This Summer could be the busiest ever for UK food-banks, according to the Trussell Trust , the largest provider. Between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019, the Trussell Trust’s food bank network distributed 1.6 million three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis, a 19% increase on the previous year. More than half a […]
The publication date for 99%, which was originally 29 August with pre-ordering from 8th, has been brought forward to 8 August. So the book should be in the shops in just under three weeks’ time. I have just received my first advance copies, and it is looking very good. All authors know the feeling: after […]
The problem of millennials struggling to become home owners has been widely documented. But the long-term implications of this have not often been explored. A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on housing and care for older people suggests that, in the words of Richard Best, the group’s chairman, “The number of households in the […]
99% argues that, to avoid mass impoverishment, we need not only to grow the economic pie but also to share it fairly. And it is clear that, with a shrinking pie, ending mass impoverishment will not be possible – redistribution could only provide a short-term relief. If the pie shrinks, we shall have no choice […]
A new report in The Guardian suggests that the freeze (real terms cut) in housing benefit is having the effect of making large parts of London and Manchester out of bounds. Britain’s housing crisis has hit a new low with not one of the single rooms available for private rent in large parts of London […]
Not for the first time, we can see that concern about mass impoverishment reaches all strata of society, including the wealthiest. In an open letter to the 2020 presidential candidates they make the important point that, “The next dollar of new tax revenue should come from the most financially fortunate, not from middle-income and lower-income […]
A study by McKinsey & Co presented at the World Economic Forum in 2017 explains that for much of the past 70 years, nearly all households in advanced economies saw their incomes increase. Between 1993 and 2005, 98% of households in 25 advanced economies experienced rising real incomes. Many of us took it for granted […]
The book 99%: Mass Impoverishment and How We Can End It will be published in late summer by Head of Zeus. It is available for pre-order from 8th August. The book describes the process of mass impoverishment which has taken hold in the US and the UK (as well as some other countries) and shows […]
Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, produced his final report on the state of the UK. He commented, “The UK is the world’s fifth largest economy, it contains many areas of immense wealth… The results? 14 million people, a fifth of the population, live in poverty. Four million of […]
