Too many UK workers can’t afford to get ill – but new reforms to sick pay don’t go far enough

Sylvie PopeIn the news, Influencing, Poverty in the UK

The Employment Rights Bill passing through the UK parliament is a once-in-a-generation chance to end the scandal of people being pushed into poverty simply because they get sick. But though it contains some welcome reforms, says Sylvie Pope at The Centre for Progressive Change, it risks leaving many people worse off or still facing hardship.

‘It feels like a more innocent time for Oxfam and for our belief in progress’: looking back on Make Poverty History 

Dominic VickersAid, Debt, Influencing

Twenty years after he watched Nelson Mandela’s rousing launch speech in Trafalgar Square, Dominic Vickers reflects on the impact of the landmark Make Poverty History campaign for trade justice, debt relief and better aid – and wonders if a new generation can take up the cause again. 

Why are we still waiting for justice on loss and damage?

Chiara LiguoriClimate Change, In the news, Influencing

Remember the fanfare two years ago when rich countries promised new money to respond to the destructive impacts of the climate emergency? Well, the paltry climate finance deal at COP29 contained precisely zero concrete commitments on loss and damage. Chiara Liguori on how the hopes of poorer countries and communities were raised – only to be brutally dashed.

It’s time to put care at the centre of our economics courses

Alex BushEconomics, Education, Influencing

The UK government’s Francis Review of the English school curriculum is an unprecedented chance to shift the national and global conversation on economics education: let’s not miss it, say Alex Bush and Jennifer Brandsberg-Engelmann. They explain why we need to change an economics curriculum which perpetuates narratives that are bad for people and planet and erase care work.

Five good reasons for the UK to back a global plan to fairly tax the super-rich at the G20

Claire Arthur-LusbyIn the news, Inequality, Influencing

Brazil wants world leaders to work together on fair taxes for the super-rich. With inequality skyrocketing and the escalating climate crisis, Britain should seize its chance to support that, says Claire Arthur-Lusby.

Across Asia, local LGBTQIA+ activists are finding their Voice

Kayla LapizInfluencing, Power Shifts, Rights

Over the past eight years, the Voice programme has been supporting the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights. In a blog for Pride month, Kayla Lapiz and Ishita Dutta look back on some inspiring examples of local action as the programme comes to an end.

My mum’s death makes me want a care revolution

Ruth HannanInfluencing, Poverty in the UK, Women's Economic Empowerment

Carers don’t want to be ‘saints’ or ‘angels’, says Ruth Hannan: they just want the same opportunities as everyone else. In a blog for Carers Week in the UK, she says we need to look way beyond sticking-plaster solutions such as respite breaks to radical measures that deliver real economic justice.

‘Be more Norway’: a model policy report on the UK’s international future

Duncan GreenGovernance, Influencing, Research

It’s time for the country to accept it is now an ‘offshore mid-sized power’, say the experienced ‘insider’ authors of radical proposals to reset the UK’s approach to international affairs. Duncan Green on key insights from The World in 2040: Renewing the UK’s Approach to International Affairs.