We have the ideas for change It is now more than three years since Rethinking Poverty began to compile resources to support the development of a good society without... Read More
Compass last week published a paper Towards a Good Society, written by Ruth Lister, Labour peer and the outgoing chair of the Compass board. Cries of ‘we cannot go... Read More
The current national and global crisis in which we find ourselves has exposed the myth that a society based upon individualism can work, flourish and be sustainable. We can... Read More
‘To take a rational political decision one must have a picture of the future’ (George Orwell, 1944) The Orwell Youth Prize, supported by Rethinking Poverty, has launched its 2020... Read More
A new report from Carnegie UK, Public policy and the infrastructure of kindness in Scotland, explores the decision to put kindness at the centre of the Scottish National Performance... Read More
“The Wigan Deal” beats austerity by putting unique human relationships at the core. Does it anticipate a more radical future too? This affecting, even moving video above comes... Read More
As part of its Manifesto for Social Care Reform, the Centre Welfare Reform proposes a radical reinvention of social services and the reintegration and refocusing of social work on... Read More
This month’s Talking Points ranges widely from US companies’ new professed purpose of improving our society to a change of direction at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, ideas for transforming public... Read More
The Children’s Society annual report, The Good Childhood Report, published this week, has found a significant decrease in children’s overall happiness. The report, now in its eighth year, is part... Read More
This article is based on a talk to the Voluntary Action History Society on 10 June 2019. Arthur Marwick said that a society without an understanding of its history... Read More
The unseen driver of our troubles causes no pain. But it is quietly destroying you and me. What is it? We reckon that most of you will have thought... Read More
What follows is the text of a speech given by Barry Knight at a conference of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) on 12 June 2019. The speech... Read More
Last year was a bad year for anti-poverty campaigners. Poverty rose significantly and yet the government summarily dismissed reports from the UN and JRF. If we are to produce... Read More
Current discussion of a good society takes place in a period of profound global change, and there is no agreement about what a good society would look like. In... Read More
Rethinking Poverty advocates a move away from ‘top-down approaches drawing on the views of professional experts’ such as the bottom-up approach 45 Degree Change and actually hearing from the communities... Read More
What would a good society look like and how can we achieve it? As described in yesterday’s blog, a small group of people got together in Letchworth Garden City... Read More
Barry Knight’s book Rethinking Poverty:What makes a good society? was published last September, eliciting a wide range of responses, published on the Rethinking Poverty blog. Barry’s new paper, summarised... Read More
Barry Knight, and others, are right to move beyond the word ‘poverty’. It is a loaded term and people carry so many preconceptions into any conversation on poverty that... Read More
For too long we have either turned a blind eye to poverty and disadvantage or hoped that a general rising tide of economic wealth would trickle down. The... Read More