chart poverty rates 1

Posted on 07 Jun 2021 Categories: Related Tags:

Rethinking the roots of poverty

As we approach the general election on 4 July, I am struck by how little politicians are talking about the underlying structural problems of our society. Unless we address... Read More

Come dancing with systems

A low ebb Those of us working for social justice and human rights have faced strong headwinds in recent decades. A world obsessed with economic growth has led to... Read More

Developing a shared framework for a hopeful future

In November 2021, a group of ten people gathered together in Letchworth Garden City for two days of conversation. We began with a clear sense of our collective failure... Read More

Steps towards a better world

Written at the outset of the pandemic, #BuildBackBetter showed how being forced to slow down had made people want a different future. Having a profound sense of vulnerability made... Read More

Wellbeing: how living well together works for the common good

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes mental health as “a state of wellbeing in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life,... Read More

Rethinking Poverty: what needs to change?

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

Facing the Shadow Within Ourselves to #BuildBackBetter

To follow up his article, #BuildBackBetter, Barry Knight is researching practical ways to make this happen. In the first of a series of articles, he examines the role of... Read More

Orwell Youth Prize winners revelead: 1200 young people write on the future they want (and reveal the future they fear)

Reports from the collective frontline of being young in lockdown In the acres of Covid coverage, young people’s future has been a political weapon for every side – school,... Read More

#BuildBackBetter

What does it mean to ‘build back better?’ Coronavirus has changed our world forever. Plans made a few weeks ago seem outdated at best or undoable at worst. The... Read More

Will individualism survive the Coronavirus?

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

‘Sorry we missed you’ reveals the sorry state of our society

‘I feel in complete shock. At the end I thought my heart had stopped.’ So read a text sent by a friend of mine as she left the cinema... Read More

The society we want: next steps for Rethinking Poverty

What is the society we want? There is widespread agreement across the political spectrum that capitalism is in crisis and we need a new way of doing things. ‘Read the... Read More

Tyne & Wear Citizens launches listening campaign

In December 2018, Barry Knight attended Tyne & Wear Citizens AGM, describing it as the ‘most remarkable meeting he had ever attended’. A year later, he attended the 2019... Read More

Our ‘turn around’ towns are re-imagining the future

What will our towns be like in ten years’ time? And how about in 100 years? As we begin a decade that will bring significant change to the UK,... Read More

The #hullwewant goes to Russia

What does Hull, a city on the eastern seaboard of England, have in common with provincial cities in Russia? Answer: not only have they been left behind by economic... Read More

Talking Points: November 2019

This month’s Talking Points focuses on the way our economy works: the role of business in society, Wales’s ground-breaking Foundational Economy model, and the primacy of the local, for... Read More

A stitch in time saves nine: Learning from Blackpool

Important lessons emerged from a one-day conference ‘Transforming Blackpool together: how evidence is changing our town’, held at the Blackpool Winter Gardens on 14 November. Frank Oberklaid, a paediatrician... Read More

CLES manifesto sets out how the next government can truly serve people, places and planet

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) has launched ‘The manifesto for local economies’, setting out a vision for ‘how the next government should create local economies that serve... Read More

Breaking From Tradition – Why We Must Embrace The National Performance Framework

To coincide with the 10 year anniversary of the publication of the Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, the Carnegie UK Trust... Read More

Talking Points: October 2019

This month’s Talking Points looks at a variety of ideas for improving people’s lives – from good architecture to kindness and a newly woven social fabric. We also look... Read More

The Green New Deal: can we afford NOT to pay for it?

On the 4 November, economist Ann Pettifor was speaking at the London School of Economics. ‘The Case for the Green New Deal’ was the title of her fascinating talk,... Read More

Put people at the heart of the green transition, argue IPPR and WWF

The IPPR and WWF have published a collection of essays, Putting people at the heart of the green transition, which sets out what ‘a Green New Deal (GND) could... Read More

Webinars explore 45° Change: Where bottom up meets top down

The upcoming “Pathways to Power” Symposium aims to take discussions around #ShiftThePower to the next stage by developing strategies to make the idea a reality. One promising approach is... Read More

Shifting the fundamentals

The world of work is changing. The work of the Changing Work Centre and the Commission on Workers and Technology demonstrates that. For many that brings a sense of... Read More

How can public policy support an ‘infrastructure of kindness’ in Scotland?

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

Does “The Wigan Deal” anticipate a more radical future?

“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

How community businesses can help build an inclusive economy

A new report from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) and Power to Change, Building an inclusive economy through community business, ‘explores how community businesses can support the... Read More

Our future depends on co-operation

It is a time of great distraction. Our plans to leave the European Union are burning, our government is fiddling with its leadership and, while it makes for news... Read More

Rewilding a key pillar in our fight against global heating

Green New Deal for Nature, by Simon Lewis, of University College London and University of Leeds, forms part of Common Wealth’s Green New Deal (GND) series. The report advocates... Read More

Too little, too late? Reflections on the 20 September climate strike

The introductory statement to the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019 makes chilling reading, though it insists that there are still solutions available: ‘The last four years... Read More

Shifting ownership to avoid climate catastrophe

Johanna Bozuwa and Carla Skandier of Democracy Collaborative have contributed to Common Wealth’s series on the Green New Deal with their piece, Shifting Ownership for the Energy Transition in... Read More

45° Change shows the way

The core premise of Neal Lawson’s ‘45° Change’ is that the post-1945 welfare state approach to dealing with societal challenges has broken down. The neoliberal, market-driven system that has... Read More

How Community Wealth Building can help the Green New Deal

Last month we announced the launch of Common Wealth’s Green New Deal project, a series of reports that will aim to serve as a ‘comprehensive road map for a... Read More

Report advocates shorter working hours for improved well-being

A new report, How to achieve shorter working hours, commissioned by the Labour Party and written by Lord Skidelsky, was published last week. It argues that ‘a reduction in... Read More

Reinventing social services

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

We need to transform our institutions to deliver a Green New Deal

Common Wealth have published another report in their Green New Deal series, this time looking at political movements and institutions. Written by Miatta Fahnbulleh of the New Economics Foundation,... Read More

CLES on a new paradigm for regeneration

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) have published the second provocation in their new series, ‘CLES on… regeneration’, arguing regeneration needs recalibration ‘in order to root the development... Read More

Publicly owned energy for a Green New Deal

Common Wealth have recently published the report Why We Need Publicly Owned Energy for a Green New Deal. Written by Cat Hobbs, founder and director of We Own It,... Read More

CLES on achieving genuine progressive devolution

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) have launched a new series of provocations, ‘CLES on…’, drawing on their thirty years’ experience of ‘working to develop stronger local economics... Read More

Road Map to a Green New Deal: From Extraction to Stewardship

Executive summary Tinkering at the margins of an economic model driving environmental breakdown is guaranteed to deepen the climate emergency. To thrive, only a systemic response to a systems... Read More

How ‘meanwhile use’ is opening doors in declining high streets

We are all familiar with the gaps in high streets left as stores close. This article from New Start describes a pilot scheme called Open Doors, to be launched later this year,... Read More

Housing in 2040

Reflections from the 2019 annual conference of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) Our annual conference looked at the future of housing, focusing on our tenants, homes, communities... Read More

How CLES and Preston City Council ‘built community wealth in Preston’

A new publication from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) ‘tells the story of community wealth building (CWB) in Preston’, reflecting on eight years of collaboration. CLES set... Read More

Building communities for the Scotland we want

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

‘Time to Build an Inclusive Local Economy’ in Northern Ireland

A new charter, Time to Build an Inclusive Local Economy ‘sets out key steps to harness the power of communities to create resilient local economies’. Developed by Development Trusts... Read More

Reimagining the Economy: The Social Justice Enterprise

Editors’ note: In this article, Aaron Tanaka, director of the Center for Economic Democracy and cofounder of the Boston Ujima Project, envisions a new approach for economic development that is... Read More

CLES reports on New Municipalism in London

CLES last month released a new publication, New Municipalism in London, which highlights ‘the actions of three London Boroughs who are seeking to challenge traditional local economic development and... Read More

Is protest the new form of politics? Tyne & Wear Citizens offer a different model

Barry Knight attends an assembly of Tyne & Wear Citizens to meet the candidates in the North of Tyne mayoral elections Something is stirring. A new populism is on... Read More

Communities in control: a local democracy laboratory

The government’s new Working with Communities policy is important because it establishes the principle of ‘community consent’ to long-term planning decisions affecting the local community. This has the potential... Read More

Creating a shared vision to reduce inequality in Oxford

On 1 March I met with a group of people from Oxford – city council officials, an elected councillor and staff of social enterprise Aspire Oxford – to talk... Read More

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