Social Mobility in the UK
It appears that inequality in the UK, like that in the USA, is growing, and that government efforts to stem the growing divide are now a political issue. Has it always been so?
Social mobility board quits over lack of progress
All four members of the board of the government's Social Mobility Commission have stood down in protest at the lack of progress towards a "fairer Britain".
Ex-Labour minister Alan Milburn, who chairs the commission, said he had "little hope" the current government could make the "necessary" progress.
The government was too focused on Brexit to deal with the issue, he said.
The government said Mr Milburn's term had come to an end and it had already decided to get some "fresh blood" in.
The commission is charged with monitoring the government's progress in "freeing children from poverty and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential"…
In a report published last week, the commission said economic, social and local divisions laid bare by the Brexit vote needed to be addressed to prevent a rise in far right or hard left extremism…
The process of appointing a new chairperson and commissioners would begin as soon as possible, [the government] added…
Shadow cabinet office minister Jon Trickett said the resignations came as "no surprise".
"As inequality has grown under the Tories, social mobility has totally stalled," he said.
"How well people do in life is still based on class background rather than on talent or effort."
Analysis by BBC political correspondent Jonathan Blake
Sour grapes? Political point scoring?
Neither, according to the former Labour minister and his colleagues on the board who include a former Conservative education secretary.
Their frustration demonstrates the extent to which Brexit is all-consuming for the government.
Leaving the EU is taking up so much time, energy and effort that there is little capacity for anything else to get done.
Even on an issue which is a personal priority for the prime minister.
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Labels: demographics, politics, social classes, UK
Oh, yes, it's an aristocracy (sort of)
There is a second house of the UK's Parliament. It used to be a place for the top of the aristocracy to exercise its rights to govern. Today, not so much. Why is it still around?
In Britain’s Parliament, a Crowded House Bursting With Lords
How many lords are enough?
[T]he House of Lords, the essentially consultative second chamber of the British Parliament, now has 810.
That’s twice as many Lords as can fit in their elegant hall in Westminster, with its red leather benches. And, perhaps uniquely, the Lords even outnumber their counterparts in the House of Commons, which is now fixed at 650 members and soon will have just 600…
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| Chamber of the House of Lords |
Twenty-six of the Lords are bishops (Britain has a state religion, after all), and 91 are peers with hereditary noble titles. The vast majority are life peers, with seats and titles they cannot pass to descendants.
There’s the rub, and a source of increasing popular contempt for the Lords. Some life peers have been honored for noble acts and charitable works, but many were elevated for banal political reasons: for making money or donating it, often to the governing party (known as cash for honors), or simply for serving in government a long time.
Efforts to overhaul the House of Lords, reduce its membership, transform it into a senate or abolish it altogether, have produced more noise than fundamental change…
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Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories
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Labels: legislature, political culture, regime, social classes, UK
Back to the future in Iran
Many people long for the days of President Ahmadinejad
Polling gives a dark forecast for Iranian president Hassan Rouhani
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| President Rouhani |
The latest poll from IranPoll, the Canadian outfit linked to Maryland University, is bad news for president Hassan Rouhani. Just under three quarters – 74% - of Iranians surveyed on 17-27 June say there has been no improvement in the economy as a result of last year’s nuclear agreement with world powers. With a presidential election looming next year, probably in June, Rouhani’s lead over possible challenger Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former ‘principle-ist’ (or fundamentalist) president, has narrowed to eight percentage points from 27 points in May 2015.
Economic growth in the Iranian year ending in March was far smaller than expected….
But how widely will any benefits of growth be distributed? Back in March the state’s statistical centre reported poverty and inequality had increased in the previous 12 months.
And poorer Iranians are the target group for Rouhani’s principle-ist opponents. The recent ‘pay cheque scandal’ played into their hands…
Principle-ists have been showing nostalgia not just for the egalitarianism of the 1979 Revolution and the noble sacrifices of the 1980-88 war with Iraq but for the landslide election victory won by Ahmadinejad in 2005 on the slogan of ‘putting the oil money on the sofreh’ (the dining mat used by poorer Iranians)…
The populism of the Iranian principle-ists shows striking similarities with populism elsewhere. It is critical of bankers, often anti-intellectual, and pushes a notion of national control against an international, or even global, elite. Its idea of nation is not just nostalgic but hostile to diversity, and extols the values of supposed ‘simplicity’ against the wicked ways of the big city – praising the morality police acting against ‘bad hijab’ is a topical example…
In the 2005 presidential election, Ahmadinejad not only promised to put oil revenue on the sofreh, he scorned the middle classes and intellectuals…
Whereas his reformist predecessor, Mohammad Khatami, spoke in universities and international bodies of a “dialogue among civilisations”, Ahmadinejad made repeated provincial trips around Iran addressing huge crowds of people who felt neglected by central government. Those feelings of neglect are just as strong today – and president Rouhani has little time to address them.
Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry.
What You Need to Know 7th edition is ready to help.
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Amazon's customers gave this book a 4-star rating.
Just The Facts! 2nd edition is a concise guide to concepts, terminology, and examples that will appear on May's exam.
Just The Facts! is available. Order HERE.
Amazon's customers gave this book a 5-star rating.
The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories
, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6,
and
a description of the AP exam format
. $2.00.
Order HERE.
What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools, the original version and v2.0 are available to help curriculum planning.
Labels: Iran, leadership, politics, social classes
Just The Facts! 2nd edition is a concise guide to concepts, terminology, and examples that will appear on May's exam.
