Equality Trust News

Act Local = Reduce the Gap: ask your local council to help reduce inequality

Kathryn Busby — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:40:39 +0000

Find out more about our new campaign: Act Local = Reduce the Gap

Policies for a more equal UK: One Society

Kathryn Busby — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:54:47 +0000

Visit the website of One Society which works in partnership with The Equality Trust.

One Society works with policy-makers, employers and other decision-makers and influencers who have significant power to affect rates of income inequality.

Find out about their policy proposals for a more equal society.

Among Equals: read our newsletter

Kathryn Busby — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:32:20 +0000

Read the latest edition of our supporter newsletter

Traduction des preuves en français

Kathryn Busby — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:32:22 +0000

Les preuves en français

Une synthèse de « The Spirit Level »

Preuves à l’appui : une introduction

Preuves à l’appui : la santé physique

Preuves à l’appui : la santé mentale

Preuves à l’appui : la toxicomanie

Preuves à l’appui : l’éducation

Preuves à l’appui : la population carcérale

Preuves à l'appui : l'obésité

Preuves à l'appui : la mobilité sociale

Preuves à l'appui : la confiance et la vie au sein de la communauté

Preuves à l’appui : la violence

Preuves à l’appui : grossesses chez les adolescentes

Preuves à l’appui : le bien-être des enfants

Preuves à l’appui : L’égalité plutôt que la croissance

Preuves à l’appui : Pays pauvres et pays riches

Preuves à l’appui : Égalité et réchauffement climatique

Traduction en cours. D'autres articles seront bientôt affichés.

Merci de votre patience !

Vidéo : Pourquoi les pauvres meurent plus vite que les riches ?

Grande-Bretagne : Les Racines Du Mal (Humanité Dimanche août 2011)
1ère partie 2ème partie 3ème partie

Foire aux questions

Response to criticism of The Spirit Level

Kathryn Busby — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:47:56 +0000

Find our full response to criticism of The Spirit Level here.

Action for Happiness

Kathryn Busby — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:46:52 +0000

Action for Happiness is a new movement for positive social change, founded by Richard Layard, Geoff Mulgan and Anthony Seldon.

They aim to bring together people from all walks of life who want to play a part in creating a happier society for everyone.

Their vision of a better future includes:

Families that are loving, stable and well equipped to raise happy children
An education system which helps develop emotional balance and resilience
People giving time and energy to be actively involved in their communities
A healthier society with less mental illness and addiction
People leading balanced lives which allow them to spend quality time with their families, friends and communities
Employers creating positive working environments and having happy staff
Higher levels of trust and equality; lower levels of crime
People finding inner peace and contentment
Government policy realigned to measure and prioritise wellbeing

Find out more...

The Wrong Cure - alternatives to the cuts

Kathryn Busby — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:46:42 +0000

The False Economy website is an excellent and still-developing resource exploring the alternatives to cuts. False Economy includes:

a discussion of why the cuts are not progressive
details of campaign actions
a comprehensive further reading list

... and this short film

[youtube:ynUCYohPsbE]

VAT rise would hit the poorest

Bill Kerry — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:23:26 +0000

Bill Wilson's VAT motion to the Scottish Parliament reads as follows:

That the Parliament notes the warning issued by Save the Children in Scotland that raising VAT to 20% could mean a £31 a week bill for the poorest families in Scotland and that the poorest 10% of the population currently spend 14% of their disposable income on VAT, compared with only 5% for the richest, and calls on the UK Government not to raise VAT but to adopt progressive rather than regressive taxation policies and do all in its power to eliminate tax evasion and tax avoidance by the wealthy.

Excessive pay and bonuses in public sector under scrutiny

Bill Kerry — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:12:52 +0000

Daily Telegraph reports on bold moves in the public sector. But what about the private sector which originated the "crazy" bonus system and still leads the way on excessive top pay...?

Splendid: government targets second homes

Bill Kerry — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:46:02 +0000

As reported in today's Daily Telegraph, proposed hike in capital gains tax aims to part-fund increase in tax allowances for those on lower incomes. David Cameron describes second homes as "not .... necessarily splendid" for the economy.

Why we need a Fairness Test of the cuts

Kathryn Busby — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:57:01 +0000

A group of charities, including the Equality Trust, Child Poverty Action Group, Barnardo's and the TUC are asking the coalition government to commit to a Fairness Test on any tax rises or spending cuts they introduce.

Full details...

LATEST* The Equality Trust in the News

Kathryn Busby — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:07:37 +0000

Please visit our new Media section for the latest details.

Inequality: a threat to social cohesion

Bill Kerry — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:41:24 +0000

As Edmund Conway comments in today's Daily Telegraph:

"It is not merely, as Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett point out in their book The Spirit Level, that this damages health and encourages crime; in times of austerity, inequality can tear apart the social fabric."

Labour is running up a down escalator to tackle inequality

Kathryn Busby — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:38:42 +0000

Tackling society's inequalities is what Labour governments are supposed to be about, and this one has quietly redistributed billions worth of tax since 1997, much of it paid by those fatcat bankers, to alleviate the plight of the poorest.

How much has it got to show for it?

Read Michael White's Guardian article

The five-star lifestyle: "horrible, soulless and without feeling"

Bill Kerry — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:15:14 +0000

Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder is giving away every penny of his £3 million fortune after realising his riches were making him unhappy. Read more here...

Lynda Gratton: The business case for greater income equality

Kathryn Busby — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:08:33 +0000

Read Lynda Gratton in the Financial Times

[Wilkinson and Pickett's] argument is that societies which are very unequal have all sorts of problems, and I have a feeling that the same is true for companies,” she says. “I think one has to be very careful about what you pay people ... We’ve put far too much emphasis on remuneration and not enough emphasis on, for example, designing jobs that people find interesting, the creation of autonomy, all the things that we know make for interesting work ... There’s a huge emphasis on who gets paid what, and that, in a sense, is the fuel of the consumer society, and I think we’re beginning to realise how dangerous that can be.

Broken Britain due to Broken Families?

Kathryn Busby — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:30:56 +0000

Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson on Comment is Free

Comment Is Free: Inequality harms all of us

Kathryn Busby — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:50:19 +0000

Lesley Riddoch writes that it's not only the poorest who suffer from inequality – in an equal society, fulfilment and health improve for everyone.

Read her article on Comment is Free

Unequal Britain

Kathryn Busby — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:14:05 +0000

Richest 10% now 100 times better off than the poorest.

Read the Guardian report

See the data behind the story

Read other news coverage