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Inequality


AngryOfTuebrook
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As,most likely,does every major supermarket. Asda,Tesco,Morrisons,Sainsburys,etc. The disconnect is unbelievable.

 

That's the modern face of philanthropy though, it's just another brand of marketing. How many givers are anonymous? Other than George Michael?

 

Our place used to sponsor an obscure charity them dropped it for a big one because it's more showbiz.

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I know the article doesn't tell you anything that you don't know but nevertheless Labour should be hammering stuff like this home all the time.....

 

 

 

UK ‘most unequal nation in Europe’  
  • i Newspaper
  • 17 May 2017
  • By Richard Vaughan EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT

The UK is the most unequal nation in Europe educationally and economically, according to research by a leading Oxford academic.

Social mobility has gone into reverse in Britain, with a child’s place of birth increasingly dictating their life chances, the study by Professor Danny Dorling reveals.

It shows a straight-A student from the south of England is more than twice as likely to be accepted to Oxford University as a student with the same grades from the North.

In the north of England and much of Wales, fewer than 5 per cent of applicants with straight As win a place at the university, compared with more than 10 per cent in areas of the south of England. The study also shows that how much a child’s parents earn is a key factor when it comes to their life chances.

Speaking ahead of a conference held by social mobility charity The Bridge Group, Prof Dorling said: “Both economically, in terms of incomes, and educationally, in terms of opportunities, the UK is now the most unequal country in Europe.

“Reducing inequalities requires a commitment, not just from the education sector, but across the board.”

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My local Tesco has a big donation bin for the foodbank, right next to a bank of unmanned tills. What's wrong with that picture.

 

I've stopped using them.  The Lidl on London road has put them in and when I go in on the morning I ask one of the staff to man a proper till, even if I'm only buying my usual bottle of 17p water and a banana.  They're always obliging and look made up if I'm honest.

 

The one time recently I didn't I left £8 of change in the fucking self serv

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  • 2 months later...

Here's a modest proposal to help break the cycle of inequality and "the terrifying mediocrity of our establishment" - quotas of people from public schools in the top jobs.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/07/restrict-privately-educated-britains-elite-quota?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

 

Despite just 7% of the population attending private school, they make up nearly one-third of MPs. This is supposed to be seen as a good thing, because it’s down from nearly half in 1979. In the judiciary, the situation is even worse, with around three-quarters of top judges having gone to private school. In journalism, things are going backwards, with more journalists now coming from private schools than in 1987 (51% compared to 49%). This is what sociologists call “elite self-reproduction” – the practice of privileged individuals ensuring that privilege is passed on to their children using social infrastructure.

 

So here’s a solution: instead of collectively rolling our eyes every time a new report on these statistics comes out, let’s introduce quotas. If 7% of the population goes to private school, then it seems only fair that 7% of Britain’s elite jobs should go to privately educated individuals. This would include chief executives, barristers, journalists, judges, medical professionals and MPs. The rest of these jobs should be divided between comprehensive and grammar school alumni in a ratio that reflects the numbers educated in each... 

 

There is a bizarre belief held by many that success in Britain correlates to intelligence and hard work. This is a very middle-class concept. What the upper class understands is that success stems from two things: confidence – or, at least, the appearance of confidence – and community. And they are the purpose of public school...

 

“Children from better-off families are effectively able to hoard the best opportunities in the labour market”, in part because they have “more social and emotional skills” and “a greater chance of attending a grammar or private fee-paying school”.

 

At its worst, this system is nothing more than a racket to keep the wealthy at the top, and recent political goings on in Britain are an indication of how damaging it has been to the country’s social fabric. In fact, a 2015 study by Cambridge University found that state school pupils perform better at university than their privately educated counterparts. If there’s no evidence to show privately educated students are more academically gifted, we need to ask why so much state school talent is absent from the most important roles that shape our society...

 

Instead of favouring candidates for top jobs from just 7% of people, quotas would widen the applicant pool to include everyone, and that would mean those who take up these jobs would not just be reflective of the nation as a whole but of a higher calibre too.

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Here's a modest proposal to help break the cycle of inequality and "the terrifying mediocrity of our establishment" - quotas of people from public schools in the top jobs.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/07/restrict-privately-educated-britains-elite-quota?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Despite just 7% of the population attending private school, they make up nearly one-third of MPs. This is supposed to be seen as a good thing, because it’s down from nearly half in 1979. In the judiciary, the situation is even worse, with around three-quarters of top judges having gone to private school. In journalism, things are going backwards, with more journalists now coming from private schools than in 1987 (51% compared to 49%). This is what sociologists call “elite self-reproduction” – the practice of privileged individuals ensuring that privilege is passed on to their children using social infrastructure.

So here’s a solution: instead of collectively rolling our eyes every time a new report on these statistics comes out, let’s introduce quotas. If 7% of the population goes to private school, then it seems only fair that 7% of Britain’s elite jobs should go to privately educated individuals. This would include chief executives, barristers, journalists, judges, medical professionals and MPs. The rest of these jobs should be divided between comprehensive and grammar school alumni in a ratio that reflects the numbers educated in each...

There is a bizarre belief held by many that success in Britain correlates to intelligence and hard work. This is a very middle-class concept. What the upper class understands is that success stems from two things: confidence – or, at least, the appearance of confidence – and community. And they are the purpose of public school...

“Children from better-off families are effectively able to hoard the best opportunities in the labour market”, in part because they have “more social and emotional skills” and “a greater chance of attending a grammar or private fee-paying school”.

At its worst, this system is nothing more than a racket to keep the wealthy at the top, and recent political goings on in Britain are an indication of how damaging it has been to the country’s social fabric. In fact, a 2015 study by Cambridge University found that state school pupils perform better at university than their privately educated counterparts. If there’s no evidence to show privately educated students are more academically gifted, we need to ask why so much state school talent is absent from the most important roles that shape our society...

Instead of favouring candidates for top jobs from just 7% of people, quotas would widen the applicant pool to include everyone, and that would mean those who take up these jobs would not just be reflective of the nation as a whole but of a higher calibre too.

A policy that would decimate the Guardian.

 

Equality of opportunity not outcome.

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Here's a modest proposal to help break the cycle of inequality and "the terrifying mediocrity of our establishment" - quotas of people from public schools in the top jobs.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/07/restrict-privately-educated-britains-elite-quota?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Despite just 7% of the population attending private school, they make up nearly one-third of MPs. This is supposed to be seen as a good thing, because it’s down from nearly half in 1979. In the judiciary, the situation is even worse, with around three-quarters of top judges having gone to private school. In journalism, things are going backwards, with more journalists now coming from private schools than in 1987 (51% compared to 49%). This is what sociologists call “elite self-reproduction” – the practice of privileged individuals ensuring that privilege is passed on to their children using social infrastructure.

So here’s a solution: instead of collectively rolling our eyes every time a new report on these statistics comes out, let’s introduce quotas. If 7% of the population goes to private school, then it seems only fair that 7% of Britain’s elite jobs should go to privately educated individuals. This would include chief executives, barristers, journalists, judges, medical professionals and MPs. The rest of these jobs should be divided between comprehensive and grammar school alumni in a ratio that reflects the numbers educated in each...

There is a bizarre belief held by many that success in Britain correlates to intelligence and hard work. This is a very middle-class concept. What the upper class understands is that success stems from two things: confidence – or, at least, the appearance of confidence – and community. And they are the purpose of public school...

“Children from better-off families are effectively able to hoard the best opportunities in the labour market”, in part because they have “more social and emotional skills” and “a greater chance of attending a grammar or private fee-paying school”.

At its worst, this system is nothing more than a racket to keep the wealthy at the top, and recent political goings on in Britain are an indication of how damaging it has been to the country’s social fabric. In fact, a 2015 study by Cambridge University found that state school pupils perform better at university than their privately educated counterparts. If there’s no evidence to show privately educated students are more academically gifted, we need to ask why so much state school talent is absent from the most important roles that shape our society...

Instead of favouring candidates for top jobs from just 7% of people, quotas would widen the applicant pool to include everyone, and that would mean those who take up these jobs would not just be reflective of the nation as a whole but of a higher calibre too.

A policy that would decimate the Guardian.

 

Equality of opportunity not outcome.

 

George Monbiot, Stowe School

Polly Toynbee, Badminton School

Andrew Rawnsley, Rugby School

Jonathan Freedland, University College School

Zoe Williams, Godolphin and Latymer Girls School

Tanya Gold, Kingston Grammar School (Independent)

Marina Hyde, Downe House for Girls

Bidisha Bandyopadhyay, Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls

Peter Bradshaw, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School

David Mitchell, Abingdon School

Timothy Garton-Ash, Sherborne School

John Hooper, St Benedict’s School

Sam Leith, Eton College

Peter Preston, Loughborough Grammar School (Independent)

Simon Jenkins, Mill Hill School

Richard Norton-Taylor, Kings School, Canterbury

Clare Armitstead, Bedales

Ben Goldacre, Magdalen College School

Martin Wainwright, Shrewsbury School

Victoria Coren, various independent schools

Hadley Freeman, “boarding school in Cambridge”

Matthew d’Ancona, St Dunstan’s College

Former Editor Alan Rusbridger and occasional contributor, Cranleigh School

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Regardless, I don't think someone's life choices should be stymied by the choice their parents made over their education. This applies whether you attended a private fee-paying school like Jeremy Corbyn, or a state school like Vince Cable.

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Regardless, I don't think someone's life choices should be stymied by the choice their parents made over their education. This applies whether you attended a private fee-paying school like Jeremy Corbyn, or a state school like Vince Cable.

It's not about those tragically-oppressed rich people having their life choices stymied.  It's about rebalancing a system that's rigged so that the 93% of us whose parents aren't wealthy enough to send their kids to private schools should get an equal chance to get one of the top jobs on merit.  

 

The current system is a bit like athletics, with the alumni of private schools being the drug cheats: everyone else has a chance to win a medal, but they're competing against people who have been given unfair advantages, unrelated to their ability.

 

I'm not convinced by the idea of quotas, but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.  It's clear, for example, that the current routes into Parliament do not result in effective and representative democracy, so something's got to change.  Some sort of quota system would be one idea worth considering.  There may be others.

 

(Also, it's a political issue, but not a party political one, so the irrelevant but predictable bit of anti-Corbyn WUMmery just makes you look a tad obsessed.)

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Regardless, I don't think someone's life choices should be stymied by the choice their parents made over their education. This applies whether you attended a private fee-paying school like Jeremy Corbyn, or a state school like Vince Cable.

This seems the outlier here as its the privately educated gentleman who seems to have empathy with the great unwashed,while the man from the great unwashed doesn't care for them much.

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Total UK wealth tops £10 trillion.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/aug/08/total-uk-wealth-city-property-homes-inequality-saving?CMP=twt_gu

 

(To try to get a trillion into perspective, a million seconds is about 11 days; a trillion seconds is about 31,000 years.)

 

Lloyds Bank’s private banking arm said total household wealth in the UK increased by £892bn last year – with the property and financial markets each responsible for half the rise.

 

In other news, rough sleeping has increased for six consecutive years.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/25/number-of-rough-sleepers-in-england-rises-for-sixth-successive-year

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It's all about the elephant chart isn't it?

 

FT_COTW124.png

 

The developing middle classes (in Asia particularly) are seeing their income grow nicely.

The poorest of the poor are still fucked, and the working and middle classes in developed countries are getting shafted by globalisation and the failure of governments to manage the economic change.

The top 1% are doing mighty fine.

 

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(Also, it's a political issue, but not a party political one, so the irrelevant but predictable bit of anti-Corbyn WUMmery just makes you look a tad obsessed.)

 

It's not WUMmery, it's important to the point I'm making, about how ludicrous it would be to judge someone by where their parents sent them to school.

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It's not WUMmery, it's important to the point I'm making, about how ludicrous it would be to judge someone by where their parents sent them to school.

That is exactly what happens now.

 

George Osborne didn't get where he is because he is a naturally gifted MP, economist, after-dinner speaker, fund manager and journalist.  He got where he is because he has had all the necessary connections throughout his life, starting at school.  If, instead of going to St Paul's, he'd gone to St Scumbag's Comp, do really think his talents would have carried him through to where he is now?

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AngryofTuebrook, on 08 Aug 2017 - 10:40 AM, said:

 

That is exactly what happens now.

 

George Osborne didn't get where he is because he is a naturally gifted MP, economist, after-dinner speaker, fund manager and journalist. He got where he is because he has had all the necessary connections throughout his life, starting at school. If, instead of going to St Paul's, he'd gone to St Scumbag's Comp, do really think his talents would have carried him through to where he is now?

There's a reasonable chance he would have, because his parents and family would have been the same.

I think the school thing is a bit of a red herring - connections are obviously made there, sometimes between parents having a natter at a council meeting, and private schools definitely go out of their way to create an old school ties culture. However it is more of an indicator of the wider "who you know" environment than the cause of it.

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