A few things of direct relevance to the blog have cropped up over the last few days that might be of interest.

– First up, Andrew Mawson, founder of the Bromley By Bow Centre, has written a book (The Social Entrepreneur) which was excerpted in the Guardian this morning, and commented on in their blog; his forthright comments about the failings of politicians and what he would do instead (give £3m to Alan Sugar, for example) make interesting reading….

– Secondly, Fast Company, the US business magazine have announced their 2008 Social Capitalist Awards….which involves them adding some new ones to ones they’ve announced previously…45 social entrepreneurs and enterprises now. Worth checking out.

– Finally, the Independent has been working with Schwab and Boston Consulting Group on their Social Entrepreneur of the Year award (which the Schwab foundation do in many other countries around the world). The shortlist is announced here and replicated here on this blog, where I also responded to the post in the comments (about whether it is needed / how well the UK is served etc.) Some well-known names here: Eden, Belu, the Hub, but good to see some less well known ones also, especially Eric Samuels at Community Food Enterprise. I know that Schwab has canvassed widely in the UK amongst its networks (including with SSE), so will be interesting to read/hear more about it. The SSE blog will be attending the awards event next week, so will report back then.