- This Tuesday 14 November, 6-7.30 pm Prof Matthew Johnson, of Northumbria University, will present ‘Why a Basic Income is good for your physical and mental health’. Basic Income can reduce poverty, provide a secure future and save the NHS billions in the process. There will be plenty of time for Q&A after the presentation. You can book a place and get more information about this online event here.
You may be interested in the The Palgrave International Handbook of Basic Income with a chapter on The Health Case for Basic Income written by Matthew Johnson, Elliot Johnson and Kate Pickett. Unfortunately the book is not open access.
- Leeds International Donut Festival 10 to 18 November.
Monday, 13th Nov, 6pm – 9pm International Donut evening and dinner – group watch-in to international online events with Kate Raworth and Donut community, with food sharing, hosted by Leeds Doughnut Coalition and Doughnut Economics action lab. For more info contact nathans@space2.org.uk
Friday 17th Nov, 6pm (NOT 2pm) – Climate Colonialism: talks, workshops and film, hosted by Racial Justice Network and friends. For more info contact hello@otley2030.com
Saturday 18th Nov, 12 – 5pm Marketplace
1 – 2pm Universal Basic Income workshop with UBI Lab Leeds
2 – 3pm Carbon Colonialism: talk and Q+A with Laurie Parsons
3.30 – 4.30pm De-growth, climate justice and the Leeds Doughnut: a talk and Q+A
with Paul Chatterton
For more info contact jenni.brooks@ourfutureleeds.org
All the above events are at Imagine (Leeds Climate Action Hub), 7th floor, City
Exchange, 11 Albion St, Leeds LS1 5ES
- Next Thursday an online talk by Stacey Rutland & Shafeka Hashash on:
How to Grow a Movement: The Importance of Strategic Funding & the Case of the US.
When: 16.11.2023, 04:00-05:30pm UK time.
You can find out more and join the Zoom event here.
- People Powerhouse North Convention in Preston from 29 Nov 12.00 hrs to 30 Nov 15.30hrs GMT. You can learn more about Community Wealth Building in Preston on Day 1 and on Day 2 UBI Manchester + Leeds and Basic Income Conversation will organise a workshop ‘Why give people ‘free’ money? A conversation around Universal Basic Income’. You can find out more and register for the convention here.
- UBI Lab Finland invites you to join in the Universal Basic Income sense-making session #4 on Hunome ‘social 4.0’ platform where UBI Lab Finland started to bring together and build multidimensional and multidisciplinary understanding on the many perspectives, possibilities and experiences of UBI on 7 December 7 2023 at 3-5 PM UK time. You can find out more and register here.
- You may be interested in the talk of UBI Lab Sheffield member and Economist at the University of Sheffield, Mark Bryan, at a Green Party meeting in Stroud: Universal Basic Income Amounts and Framing
- The next BIEN (Basic Income Earth Network) Congress 2024 will take place in Bath (UK). There is a first call for contributions with a deadline on 15 January 2024. You can find out more here.
- Christopher Pollard has written a blog ‘Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it’. He discusses the most recent book of Yanis Varoufakis ‘Technofeudalism – What killed Capitalism’. Varoufakis proposes as an exit out of the current crises to democratise private companies and money and to introduce a Universal Basic Income.
- The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published ‘A Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom in 2023’ The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) can serve as guidance for an adequate Basic Income in the UK.
- At the Obama Foundation 2023 Democracy Forum, former President Obama discussed the impact of automation on the job market, the need for bigger changes, and the potential of ideas like a shorter work week, universal basic income, and guaranteed income to support those affected by automation. He highlighted the success of pilot programs like Chicago Promise, which provided cash to low-income families, and the positive effects of safety nets on democracy and the economy. You can view his talk here (3 min).
- BIEN Podcast Episode 6 with James Mulvale (65 min): He is a Professor and former Dean of Social Work at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. He links Basic Income to our Ecological and Climate Crises, the transformation to a Steady State Economy and Degrowth Economics in High Income Countries.
- Guy Standing has written a blog ‘Time Bandits’ in the Idler Magazine. He introduces his latest book promoting Basic Income ‘The Politics of Time: Gaining Control in the Age of Uncertainty’.
- You may find this post of the Social Enterprise Greater Change interesting!
Unconditional Cash Transfers Could Solve Homelessness in the UK
We provide personalised cash grants to help people out of homelessness for good
It costs Greater Change just £1,300 to help an individual out of homelessness. This saves the public purse over £29,000 per annum. A return of over 20x. The post also reports about Unconditional Cash Transfers for Homeless people in Denver (USA) and Canada.
- You can find out more about the Denver project in this short (5 min) video: Who We Are – Denver Basic Income Project
- Wales will not continue giving care leavers £1,600 a month in basic income trial when pilot ends. The scheme is expected to be £5m overspent by the end of the pilot period. The overspending is due to the popularity of the scheme, as many more care leavers opted to be part of the pilot than expected. It is also important to differentiate between the specific budget costs of a trial or pilot which has to be funded separately by the government and a permanent UBI which is a redistribution of money in society with no societal costs.
- You may be interested in the policy brief ‘Social Security and the Just Transition’ proposing a UBI as social protection floor for South Africa. It has been published by the Social Policy Initiative.
- The Independent Food Aid Network in the UK proposes a Cash First approach to achieve Food Security.
- Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has proposed to create an American Equity Fund to pay for a UBI in the USA. It should be financed through taxation of companies and privately owned land. He seems to implicitly tell us that health care and education should also be funded through UBI rather than being provided by universal public services. You can read his post from 2021 ‘Moore’s Law for Everything’.
- In Canada ‘Advocates take their case for a guaranteed basic income to the Senate’. Senate considering bill to compel finance minister to create framework for basic income program
- Our UBI Lab member Mathew Hulbert appeared on LBC show (65 min) ‘Iain Dale hosts Cross Question 24/10’. He mentioned UBI at 41m38s and 58m28s.
- I would like to recommend the IDS development lecture on 9/11/2023 ‘Well-Being without Growth? A New Approach to Combating Global Poverty’. The speaker, Professor Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, explains well why our socio-economic system is addicted to economic growth and what can be done to transform into a post-growth society. Basic Income has not been mentioned but the presentation (60 min) and Q&A (30 min) are very relevant to our topic of Basic Income.
- You may be interested in the Global Atlas of Tax Avoidance and Evasion. Then you know that and how a global UBI can be financed.
- Somebody has started a petition to UK Government and Parliament: Introduce a Universal Basic Income. The petition will end on 8 March 2024. Please sign and inform others about the petition, if you are a UK citizen or resident. UBI as an important topic will only attract mainstream politicians, if the petition achieves a large number of signatures.