Aggregated News
Sliding into reverse: that's the unwelcome finding of Alan Milburn's social mobility and child poverty commission to be published this week. It should send shockwaves through every party, as Milburn challenges the weak incrementalism of both the coalition and Labour in power. This electoral dynamite shows not just the poor, but middling children doing worse than their parents: few good jobs, no homes and heavy debt.
Most people, right or left, would be alarmed at a trajectory of ever-worsening inequality. But few know the facts, wildly underestimating widening wealth gaps, still thinking Britain quite meritocratic. This ends the myth of modern classlessness, exposing shrinking mobility. The ladder up is so high and steep few can climb it – while those at the top exert all their power to stop their children falling down.
All parties praise equality of opportunity, but afraid of overt redistribution they rely on schools to bear the weight of reversing tidal waves of social difference. The report will show how the more equal a society, the less a child's background predicts future success – Labour had...
Most people, right or left, would be alarmed at a trajectory of ever-worsening inequality. But few know the facts, wildly underestimating widening wealth gaps, still thinking Britain quite meritocratic. This ends the myth of modern classlessness, exposing shrinking mobility. The ladder up is so high and steep few can climb it – while those at the top exert all their power to stop their children falling down.
All parties praise equality of opportunity, but afraid of overt redistribution they rely on schools to bear the weight of reversing tidal waves of social difference. The report will show how the more equal a society, the less a child's background predicts future success – Labour had...