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Hitting the glass floor: the impact of social background on earnings
By James Carson How much does family background matter when it comes to your job prospects later in life? That’s the focus of a report from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission which...
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Learning from “Alcatraz” – the regeneration of the Gorbals
By James Carson For decades, the Gorbals area of Glasgow was a byword for social problems. During the 1920s and 1930s, poverty and overcrowding spawned deprivation, poor health, gang culture and...
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Goodbye Green Deal: the government’s decision to axe its energy efficiency...
By James Carson The Green Deal is dead. Last month, the energy and climate change secretary, Amber Rudd, announced that no further applications for finance from the project would be accepted. The Green...
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Pocket parks: making cities friendlier, greener and more resilient
By James Carson Last summer, a report for the Heritage Lottery Fund offered mixed news on the state of public parks in the UK. While increasing numbers of parks were reported to be in good condition,...
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Want to know more about inequality or digital public services? So do our...
Photograph: James Carson One of the big attractions of the Idox Information Service is the wide range of subjects covered by our database. From economic development to crime prevention, social care to...
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Discarding bag habits: England joins Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in...
By James Carson Plastic carrier bags have been part of Britain’s retail landscape since their introduction by supermarkets in the 1970s. Dispensed freely and liberally, the bags were originally made of...
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Starter Homes: affordable housing at an unaffordable cost?
By James Carson A report from homelessness charity Shelter has suggested that one of the UK government’s key affordable homes initiatives will be out of reach for many people on average incomes. The...
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Can Housing Zones help the housing crisis?
By James Carson The UK government believes that brownfield land has a crucial role in meeting the need for new homes. But development of brownfield sites has often been held back because of the need...
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The Aktivhaus: is this the future of sustainable living?
By James Carson Earlier this year, we looked at a style of building known as Passivhaus, which is playing an important role in creating energy-efficient homes. Now, another concept – the Aktivhaus – is...
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(Older) people power: the economic opportunities of an ageing society
By James Carson Responding to a recent Ask-a-Researcher request for information about Britain’s ageing population, I found that an online search generated a discouraging set of headlines: “Ageing UK...
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The UK generates more food waste than anywhere else in Europe …what’s being...
October 16 is World Food Day, an annual day of action to raise awareness about the problem of global hunger. It’s also a particularly good day to reflect on the problem of food waste. Over 800 million...
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Another world first for London Underground: energy from braking trains
By James Carson London’s Tube may be the oldest underground network in the world, but it’s still breaking new ground. Last month, engineers began testing a process that enables waste energy from Tube...
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Eco-Cultures: blending arts and the environment
By James Carson To have a place, to live and belong in a place, to live from a place without destroying it, we must imagine it. Wendell Berry The worlds of place and imagination came together last...
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Debating the cost of alcohol to society
“Society is paying the costs – alcohol-related harm is now estimated to cost society £21 billion annually.” So said David Cameron, launching the UK government’s alcohol strategy in 2012. The prime...
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Sound advice on noise nuisance: how local authorities are helping residents...
By James Carson Last year, a survey for Churchill Home Insurance reported that in the first nine months of 2013 nearly 500,000 complaints had been made to UK local authorities. By far the biggest...
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New ideas for housing in London
2015 was the year London’s population reached 8.6 million, a peak figure last reached in 1939. The capital’s population is set to rise by a further 1.6 million over the next 20 years, and by 2050 may...
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Support for the squeezed middle: could public subsidies tackle London’s...
A new report from the Centre for London has highlighted the potential of intermediate housing in supporting Londoners on middle incomes. The report – Fair to Middling – argues that not only could...
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Fossil fuel divestment:an idea whose time has come?
Introduction Within just a few years, fossil fuel divestment has overtaken previous campaigns targeting apartheid in South Africa and tobacco advertising to become the fastest growing divestment...
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An all-round approach: could the circular economy help the world turn the...
This week, politicians from around the world are making a final attempt to craft a deal on climate change at the UN COP21 talks in Paris. The stakes could not be higher. Climate scientists largely...
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Idox: enabling transformation, collaboration and improvement
If you follow this blog regularly then you’ll know that we write on all areas of public and social policy. What you might not realise though is that our Knowledge Exchange team is just one part of a...
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