Economy 2030 We all pay the price for narrow thinking on social protection Chip away at the cement of society for long enough and sooner or later something will give 29 August 2021 by Gavin Kelly READ MORE
Dodgy data, working workers and back to basics on benefits Top of the Charts 20 August 2021 Afternoon all, Welcome back to TOTCs, and apologies again for abandoning you for the past fortnight. Then again, those two weeks haven’t really been about economics, as Afghanistan has surged from being totally ignored by UK politics to centre stage. As ever having policies but no plans can seem fine, until it’s suddenly not (an … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Net zero The latest climate warning further highlights gaps in our decarbonising plans IPCC reports seldom bring good news, but the latest assessment finds that the crucial marker of a 1.5C temperature increase on pre-industrial times could be with us in just two decades 13 August 2021 by Jonathan Marshall The latest summary of global climate science, compiled over years by hundreds of researchers, brings yet another stark warning on how the world is not decarbonising fast enough. READ MORE
Winning at life with Western Welsh walks and chocolate cookies Top of the charts 30 July 2021 Afternoon all, Our Olympics medal tally is up (rowers aside), case numbers are down and holidays are here – so happy days. Two weeks camping drowning in drizzle in the Lakes means TOTC will be taking the next fortnight off. If you could all keep the declining Covid thing going while I’m away that would … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Workertech newsletter: July 2021 The latest update from Resolution Ventures 29 July 2021 by Emma Selinger This edition of the Workertech newsletter takes you under the hood of Bethnal Green Ventures’ Tech for Good Accelerator, along with sharing news and opportunities from the world of workertech. If you’d like hear more about the Workertech Partnership or any content in this newsletter, please get in touch with us via ventures@resolutionroundation.org or book a … Continued READ MORE
Dodgy politics, dangerous heat and declining vaccines Top of the Charts 23 July 2021 Afternoon all, It’s been a bit of a manic week. It was only last Sunday that the PM was ‘piloting’ his way out of isolation in the morning, but locked back down by tea. On Monday night the Government was about to announce an infusion of badly needed cash into social care (a great idea) … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Workertech and the low paid: what’s technology got to do with it? 19 July 2021 by Louise Marston Picture an image that represents ‘the Future of Work’. It might include a virtual reality headset, or a remotely controlled robot. It almost certainly features digital technology of some kind. Recent reports on the future of work have predicted rising automation, the death of the office and a future of remote working. Our picture of … Continued READ MORE
Reforming penalties, rising prices and levelling up post-Black Death Britain Top of the Charts 16 July 2021 Afternoon all, Summer appears to be actually here. But if it thinks I’m forgiving it for the last two months it’s got another thing coming. In fact, I’m also slightly concerned that the blue skies are part of some complicated conspiracy to push us all over the edge, as one-by-one we’re pinged and forced to … Continued READ MORE
Thirty years of Universal Credit hurt Top of the Charts 9 July 2021 Morning all, I hope you’ve all calmed down from Wednesday and watching, what painful experience taught us was, an iron law of football being overcome. England, it turns out, do not always throw it away. And if Gareth Southgate manages to get a win on Sunday he’ll have overcome another iron law of the past … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030 Preparing for a decade of economic change Lessons from the era of White Heat 5 July 2021 by Gavin Kelly Boris Johnson’s administration may well oversee the start of a period of major upheaval for the UK economy – quite possibly the largest since the 1980s. Whether it is post-Brexit trade dislocation, new patterns of production and consumption resulting from the imperative of Net Zero, a long Covid hangover, or the rise of digital technologies … Continued READ MORE
It’s coming home. And we’re going out. Top of the Charts 2 July 2021 Afternoon all, It’s coming home. And we’re going out to watch it. It’s not clear what’s causing the bigger psychological shock to the English: finally beat Germans, or all the eye contact opening up has led to. What is clear is that all that beer facilitated cheering is very labour intensive. Furlough rates have fallen … Continued READ MORE
UK employers may be struggling to fill jobs, but this isn’t a new era of worker power Although the labour market is starting to recover, the effects of the pandemic will be felt for a very long time 2 July 2021 by Torsten Bell Commentators have decided that the labour market is booming, reporting that firms are finding it hard to hire people. Some have predicted the dawn of a new era of worker power that will push up wages, while others worry labour shortages will hold our recovery back. The bigger danger, however, is that we’re losing sight of what’s … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Workertech newsletter: June 2021 The latest update from Resolution Ventures 21 June 2021 by Louise Marston Hello and welcome to June’s Workertech newsletter from Resolution Ventures, covering how technology is improving the world of low-paid and precarious work. This month we’ve put a spotlight on American Workertech, and some of the great organisations in the US. Also make sure to catch up on the video of our June event – … Continued READ MORE
Poor neighbourhoods, powerful firms and missing research on race Top of the Charts 28 May 2021 Afternoon all, Heavily emotionally conflicted this week. On the plus side is the news that the sun does in fact exist. But the combination of self-isolating after a Covid contact (tests all negative fear not) and Dominic Cummings’ omni-dumping on the Government inevitably drags you back to the traumas of last year – before the … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Workertech newsletter: May 2021 The latest update from Resolution Ventures 21 May 2021 by Emma Selinger Welcome to the first edition of the Workertech Newsletter from Resolution Ventures. We’re delighted to be reaching out to everyone in our Workertech community. The Workertech community exists to convene workers, unions, investors, employers, policymakers and researchers using technology to change the world of work for the better for those in low-paid and precarious employment. The Workertech … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030 The UK is entering a decisive decade of economic change without a plan to shape it 20 May 2021 by Torsten Bell The UK is facing a decisive decade of economic change that the country is neither used to, nor prepared for. It’s time to rebuild our approach to economic success in the light of those shifts to the jobs we do, the firms we work for and the places in which we live. Simply muddling through, by … Continued READ MORE
Lessons from Radical Kiwis and Social Democratic Yanks Top of the Charts 14 May 2021 Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Afternoon all, Some big, if not particularly original, news. I’m off to get vaccinated the second TOTCs leaves my inbox to arrive in yours. Obviously excited about the whole lower risk of infection thing, but the main thrill is to discover that there is … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Shock Absorbers: is there a role for innovation in improving families’ financial resilience? 4 May 2021 by Louise Marston Financial resilience is often defined as the ability to cope with a financial shock, such as unemployment, or an unexpected cost, such as a car breakdown. It involves access to appropriate and available funds, it is not just a matter of having money available. It also means having access to credit at a reasonable cost; … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Intergenerational Centre Three reasons to be concerned about job losses among older workers A U-Shaped crisis 29 April 2021 by Nye Cominetti Young people have been at the epicentre of the Covid-19 crisis. The severe restrictions and lockdown closures of social sectors of the economy – such as hospitality, retail, arts and leisure, where young workers are concentrated – has led millions of our youngest workers to be put on furlough or, worse still, lose their jobs. … Continued READ MORE
Polluted cities and fantasy football Top of the Charts 23 April 2021 Afternoon all, Perkiness is in the air. The sun is out, the parents are vaccinated and the world appears to be getting serious about the whole save the world/avert catastrophic climate change thing. The main win from Biden’s Leaders Summit isn’t the new US commitment (reducing emissions by 50 per cent vs 2005 levels by 2030), but … Continued READ MORE
Counting hours, insuring incomes and mourning economists Top of the Charts 16 April 2021 Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Morning all, It’s been a difficult week for some of us, realising that we’ve somehow not managed to bag a second job with Greensill when it turned out they were handing out cash to any Tom, Dick or Harry (it does appear to all be men). To get … Continued READ MORE
Bold moves for Chess, infrastructure and (electoral) wall painting Top of the Charts 9 April 2021 Afternoon all, TOTCs is back from a pleasant Easter break – it was nice to get away stay home, living the lockdown dream (hopefully for the last time). In retrospect it was a basic error not to have snaffled parenting duties for next week given that’s when the whole country will actually be celebrating something rising … Continued READ MORE
National Living Wage anniversary special Top of the Charts 1 April 2021 Morning all, Top of the Charts is taking a short break this week for Easter. But we couldn’t let the week go without sending a single chart because today is a special day for the Resolution Foundation and, more importantly, millions of low earners across Britain. It marks the fifth anniversary of the introduction of … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Pre-pandemic Britain experienced a mini living standards boom – alongside rising child poverty New data show stronger growth in household incomes leading up to the Covid-19 crisis, but we need to look over a longer period for a more accurate impression 25 March 2021 by Karl Handscomb The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) today published statistics on household incomes and poverty covering 2019-20. Because producing these estimates is a time-consuming process – both for the households who are surveyed and the statisticians processing the data into interesting statistics – the results are already a year out of date, and tell us … Continued READ MORE
Lockdown anniversary special: The 12-month stretch Top of the Charts 19 March 2021 Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts reading email Morning all, A year ago we were encouraged to Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives, as the country went into its first full lockdown. I doubt any of us thought we’d be celebrating the anniversary of that moment in yet another … Continued READ MORE
