Latest news
What’s happening to tackle inequality in Cambridge.
Blog – Austerity, austerity, austerity
Universal credit began its roll out in Cambridge on 17th October, gradually to start off with, just new claims or people whose circumstances change. The full-scale transfer of all those on the relevant unemployment and in work benefits will come later. A few days later the government used their autumn budget to declare the beginning
Blog – Inequality in Britain ‘bleak’ according to public body
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) report ‘Is Britain Fairer?’ was released last week in pre-publication format. You can download the report here – https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/britain-fairer-2018 The report outlines how inequalities are continuing to blight British society; suggesting some groups within our society are being ‘forgotten or left behind’. Producing this report is a statutory
Promoting equality in Cambridge: our AGM with Robert Porrer
It’s been a significant year in the life of The Cambridge Commons and our AGM this past Thursday was an opportunity to take stock. In just 12 months we have: run 17 events in the imagine2027 series with 3,000+ seat reservations built a mailing list of 1,300+ supporters of greater equality run a forum for
Blog – Big Tent Ideas Festival
The “Big Tent Ideas Festival” Babraham, Cambs, 8 September 2018. Some thoughts the “Big Tent” event attended recently by TCC Member Kimon Roussopoulos. The event was co-chaired by George Freeman MP (Con, briefly was Life Sciences minister) and (Baroness) Sally Morgan, sometime Blair advisor in Number 10 and other capacities. It was the
Inequality fund, Cambridge pound, car free day: imagine2027 forum debates how to transform city
What would you propose to transform Cambridge for the better? How can we pool our collective energy to have the most impact? What can we learn from the speakers at imagine2027 to make the city fairer and more equal? We hosted an incredible Forum on Action at the last talk in the imagine2027 series showcasing
Cambridge Ahead makes case for investment in infrastructure and housing
The region’s planners have badly underestimated employment growth in the Cambridge area with drastic consequences for housing, congestion and living standards, according to research commissioned by lobby group Cambridge Ahead. South Cambridgeshire has been particularly hard hit, the research suggests, with planners working on a 0.6% growth assumption compared to a more realistic 4.2%. As
Cambridge Commons invited to submit response to regional economic review
The Cambridge Commons has been invited to submit evidence to a major commission on the regional economy. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Review (CPIER) has been set up to establish a coherent strategic position on regional growth, infrastructure and devolution. The interim report argued for steps to make the regional economy more inclusive, a
imagine2027 forum with Zoe Williams will ask how we move from talk to action
Join us and our guest Zoe Williams for a forum on how we turn the ideas raised through the imagine2027 series into practical action for change. Bring your ideas for initiatives to combat inequality. As the speaking phase of imagine2027 winds up, this is a great opportunity to meet and join with others to make
Older people must ‘chip in’ to pay for rising health costs amid rental and pay pressures for young: David Willetts
Baby boomers born between 1945 and 1967 must pay more to contribute to the welfare bill that will support them in old age, the Rt Hon Lord David Willetts said in Cambridge on Thursday. Older people on generous pensions and asset rich must help millennials born after 1980 ‘dodge the bullet’ of paying for the
Danny Dorling: ‘Stop the stupid competition between schools to bring down inequality’
Danny Dorling made an impassioned plea for a better education system in the UK at the second in our series of visionary talks on fairness, imagine2027. The Oxford Professor of Geography showed how inequalities in his city were fueling deep divides in outcomes for children, entrenching inequality for generations to come. Instead he called for
‘Global finance should serve the real economy, not the other way round’ – Ann Pettifor kicks of imagine2027
Economist Ann Pettifor got the imagine2027 series off to a cracking start with a call to rein in global finance in order to build a more stable, fairer economy. The director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME), a network of economists concerned with Keynesian monetary theory, Pettifor said global finance must serve the real economy,
For The Common Good: Tackling Inequality In Cambridge
On the 19th July this year the Steering Committee of The Cambridge Commons suspended its usual monthly agenda to conduct a critical self-assessment. It was three years almost to the day since a handful of us, disturbed by the substantial incidence of poverty in such a prosperous city, and partly inspired by The Spirit Level,