Inter-Generational Fairness
A lot of my political career has been spent working either on pensions or on education. That led me to get increasingly aware of the changing shape of the state as programmes for older people grew whereas those for younger people seemed to be under more pressure. My book, The Pinch did lead the way in putting the issue of fairness between the generations on the agenda. After the first edition in 2010 a second edition with fresh data from the Resolution Foundation came out in 2019. A lecture at the Royal Institution was an opportunity to set out the themes.
I also chaired the Resolution Foundation’s Inter-Generational Commission which produced a major report on the issue in 2018. We continue to work on the issue at the Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Centre.
Generational issues are increasingly important in shaping voting behaviour. The late great Professor Peter Pulzer, my politics tutor at Oxford, famously observed back in the 1960s that “Class is the basis of British party politics; all else is embellishment and detail.” I took the opportunity of a lecture back at Oxford to argue that perhaps we should now revise his bold statement and replace class with age.
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