Jamie Cooke's Page

Following on from the fantastic launch of the Social Renewal theme which we had with Newcastle University on Tuesday (more to follow shortly), I wanted to draw the attention of Fellows to the recently launched report by the 2020 Public Service Hub at the RSA.  They have been conducting work analysing Sunderland's Community Leadership Programme for the impact that it has on the community, and the potential for learning lessons for other contexts.

There has been a lot of talk…

Sports Direct Arena?

I must admit to rather choking on my toast this morning as I saw the news of St James’ Park, home of Newcastle United FC, being renamed as the Sports Direct Arena. Commercial branding of stadia has become a recurring trend in recent years (e.g. The Emirates for Arsenal, Etihad for Man City and the Reebok for Bolton), however there has been a presumption that certain names were off limits. It was inconceivable that proud stadia such as Anfield, Old Trafford…

Chances are that next time you see me I'll be looking slightly different!

Along with some of my colleagues at the RSA, I have decided to participate in Movember to raise money for charity.  For those not familiar with this innovative charity, it is an annual fundraiser where gents grow moustaches during the month of November, sacrificing  their personal looks and vanity in order to raise money and awareness for various aspects of mens' health.  Given that I have a "face for…

Covering three diverse areas as I do, I get to attend three different AGMs over the course of the year.  My trilogy kicked off last night in Newcastle with the 2011 AGM for RSA NE, and I am delighted to say that it was an incredibly positive, inspiring and quite frankly enjoyable night to attend.

As we all know, AGMs can often be bureaucratic necessities, exercises in governance which lack a wider appeal for those not concerned with sexy things like minutes and motions. …