Launch – Citizens Basic Income Network Scotland Sat 26th Nov, Pearce Institute, Govan

Article 25 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

It’s a great feeling to be in at the beginning of something – the launch of Citizens Basic Income Network Scotland – however unwieldy the title is! One young turk,  alluding to the clunkiness of the nomenclature, proposed we cut to the chase, get radical and call it the ef-off payment.  All credit to the panel, some of whom have been trailblazing the radical notion of citizens income for forty years, for  accepting the suggestion of a foff payment with grace and humour. Glasgow  and Govan rise to the occasion once more.

The keynote speaker was Guy Standing who in May this year gave the RSA SCOTLAND: ANGUS MILLAR LECTURE 2016 on Basic Income in relation to Scotland.  

Should Feminists Support Basic Income?

Should Feminists Support Basic Income?

A feminist critique of Basic Income – Ingrid Robins gives us food for thought on her blog Out of the Crooked Timber of Humanity No Straight Thing Was Ever Made.  Her main concern is that it would be a mechanism for forcing women out of the work place and back into the home into  a low status care- taking existence.  Her concluding point about the devil being in the detail is worth heeding. The analysis also leads to a realisation that basic income on it’s own isn’t a magic wand to gender equality, rather it is one part of a bigger picture.