Tag: UK
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Ageing in the UK…
By 2066 5 million people in the UK will be aged over 85 and over, or 7% of the population.
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The End of the Department for International Development!
In September 2020 the long standing Department for International Development (DFID) merged with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). You can read more about the merger here. DFID was established as a separate department in 1997 under the New Labour Government, and its aim was to focus exclusively on delivering overseas aid, and over the…
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Britain’s recent involvement in torture – a good example of a ‘state crime’
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee It’s been 15 years since allegations first emerged of Britain’s involvement in the torture of those suspected of the 9/11 terror attacks, and earlier this month (July 2018) an official report has finally been released which reveals the ‘true’ extent of Britain’s compliance with the USA’s programme of torture. According…
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Who is Poor in the UK?
22% of the UK population, or 13.9 million people live in poverty in the UK (2016). Poverty rates are higher for lone parent households (46%), disabled households (34), and rates also vary significantly by ethnicity (e.g. the Bangladeshi poverty rate = 50%).
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UK Poverty Trends 1996 – 2017
How do we explain the long term decline in UK Poverty rate, and its more recent increase?
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Contemporary Sociology: The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal by the Russian State
The recent ‘russian spy poisoning’ is relevant to many areas of the A-level sociology specification, such as state-crime, globalisation and even consensus and conflict theory.
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Is Violent Crime Increasing?
According to the latest police recorded crime figures there has been a significant increase in crime in the last year: Gun crime has increased by 27% Knife crime has increased by 26% Robberies have increased by 25% Stalking and Harassment have increased by 36% At first site, what’s interesting about these figures is that they…
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Rich House, Poor House – Spreading the Myth of Meritocracy
In this Channel 5 series, one family in the ‘wealthiest 10%’ of Britain swap lives for a week with a family in the ‘poorest 10% of Britain’. As I see it this programme performs an ‘ideological control function’ – spreading the myth of meritocracy. They two families swap houses, budgets and leisure-timetables for a week…
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Ethnicity and Inequality in the UK 2017
The issue of why there are inequalities by ethnicity in the UK is a topic which runs all the way through the A level sociology syllabus. This post simply presents some sources which provide information on the extent of inequality in life chances by ethnicity in contemporary Britain. As it stands, in 2017 it seems…
