Save the date! Rachel O’Connor will be giving a seminar for the Alliance of Working Class Academics Worldwide ‘Disrupting the Load of Imposter Work: Empowering Working Class Students from within the Ivory Tower.’ Chair - Geraldine Van Bueren. 6 November at 6.30pm uk time. Zoom details to follow

Child stunting almost halved in Ghana and Vietnam due to poverty reduction, improved health systems and maternal education. This is what public investment in socio-economic rights can achieve equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

EU Agency says despite progress made among States, large disparities exist between socioeconomic groups in the area of housing. All states in and out of the EU need a right to housing. www.theguardian.com/society/2016... www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/publicati...

EU’s latest report Working for Children Matters: within the European Union child poverty decreased slightly in 2024 to 24.1% but is higher than poverty for the total population which is 20.9%. Without the incorporation of socio-economic rights poverty unlikely to reduce substantially.

91% of working class students report experiencing culture shock at university - many feel excluded. The University Code on Equal Opportunity for Working Class Students and Academics www.workingclassacademics.com/universitycode shows how universities can overcome class bias in staff and students

Critics of paid working class internships miss the point. It will not be self-defined but available to those whose parents were working class when the candidate was 14. Fewer than one in five senior civil servants come from a working class background - the percentage is less than it was in 1967!

The welcome announcement that uk civil service internships will be open only to working class students will have major implications for policy, which will reflect more the views of a rich and diverse working class with direct experience of having less www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UCL’s Next Steps Study shows that ‘social and economic resources play a more pronounced role in buffering the mental health challenges associated with raising children’ The impact of socio-economic disadvantage and mental health needs to be given a higher priority in government policy.

One of the many challenges of working class families is being able to afford food. Worrying about having enough food can lead to food disorders in adolescents. www.ucl.ac.uk/brain-scienc... A right to food is overdue in the UK and was a right we once had ukhumanrightsblog.com/2013/10/18/s...

Groundbreaking issue Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues. Articles from Alliance of Working Class Academics Worldwide and National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth and Justice search.informit.org/toc/jaiis/28.... Should help change negative false images of working class and indigenous peoples.

I spoke at the Education Dept’s interesting initiative on social mobility. Much needed. Astonishingly across the civil service there’s been a decrease in Senior Civil Servants from working class backgrounds. In 1967 it 19%, in 2021 it was 18%. Another reason to make class discrimination illegal.

Those advocating for greater equality may be interested in my study of the ignored intersection between class, indigenous peoples and race. See the link below search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/...