Adam Lent
The reintroduction of Ken Clarke to the front bench has an obvious logic. Peter Mandelson has not only refreshed Government economic policy but he has also taken the fight directly to the Tories (as George Osborne can testify). The Tories need someone with a bit more oomph than the languid Alan Duncan to respond in the business brief. But, and it’s a big but, today’s bail out of the banks makes this a deeply risky move for Cameron.
Brendan Barber
This week the Government has made a new and welcome commitment to social mobility. This is a necessary, but far from sufficient, condition for a fairer and more equal society. Social mobility is a progressive idea, but it can also be used to justify inequality.
This is what often happens in the USA. The American Dream says that anyone can get to the top through hard work, particularly by applying physical effort to their footwear. Of course it’s largely a myth, but it’s powerful enough to have sidelined discussion of the extreme inequalities that blight the US, though that may well now change.
Of course that is not the intent of those who have written the White Paper – and in any case all the evidence shows that societies that are genuinely socially mobile are far more equal than the UK is today – even after the many worthwhile initiatives since 1997.
So we can really achieve significantly better social mobility by building a more equal society. What can government do to achieve this?
Owen Tudor
The TUC supports the idea of a new Bank Holiday in the holiday-free zone of October, and we’re involved with an alliance called “Community Day” because we want the day to be a focus for voluntary work to strengthen local communities. In the USA, trade unionists have just put that idea into practice by getting their sleeves rolled up and getting stuck in, as the AFLCIO blog describes:
“Responding to President-elect Barack Obama’s call to pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. by giving back to their communities, more than 20,000 AFL-CIO union volunteers in 41 cities will provide services to those in need this weekend and on Jan. 19—the official King holiday.”
Something we could emulate with a new Bank Holiday?
Nigel Stanley
To quote Lord Digby:
“Frankly the job could be done with half as many … It could be more productive, more efficient, it could deliver a lot more value for money for the tax payer.”
At least he’s preaching what he practices.
* a government of all the talents
Adam Lent
At first I thought that Digby Jones’ was being ironic when he claimed that being a junior government minister was “one of the most dehumanising and depersonalising experiences” anyone could have. But then I recall that this is the same man who chose “Simply the Best” by Tina Turner as one of his Desert Island Discs and I realise this isn’t a guy who does irony.
In which case, he might want to have a look at last year’s report from the Commission on Vulnerable Employment. It’s packed full of case studies of working lives that come just a little bit closer to being “dehumanising” than the high status, high pay lifestyle of a minister. If he bothered to read the report, he’d reject it as rubbish of course. After all Digby used to head up the CBI, the organisation that repeatedly resists any regulatory change to make the lives of the least secure employees better.
Nicola Smith
The Independent Commission on Social Mobility (established by the Liberal Democrats, but with independent membership, chaired by Martin Narey of Barnardo’s and written by Di McNeish) also published its findings this week. Its final report provides an alternative analysis for how we can achieve a more socially mobile society.
Key findings include a recognition that inequality leads to a lack of social mobility and that the policy solutions which will improve opportunities for those facing the greatest disadvantage are those which will reduce poverty.
Iain Murray
The opening sentence in the Prime Minister’s foreword to the Social Mobility White Paper stresses that the new global economy requires an even greater investment in education and skills to support many more citizens to achieve their full potential. Crudely put, this argues that it is no longer possible for governments to tackle barriers to social mobility simply by improving levels of social protection.
Fulfilling the potential of each and every citizen in the new global economy is writ large throughout the document and a quick word search finds 72 instances of the word potential. Interestingly, the word inequality is only cited seven times! But for much more on the relationship between social mobility and inequality – and the current political debate – see the two incisive posts today by Richard and Nicola.
The focus on further reforms to education and skills as the answer to driving up social mobility dominates the White Paper. The bulk of the document is dedicated to the four key ‘learning phases’ that can have a significant impact on advancing social mobility – early learning and childcare, schools, immediate post-school destinations, and lifelong learning in the workplace.
Nigel Stanley
As Nicola says, today’s social mobility White Paper has many good policies, but the more equal a society the more socially mobile it tends to be.
But there has always been a political trend that sees social mobility (or equality of opportunity as it used to be known) as a substitute for equality.
