Soundings

Editorial

The contemporary political scene is criss-crossed by systems of willed ignorance, the most obvious example being in the field of economics. Further examples discussed in this issue include government drugs policy, which remains impervious to research (Julia Buxton); the widespread refusal to acknowledge that inequality is a killer (Göran Therborn); the abdication of responsibility for workers that is allowed by employment subcontracting (Jane Wills); the denial that academies' exam results are skewed by selection (Terry Wrigley); the idea that health and welfare systems can be run on the basis of a repudiation of dependency (Tim Dartington).

Plus Guy Brown and Sarah Radcliffe on the unforeseen consequences of increasing lifespans; Hilary Cottam on 'Beveridge 4.0'; Robin Maynard on food security; Karel Williams on frames and conjunctures in economics; Ben Little on the millennial generation and politics; Bryan Gould on left politics; Jon Cruddas and Jonathan Rutherford on Demos.

Contents

5 Editorial

7 The UK drug problem in global perspective
Julia Buxton

20 The killing fields of inequality
Göran Therborn

33 The living wage
Jane Wills

47 Academies: privatising England's schools
Terry Wrigley

60 Relationship and dependency in the public sphere
Tim Dartington

67 Does the end of life have to be hell?
Guy C. Brown & Sarah A. Radcliffe

79 Public service reform, the individual and the state
Hilary Cottam

90 UK food security
Robin Maynard

102 Frames and conjunctures in economics
Karel Williams

111 Poems
Ingeborg Bachmann, John Burnside, Paul Farley, David Harsent

119 The millennial generation and politics
Ben Little

129 Constructing a left politics
Bryan Gould

140 Reviews
Jon Cruddas and Jonathan Rutherford, David Purdy, Sofi Charlstan

156 Notes on contributors

ISBN 9781907103018 paperback Summer 2009

Available online to all subscribers at www.ingentaconnect.com