Tag Archives: United Kingdom
(1155) Grenfell
Here are two thoughtful pieces regarding the atrocious fire in a tower block in London on the 15th. We can’t help but feel that London’s economic regime, aided and abetted by public policy, produced this fire. People in authority need to go to jail.
Already there are several clear lines of responsibility leading to both government and business which indicate the fire would have been prevented had some fairly moderate things been tended to. Unfortunately, the neoliberal economic regime in the UK is a beast now quite skilled at defending itself from acquiring responsibility for disasters of every kind from questionable privatization drives to botched wars.
UK public money is available for wars in the Middle East, for surveillance programs run by intelligence agencies, and extensive agricultural subsidies. The local government body responsible for the building recently handed out a property tax rebate and is one of the wealthiest in Britain with large amounts of money on hand. Real property in London represents a vast and profitable churn of billions of pounds yearly and social housing has been a component of that for many years. Why so little for the Grenfell’s residents?
We’ll see over the next few years if eighty or more lives are enough to change things.
Christian Wolmar: tower tragedy must mark turning point for council cuts
labourlist.org
Grenfell is a shameful symbol of a state that didn’t care
theguardian.com
(755) Towers for the better
(485) Highrise hell [report]
(321) Rising high
(83) 1 Millionth Tower
(61) Flemo!
image: ChiralJon via Flickr/CC
(1013) Poverty cost to UK is massive
Surely few will argue that poverty comes cheap. Poverty is a master issue found to amplify nearly all other forms of social difficulty from tooth decay to car accidents and much worse things like cancer and house fires. Public sector finances are merely the first, strongest indicator of the cost of poverty. In the case of Great Britain this effect is captured only too well in the new report at the link below. Serious stuff. Seventy-eight billion pounds worth.
Counting the cost of UK poverty
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (92-page .pdf file)
(920) Good couple of minutes on inequality
(904) Fat Cat Tuesday
UK Big Boss Managers took until today to get paid the equivalent of a typical yearly wage for a working person.
“Fat cat tuesday” as top bosses pay overtakes workers
bbc.co.uk
Fat cat tuesday 2016
highpaycentre.org
(893) Basic income approval [RSA study]
Just as the joyful task of processing Finland’s basic income undertaking lifts off we encounter another endorphin-boosting news item on that very topic.
This one is from the UK, where things have been anything but progressive for a stupidly long time now. The Royal Society for Arts has released an initiative in support of a universal minimum income. The RSA is calling for about CAN$7500 per year with more for households that have young children.
Prestigious British think tank endorses basic income
Basic Income Earth Network (video 1:42)
image: CGP Grey via Flickr/CC
(879) Awful UK
Awful signals from Britain these days as third and fourth generation neocons keep doing what they do.
This is the day we say farewell to everything that was good about Britain
taxresearch.org
image: Willwal via Wikimedia Commons/CC
(870) Glasgow
Hundred-year arc of history in the fabric of Glasgow.
The rise and fall of Glasgow’s Red Road Flats, part 1: Glasgow housing in historical context
municipaldreams.wordpress.com
see also: (131) Boom! & http://www.redroadflats.org.uk/
image: Tom Parnell via Flickr/CC
(869) Adam Smithing it
The Adam Smith Institute: apparently even this bunch of head-bangers gets it about basic income. They stopped gazing at their Ronald Reagan bobblehead long enough recently to write a report into what a good thing it is to level the playing field for real. These guys are major right wing cowboys: they would have provided intellectual support for such things as privatizing British Rail back in the day and for putting meters on daylight, mother’s milk and friendship. The point is not to be put off basic income when somebody objects to it from the right.
Press release: reform tax credits with a Negative Income Tax, says new report
adamsmith.org
image: surfstyle via Flickr/CC
(788) UK/US comparison
US academic Alan Berube places Britain and America side-by-side in terms of their suburban poverty.
Suburban poverty in the US, in the UK
confrontingsuburbanpoverty.com
image: gavjof via Flickr/CC