Society

The gap between productivity and wages has been increasing for 30 years in most of the developed world, leading to jaw-dropping weatlh for some, and poverty or decreased social mobility for most. By Stewart Lansley.

Progress on the new national children's hospital has been stalled since the beginning of 2011 but an independent review to look into the cost and location of the hospital, announced last week, should get things moving again. By Sara Burke.

T.E. Lawrence is brought magnificently to life in a new biography by Michael Korda. By Lorraine Courtney.

Peter O’Toole immortalised him as an enigma wrapped in Arab robes, galloping on a camel across the desert plains in David Lean’s epic film. Documentaries and no less than 56 biographies launched a thousand myths. But they still haven’t answered the question asked by one of Lawrence of Arabia’s many exasperated commanding officers, “Who is this extraordinary pipsqueak?”

The Uncut movement's message is simple: 'I pay my taxes, so why don't you pay yours?' By Ellie Mae O'Hagan.

Nobel Prize winner Professor James Heckman is working with the UCD Geary Institute studying the complex links between biology and disadvantage. Interview by John Holden.

Professor James Heckman is an economist of human development. As such, his work brings in the expertise of anthropologists, biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, sociologists and any other ‘ists’ you can think of.

The cut in VAT is no more than ineffectual fiddling at the margins and won't help to create jobs. By Michael Taft.

Irish business cut employment in the traded sectors during the boom. There is little reason to believe it will step up to the task of job creation now. By Michael Taft.

When publishing its submission to the Government in anticipation of the Jobs Initiative, IBEC’s Danny McCoy stated:

Why is widespread social anxiety fuelling xenophobia rather than criticism of neoliberal capitalism? What role has the state played? Have we arrived at the paradoxical situation where the best we can do is to call on the state to do its job? By Albena Azmanova.

Many migrants applying for Irish citizenship by naturalisation find the process unjust, the rules unclear and the lengthy processing times – measuring years – an enormous strain, according to research released today by the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI).

The ICI today released the report, “Living in Limbo – Migrants’ Experiences of Applying for Naturalisation in Ireland”, written by the organisation’s senior solicitor Catherine Cosgrave and prepared in collaboration with Nasc, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre in Cork.

Labour Party President, Michael D Higgins, officially opened the Larkin Hedge School on Friday 6 May and spoke about how the creative society can move us forward beyond recrimination for collapse to an innovative economy.

The future form of the economy to be envisaged as an alternative successor to our present crisis should not be born of the politics of fear. Indeed, if the history of economic crises tells us anything, it is that we should avoid turning a recession into a depression.