‘The Labour councillor’s passion resonates all the more because it is non party political. Voting for cuts to vital services, which will hurt those who most need them, ‘should give none of us any joy or pleasure…from any side of the chamber’.
Inequality
Inequality: Scotland’s unmet Nordic aspirations
Inequality in Scotland is on the rise. “It seems likely that more radical changes, such as significant redistribution of income, labour market reforms and major investment in deprived areas, would be needed to bring Scottish inequality close to Nordic levels.”
London-Scotland progressive axis
‘Over half (51%) of Londoners and 48% of Scots are more engaged in politics than people in the regions and Wales (35-48%)…Scotland’s current high level marks a 26% jump from 2011.’
Poverty Safari: growing up with ACEs and toxic stress
‘(McGarvey’s) aware that many on the left will see this as a cop out but he’s ready with his reply. Of course, the left must continue to argue and campaign for structural change, he tells us, but no real change can happen unless poor people begin to feel powerful in their own lives.
Advice For Our Times: art meets social service
Advice For Our Times, a pop up event at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery on Thursday 8 February, highlights gaps in advice, support and social services for people suffering adversity of many different kinds.
Failing boys at school, failing society
Nothing in education is simple. Professor Emer Smyth throws light on the complex interplay between gender and class at school and urges special investment in support for working class boys.
Liberty, equality and fraternity in Scotland’s schools
Liberty and equality are both desirable, but too much of one can lead to too little of the other. Fraternity – the value of face to face relationships of respect and affection – can help establish a fair balance along with equity. In the third extract from Working for Equality the author pleads the case for a leaving certificate of equal value for all.
Bottom-up shift in policy-making to beat inequality
Scaling up successful interventions absorbs time and energy – and money – we can ill afford. Is there a way of making social and public policy more efficient as well as more effective?” In the second extract from Working for Equality Helen Chambers urges a different, more effective approach to policy.
What we talk about when we talk about equality
In 2015 Professor Richard Freeman from the Academy of Government at Edinburgh Uni convened a group to discuss inequality. In 2017, after much further debate, all 22 participants contributed to a Postcards from Scotland book called Working for Equality: Policy, politics, people edited by Richard Freeman, Fiona McHardy and Danny Murphy. In the first of three extracts Philip Cooke reflects on the vital role of respect.
Tale of two tax reforms: Scotland v USA
‘While the Scottish government is introducing more progressive taxes, the US is in the process of passing a controversial bill which cuts tax bigly for the rich’. Jackie Kemp, now based in Boston, Mass., saees merits in both systems…