Product Description

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In this urgent polemic, "Guardian" journalist Polly Toynbee and the "Guardian's" economics editor David Walker present a worrying portrait of Britain today. Their gripping investigation takes them to the editor of "Tatler", who bemoans paying private school fees on a middle class salary and to young city lawyers who justify earning 100 times more than teachers because they work so hard. Polly Toynbee and David Walker shred the myth that executives require astronomical salaries, and put the case for higher taxation of the very rich. This was once the heart of Labor ideology, but politicians now seem almost embarrassed to raise the subject. Toynbee and Walker demolish the arguments against higher taxation, and show how government policy could revitalize British society. "Unjust Rewards" sets the agenda for the next general election.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21111 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'... a brilliant blend of moving human stories, cast-iron statistics and real-world solutions to our great national scandal' - Independent

Will Hutton
'A dissection of Britain's record on today's inequality like none other'

Rosie Boycott
'This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the state we're in'

Customer Reviews

It all seems common sense to me.
There are some interesting reviews for this book on these pages . I fail to see how any decent egalitarian human being could have any issues with what the authors of this book have put forward and the arguments they raise against the injustice and inequality in our society.
Polly Toynbee and David Walker of the Guardian point out that Britain has the second most unequal society among developed countries, after the USA. A UNICEF report of 2007 found that Britain was the worst of 21 `rich' countries for children to grow up in. A fifth of children still live in poverty. After over 12 years of a Labour Government. I vacillated between anger and despair reading this book as the damming facts just kept coming .
The authors note that since 1997 the richest 10%'s share of the nation's wealth has risen from 47% to 54%. They write, "parental income pretty accurately predicts whether a child will win or lose in life: the more unequally income is shared, the tighter the link becomes." They note "Boardroom pay is like plunder, you take what you can get away with " and that is has risen by "Many multiples more than average pay ". They also point that tax cuts for the rich rather than removing the incentive to cheat ( only rich people of course can afford the lawyers to do this for them ) makes them more determined to hang on to what they've got. The fact they feel their tax take is misspent almost goes without saying .
What might not be so obvious is just how out of touch some of the top earners are. When interviewed top earners in the city are astonished how little other people earn. It is also more pertinently pointed out that the popular conception( especially in the right wing press ) of what the benefits culture cost this country is a drop in a green backed ocean compared to what the rich get away with - using offshore funds and non-domicile status to avoid paying tax to the tune of at least £12 billion a year . This is truly scandalous not the fact that some people work for cash while claiming dole, though I do not condone that either.
The book is not just a tirade against the rich , though it will be viewed as such by many .The book tells of projects such as Sure Start, project stated by the Government which improves the early years of children's life's and Newall Green, a primary school in a deprived part of Manchester, turned round by its head teacher. The authors also make clear what they believe will improve things and bring us into line with more egalitarian countries like Sweden .These include tightening the tax and capital gains system , closing loopholes, minimizing the "tax gap " only allowing representation in the Lords by people who pay British taxes and making the minimum wage more realistic.
Interestingly on the day I write this the Liberal democrats have announced that under their tax plans anyone earning less than £10,000 per annum will be exempt from tax , with higher taxes from the rich making up the deficit. This, as I stated earlier, seems only fair and simple common sense. Fairness and justice seems to be increasingly hard to come by in modern Britain . The Labour party should be thoroughly ashamed that they have had so long in power and done so little to bridge the gap between the rich and poor. That the Tories would have only made it worse is little comfort and after all , it is what we expect from them .

From a woman who knows
I respect Polly Tonynbee because she did did something none of her peers would do - she lived on benefits for a few weeks to see if she could survive. What she realised was that she couldn't.

While the likes of Piers Morgan are still looking up, Tonybee is looking down - down at the millions whose faces remain in the dirt in this so called rich era. What she finds is a world that is being punished even as it creates the actual things that we all want - clothes, electronics, cars, airplanes. The workers have always been treated wrongly. This is Toynbee's biggest argument for change and her biggest cry that society is due a fundamental change.

Useful exposure of Labour's capitalism
Polly Toynbee and David Walker of the Guardian have written a fine study of the injustice of our society, the second most unequal among developed countries, after the USA. A UNICEF report of 2007 found that Britain was the worst of 21 `rich' countries for children to grow up in. A fifth of children still live in poverty.

They write of the key `myths that helps to keep things the way they are' and then assert, "A two-thirds working class society became two-thirds white collar ... with the working class a minority." Don't white collar workers work for a living, for an employer? Haven't they organised in unions to fight for better wages for more than a century? The idea that white collar workers are not workers is surely one of the most damaging of conservative myths.

The authors note that since 1997 the richest 10%'s share of the nation's wealth has risen from 47% to 54%. They write, "parental income pretty accurately predicts whether a child will win or lose in life: the more unequally income is shared, the tighter the link becomes."

Yet they write, "Without anyone quite willing it, the UK has become more divided." And again, "So Labour, unsure of its own mind, cut inheritance tax although only the richest 6% of estates were ever liable." (My italics) They repeatedly call the Blair and Brown governments `naïve'. Who is being naïve?

They replay Polly Toynbee's `camel train' image of society, which omits the key fact that the few at the front are only ahead because they have stolen the wealth produced by the majority. No wonder David Cameron has borrowed the image.

Senior executives gave themselves an average 33% rise in 2007-8, looting the country's wealth. The boss of Punch Taverns, for instance, got 1,148 times more than his bar staff. In a recent Financial Times poll, 60% wanted to cap senior executives' earnings and 74% said the rich/poor divide was too wide.

We spend only 0.5% of GDP on under-5s, compared to Denmark's 2%. We need access to Sure Start Children's Centres for all under-5s, and access to the Every Child a Reader scheme for all children struggling with reading. Its 38 hours of one-to-one teaching has raised three out of four children on the Scheme so far to at least average literacy.

`Naïve' Mr Brown is now giving the bankers another £200 billion, when just £3.4 billion a year would halve child poverty.