Fair Comment

Could encouraging successful people to acknowledge the role that luck has played in their lives help to challenge our collective self-delusion about living in a meritocracy?

Why say it in 5,000 words when 17 syllables will do?

Our new report on the impacts of owning - and not owning - financial assets on people's life chances and outcomes, and what to do about it

The Thames Estuary Growth Board shows how a holistic approach to fairness can guide sustainable investment and economic growth at the regional level

The Chancellor's cuts to social security will save money in the short term but risk costing our economy and society much more in the long term

Cutting social security too far will only yield further stagnation. Taxes must rise to meet spending pressures and achieve the government's missions. But how?

The latest update of the Fairness Index shows that, on key measures of inequality and poverty, Britain has become even more unfair in recent years

Crafting an economy that works for everyone: a guest post from Jack Jeffrey

Right-wing populists in the UK, US and many other countries are deeply split on economic issues. There is considerable political mileage in exploiting (or resolving) these internal contradictions.

How can we collectively focus more attention on the wellbeing of future generations, and of those who are distant from us in both time and space?

Deregulation is the wrong approach - better regulation can drive growth AND fight inequality

By trying to compensate for inequality while neglecting to tackle its causes, we risk fiddling while Rome burns

Children and young people are feeling increasingly disenfranchised and disenchanted about their prospects. Failure to act could see Generation Z turning away from mainstream democratic politics.

With political leadership changing across the world, 2025 presents a crucial opportunity to focus on intergenerational solidarity.

Growth will only come if it is inclusive, and that requires us to tackle inequality. Well-designed regulations are a key route to achieving both lower inequality and higher growth.

Wealth inequality will pose an increasing risk to social stability in the UK over the coming decade; our new report sets out how and why this is the case, and what the government can do about it

As Donald Trump takes back the reins of power in the US, we look at how economic inequality is unsettling the ideological boundaries of recent decades

My arguments from a recent episode of 'Moral Maze' on BBC Radio 4

Thinking and talking about a clear and holistic definition of fairness could help politicians to navigate the challenges facing them in 2025

Identifying and mitigating the risks of wealth inequality in the UK, including the potential for unchecked wealth inequality to lead to societal collapse

What does the psychology literature tell us about how socio-economic inequality contributes to support for right-wing populist parties? 

A guest post from Luke Hildyard, Director of the High Pay Centre

How the farmers' protests over inheritance tax illustrate the impossibility of building a fairer society without tackling the underlying causes of unfairness

Our previous events with the Policy Institute are now available to listen to on your favourite podcast platform. Please send us your ideas for future events.

A guest post by Josie Fraser, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Open University

Half of the public expect poverty and the wealth gap to grow under the government's first term, according to new polling that we have carried out with the Policy Institute

Wednesday's budget is an opportunity to ask those with the most to contribute more to our country

Last week we published new analysis showing that the wealth gap in Britain increased by almost 50% between 2011 and 2019 - and we can expect this trend to continue

Our new report setting out the evidence base for the impacts of wealth inequality in the UK on our society, economy, democracy and environment, the policy solutions to tackle it, and public attitudes

As rumours circulate that the government is wobbling on some of its plans for tax reform in this month's budget, we ask whether the wealthy exert too much influence on political decisions in the UK

A guest post from Stewart Lansley, visiting fellow at the University of Bristol

Key themes from our webinar featuring Danny Dorling talking about his new book 'Seven Children: Inequality and Britain’s Next Generation'

A discussion of the key arguments in Sam Freedman's recent book 'Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It'

Our polling finds a fairly consistent 15% who are unconcerned about inequality and oppose action to tackle it. Who are these people, and are they always the same people or do they vary by issue?

Thoughts from a recent podcast episode in which we discuss our work on attitudes to luck, including in relation to the climate crisis

Sign up now for webinars in September with the authors of two outstanding new books - 'Failed State' and 'Seven Children'

Seven months is a VERY long time in politics

As the Covid inquiry publishes it first report, we highlight how inequalities rob a nation of its resilience and its capacity to cope with future shocks

Highlights and key themes from last week's launch webinar for our new report, 'Deepening the Opportunity Mission'

Our new report on why tackling inequality is key to the success of Labour’s opportunity mission, and how to make it happen

Labour's honeymoon period won't last long, and there's urgent work to be done to build a fairer country if they are to avoid losing public support

How unfair inequality is poisoning Britain

A brief analysis of how politicians and political parties have used (and abused) the idea of fairness during the election campaign so far

Please complete or share our survey on mobilising business voices against inequality, sign up for the launch webinar for our 'Canaries' report on 1 July, and let us know if you have spare office space

A guest post from Barry Knight, co-chair of Compass

Keir Starmer talks of wealth creation as his number one mission, but risks missing an opportunity to differentiate between productive and extractive wealth

The Sunday Times Rich List was putting forward one view on wealth last week, but an increasingly broad group of voices are making the opposite case

Why we can be cautiously optimistic about taking action on wealth inequality over the next five years

A new report by LSE for JRF, which reviews the literature on the framing of economic inequality, suggests that the lack of shared public understanding of wealth inequality might present an opportunity

Three perspectives - on remaking Britain, rethinking the work ethic, and putting tackling inequality at the heart of mission-driven government

How and why we underplay the role of luck in life, and what to do about it

Ten years after the publication of Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century', what is the status of the debate about wealth inequality in the UK?

A summary of the arguments from our webinar on 28 March featuring Ingrid Robeyns, author of 'Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth'

A philosopher weighs up the moral arguments for and against scrapping the benefit cap

Why the UK needs a new social contract... A guest post from Catherine Foot, Director of Phoenix Insights

Whichever party forms the next government is going to have its work cut out repairing our public services. A timely new book points to the crucial role of tax reform in making this possible.

Some are more likely to appear than others! With notes on revenue impacts, fairness, political status and public support.

How politicians and the media overestimate public support for tax cuts and tax reliefs

A guest post from Ben Baumberg Geiger, co-lead of the programme on work, welfare reform and mental health at the ESRC Centre for Society & Mental Health at King's College London

To give everyone in Britain a genuine opportunity to thrive, we need to remove structural barriers to opportunity (e.g. poverty) by tackling the root causes of those barriers (e.g. wealth inequality).

Our new polling on public attitudes to inequalities and their impacts shows that concern extends beyond regional inequalities but awareness of impacts is limited

Scarcity - poverty - is an assault on the brain. And almost three in ten children in Britain live in poverty. It's hard to think of a more flagrant example of unfairness.

The debate about cutting taxes misunderstands the public mood - people want investment in public services, not tax cuts

A summary of the arguments from our webinar last week featuring Peter Turchin, author of 'End Times: Elites, counter-elites and the path of political disintegration'

The latest version of our online tool incorporates new data and some new indicators on wellbeing from the Office for National Statistics

We look back on a year of investigating public attitudes to fairness, and forward to a year of making the political and economic case for a fairer society

Broadening access to elite opportunities to disadvantaged groups is great, but it lets us off the hook on tackling the underlying disadvantage

14 years after the publication of 'The Spirit Level', its authors took part in a thought-provoking discussion about the state of inequality in the UK, and the state of the evidence base

These two approaches can be used together to identify communications strategies to support social progress. A case study of research on health inequalities, written with Kate Stanley at FrameWorks UK.

Polling suggests that personal experience is increasing public awareness and understanding of the social determinants of health

Political leaders might be more willing to take action on inequalities if they better understood the consequences of inequalities and which interventions are most effective. What can be done?

A landmark report by Carnegie UK shows alarming gaps in wellbeing between different groups in society; the implications are stark

Can the left and the right find common ground? Reflections from our webinar last week with Daniel Chandler, author of 'Free and Equal'

What do politicians in the UK mean when they talk about fairness, and what can this tell us about the prospects for agreeing on what a fair society looks like?

The idea of meritocracy is so potent that many people believe in it despite the evidence that it doesn't exist. Should we pay more attention to the role of luck in life?

Politicians often suggest that some groups in society are nearer the front of the fairness queue than others. What are we to make of this?

A round-up of interesting reads from the last month and a look ahead to events this week

The latest British Social Attitudes survey shows increasing public support for intervention by government in society and the economy

Young people are likely to be worse off than their parents, says the Social Mobility Commission; meanwhile, family ties mean older people support policies that prioritise their younger relatives

Politicians from all parties admit that Britain's social contract is broken; we need to rebuild it if we want a stronger economy and a healthier society

The renowned social scientist and Labour Peer answers your questions about poverty and social security in the UK

The renowned social scientist and Labour Peer is ready to answer your questions about poverty and social security in the UK

On environmental issues, delivering fairness for different groups is a delicate balancing act that can only be achieved while making sustained and rapid progress

Our system allows those with the most socio-economic resources to exercise undue influence on politics. Do we need to sever this link before we can expect to make any progress on fairness?

Evidence suggests that the vast majority of Britons are worried about inequality, but often they are even more exercised about unfairness

Most Britons want equal opportunities but worry about inequality

Enlightened businesses recognise their opportunity to lobby governments to tackle inequalities, as well as behaving responsibly. But few seem willing to speak out about socio-economic inequalities...

What's the agenda for fixing poverty and tackling inequalities? You're invited to a conference at the House of Commons on 6 July

Our new report on the attitudes of 2019 Conservative voters to wealth finds that almost all are concerned about the reality or the impacts of wealth inequality

Shocking new statistics published today by the End Child Poverty Coalition put paid to the notion that Britain is a meritocracy

Professor Jo Richardson answers your questions about social housing, homelessness and the meaning of home

Professor Jo Richardson is ready to answer your questions about social housing, homelessness and the meaning of home. And a reminder of our webinar tomorrow on public attitudes to wealth.

The results of our wealth polling are in. 8 in 10 Brits are concerned that the wealthy don’t contribute their fair share of taxes. People are most positive about entrepreneurs, followed by landlords.

A fair society will never be within reach unless and until we take action to share wealth more equitably across society

'Social determinants' like housing and wealth have a huge impact on health outcomes, and poor health in turn leads to worse economic outcomes. Why is the British public not more concerned about this?

The well-known geographer and author answers your questions

The well-known geographer and author is ready to answer your questions about class and social justice in the UK (or anything else, within reason)

A new book, 'Free and Equal', reassesses how we can use the principles set out by the philosopher John Rawls to build a fairer society. It's a book whose time has come.

A large majority of voters think that the government should guarantee the provision of a range of services including social care, early years education and care, public transport and housing

A system that fails to tax wealth fairly, or to tackle increasing poverty or economic and social inequality, isn't working. And technological progress might make things worse rather than better.

Last week's widening of early years provision was welcome, but is the wider system too stretched to accommodate it? And what might the implications be of a broader unravelling of our social fabric?

Our new polling shows that people believe that paying early years workers more fairly would benefit everyone, but also underestimate how expensive UK childcare is compared to other OECD countries

A new campaign is calling on the government to peg benefits to a minimum acceptable standard of living. The fairness arguments for this are hard to disagree with.

A recent survey has shown that Britons have some of the most positive attitudes to immigration in the world. Do we underestimate the progressiveness of the public?

Unearned wealth is becoming more important relative to earned income in determining life chances and outcomes. We need to level the playing field before we find ourselves back in the Edwardian era.

Revisiting the Fairness Index to look at a live issue shows that it remains a useful tool to explore and explain the nature, causes and consequences of key inequalities

Inequality and meritocratic myths feed off each other, undermining concern about inequality and support for action to tackle it

Two in three people in Britain agree with the key fairness arguments in favour of the strikes

Inequalities feed off each other, creating vicious cycles. But the opposite is also true. Progress is nonlinear. Can we set up a virtuous cycle of fairness tipping points?

This week's annual Davos jamboree feels ever more disconnected from the real world. It's a shame, because corporate types are often more alive to the dangers of inequality than many political leaders.