs while hiking taxes.  Surely Ken Clarke should have just come out and said so instead of inflicting on an already jaded public that cri...

Ring-fenced Lattes for Desperate Housewives

June 22nd, 2010 by Yvonne Hutchinson

George Osborne has clearly played his budget with more decisive, single mindedness than our boys have played in South Africa but his budget will have created just as much consternation. I know very little about how to run a nation’s economy and am perfectly willing to admit it.  Still, I do know what...

Power to the People?

May 25th, 2010 by Yvonne Hutchinson

I’ve been listening to the new government talking about the Big Society.  It sounds good so why am I cynical?  Well, here’s why. Governments don’t know how to give power to the people but they love to hear themselves talk about it.  The Labour administration talked about it a lot but didn’t really get ...