Next week, the District Council’s overview committee will be considering a report on how it can deal with poverty:
East Devon Policies on Poverty 
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Overview Committee | Thursday, 29th August, 2019 6.00 pm
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Daniel Clark of Devon Live takes a closer look:
Action plan proposed to help tackle East Devon’s poverty – as Brexit will ‘worsen the situation’
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The New Economics Foundation’s latest newsletter looks at a few possible ways out:
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Weekly Economics Podcast: The rent is too high
Rents are sky high. Saving for a deposit can take a decade or longer. And for many people, property ownership seems unachievable. Could rent controls be the answer to this problem? Ayeisha is chatting to Hanna Wheatley, researcher at NEF and Eva Freeman, private renter and member of the London Renters Union. Listen
Rent control – your questions answered
Off the back of our recent report on rent controls, Sarah Arnold addresses some key concerns and busts common myths about rent control policy. Read more
Weekly Economics Podcast: The myth of meritocracy
Social mobility in the UK is stagnating. Class privilege is entrenched. Boris Johnson is the twentieth prime minister to go to Eton. What if the idea of Britain as a meritocracy is a myth? Ayeisha is joined by Jo Littler, a reader in sociology at City University of London and author of ‘Against Meritocracy’, and Sam Friedman, associate sociology professor at LSE and author of ‘The Class Ceiling: Why It Pays To Be Privileged’. Listen
More holidays and better pay would boost productivity, says thinktank
NEF report calling for workers to have more public holidays and higher wages as a way of tackling the productivity puzzle was covered in the Guardian, Independent, Left Foot Forward, and Personnel Today.
Australian company switches to four-day work week and sees massive jump in revenue
NEF research showing a four-day working week and higher minimum wage could reduce inequality was mentioned in a LADbible article.
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See also, from this year’s blog entries at the Futures Forum:
Ken Loach’s “Sorry We Missed You” @ Cannes > “a grim depiction of gig economy ‘serfdom’”
“Rural inequality is not just a matter for rural dwellers.”
Devon has among the lowest average salaries in the UK
How to arrest the tyranny of debt
Replace the income tax personal allowance – with a new guaranteed minimum income