Wednesday, 18 July 2007

News from Home

Press Release from The Joseph Rowntree Trust

New poverty and wealth maps of Britain reveal inequality to be at 40-year high
A new way of comparing poverty and wealth trends across Britain shows inequality has reached levels not seen for over 40 years. This is according to research released today (17 July) by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. A second report, published simultaneously, has found that the public believes the gap between rich and poor people is too large.

Researchers working on the first report found that households in already-wealthy areas have tended to become disproportionately wealthier and that many rich people live in areas segregated from the rest of society. At the same time, more households have become poor over the last 15 years, but fewer are very poor.

And this after ten years of a Labour Government and an unprecedented period of sustained (but obviously not sustainable) economic growth. This reminds me to be grateful that I live in a country with some social democratic values

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