The 'Broken society' that David Cameron has focused on is the fault of the rising inequality that primarily took place under Margaret Thatcher.
The ‘Broken society’, which David Cameron and his party often refer to, is the fault of the rising inequality that primarily took place under Margaret Thatcher, according to two academics recently cited by the Conservative party leader.
In October, David Cameron told Conservative party conference:
“But in Britain today there is a dark side as well. After twelve years of big government, we still have those stubborn social problems. Poverty, crime, addiction. Failing schools. Sink estates. Broken homes.”
But last week, Richard Wilkinson and Katie Pickett wrote a British Medical Journal editorial which said:
“It is now clear that unequal societies have an increased prevalence of a host of social problems, including violence, bullying, teenage births, higher rates of imprisonment, low educational performance, reduced social mobility, low levels of trust, and longer working hours. Insofar as these are behavioural outcomes, they provide strong evidence that psychosocial processes are associated with inequality.
“The benefits of greater equality tend to be largest among the poor but seem to extend to almost everyone. A more equal society might improve most people’s quality of life. Rather than merely paying lip service to creating a “classless society,” it is a task for politicians and policy experts to repair our “broken society” by undoing the widening of inequalities that has taken place since the 1970s.
A chart on Wilkinson and Pickett’s Equality Trust website shows that the largest rise in inequality took place while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.
Wilkinson and Pickett are authors of the groundbreaking study on inequality ‘The Spirit Level’ and were cited by David Cameron in his Huge Young memorial lecture on the day the editoral was published. Cameron’s speech was challenged for making inaccurate claims about poverty and inequality.
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24 Responses to “Thatcher to blame for ‘Broken society’”
Harriet
Tony. Take you’re own advice. Grow up. Smell the shit*.
*In this instance, shit is the rubbish that Thatcher said/did/implemented/said/changed thought during her tyrannical reign.
willstraw
I’m not sure I would quite have phrased it that way, but Harriet is spot on. It’s a great credit to progressive politics that Cameron is now committed to tackling inequality and the problems of our inner cities. But he shouldn’t pretend that the problems started in May 1997.
Will
Stephanie Barlow
RT @leftfootfwd: Thatcher most to blame for 'broken society' say academics cited by Cameron http://bit.ly/3oB6sL
Joe FD
If Cameron is going to criticise Labour for failing to tackle inequality – a criticism that cuts to the bone for progressives – then he should commit to tackling it himself.
Lynda Edwards
It was good in the late 1970s before the Thatcher government! Trouble was the Tories don’t like unions so our manufacturing industry was destroyed. Countries which have a good manufacturing industry, e g Germany, China and Japan, are prosperous while we appear to be sinking.
We should have a law allowing people to be self-employed without the fear that, if anything goes wrong, they will be able to claim Jobseeker’s Benefit which they are unable to do so at the moment. Some employers take on employees on a self-employed basis – if those people lose their jobs they will be unable to claim benefit as they only will be paying Class 2 contributions as opposed to Class 1 which employed people pay or Jobseekers have credited to them. A self-employed person, running their own business, may be so successful that they are able to take on staff – they should be rewarded for being independent of employers.
The Tories appear to be targetting young voters who may not even have been born prior to the Thatcher government and will not know how much damage has been done in the past 30 years.
Tony Blair was brought up Tory parents that is why he was a disappointment when in power.