Co-operative News

  What a difference a couple of months makes. In early October, the Building Societies Association assured the News that despite the oncoming recession there would be no more forced mergers following the rescue by Nationwide of the Cheshire and Derbyshir societies. Time has proved them wrong.   In normal times, eight weeks passes so […]

  There is an old adage in business that bad times create good opportunities. And during a period when investors are seeking to buy-up cheap assets, is it possible that the global crisis could be a springboard for the expansion and creation of social enterprises?   This is the hope that sits behind the just

  Anyone promoting credit unions finds they are swimming with a very strong tide at the moment. The collapse in confidence in the banks has led to an increased interest not just in mutuals, but specifically in credit unions.   “The recent crisis has highlighted the benefits of mutual ownership and credit unions have been

The  Paul Gosling Column   A ‘United Co-operatives’ moment for Co-operative Financial Services may be looming. The impetus for growth and renewal in the retail sector provided by the merger of the Co-operative Group and United Co-operatives could be replicated by the possible amalgamation of CFS with the Britannia Building Society.   Following the media

  Building societies are angry – and no wonder. The collapse of former society Bradford & Bingley has left them facing massive financial contributions, significant reductions in their profits and a cost to their members through less favourably priced products.   Bradford & Bingley went bust, provoking its nationalisation by the Treasury. To put it

 The Paul Gosling column – this column was written on 22nd September for publication in the first October issue of Co-operative News Washington Mutual remained in business as this sentence was written. By the time it is read there is a very strong chance that it will no longer be trading in its own right

The Paul Gosling Column   Laily Begum has become famous in Bangladesh. She is the public face of those who borrowed from Grameen Bank, the microfinance institution that creates opportunities for Bangladesh’s rural poor. Begum’s face has been on thousands of posters and leaflets, promoting the benefits of microcredit.   Begum’s loan from Grameen was

  The Paul Gosling Column   Treasury proposals to bring co-operative legislation ‘into the 21st Century’ have been strongly welcomed. But the updating of legislation for co-operatives and other mutuals raises fresh questions about whether the right legal and regulatory framework is in place for social enterprises – whose legislation is not being reviewed.  

 The Paul Gosling Column   The Co-operative Group’s decision to abandon the out-of-town hypermarket sector is being made to look very clever indeed with the massive jump in energy prices. True, prices are beginning to fall back – but the world is getting used to the idea that energy will always be expensive.   Retail

 The Paul Gosling Column The price of a barrel of oil had just fallen from $147 to $124 a barrel when this sentence was written. But that is no cause for celebration. Almost at the same moment, one of the largest suppliers of energy in the domestic UK market – France’s EDF – raised its

 The Paul Gosling Column Food prices in the UK rose 7.4% over the last year – with some items rising in price by a third. Uncomfortable enough, but this represents only a small indicator of the global problem. In Kenya, for instance, annualised food price inflation is a whopping 44%.   And when you look

The Paul Gosling column   Ealing Community Transport – ECT – is one of the largest social enterprises in the UK. The parent company has evolved from simply providing community transport, into a business with a multi-million pound turnover and interests in a range of trading sectors.   “Over 25 plus years, ECT has evolved