‘Marx therefore helps us make sense of modern power relations after all. Then, as now, there is no contradiction between capitalism and crisis: it is a process of historical development and economic transition within the system.’
poverty
Tackling Scotland’s poverty crisis
‘When the UK government reneged on the Child Poverty Act 2010 with its goal of eradicating child poverty in the UK by 2020, Scotland dissented and set about introducing an equivalent goal for Scotland.’
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.
Adverse childhood, austerity and personal responsibility
‘Carol Craig has seen and shown how the child is father to the adult, identifying the childhood stresses that result in lifelong damage. But without substantial easing of the economic tensions that strain a household to breaking point, the requisite change isn’t coming any day soon’.
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.
Social mobility and poverty in Scotland
“It’s not an English problem any more than it’s a Scottish one, it’s a problem for us all.” Alan Milburn’s research report The Elite of Scotland revealed some uncomfortable facts of life in a nation that prides itself on fairness.
Poverty Safari and the Glasgow Effect
‘Required reading for all those engaged in the fight against poverty’, Gordon Munro reviews Darren McGarvey’s book, Poverty Safari.
Mitigating Universal Credit’s impact via Holyrood
‘The flexibilities the Scottish government is introducing to Universal Credit could prove significant in easing budgetary pressures like the ones that the individuals in my research feared’.
The cost of dignity
“Too poor to afford tampons? In all the justifiable fury of this scandal there is one crude fact. The cause of the problem is grinding poverty, and that should shame and embarrass UK 2017, one of the wealthiest countries in the world.”
No magic cure for Scotland’s stubborn health inequality
Devolution has failed to reduce Scotland’s stubborn health inequality. Norman Bonney doubts that greater powers are necessarily the answer to Scotland’s problems.