Riding out the storm (with apologies to the Doors)

Liz Truss told us that the UK could ‘ride out the storm’ of the current economic crisis when she became PM – then what happened…

Riding out the storm

Riding out the storm

Into the House you’re shown

Into this world you’ve thrown

A debt that sets the tone

For a country out on loan

Riding out the storm

There’s Kwasi on the road

His brain is in free market mode

Take a long bet today

Let your children pay

If he takes us for a ride

Sweet families run dry

Kwasi on the road, yeah

Liz, you got to own your man

Liz, you got to own your man,

Take us by the hand,

Make us understand,

Why markets now depend

On how BoE amends

Gotta own your man, yeah

Riding out the storm

Riding out the storm

Into the House you’re shown

Into this world you’ve thrown

A debt that sets the tone

For a country out on loan

Riding out the storm

Riding out the storm

Riding out the storm

Riding out the storm

Riding out the storm

Rishi don’t confuse the numbers (with apologies to Steely Dan)

We hear you’re levelling up, that’s okay

I thought our time in the spotlight had just begun

I guess you kind of scared yourself, you turned and ran

But you could have a change of heart

Rishi don’t confuse the numbers

You don’t want to help nobody else

Sent out a Spring Statement to yourself

Rishi don’t confuse the numbers

It’s the poorest you disowned

You could choose to make people feel better

And heat their homes

I have a friend in town, she’s heard your name

We can go on the doorstep, giver her a slow hand clap

She has to stay inside, play games to keep warm

And you could have a change of heart

Rishi don’t confuse the numbers

You don’t want to help nobody else

Sent out a Spring Statement to yourself

Rishi don’t confuse the numbers

It’s the poorest you disowned

You could choose to make people feel better

And heat their homes

You tell yourself you’re not my kind

But you don’t even know your mind

And you could have a change of heart

Rishi don’t confuse the numbers

You don’t want to help nobody else

Sent out a Spring Statement to yourself

Rishi don’t confuse the numbers

It’s the poorest you disowned

You could choose to make people feel better

And heat their homes

Candy Chancellor (with apologies to the Candy Man)

Who can take some storm clouds

Sprinkle them with dues

Cover them with cuts and a miracle or two

The Candy Chancellor can

The Candy Chancellor can

‘Cause he mixes in a sugar levy

And makes the world look good.

 

Who can take tax thresholds

Raise them with a smile

Cut tax and business rates

For your local shopping aisle

The Candy Chancellor can

The Candy Chancellor can

‘Cause he mixes in a sugar levy

And makes the world look good

 

Now talk about youth in crisis

You can even have lifetime ISAs

 

Oh who can take tomorrow

Dip it in a dream

Leave sorrow with the poor

and give the fat cats all the cream

The Candy Chancellor can

The Candy Chancellor can

‘Cause he mixes in a sugar levy

And makes the world look good

Budget Mail (with apologies to W H Auden)

This is the Budget coming from the dispatch box

Bringing the new economic order

Tax cuts for the rich, how much for the poor,

Or the shop on the corner or the girl next door?

Channelling Renton (‘choose life’) a steady climb,

The deficit’s against him but he says he’s got time

Walking tall again, Britain’s getting bolder

Braying support from over his shoulder,

Noisy mayhem on the green benches

(All of them notable for lack of wenches).

 

Quietening down as he clarifies approaches

To spending and borrowing and where debt encroaches

Austerity cannot change its course;

Youth slumber on what have they lost?

Farmers get to spread their costs – they’re awake

But the bedroom tax still stalks estates.

 

Osborne freshens the climb is done,

Down towards detail he descends

Towards the Northern powerhouse where he amends, how to recoup business rates,

And adds support for transport and for health,

Set out on the page like gigantic innovations.

All Scotland awaits him:

In ‘one United Kingdom’

People long for something new.

 

Tax cuts for the rich, share sales from banks

Freedom in ISAs, and housebuyers say thanks

Welfare reform and invitations

To pursue tax avoidance or tax evasion,

And rising applications for situations

And married person’s tax allowance declarations

And gossip, gossip from all the papers:

Circumstantial news, financial capers.

Measures with living standards shown enlarging

Others say pressures still there on the margins

Measures for pensioners and air ambulances

Yorkshire job creation bigger than France’s,

Measures to support veterans and remember wars

And the 600^th anniversary of Agincourt

Measures to appeal to every political hue

The purple, the orange, the green and blue,

The hard-working, the saving, the reassuringly boring

The digital natives, the orchestras touring,

Measure for middle-term, short-term and long,

Measures that some will say just are plain wrong.

 

Thousands are still undecided

Dreaming of alternative futures

And friendly candidates on the doorstep or the ballot paper:

Deciding in working Glasgow, deciding in well-set Edinburgh

Deciding in oil-rich Aberdeen,

And even in England they continue their dreams

And shall wake soon longing for results

And none will switch on the TV or the radio

Without a quickening of the heart

For who can bear to find out if they’re forgotten?

 

 

Nordic models and global gender equality

It’s said of Winston Churchill that when he wanted a martini he would pour himself a large gin and think of France (in tribute to the origin of vermouth, the cocktail’s usual other ingredient). I sometimes think that in the UK, policies for gender equality are similarly formulated: write the reform you want whilst thinking of Scandinavia. This usually means Sweden, but with a nod to Finland for education, Norway for wealth, and this week’s much heralded Iceland, for overall gender equality.

In the midst of coverage of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index, in the UK we have paid most attention to our own drop in position. Last year, according to the WEF index, we were still in the Top 20, as I blogged in June when looking at how the World Cup countries fared in gender equality rankings. Now we have dropped to no. 26 in the table – the top 5 are all Nordic, with Iceland at number 1. Meanwhile, in the Guardian, a prominent Icelandic gender equality analyst has reminded us, that in spite of its successes, Iceland is ‘no feminist paradise’. Why not? Well, in short, because gender equality remains to be achieved.

In an index like the WEF’s, you’re presented with differences between men’s and women’s positions on economic, political, health and educational dimensions within countries, rather than levels of opportunity in each of these areas. So countries move up and down the index, depending on how they affecting the gaps between men and women’s circumstances, rather than on the actual opportunities available. Many middle-income nations therefore come high up in the rankings. Moreover, as Ms Rudolfsdottir points out in the Guardian article, the gender gap between Icelandic men and women in terms of life expectancy may not be terribly bothersome, when you recognise that both men and women live to be over 80: there’s a gap, but not at a level where it suggests that there are major failings in meeting public health needs.

In other respects, however, even Icelandic figures show that much remains to be done. Iceland is well-known for having amongst the highest female political participation rates in the world. These are boosted by a voluntary quota system for party candidates – so future success is not written in stone.

And although generous parental leave entitlements are a crucial part of Iceland’s picture of success (they have the longest period of dedicated fathers’ leave anywhere) even these measures have not resulted in abolition of the gender pay gap – although women’s participation in employment is very high at 88%. The gender pay gap in Iceland is around 20%, not dissimilar to the UK’s.   The explanation for this perhaps surprising finding, is that men and women tend to be employed in different sectors. Icelandic men are more likely to enter relatively well-paid areas such as scientific and technical sectors and construction, compared to women’s greater participation in sectors such as social and personal care, and public sector professions in administration, health and education. Other Nordic countries share this characteristic of high performance in terms of retaining women in work, but having a lesser impact on pay differentials between men and women. Gender parity will come when more girls train for professions which command the highest salaries, and/or when ‘caring’ roles attain higher value. There is, indeed, much to do…

As for the UK, we should be concerned that at a time when we are outperforming many other countries economically, our gender inequalities remain: the gender pay gap is, in fact, increasing. Levels of female participation in politics are poor here compared to our Nordic counterparts: we rank 75^th in the world in terms of women occupying ministerial positions, and women still account for fewer than a quarter of MPs.

So we need to take a long hard look at the ingredients for closing gender gaps –we still have to find the perfect policy cocktail to produce gender equality in economics, politics, health and education, anywhere in the world. Whilst women’s employment rates in the UK are increasing, we now rank only 48^th in the world, according to WEF. The cost of childcare is an important part of the picture: we pay high fees for a fragmented system, whereas universal, state-subsidised childcare is available throughout Scandinavia. Nordic models may not solve everything, but by paying attention to universal service provision and men’s role in the home, they have progressed further towards gender equality than we have. Let’s be stirred to further action, not shaken by obstacles along the way.