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Fighting inequality: our patriotic duty
During the last election, David Cameron said it was his "patriotic duty" to beat Gordon Brown. Soon after, the Conservatives produced this election poster to promote their manifesto. It is still available to buy from the party's website for a mere £10.
Inspired to perform our own patriotic duty, we've created this alternative: "If the UK flag was divided like UK wealth…" (high-res pdf | jpeg).
If we really were all in this together we might at least expect the picture to be improving. But the High Pay Commission, which published its final report last week, shows that while FTSE 100 chief executive pay ballooned to 145 times the average wage last year, it is projected to rise to a staggering 214 times average pay by 2020.
As if to underline the point, one day after the release of that report, the Office for National Statistics revealed that not only was top pay surging ahead, but the pay of poorest workers is falling sharply in real terms.
The share of national income going to top earners has increased over the last 30 years, under both Conservative and Labour governments. But despite words of concern, the current government is doing nothing to halt this trend. Indeed its policies are widening the gap between rich and poor, north and south, and men and women.
All of which suggests that one slogan still for sale on the Conservative website has become more relevant since the election: It's Time For Change.
It certainly is.
- Posted by: Clifford Singer at 3:34pm on 27 November 2011
- Filed under: Inequality
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