Archive for the ‘Social policy’ Category
The link between social mobility and income inequality
November 30th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
“The idea that anyone can, by their own merits and hard work, improve their social and economic position is one of the dominant political themes of our times. Encouraging social mobility, both within a person’s lifetime (intra- generational social mobility) and from one generation to the next (inter- generational social mobility), has become a key […]
Posted in British current affairs, Social policy, World current affairs | Comments (0)
Blog Action Day: this year, it’s food
October 16th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Today is Blog Action Day when bloggers around the world are encouraged to blog on the same chosen topic. In 2007, it was the environment; in 2008, it was poverty; in 2009, it was climate change; and in 2010, it was water. This year’s theme is food. Now two centuries ago, there was a fashion […]
Posted in Social policy, World current affairs | Comments (0)
How consumers and citizens make choices
August 20th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Some of the reading I’ve done recently has made me think more about how and why people make decisions in the economic and non-economic spaces. This has led me to write an essay for my web site entitled “How Consumers And Citizens Make Choices”. You can read it here.
Posted in Consumer matters, Social policy | Comments (0)
How we are treating the sick and disabled
July 25th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Three months or so ago, I did a posting about how I had accompanied a good friend of mine with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) to an interview as part of a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) because he had applied for the new Employment & Support Allowance (ESA). He was refused the ESA, he appealed, and […]
Posted in British current affairs, Social policy | Comments (0)
Can a ‘nudge’ change our behaviour?
July 17th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Currently I’m reading a book called “The Social Animal” by David Books. This is all about how we can understand and shape human behaviour. One theory of behavioural change is that it is best accomplished by ‘nudges’ rather than compulsion. This is the central proposition of the appropriately-name book “Nudge” which I’ve reviewed here. In […]
Posted in Social policy | Comments (0)
How serious is fuel poverty in Britain – and how much worse will it get?
July 14th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Fuel poverty means being unable to afford to keep warm. The Government considers a household to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend more than 10 percent of its income on fuel for adequate heating (usually 21 degrees for the main living area and 18 degrees for other occupied rooms). The Centre of […]
Posted in Consumer matters, Social policy | Comments (1)
Income inequality grows in UK and USA
July 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
UK income inequality increased by 32% between 1960 and 2005. During the same period, it increased by 23% in the USA, and in Sweden decreased by 12%. In the 1960s Sweden and the UK had similar levels of income inequality. By 2005 the gap between the two had increased by 14%. Since the 1980s, income […]
Posted in American current affairs, British current affairs, Social policy | Comments (0)
Should regulation be light touch or right touch?
July 4th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I’ve spent most of my working life involved in regulatory debates. This started when I worked at the Communications Workers Union which organises staff in the telecommunications and postal industries since both telecoms and posts are regulated. It has continued since I took early retirement from the CWU through my membership of the Communications Consumer […]
Posted in British current affairs, Consumer matters, Social policy | Comments (7)
How Britain is becoming more and more unequal
May 16th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Under a Labour Government, Britain gained a Low Pay Commission created by the Government itself. Under the Coalition Government, it now has a High Pay Commission but this has been formed by Compass with the support of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. The High Pay Commission has just published its Interim Report. What does this […]
Posted in British current affairs, Social policy | Comments (0)
Action For Happiness
April 12th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
For 50 years, we have aimed at higher incomes – and got them. But the shocking fact is that, despite being much wealthier, surveys show that we’re no happier than we were five decades ago. At the same time we’ve seen an increase in wider social issues, including a worrying rise in levels of anxiety and […]
Posted in Social policy | Comments (0)