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Universal basic income

August 2024

  • An aerial view of Asháninka territory in Peru.

    Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
    Could a £2-a-day basic income be the key to protecting rainforests?

    Pilot scheme in Amazon communities of central Peru aims to help people choose a more sustainable way of living

July 2024

  • Elinor O'Donovan: ‘[A guaranteed income] covers my living expenses, my rent and day-to-day stuff’

    Money for nothing: is universal basic income about to transform society?

    The concept of a guaranteed income is gaining traction as a solution to the impact of AI and way to encourage more rewarding and socially valuable work

June 2024

  • ray kurzweil in a room at singularity, the university he co-founded in mountain view, california

    AI scientist Ray Kurzweil: ‘We are going to expand intelligence a millionfold by 2045’

    The Google futurist talks nanobots and avatars, deepfakes and elections – and why he is so optimistic about a future where we merge with computers
  • Sheffield’s Park Hill flats.

    Book of the day
    Great Britain?: How We Get Our Future Back by Torsten Bell review – a roadmap to the new normal

    The economist and Labour candidate for Swansea West offers a hopeful vision of the nation’s future – spurning leftwing utopianism as well as tackling 14 years of creeping decline
  • South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, center, meets with senior officials of his African National Congress party

    Free money? South Africa floats universal basic income for all

    The ruling ANC is on a pioneering path to transform the Covid grant into a scheme that aims to combat poverty

November 2023

  • A robot kicks a human into a hole, shaped liked a motherboard chip, filled with money

    The future of work
    AI is coming for our jobs! Could universal basic income be the solution?

    Artificial intelligence will bring huge changes to the world of work – and dangers for society. Some think they can be solved by just handing everyone money. Is there a catch?

August 2023

  • The Guardian's Hibaq Farah gets her eyeball scanned using an orb by cryptocurrency company Worldcoin. (Photograph by David Levene)

    Science Weekly
    Iris scans: proof of our humanity in an AI future, or marketing gimmick? – podcast

    Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s technology reporter Hibaq Farah about Worldcoin, a new cryptocurrency offering users tokens in exchange for a scan of their eyeballs. Farah explains what the motives behind the company are, why they think we all need to become ‘verified humans’, and how governments have responded to the project

June 2023

  • People in a discussion group

    Universal basic income of £1,600 a month to be trialled in two places in England

    Scheme to run for two years and participants will be monitored to see what effect it has on mental and physical health

April 2023

  • Free Money 2022

    Free Money review – the great experiment of Universal Basic Income

    Documentary follows the ambiguous impact of an American non-profit’s grand largesse to a Kenyan village

December 2022

  • a sign painted on the side of a house in leeds that points the way towards a food bank

    30 million in UK ‘priced out of decent standard of living by 2024’

    Thinktank blames rising prices, inflation and unemployment, and called for national living income

June 2022

  • Nicola Sturgeon

    Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
    Nicola Sturgeon tells Scottish parliament she wants to hold second independence referendum next October – as it happened

    Scottish first minister tells MSPs she won’t allow ‘Scottish democracy to be a prisoner of Boris Johnson’

April 2022

  • Father lifting son (6-8 years) in air at beach, son pretending to fly

    Can $50 change a child’s life? Los Angeles tests universal college savings account

    The city is to open more than 40,000 accounts to help kids save for college after programs elsewhere have shown promise

February 2022

  • Man hands over british pound banknotes to another man

    How ‘free money’ can change lives

    Letters: Robbie Cowbury from the Migrant Destitution Fund says grants to destitute migrants in Greater Manchester have been hugely beneficial. Plus a letter by Rachel Marks
  • Gaby Hinsliff

    Universal basic income can be the worst of all worlds - but ‘free money’ schemes do work

    Gaby Hinsliff
    A trial in Wales for care leavers is brave and imaginative, but a benefits system must work for all, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
  • The Welsh minister for social justice, Jane Hutt, said the Labour-led government was committed to supporting the most vulnerable and tackling the ‘scourge of poverty’.

    Basic income pilot scheme for care leavers to be trialled in Wales

    Young people leaving care to be offered £1600 a month for two years from the month after their 18th birthday

November 2021

  • Wildfire smoke covers Los Angeles Skyline, California, USA - 26 Aug 2021<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Ringo Chiu/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock (12371979b) The downtown Los Angeles skyline is blanketed with the smoke from the wildfires, in Los Angeles, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. Wildfire smoke covers Los Angeles Skyline, California, USA - 26 Aug 2021

    I applied for LA’s basic income program – and the process was startling

    Deeply personal questions about issues such as domestic violence highlight America’s ‘controlling’ of people in poverty

October 2021

  • ‘Here you are, just go and hand that out.’

    Notes and queries
    Readers reply: how much poorer would the rich need to be to provide a basic minimum income for everyone?

    The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

September 2021

  • Man cupping hands under stream of falling one pound coins.

    Notes and queries
    How much poorer would the rich need to be to provide a basic minimum income for everyone?

    The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

August 2021

  • Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, outside his home in London.

    Only bold policies will win back Labour voters

  • Family by the canal

    Observer letters
    Letters: to halt global heating, we must change our society

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