James Law (Newcastle University)

It was not so very long ago that Prime Minister David Cameron was extolling the need to think about a person’s Life Chances. The idea as indicated above was originally attributed to the work of German sociologist Max Weber but was really given focus in Johnson and Kossykh 2008 review Early years, life chances and equality and Frank Field’s report The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults.

The story was that poverty was no longer the principal driver of social inequalities but that the opportunities an individual had and then took were key to improving the lot of more disadvantaged people in society. This seemed to be especially relevant for children whose life chances had been curtailed by virtue of circumstances completely outside their control. A Life Chances strategy was promised and due to be released at the time of the Brexit vote. It was postponed, Prime Minister Cameron resigned and, life chances, along with much of the Conservative party manifesto, appeared to be kicked into the proverbial long grass. The issues remained the same, of course, but the politics had changed. Continue reading →

Sara Walker (Newcastle University)

Living in cold homes creates health risks for people of all ages and affects their quality of life. Elderly people, children, and those with a disability or long-term illness are especially vulnerable[1]. For these groups, being able to heat their homes to a minimum accepted standard is essential to reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality, and maximise wellbeing[2]. Research into the dynamics of, consequences of, and resilience and responses to fuel poverty has primarily focused on the general population or the older demographic. Younger households are by comparison under-represented: relatively little research has been conducted into the considerable long-term health and social impacts fuel poverty may have on the health and wellbeing of young families and children, and little attention has been paid to the coping strategies such families employ or how they can be supported by targeted policy or practical interventions to alleviate fuel poverty[3]. Continue reading →