And more news around climate, transparency, data, democracy, campaigning
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** News and updates
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** November 2023
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Time to celebrate you
** mySociety 20th anniversary awards
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sparkly lights hanging from the ceiling
Yes, mySociety's been around for 20 years — but enough about us; it's time to recognise the incredible things people have done with our outputs during those two decades.
That's why we'll be celebrating exceptional usage of our services across five categories, at the first ever mySociety Awards next week. Take a peek at our shortlist ([link removed]) to see which people and projects are in the running for top spot - and the chance to take home a unique trophy.
climate action
** The Council Climate Action Scorecards are here
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How good is your council's climate action? Check out the scorecards to find out
Just in case you missed the blanket coverage across almost every regional and local paper in the UK — the Council Climate Action Scorecards have launched, representing 18 months of hard work in collaboration with our partners Climate Emergency UK.
They devised the marking scheme, trained a large cohort of volunteers to assess the climate action being taken by every UK council, and assembled the data.
And we built the website, made the tool that helped collate the evidence, and put our Projects tool to use on nationwide sets of FOI requests. Partnership in action!
You can read more about the background in our blog post here ([link removed]) . But first, why not check what your own local council is doing on climate ([link removed]) ?
Some beautiful green seaweed billowing in blue waters
** Gaining support for the Climate and Ecology Bill
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Encouraging people to contact their MP is one effective way to campaign around climate action. That's how Zero Hour have locked in so much support from a variety of MPs across the House — and they used our free WriteToThem service to do so. Find out how ([link removed]) .
** Community-led climate action
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Zarino reports back from the Business Green Net Zero festival, where we were presenting on public mobilisation around climate, or, as he puts it, "the space between direct action, and government ‘business as usual’". Read the full account here ([link removed]) .
mySociety people
** In memory of Francis Mainoo
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We are immensely saddened by the sudden death of SocietyWorks' Non-Executive Director, Francis Mainoo.
Francis joined us in July 2022 and was a kind, generous and immensely valued member of the board. We will miss his good humour, his sound advice and his strong leadership. Read our full statement ([link removed]) .
GREATER DATA
** Tech for effective crowdsourcing
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mySociety has always used crowdsourcing as an effective way to break daunting data tasks into manageable pieces. Over time, our methods and thinking around crowdsourcing has become more sophisticated, as Alex explains here ([link removed]) .
transparency brings wrongdoings to light
** WhatDoTheyKnow and the Post Office Horizon scandal
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You may have seen the ongoing saga of the Post Office and the mis-coded Horizon accounting machines, a scandal which resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of many sub Postmasters.
One person whose work has resulted in front page headlines is Eleanor Shaikh, who used WhatDoTheyKnow to challenge the official line that there was nothing amiss - and ultimately helped to bring justice. Read the whole story here ([link removed]) .
mySociety's key services
** Your donations help us run projects like these
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If you're reading this newsletter, the chances are that you see the value in mySociety's work — thank you.
Donations are part of what makes that possible, so if you're able, please consider making a contribution today.
Donate now ([link removed])
Interested in a particular strand of our work? Pick and choose your mySociety newsletters here ([link removed][UNIQID]) .
** What we're reading
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* Poor use of Excel ([link removed]) can have life-changing implications.
* Carnegie's Life In The UK report ([link removed]) gives a wellbeing score to the nation — including a score for democratic wellbeing.
* We were surprised to see Doug Paulley — one of the activists shortlisted in our awards — pop up in this story about taking the government to court over failings in climate adaptation ([link removed]) ... but on reflection, it's just the sort of thing he would do!
* A good use of open data ([link removed]) : to tell people whether the lifts are working in the London Underground.
* And finally: sound on ([link removed]) .
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mySociety is a registered charity in England and Wales (1076346) and a limited company (03277032).
Through our trading subsidiary SocietyWorks (05798215) we also provide commercial services.
Image credits: ** EPC ratings ([link removed])
: CC0 via Wikimedia Commons; solar panels: ** Chelsea ([link removed])
; Litter pickers - provided by them; golden hour Brighton ** Elissar Haidar ([link removed])
; historic Parliament engraving: ‘Division barrier and lobby’, J. Ewing Ritchie, The life and times of William Ewart Gladstone.
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