Welcome to the first issue of Among Equals the quarterly campaign update from The Equality Trust. Please support our campaign by printing a few copies to distribute.

A PDF version of this newsletter is available here to download and print

Campaign update

The publication in March of The Spirit Level: Why more equal societies almost always do better prompted intense public and media interest in the impact of inequality on our society's health, happiness and sustainability.

We received coverage in over a hundred articles and blogs, and authors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have already spoken at dozens of meetings, lectures, seminars and conferences across the country.

Hundreds of equality activists have been raising the issues with their MPs and local newspapers, arranging public meetings and blogging about the benefits of greater equality. If you have not yet written to your MP asking them to urge Harriet Harman to put income equality at the heart of government policy, please do so.

We have already started to see the inclusion of income equality in political thinking - our evidence was cited in a House of Lords debate and the Government's press release for their new Equality Bill referenced The Spirit Level.

Over the next few months, we will be holding fringe events at the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green Party conferences and at the TUC Congress. Our new report Equality and Sustainability will be published by the London Sustainable Development Commission this summer and will be marked by a conference in the autumn.

Support our campaign for Economic Democracy

The Equality Trust believes that Economic Democracy is essential to equality as it brings pay differentials under democratic control. We are currently gathering information and feedback about democratic employee ownership and producer and consumer co-operatives and are keen to hear from anyone with new ideas or research. Please visit the Economic Democracy section of our website for further details.

One of the things you can do right now to support this campaign is to change your telecoms provider to the Phone Coop. Quote The Equality Trust when you do so and we will receive a donation of 6% of your future bills. Read more...

Blogs – get the RSS feed

We will be sending out these newsletters quarterly, but to receive more frequent updates about the campaign, please subscribe to our Blog.

Local groups & facebook

We are delighted to report that local equality groups are springing up in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Sheffield, organised by supporters of The Equality Trust who are interested in taking action in their local area. If you live in one of these cities and would like to be put in touch with other equality campaigners, or if you live elsewhere and are interested in setting up a group of your own, please contact kathryn.busby@equalitytrust.org.uk

One of the best ways of finding other people in your area for joint campaigning is through our facebook group. We already have more than 700 members, please come and join the discussion!

Support us with a donation

As an independent, not-for-profit organisation, our work depends on generous donations from individuals and trusts which share our vision.

A grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust allowed us to employ our first paid member of staff earlier this year, and donations made since our launch are enabling us to join the Climate Clinic at the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences - huge thanks to everyone who has contributed.

As mentioned earlier, we will also be holding other fringe events at the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green Party Conferences. Please consider making a donation towards the cost of running and promoting these events, to ensure we can make the most of the political campaigning opportunities.

You can make a credit or debit card donation here, or alternatively, set up a monthly standing order. Giving a few pounds each month makes a huge difference to our work, in particular because giving regularly allows us to plan future campaigning activities.

Coming soon: lecture on film

Coming soon to our website, Inequality: the enemy between us? is a lecture filmed and produced by Media Education.

In the hour-long film, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett present their evidence that more equal societies do better. This lecture is also available on DVD and copies are available to order here.

Presentation slides

Also available to download from our website, presentation slides showing 36 of the more important graphs shown on this web site and/or published in The Spirit Level.

We hope you will use them in talks, lectures or discussion groups to help increase people's understanding of the effects of inequality.

Volunteer at the Climate Clinic

The Climate Clinic is a forum where party leaders, ministers, renowned scientists, opinion formers, environmentalists, low-carbon associations, business leaders and the public come together to debate the issues, spotlight the solutions and press for urgent action and vigorous political leadership.

The Equality Trust is delighted to be involved with this year's Climate Clinic at the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences, and if you could give some time to help out we would love to hear from you. Volunteer tasks will involve staffing reception, running the cafe, distributing leaflets, stewarding, clearing up after events and assisting the crew.

The Climate Clinic is able to refund up to £10 per day travel expenses on production of a receipt plus £10 per day for food (no receipt needed). They will also provide each volunteer with a Climate Clinic t-shirt to wear.

The dates for your diary are:

• Lib Dems, Bournemouth: 19th-23rd September
• Labour, Hove: 27th September - 1st October
• Conservatives, Manchester: 5th-8th October

Please contact kathryn.busby@equalitytrust.org.uk if you are interested in volunteering.