Climate inequality.

#ClimateCrisis #inequality #airco #heatwave

If you're interested in the shape & extent of inequality in the UK, then you'll be wanting to spend some time examining the conclusions of the Deaton Review on Inequality that has recently concluded six years research.

I'm not going to try to summarise their conclusions but note, as they point out: 'inequalities are themselves a sign that something is not working well in the way that markets are functioning'!

The UK's economic system is dysfunctional!

#inequality
ifs.org.uk/articles/evidence-a…

In 1990 UK billionaires had wealth equivalent to 4% of GDP, now they have wealth equivalent to 22% of GDP... and have hollowed out the UK's economy where the fruits of labours effort & innovation are captured by an elite who are getting richer & richer while the rest of us are trapped in an economy that fails to provide even a basic level of wellbeing & comfort for many.

The Labour Party no longer has an answer to this, if it ever did!

#inequality #politics #wealth
equalitytrust.org.uk/news/ghos…

'A lot of working-class people, they don’t want a lot', says Martin a former miner. 'They want enough to get by & to have nicer things in life. To go on holiday & to have good food and things like that. They are not bothered about yachts and aeroplanes... They are just happy enough to get through in life with a job, a secure job to pay the mortgage & to look after their family'

And the problem is the UK *doesn't* achieve even that for many!

#inequality #politics

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

The UK's political & social-economic elites are more often educated at private school than the rest of the population....

Given, the problems the UK finds itself in (and the demand for 'change') perhaps we might wonder whether the underlying issue isn't productivity or management but rather the educational background of our political & business classes?

Perhaps that's what needs to change?

#politics #inequality #education

For more data from the Sutton Trust see:

elitistbritain.suttontrust.com

One way to be clear about the geographic wealth inequality in the UK is to look at inheritance tax receipts (remembering that only about 5% of estates pay IHT at all).

What we see is that such wealth is skewed towards London & SE England, which is no surprise but what perhaps is, is that across the London region IHT tax receipts were higher than totals for Scotland & Wales, together!

No wonder the rich were quietly backing the Farmers 'farm tax' protests!

#politics #wealth #inequality

The issue is of the 'comfortable retirement' is likely to grow as many people see it recede into a delayed end to their working lives.

But as Helen McCarthy notes at least there's no real Q. that its a right any longer, now we have try to figure out how to side-step the diversion of inter-generational conflict (pushed by some) to focus on how everyone can retire into a comfortable third age!

#retirement #workers #inequality #politics

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Latest comic: The post-human economy

#labor #work #economy #workers #inequality #comic #cartoon

If you want to understand why the problems of youth economic activity & under-employment are not really caused by young people but rather lie elsewhere, have a look at the case of the privatisation of City & Guild's that provides professional vocational training & accreditation....

This is what young people are contending with; bad faith, corruption & a general disregard for them other than as something to be milked for cash.

#workers #inequality

theguardian.com/education/2026…

As we know, workers in the UK are having difficulty with the cost of living while real wages are struggling to reach the level they were last at before the 2008 global financial crisis; many economists argue this is due to a lack of productivity growth & the general stagflation that characterises recent UK economic history....

Well I say that, but not quite all workers: in 2025 FTSE100 executives saw their pay rise (on average) by nearly a fifth;

so alright for some, eh?

#inequality
h/t FT

The Tories (and austerity) are not just bad for people's health via the engineered crisis in the NHS, but reduced the healthy lives of people in the most deprived areas to less than 50 years of 'good health'.

Its not entirely surprising but its still shocking, not least as people in the richest areas have TWENTY years more of 'good health'.

The Q. is what can be done to reverse this trend when austerity remains the policy (that cannot speaking its name)?

#NHS #health #inequality
h/t FT/ONS

You'll not be surprised that over its ten years George Osborne's 'Help to Buy' scheme disproportionally benefitted higher earners, made little impact on the affordability of housing for lower earners & its key impact was to allow young, relatively wealthy people to buy their first house a couple of years earlier; it also did little to expand supply of housing.

So the Tories' policies benefited the wealthy - ever was it thus!

#Housing #inequality #politics

h/t FT/Institute of Fiscal Affairs

We often talk of the cost of living crisis, the effects of austerity & the plight of the low paid, but seldom hear the stories of those so stricken by these processes of inequality & destitution;

so here is an interesting (depressing) piece from Ella Michalski of the Changing Realities project, offering a view from the street on that inequality & poverty.

These are the voices that are seldom heard other than in sock-puppet form from politicians.

#inequality #politics
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

As Aditya Chakrabortty points out, as we head into a worsening economic crisis prompted by the US/Israeli attack(s) on Iran, we can also be sure that not everyone in the UK will be suffering to the same extent as the crisis deepens.

As always the key structural condition to understand our plight is the UK's character as an unequal political economy with a large sector of low paid precarious work impoverishing households (even in 'good times').

#inequality #politics

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…