Yvonne HutchinsonYvonne 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.
See: http://yvonnehutchinson.wix.com/make-that-change
May 2nd, 2013 by Yvonne Hutchinson
When money is already too tight to mention, and the earth groans under the strain of unnecessary waste, who wants to see another smashed up laptop sent to a toxic landfill in China or Africa!? We routinely create unnecessary toxic waste then dumped it on the doorsteps of the worlds poorest peopl...
April 1st, 2013 by Yvonne Hutchinson
As the fat cats keep the cream, the poor can expect no justice. The axe has fallen on legal aid and those being deprive are the people who need justice the most. Justice, as in Dickens’ day will once again be the preserve of the rich. And we can expect to become a far less ci...
March 29th, 2013 by Yvonne Hutchinson
Yesterday I sat in my mother’s living room in Bradford watching the local news that reported Bradford to be the ‘bogus whiplash capital of England’. My mother and I smiled wryly, laughed an insincere, cynical laugh and rolled our eyes. The news hardly came as a surprise....
March 6th, 2013 by Yvonne Hutchinson
Charities have always played a vital role in civil society and their significance can only increase in the context of contracting state support. However, just as the recession drives the demand for charitable services upward, so government funding to charities is declining along with individual giving. Ethretec, the new o...
February 18th, 2013 by Yvonne Hutchinson
There are few crimes as devastating to a woman as rape, which is why I recently made public my disgusted at the crass and insensitive remarks of Bradford MP George Galloway. However, Maura McGowan, chairwoman of the Bar Council is justified in calling for the anonymity of defendants until th...
November 19th, 2012 by Yvonne Hutchinson
They say you should start as you mean to go on but I’m not sure that was the case for the new West Yorkshire Police Crime Commissioner Cllr Mark Burns-Williamson. When I pulled up on Friday night at the church gates where the count had taken place I found the newly elected PC C and his e...
November 9th, 2012 by Yvonne Hutchinson
When the Select Committee of MPs issue and edict from their ivory tower in Westminster that lots more children must be taken away from their parents, the words ‘not living in the real world’ came to mind. In fact, I wondered how many of those MPs had ever been or plan to be foster ca...
October 31st, 2012 by Yvonne Hutchinson
We’re at the end of Black History Month and I’ve had so little to say. Perhaps it’s because so little seems to change! In truth I’m always left wondering why it is that we still need Black History Month. We need it because the history we all learn has whitewash...
August 23rd, 2012 by Yvonne Hutchinson
When Marsha Singh, former Bradford West MP, passed away last month I was genuinely saddened. I first met Marsha back in the 1980s when he was a good friend of my son’s father and just one of a large group of left-wing comrades. I had limited interest in politics back then but feigned cu...
July 31st, 2012 by Yvonne Hutchinson
I’ve never been a sports fanatic, although having been a sprinter as a kid I’ve always tuned in to the athletics. So, I hadn’t made any plans to watch the Olympics opening ceremony, much to the disapproval of my Mum, who insisted I change my mind! In the end I was glad ...
