‘Andy Burnham has indicated that he will not impose welfare cuts or do away with the pensions triple lock. That can only mean higher taxes are coming down the line.’
The Times lead editorial, 4th July, entitled ‘Same Old’
The two main themes of Share Alliance’s quest for participation for all — inter-generational rebalancing and stock for data and creativity — have both received some recognition this week.
As noted in last week's commentary, Trump Accounts offer recognition of the importance of the former, while the news that OpenAI plans to give a 5% stake in their business to a special U.S. Government fund reflects Washington's debates on how the public can share in financial gains from Artificial Intelligence.
However, the quest for a more egalitarian form of capitalism is a search for individual empowerment across the world; it’s not an invitation for powerful national governments to assume still more control within their own borders. As our quote from The Times editorial predicts, the United Kingdom is likely to suffer still higher taxes under Andy Burnham, rather than tackling the major issues which Jeremy Hunt addressed last month, and on which we commented on 15th June.
Share Alliance’s quest will require real determination over the coming years, and I hope that Share Radio will play a major part in helping to bring further awareness and debate.
Having worked through many of the research issues behind Share Alliance’s two principle themes, and having recognised that solutions must be globally relevant rather than nationally based, the next steps will involve establishing an online educational institute in order to enable that awareness and debate to take place.
The inter-generational rebalancing conference was particularly useful in helping us to plan the way forward. Research provides the academic rigour on which education, advocacy and implementation can be based and, during 2026/27, we will start moving towards taking both of our main themes forwards in these respects.
In the case of inter-generational rebalancing, we will continue to follow the progress of The Share Foundation closely within the United Kingdom, particularly insofar as its research into incentivised learning is concerned. Meanwhile the Dell Foundation initiative in the United States for supporting disadvantaged young people with those Trump starter capital accounts will provide a useful alternative model.
Share Alliance will explore the establishment of links between philanthropists in wealthy regions such as North America and Europe and disadvantaged young people in Africa, particularly exploring the possibility of working with media and banking corporations in order to help construct such a bridge. We will also continue to explore the opportunities for improved global governance, notwithstanding the significant cuts in Official Development Assistance in recent years.
We will meanwhile look to open up a wide range of debate regarding ‘Stock for Data and Creativity’, using the Capital Economics economic modelling research to provide evidence of its effectiveness. We will explore the potential for working with India’s Universal Payments Interface (UPI) to deliver an operational pilot programme, and will seek to engage with OECD and the Vatican in order to establish this concept as a valid alternative, or supplement, to Universal Basic Income. There will continue to be an emphasis towards young adults in our work in this area, since their employment prospects are the most affected by the challenge of Artificial Intelligence.
In order to provide an effective vehicle for taking forward this work, Share Alliance will need to be re-shaped as an educational institute, hopefully re-naming the charity as Share Institute and expanding its board of trustees.
We will seek guidance on how to build an effective online and broadcast educational institute with training through streamed and podcast delivery and online certification. So far as possible, this will be available on a multi-lingual basis and we will consult with international and regional organisations to build on progress that has already been achieved, such as OECD’s analysis of inheritance levies across the world and the Universal Payments Interface in India.
Share Radio will hopefully play a key part in taking these plans forward, and we will be reshaping our operations to provide both courses and interactive capability — so expect to see some changes over the next few months. Meanwhile Share Alliance would like to hear from anyone interested in assisting with taking these plans forward: if so, please contact us at [email protected] .
Finally, and as you will have heard on The Bigger Picture and The Financial Outlook programmes, Simon Rose is stepping back from politics and finance, and he will concentrate on just the Business of Film and Gadgets and Gizmos going forward. Share Radio has enjoyed his wonderful output throughout all the twelve years that we have been broadcasting, starting in our Westminster studio in 2014. I know I will be expressing thanks on behalf of all our listeners for such great programmes, which will continue to be available in our podcast library.
Gavin Oldham OBE
Share Radio