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A natural change to republican supporter : Comments
By Wendy Machin, published 15/9/1999Wendy Machin explains her conversion from a Monarch to a Republic supporter
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Posted by MichaelK., Wednesday, 27 April 2005 12:06:27 PM
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The need is clear:
<<<<<<The Independent, 16 Apr 2005
Britain the land of least opportunity
By Jonathan Brown
25 April 2005
Britain is ranked bottom of an international league table of social mobility, scotching claims that successive governments have created a more classless society.
A study of eight industrialised nations, produced by the London School of Economics on behalf of the educational charity the Sutton Trust, shows that Britons find it harder than other nationalities to earn more money and get better jobs than their parents.
[..................]
The findings were based on studies of two cohorts of children born in the 1950s and 1970s. While 17 per cent of those born in the UK in 1958 made it from the bottom quarter income group to the top, only 11 per cent born in 1970 did so. [.....................................................]
In Britain, graduation rates in the richest fifth, born in the 1980s, have risen from 20 per cent to 47 per cent. Only 9 per cent of children from the poorest fifth of families now get degrees. - up just three per cent
The report's authors saidthe increasingly rigid society was due to growing income inequality as the rich got richer and the poor struggled to break the cycle of poverty. There was a link between family income and educational achievement.
Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, described the findings as "truly shocking". He said: "Social mobility in Britain is much lower than in other advanced countries and is declining - those from less privileged backgrounds are more likely to face disadvantage into adulthood, and the affluent continue to benefit disproportionately from educational opportunities."
He said it was vital young people were given more help to take advantage of better quality education.
Social mobility by nation
1st Norway
2nd = Denmark
Sweden
Canada
5th Finland
6th Germany
7th UK
8th US
How the eight countries in the study ranked
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=632750