Tag: equality trust
What Nick Clegg doesn’t know about equality
by Chris on Nov.23, 2010, under economics, politics, society
- Clegg (Getty Images)
The most equal countries also have the highest social mobility
Once more following in David Cameron’s footsteps, Nick Clegg is delivering tonight’s Hugo Young memorial lecture. A preview of his speech appears in today’s Guardian, in which the Lib Dem leader suggests that increasing social mobility, not achieving income equality, should be the ultimate goal of progressives.
He writes:
Social mobility is what characterises a fair society, rather than a particular level of income equality. Inequalities become injustices when they are fixed; passed on, generation to generation. That’s when societies become closed, stratified and divided.
The problem with Clegg’s argument is that the countries with the highest levels of social mobility are those with the lowest levels of inequality. As the graph below (from the excellent book The Spirit Level) shows, countries such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Canada, where income inequality is low, have far higher levels of social mobility than the United States and the UK, where income inequality is high. This is hardly surprising: greater inequalities of outcome make it easier for rich parents to pass on their advantages to their children. Clegg’s suggestion that progressives must prioritise either social mobility or income inequality is empirically unsound.
Social mobility
The data on equality and social mobility also undermines his argument against the 50p tax rate. He attempts to characterise Ed Miliband as an “old progressive” due to his support for a permanent 50p rate. But it is no coincidence that the most equal countries in the world are also those with the highest rates of income tax. Japan, the most equal country in the world, has had a top rate of 50 per cent for many years, Sweden, the second most equal country in the world, has a top rate of 56.6 per cent. The correlation continues: Denmark has a top rate of 55.4 per cent, Norway a top rate of 47.8 per cent and Finland a top rate of 49.6 per cent.
Clegg’s refusal to acknowledge all of the above reveals either his ignorance or his disingenuity. Until he accepts that the most socially mobile societies are also the most equal, no one should take his “progressive” claims seriously.
Posted by George Eaton
See also my Injustices of Merit -Chris Horner
via New Statesman – What Nick Clegg doesn’t know about equality.
May scraps inequality duty for councils
by Chris on Nov.17, 2010, under economics, politics
Inequality in Europe: The higher the column, the more unequal the country.
The coalition Government is scrapping the public sector duty intended to close the gap between rich and poor that was contained in Labour’s Equality Act.
The socio-economic duty would have forced councils and other public bodies to consider the action they could take to cut inequalities between rich and poor in their area. It was due to be implemented in April 2011, a few months after most of the provisions contained in the Equality Act are expected to come into force.
According to an example outlined in the act, the duty might have meant that an NHS trust would target resources at deprived areas with poor health outcomes, rather than on more affluent areas with lower levels of health inequality.
Regeneration & Renewal reported in July that ministers were reviewing the socio-economic duty before deciding whether to implement it.
In a speech today at London-based development trust Coin Street Community Builders, home secretary Theresa May announced that it would be scrapped.
May said: “Equality is not just important to us as individuals. It is also essential to our wellbeing as a society. But even as we increase equality of opportunity, some people will always do better than others. That is why no government should try to ensure equal outcomes for everyone.
“Just look at the socio-economic duty. It was meant to force public authorities to take into account inequality of outcome when making decisions about their policies.
“In reality, it would have been just another bureaucratic box to be ticked. It would have meant more time filling in forms and less time focusing on policies that will make a real difference to people’s life chances.
“At its worst, it could have meant public spending permanently skewed towards certain parts of the country. Valued public services meant to benefit everyone in the community closed down in some areas and reopened in others.
“You can’t solve a problem as complex as inequality in one legal clause. You can’t make people’s lives better by simply passing a law saying that they should be made better. That was as ridiculous as it was simplistic and that is why I am announcing today that we are scrapping the socio-economic duty for good.
May added: “I want to turn around the equalities agenda and I want to change people’s perception of what the Government is trying to achieve on equality.”
A spokesman from the Home Office said that the Government has just finished a consultation on a new public sector duty to require public bodies to publish details of the gender and race of their staff, as well as the number of staff with disabilities.
A strategy document setting out the coalition’s full approach to equalities will be published in several weeks’ time, he said.
Peter Lewis, chief executive of London Voluntary Service Council, which represents council-funded voluntary bodies in London, said: “It is regrettable that the Government has decided to drop the socio-economic duty on public authorities when evidence shows how unequal London is. We are asking government at all levels to ensure London is a more equal place in five years time.”
The Equality Trust: Shameful: health gap wider than in 1930s
by Chris on Aug.03, 2010, under politics
Research published today by the British Medical Journal shows that between 1999 to 2007, for every 100 deaths before the age of 65 in the richest 10th of areas, there were 212 in the poorest 10th. This compares with 191 deaths in the poorest areas from 1921 to 1930 and 185 deaths from 1931 to 1939.
Lead researcher, Professor Danny Dorling, said the findings were a “stark reminder” of the challenge facing the nation.
“Health and wealth are directly linked and, unless we tackle the income gap, we could well see life expectancy actually starting to fall for the first time in the poorest areas.”
And so the evidence continues to mount. The government and all political parties cannot continue to tolerate this situation which is, essentially, an abuse of human rights measured in years of life lost. It is occurring in the midst of plenty and it is happening under our noses. The gap between rich and poor must be narrowed.
For more information on this report listen to Danny Dorling interviewed on the Radio 4 Today programme recently.
via Shameful: health gap wider than in 1930s | The Equality Trust.
Submitted by Bill Kerry on 23 July 2010
