By Professor Anton Muscatelli The economic crisis of the last decade has cast the spotlight on economic inequality. But whilst inequality has been thrown into sharper relief by the recent recession, it has much deeper roots. Increasing inequality pre-dates the financial crisis in most industrialised countries. Understanding its causes is vital if we are to…
44b/Flickr CC BY The percentage of households falling below society’s minimum standard of living has increased from 14% to 33% over the last 30 years, despite the size of the economy doubling. This is one of the stark findings from the largest study of poverty and deprivation ever conducted in the UK. In Scotland today,…
Scottishness is a more inclusive national identity than Englishness for many ethnic groups in Britain. New research on the Scottish Census data reveals that almost all minority communities in Scotland were more likely to claim a Scottish identity in Scotland, than an English identity in England. The picture is complicated, however, because many minorities in…
New research on the Scottish census data shows that 1 in 6 of Scotland’s households of two or more people are multi-ethnic. Ethnic diversity is increasing throughout Scottish society, as immigrants have settled in new areas, and the mix of ethnic groups has grown. A comparison of recent censuses in Scotland by the Centre on…
On 3rd April we held the second of our policy reunions. The Scottish Climate Change Act 2009 was the most significant piece of legislation approved by the Scottish Parliament in its third session 2007-2011. It built on earlier legislation approved by Westminster but there were significant differences not only in the scope and detail of the…
Originally published in The Conversation by Kenneth Gibb, University of Glasgow Just 43% of Germans own their homes – one of the world’s lowest rates. This reminds us that housing tenure has little to do with economic and social policy performance. So is the UK set to continue its recent shift from home ownership to rental?…
Nick Bailey University of Glasgow The recent media coverage of poverty has focussed on growing problems of severe hardship and destitution. The cuts in welfare benefits have been made worse by rising costs, falling real wages and reductions in public services. There is a real crisis for many households and the growing demand for food…
On Thursday 3rd of April, we hosted a public debate about equalities and the referendum debate. We were delighted to welcome as speakers; Dr Lesley Orr – Woman of Influence of the Year 2012, , academic, feminist historian Roza Salih – VP Advocacy & Diversity, Student Representative Council , Strathclyde University Nazed Ramadan – Director of Migrant…
Ruth McKenna is a postgraduate researcher at the University of Glasgow, working towards an ESRC funded PhD entitled ‘Imagining Russia in British political, media and popular discourses post-1999: the impact upon Russian-speaking migrant integration in the UK’ What is the purpose of this project? In September 2013 I began working towards an ESRC funded PhD entitled…
By Clare Frances Moran, PhD candidate, University of Glasgow The recent revolutions in the Middle East and the subsequent conflicts in Libya, Tunisia and Syria raise interesting questions about the enforceability of human rights norms during times of transition between one type of regime and another. Human rights obligations are generally not owed from one…