I, Daniel Blake – is this the collapse of the social contract?
Ken Loach’s most recent film I, Daniel Blake tells the story of Daniel, a fifty nine year old joiner from Newcastle, and Katie, an out of work single mother of two from London. They become perhaps unlikely friends after meeting...
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Sisters Uncut
On the evening of August 22nd in Gosforth there was a sold out screening of Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ’45, with Q and A with the legendary lefty director afterward. It was also the setting of the first public...
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School Holiday Hunger
The cost of the school holidays makes them a crunch point for families paying the price of austerity politics. Children who benefit from free school lunches are often going hungry once their school shuts for the holidays. The cost of...
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The Unequal Cost of Cancer
Information released on World Cancer Day earlier this month revealed that although more people are being diagnosed with cancer, more people now are surviving the disease. Cancer Research UK tells us that 1 in 2 people born after 1960 in...
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Social policy and austerity outcomes
It has been argued that sociologists should ‘catch up’ with behavioural scientists and get more involved in trials of social policy, engaging in a culture of ‘experimental government’. I would be the first to agree that we could develop a...
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Neoliberal epidemics: the spread of austerity, obesity, stress and inequality
Within the small local authority of Stockton-on-Tees, where one of us lives and works, the difference in male life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas is 17 years. This is comparable to the difference in average male life expectancy between the...
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Stealing a good name: the national living wage
Why is a ‘national living wage’ not a Living Wage? George Osborne’s recent 2015 Budget proposal for an increased statutory Minimum Wage rate gave it a new name, cleverly stealing the Living Wage ‘brand’ with its high recognition and positive...
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Hunger Hurts: The Politicization of an Austerity Food Blog
Frugality has become popularized in Britain since the 2008 financial crash. Budget cooking shows proliferate on television, supermarkets hand out free recipes on cheap meals, austerity food blogs such as A Girl Called Jack detail how to survive on £10...
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Free from the confines of coalition, Osborne goes on benefits rampage
George Osborne has unveiled significant cuts to welfare in his first budget for the majority Conservative government. Detailing plans to cut £12bn from the pot, the chancellor revealed that the benefits cap will be lowered to households earning £20,000 or...
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CAMHS in Crisis
There’s been more bad news recently about the state of young people’s mental health. One in five 11-15 year-olds in England now report self-harming. The number of people who die by suicide is also increasing, as is the number of...
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Can we blame the recession for healthcare austerity?
In the early 1990s, following a decade of state retrenchment under Thatcher and Reagan, political scientist Paul Pierson observed that despite repeated efforts to reduce healthcare spending “governments generally found health care to be a cause of political headaches rather...
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Not in the club? It’s par for the course