Fire the imagination – and the bean-counters | Letters

In your report on IPPR's analysis of the challenges facing Britain in the 2020s you rightly highlight some of the more alarming trends (UK in 2030, 29 December). But the report's argument is that these trends are likely, but not inevitable. As a society there is little we can do about an ageing population or the growth of Asian economies, but there is everything we can do about rising inequality, pressures on health and social care services and the loss of jobs from automation. There are public policies which can meet these challenges if our democracy can summon the imagination and ambition to choose them.

Over the next two years the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice will be seeking to show how this can be done.
Michael Jacobs
Director, IPPR Commission on Economic Justice