Publications

| Publication, News

The government’s plan to expand the number of ‘free hours’ of early childhood education and care (ECEC) available to some families means that 80% of the provision being accessed in England by the end of 2024 will be funded by the state. ECEC will have become a de facto public service, but without realising the broad range of benefits this could unlock.

The concept of universal basic services (UBS) is based on the premise that the first job of good government is to make sure everyone’s basic needs are met. This is often best achieved through collective services rather than individual market transactions. The UBS framework sets out clear criteria that public services should be fulfilling:

- Free or affordable access according to need, not ability to pay.

- A mixed economy of provision, bound by a set of public interest obligations. …

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| Publication, News

Sasjkia Otto (2023): Poor work-life balance is bad for our health, bad for the economy and steals time we could spend with loved ones. But it is endemic in the UK. Nearly half of the workforce said they were burnt out in 2021 and increases in productivity over the last 40 years have not brought commensurate working time reductions. People from a range of backgrounds are ready for change. Most people, in all income bands, in 2020 indicated they want to have more free time outside work – including half (50 per cent) of low earners (<£19,999) and three-quarters (76 per cent) of high earners (£55,000+). A good work-life balance has been linked with better health and wellbeing, improved working relationships, reduced risk of errors and injury, and higher productivity. It can also free up time for people to spend with their families and to be…

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Danny Dorling (2023): In this provocative and lucid contribution, Danny Dorling puts the decision to 'leave' in the context of four decades of bad policy making, which has accumulated a host of social and economic problems. Brexit was, in part, a response to these failures and their mounting grievances - but has failed entirely to answer a single one of these problems. But Brexit was also - as Dorling rightly emphasises - a story about the radicalisation of a particule form of reactionary English nationalism, which drew heavily on anti-immigration and 'sovereignty-ist' sentiment, in a wave of rule Britannia nostalgia.

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Jeevun Sandher, Thomas Stephens (2023): High-quality, universal early years education is likely the highest-returning investment a government can make. These high returns come largely from improving social and economic outcomes for low-income children and their parents. The returns are so high that this investment pays for itself even when funded entirely through borrowing. The current, limited funding offer, where mostly middle and higher-income families gain 30 free hours of childcare, restricts the benefits to both society and the public finances. Ensuring every child has guaranteed access to early years education will lead to higher earnings, more growth and the Treasury gaining money in the long run.

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Prof Michael Doherty (July 2023): Der jährlich aktualisierte Gewerkschaftsmonitor bietet Hintergrundinformationen, aktuelle Daten und Fakten und analytische Einblicke in die irische Gewerkschaftsbewegung.

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Michèle Auga & James Hoctor (July 2023): Der jährlich aktualisierte Gewerkschaftsmonitor bietet Hintergrundinformationen, aktuelle Daten und Fakten und analytische Einblicke in die britische Gewerkschaftsbewegung.

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Ed Arnold (2023): The UK and Germany are the European top defence spenders and top supporters of Ukraine in military, economic and humanitarian assistance. They have significant diplomatic, defence and security influence, and cooperation would maximise this influence. Enhanced cooperation would also signal that the UK and Germany are able to work together for the benefit of Europe and maintain unity through the challenges ahead.

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Amardeep Singh Dhillon (December 2022): The 2019 election defeat of Corbyn’s Labour Party marked the beginning of a new era for the British Left, as the fragile coalitions which had cohered around the hope of a social democratic Labour government shattered. As the Left reoriented itself within Labour, trade unions and social movements, seismic events including the pandemic, increased state and police repression, and the so-called cost of living crisis presented challenges as well as opportunities for new modes of organisation. With levels of industrial militancy not seen in a generation, and glimpses of new organisational infrastructures having developed, among others, around COP, Kill the Bill and the cost of living crisis, there is evidence of a proactive, collective reorientation of the left beyond the defeat of Corbynism.

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Jeevun Sandher & Daniel Button (2023): Investing in our care workforce will address unmet care needs. It will also have other knock-on economic, environmental and equality benefits. Raising pay and conditions in this low-paid sector will lead to higher wages and employment, especially in more deprived areas. Care jobs are also green jobs, meaning they emit less carbon than other forms of work. As women undertake the majority of paid and unpaid care work, an expanded and better-paid care workforce will also help to reduce gender inequality.

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Daniel Allington, Harry Shukman, William Galinsky and Rachel Briscoe (2023): The spread of online misinformation is a key concern in a digitally-permeated society, prompting fears that engagement with it can lead, particularly among young people, to radicalisation and inter-group hate. This paper assesses the scale of the problem, and examines a range of tools and techniques intended to mitigate its impact, from online fact-checking services and content warnings to interfaith dialogue and state-mandated educational programmes. The most promising methods of confronting misinformation are likely those that engage people in the real-world and build lasting relationships across community divides beyond the internet. Interventions that take place solely online, on the other hand, are yet to deliver robust and easily scalable impacts.

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Publications

A Fair Start for All: A universal basic services approach to early childhood education and care

Working Nein to Five: What can the UK learn from Germany about work-life balance?

Brexit: A failed project in a failing state

Investing in Early Years Education pays for itself

Gewerkschaftsmonitor Irland 2023

Gewerkschaftsmonitor Grossbritannien 2023

UK-German Defence & Security Cooperation

A New Cycle of Struggle: The British Left Post-Corbyn

A Care Workforce Fit for Britain

Canaries in the Coalmine: Building Resilience to Online Misinformation among Young People in the UK

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
London Office

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Dublin Office

More Publications from FES London

Latest Events

Event: Brexit: A failed project in a failing state

Standing Up for Armed Forces Personnel in the UK and Germany

A Care Workforce Fit for Britain