Why has the UK’s COVID death toll been so high? Inequality may have played a role: The first death to be publicly attributed to coronavirus in the UK was of a woman in her seventies on March 5 2020. The same day, a spokesperson for the prime minister, Boris Johnson, warned the virus could spread …
Latin America: inequality and political instability have lessons for the rest of the world: In a landmark speech about social mobility in 2013, the then US president, Barack Obama, warned against the problem of growing inequality in the starkest possible terms: The combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to …
South Africa in the news: Vaccine Inequality: A New Beginning or Another Missed Opportunity?: Last year, four major opportunities to battle COVID-19 were missed. If vaccine inequality will prevail in the coming months, that would represent the fifth …: “South Africa” – BingNews Impeachment lessons for South Africa from the US: US Senate impeachment trial …
Earth’s existential threats: inequality, pandemics and climate change demand global leadership: Future of the planet is in our hands. PopTika/Nasa Asked in 2003, the UK’s astronomer royal, Martin Rees, gave our present society 50/50 odds of lasting until the end of the century. It’s fair to say the odds haven’t improved in the years since …
We asked 70,000 people how coronavirus affected them – what they told us revealed a lot about inequality in the UK: The UK has passed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19. And as the latest lockdown drags on, the inequalities that have characterised the trajectory of the COVID-19 epidemic are becoming starker than …
Homeschooling: links with inequality are far from new: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock In 2020, the pandemic has made homeschooling a fact of life. Even before this, though, what was once the obscure choice of a few families has grown in popularity over the past decade. In 2019, the Children’s Commissioner for England estimated that around 60,000 children were …
South African policies go some way to tackling poverty and inequality. But more is needed: Growing poverty and unemployment have seen shacklands mushroom in post-apartheid South Africa. Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty Images South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. More than 50% of the population live in poverty. Despite notable …
Keeping nurseries open helps in the fight against inequality but ignores a low-paid and anxious workforce: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock The current lockdown in England has seen schools closed, but – in a notable shift from the first lockdown in March 2020 – nurseries and other venues looking after young children have been told by the …
How government spending goes to certain voters – and shapes inequality: Governments face pressure in the years ahead to ramp up social security payments to help people affected by the coronavirus pandemic. However, in the UK, it has historically been voters who support the parties of government who get the money. My research, outlined in …
Mandatory remote teaching could reduce inequality during the pandemic – but delivering it will be difficult: SeventyFour/Shutterstock The lives of millions of parents and children were turned upside down when COVID-19 forced school lockdowns in April 2020. With a new national lockdown announced for England on January 4 2021, many parents and schools have once …
How “cradle-to-career” schools provide all-round support and tackle inequality: wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock During the COVID-19 lockdowns, stories have been shared of schools delivering food parcels, phoning struggling families and providing on-site care for the children of key workers. We have seen many schools go much further than their statutory role of educating and safeguarding their pupils, sometimes …
Northern lockdowns shine a light on Britain’s landscape of inequality: After a brief return, freedom of movement has been once again withdrawn from people who live in the north of England. For residents of Manchester and Newcastle, meeting people from other households is once again prohibited, and in Liverpool, pubs and bars have been closed …
Why South African opposition’s policy on racial inequality is out of sync with reality: The Democratic Alliance wants an end to race-based affirmative action policies EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook Claiming, as South Africa’s official opposition the Democratic Alliance (DA) does, that policy must ignore race in South Africa, is like insisting that economic inequality should have been …
South Africa in the news: Race and inequality in SA: What young people have to say: Young South Africans are being socialised into a highly racialised society and experience severe disparities. Expecting them to eradicate racism without dismantling material inequalities is a deferral …: “South Africa” – BingNews Freedom fighter Dr Vejay Ramlakan’s last mission …
What young people have to say about race and inequality in South Africa: School students participate in a national quiz in South Africa. Nick Bothma/EPA Meritocracy is the belief that holding power or success should be judged on people’s individual ability, rather than on wealth or social connections. At first glance, this appears to be …
Five ways coronavirus is deepening global inequality: Informal workers have no protection from the pandemic. PradeepGaurs / Shutterstock.com Before coronavirus, inequality was already increasing in many parts of the developing world. But the pandemic is going to greatly heighten existing economic and social inequalities. Here are five of the main ways inequality is heightening around …
Kenya: how stark inequality frustrates the dreams of Nairobi’s jobless young men: “Today I woke up late, because there was nothing I was doing,” Wilfred* wrote in his diary. Like many of his peers, the 21-year-old lacks permanent employment, seeking small amounts of cash from odd jobs carried out in the town where he lives …
Why nursery schools are a secret weapon in the fight against inequality: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock State-funded nursery schools occupy a unique position in education. Serving children from two to four years old, they are disproportionately located in areas of deprivation – in 2015, 64% were in the 30% most deprived areas in England. They also support higher-than-average …