Great report, worth reading, by @equalitytrust.bsky.social and good points below around 'there is no money' and forthcoming budget #budget #equality #wealth

Inequality News@inequalitynews.bsky.social · 4d ago

🤬 When you watch the Budget this year, and are told there is "no money", that we have to face "hard choices", that welfare has to be cut, just remember the below report 🔽 from @equalitytrust.bsky.social and ping it to everyone you know, including your MP...👍 equalitytrust.org.uk/news/ghost-g...

"The new triple lock is not going to put pensioners into poverty. Pensions will still rise in line with average earnings." 🎙️ @helenmiller.bsky.social explains how the new triple lock will work in our latest podcast: has the triple lock been fixed? 🎧 Listen here: ifs.org.uk/articles/has...

📢 We are launching a new online course - 'Tawney, Christian Socialism & Care'. As the need to fix the crisis is becoming more urgent, join us to re-imagine social care together! Register with Early Bird Discount by 18 Oct! Dates: 9-27 Nov Learn more & sign up: www.tickettailor.com/events/willi...

Buy tickets – Tawney, Christian Socialism and Care

Tawney, Christian Socialism and Care, Mon 9 Nov 2026 - Fri 27 Nov 2026 - Crisis in Social Care and Unfinished Questions of Modernity With Britain’s social care system in crisis, what kind of care do ...

tickettailor.com

Some good policy ideas here for cushioning energy costs for households ...

New Economics Foundation@neweconomics.bsky.social · yesterday

NEW: Without government action, energy bills are set to be £200 higher than they were at the peak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read our new blog detailing our new analysis and explaining why we urgently need a national energy guarantee 👇 neweconomics.org/2026/10/gove...

The gap between the support low-income private tenants can get and market rents in their area has now reached 21%. It's approaching the record gap of 23% when support was last increased in 2024, but the government has given no plans to increase support until 2030.

Does or should #Claude have rights? #AI #digital www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/anth...

Does Claude Have Rights?

Mustafa Suleyman worries that Anthropic is training a simulation of a moral subject that could demand freedom.

project-syndicate.org

Interesting ideas from @niesrorg.bsky.social around a 'living standards lock' rather than the #triplelock - (beware grating language of 'burden' given little on policy choice alternatives e.g. #wealthtax) #pensions #socialpolicy niesr.ac.uk/news/state-p...

State Pension Triple Lock is Unsustainable and Must Go - NIESR

The coalition government introduced the triple lock in 2011. It ensures the state pension rises each year by CPI inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5 per cent, whichever is the highest. On paper...

niesr.ac.uk

An anthology of contemporary political philosophy, covers a wide range of areas, including #justice #liberty #equality and #openaccess too! #politics #philosophy www.karlancer.com/api/file/173...

Interesting article on various models of social care available and their relative costings #socialcare #socialpolicy www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Social care: Four ways to reform the system

Andy Burnham has said social care in England should be reformed - what are the possible options?

bbc.co.uk

appropriate in an era of rising #inequality “now look kids, we are billionaires, we don’t share” #wealth #inequality www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Vaughan Tomlinson on billionaires and their kids – cartoon

The old adage ‘sharing is caring’ doesn’t always apply

theguardian.com

Some fabulous slides on @dannydorling.bsky.social website, helping to illuminate some crucial issues of our time #socialpolicy #inequality #poverty www.dannydorling.org/books/shatte...

New issue of 'Finance and Society' journal, articles = #OA #openaccess #finance www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Finance and Society: Volume 12 - When finance becomes tech, Part I | Cambridge Core

Cambridge Core - Finance and Society - Volume 12 - When finance becomes tech, Part I

cambridge.org

This is what our so called "ballooning" social security spend actually looks like i.e. a constant! Graphic should be circulated to all MPs and journos with a note that they will be called out when suggesting otherwise #UC #socialsecurity #pensions

Prem Sikka@premnsikka.bsky.social · last wk.

There is a lot of misinformation about the UK social security spending. The chart below shows Total UK social security spending as a percentage of GDP, 2013/14 to 2030/31 (spending & forecast) 55% goes to pensioners, the remainder covers everything else. lordslibrary.parliament.uk/welfare-refo...

⚡ | NEW REPORT: England’s clean energy transition will be built locally, but local leaders still lack the powers to shape it. Our new report sets out how to devolve powers so places can build faster. Read here 👇 buff.ly/fHByeZ4

‘The Burnham government may mark a turning point. It has promised to set out plans for “stronger public control” of essential services, though the relationship between control and ownership has yet to be defined.’ @arthurdowning.bsky.social on Britain’s energy crisis. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Arthur Downing · Asset Sweating: Britain’s Energy Crisis

Britain has private ownership while making the state responsible for planning via subsidies. The result is a zombie...

lrb.co.uk

Into the darkness? (Some very pessimistic reflections from me on the (im)possibility of freedom and equality in a world of AI).

New issue of the journal 'Contention' available, focus = social protest, most articles are #OA #openaccess #politics #socialpolicy www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...

Contention

"Contention" published on by Berghahn Journals.

berghahnjournals.com

#OA #OpenAccess #free: @maxhaiven.bsky.social explores connections between #financialization of the capitalist economy, the #gamification of our lives, and rising threat of a form of fascistic #politics in "The Player and the Played" mitpress.mit.edu/978026205604...

The Player and the Played

In an age when capitalism feels like an unwinnable game, extreme reactionary ideas and politics are on the rise. The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, Squid Gam...

mitpress.mit.edu

Interesting reflections on the human #sensorium www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

Psychology: How many senses do we have?

We often talk of having five senses as a universal truth. In reality, there may be more. Christian Jarrett explains the controversy

bbc.co.uk

Another earlier refutation of #Hardt and #Negri #Empire www.devrimcimarksizm.net/sites/defaul... #globalisation #socialtheory

Broder argues that #Hardt and #Negri #Empire got everything wrong - interesting reflections and assessment jacobin.com/2026/09/the-... #globalisationv #socialtheory

Hardt and Negri’s Empire Got Everything Wrong

Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Empire became a campus sensation because it offered a master theory for globalization at a moment when old Marxist categories seemed exhausted. But the capitalist int...

jacobin.com

Lots of interesting and imaginative ideas for raising revenue in forthcoming #budget via Prem Sikka

Prem Sikka@premnsikka.bsky.social · 2w ago

Swathes of UK economy are owned by foreign investors. No tax is deducted from billions paid to them in dividends. USA, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden have a dividend withholding tax for foreign investors. UK could do the same, generate billions. Why are super-rich privileged?

We are back at rate hikes to fight a supply shock. Will this stop the war against Iran? Will it reopen the Strait of Hormuz? Will higher financing costs help build out renewables? No. But it risks pushing livelihoods & democracies over the edge.

struggles facing #GenZ and beyond to get on the property ladder, also facing escalating rental prices too #housing #socialpolicy www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Stephen Ashman on the difficulties facing first-time homebuyers – cartoon

For many people, owning their own home feels like an increasingly distant dream

theguardian.com

📣 Today, we’re relaunching IPPR’s journal of politics, ideas and public policy, Progressive Review. A new Substack, a new look, a new editorial team, and lots of new content. Sign up here 👇 buff.ly/Q7HpiEi

#OA #socialtheory Reasoning with Concepts: Conceptual Spaces as a Framework. Cambridge: MIT Press Open Access, i.e. #free to download .. direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

Reasoning with Concepts: Conceptual Spaces as a Framework

A unified treatment of different types of reasoning with concepts, such as category-based induction, nonmonotonic reasoning, analogies, and generics.Psycho

direct.mit.edu

Review of John Pring's @johnpring.bsky.social book 'The Department' via @LRB #disability #neurodiversity #DWP #socialsecurity - brilliant book, well worth a read! www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Ed Kiely · Unfair Judgments: Lethal Cuts at the DWP

John Pring’s account reveals something of the character of austerity: it isn’t so much that the state withdraws...

lrb.co.uk

Are UK workers over-taxed? An answer in four info-graphics #tax #work taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/06/27/u...

Are UK workers over-taxed? The answer in three infographics

Explore OECD data on wage taxes: how UK workers rank internationally, how the tax wedge has shifted since 1979, and why many still feel over-taxed.

taxpolicy.org.uk

Historical #state formation, within and beyond Europe, via Lisa Blaydes, Anna Grzymala-Busse blaydes.people.stanford.edu/sites/g/file...

young people #NEETs don't have an 'ambition problem' rather they experience an 'opportunity problem' - there is a need to stop individualising structural issues #socialpolicy, via @ippr.org www.ippr.org/articles/a-b...

A better deal: Tackling the NEET crisis | IPPR

Young people are more than three times as likely to be unemployed as the wider workforce and around two-thirds of the recent increase in NEET numbers has b

ippr.org