Welcome to the fifth 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
Beware false rebuttals
You might be aware of three critiques of The Spirit Level currently doing the rounds. On 22 July, Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson took part in a RSA debate with two of their critics.
The authors have also published detailed written responses which answer questions about their analysis and explain how the critics have got it wrong.
Did the budget pass the Fairness Test?
Before the emergency budget, The Equality Trust and One Society made a submission to the Treasury calling on the coalition government to publish a Fairness Test alongside it. The Fairness Test, examining who bears the burden of tax rises or spending cuts, is part of a joint initiative with many other charities and trade unions trying to ensure government's deficit reduction measures do not increase inequality.
Before the election, Nick Clegg signed up to the Fairness Test, but instead of looking to the richest families to address the deficit with progressive taxes, the coalition have announced measures that will hit the poorest households hardest.
Alongside The Equality Trust and One Society's Fairness Test work, the London equality group has applied the Test to the coalition agreement.
Find out more from the London equality group website.
Speaker training for local equality campaigners
In May we ran our first speaker training day, with campaigners from our Cambridge, Exeter, Glasgow, London, Newcastle and Sheffield local groups coming together to learn more about explaining The Spirit Level. In the morning the participants were taken through the main points of the evidence by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett and in the afternoon they split into groups to prepare and deliver their own presentations.
It was a very positive and enjoyable day and we'd like to thank all those who took part - for their contributions on the day and for their willingness to speak on behalf of The Equality Trust!
To be informed about future training days, contact bill.kerry@equalitytrust.org.uk
Telling the Story of Scandinavia
Steven Bland and Hacon Bickerton will soon be embarking on a thousand mile film-making cycle ride in Sweden and Norway, asking the question: What is it like to live in a more equal country?
Follow their progress and find out how you can support them at: www.exploringequality.tk
Who signed the Equality Pledge?
After the General Election we calculated how many Equality Pledge signatories won their seats:
11 Conservatives
18 Liberal Democrats (including two Cabinet Ministers & an Equality Minister)
1 Green
45 Labour
See the full list of 75 MPs and write to your new MP.
Early success for the Just Wage salary differentials movement
We are delighted to report that the Greater London Assembly has passed a motion, proposed by Darren Johnson, to limit pay ratios within the GLA and associated bodies to 1:20 – with a long term goal of reducing them to 1:10.
This is an early victory for the fledgling Just Wage salary differentials movement, which has One Society at its centre. Watch this space for further developments.
Supporter Conference: 30th October
Our first Supporter Conference will take place on Saturday 30th October in London. It will be a fun and interactive day with workshops providing an opportunity to learn more about our work, develop new skills, meet other equality campaigners and help us shape the campaign.
Entry is free and open to:
- members of our supporter programme
- those involved in a local equality group
If you do not yet fall into one of these categories but would like to attend, you can sign up now. By joining us for as little as £1 per month, you can ensure you receive your invitation when they are sent out in September.
The Spirit Level wins Bristol book prize
Congratulations to Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett! In May The Spirit Level was awarded the Bristol Festival of Ideas prize for the best book which is “engaging, accessible and rigorously argued” and presents “new, important and challenging ideas”. The judges commented that the book should "be key in future policy making."
In her acceptance speech, Kate Pickett thanked everyone who has bought, read and
recommended the book – and in particular those who have gone on to support The Equality Trust in some way.
Join The Equality Trust as a Research Fellow
We are currently inviting applicants for a one-year Research Fellowship. The closing date for applications is 3rd September and full details are available here.
Mind the income gap – Peter Robbins reports on equality campaigning in London
A fifteen minute bus ride through the inner boroughs of London can take you from roads full of £30 million palaces, occupied for just a few months a year by their globe-trotting owners, to grim sink estates with a reputation for crime, poverty and dilapidation where 10,000 residents are crammed into tiny apartments. Such inequality across the country gives rise to the problems identified so clearly in The Spirit Level.
The London Equality Group was established last Autumn and we now have 90 members who have loads of enthusiasm and all the right skills and experience needed to find the most effective ways of getting our message across. It may seem obvious to those of us who have read the book that many of the ills of our city could be radically improved by closing the yawning gap between rich and poor – but how do we convince everybody else?
We decided to use the Equality Pledge as a tool to reach our politicians. We contacted all 295 general election candidates for London seats. Of these 175 signed the pledge and 39 of them are now MPs. We now have a very active sub-group
examining every policy of the new coalition government. Our next move is to work with our pledged MPs to put pressure on the new government every time they fail to do something that will reduce inequality.
To emphasise the point that we must extend our efforts beyond the Westminster Village, we have a Social Movement sub-group working on getting the message over to the many sympathetic organisations in London and the wider public. The difficulties may seem daunting but public exasperation with the current system hasn't been
so high for decades. We are finding a ready audience for the evidence we have for a rational alternative.
Find out more from: londonequality.org.uk
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