Social exclusion

Life online is a choking, oppressive smog. Teenagers need a place they can breathe | Emma Beddington

A new study shows more than half of teens spend their free time in their bedroom. But we are offering them nothing away from their screens, writes Emma Beddington

Emma Beddington

26, Mar, 2023 @1:00 PM

Expanding food banks is no substitute for tackling poverty, charities warn

Letter to the Observer signed by experts from around the world says proper government policies are needed

Michael Savage Policy Editor

26, Mar, 2023 @5:00 AM

Jeremy Hunt has left the UK to rot in poverty. So we must take matters into our own hands | Gordon Brown

With hygiene banks now joining food banks and clothes banks, I’m calling on retailers to take drastic action and help their poorest customers, says former UK prime minister Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

24, Mar, 2023 @11:22 AM

Food banks supported 800,000 UK children in 2021-22, data shows

One-fifth of UK population was in relative poverty after first year of pandemic, when support measures scrapped

Patrick Butler Social policy editor

23, Mar, 2023 @6:53 PM

‘Some days we don’t eat’: residents scrape by in Colombia’s largest shantytown

Economic migrants from Venezuela and Colombians displaced by violence struggle to find food, water and work in La Pista

Iñigo Alexander in Maicao

23, Mar, 2023 @9:30 AM

English letting agents who ban children breach equality rules, says ombudsman

Nurse with four children challenges the practice after landlords and letting agents refuse to rent to them

Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent

21, Mar, 2023 @12:01 AM

Economic growth is not a magic wand for ending poverty | Olivier De Schutter

Misguided policies are hurting the poorest in society; our focus should be on reducing inequality not increasing GDP

Olivier De Schutter

20, Mar, 2023 @7:30 AM

Matthew Desmond: ‘The poverty rate in America and the UK should be zero – and I think we can get there’

For the Pulitzer prize-winning author of Evicted, a heartbreaking study of the American housing crisis, bearing witness was not enough

Tim Adams

19, Mar, 2023 @2:00 PM

Residents demand independent inquiry into council’s role before fatal fire

Residents’ association claims Tower Hamlets officials and councillors knew about overcrowding at Maddocks House

Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent

15, Mar, 2023 @7:17 PM

Frontrunners in SNP leadership race vow to eradicate poverty

Independence vote trails tackling poverty and improving NHS in candidates’ policy priorities at BBC leadership debate

Severin Carrell Scotland editor

14, Mar, 2023 @10:44 PM

Extreme poverty could be eradicated globally by 2050 – report

Higher growth should mean stable employment and wages, with low- and middle-income countries seeing biggest improvements

Kaamil Ahmed

13, Mar, 2023 @6:30 AM

Residents warned council landlord about overcrowded flat before fatal fire

Tower Hamlets council’s failure to stop overcrowding prompts allegation by residents’ association of ‘negligence’