definition an international issue and the benefits of tackling such an issue are experienced by everyone and yet the cost only borne by the nation that decides to act. This same tragedy of the commons does not apply to firms due to the fact that trans-national corporations operate on a global scale, and the access to patent law ensure that incentives to innovate and create these products continue. On the other hand one of the major advancements in recent time has come, less in the form of actual products and more in a realisation of the fact that fighting global warming and GDP growth needn't be a relevant trade off. This has been evidenced in the rapid growth of the Chinese solar panel industry, making the country the largest investor in green technology in the world. This production of cheap, high quality solar panels has since saturated the US market, boosting supply and driving down price. What this means in the real world is that many Americans have taken to the installation of solar panels, not because they care about the earth (which would be a fairly odd reason given that the effect of one individual is frankly negligible) but instead because doing so has become a viable investment, and decreases their energy bills over time. It is through the expulsion of patents that the change we have witnessed has been so rapid in nature. In conclusion, the continued use of patents in industries of life altering importance is an irresponsible use of intellectual property laws. We need to open the gates for further innovation, democratisation of access for individuals across wealth divides and eliminate the counter-productive barriers to entry put in place by patent trolls. The patent has, of course, served its purpose in the past but it is perhaps time for it to step aside to welcome in the new age of competition in the interest of the consumer. After several centuries of decline, inequality in Britain has risen exponentially over the last few decades. Britain now has the highest levels of income inequality of all EU member states and our society is even more unequal than that of America, with the UN reporting that in 2015 Britain’s GINI coefficient of 0.404 exceeds that of America’s 0.4. It is undisputed that high income inequality creates low social mobility and thus, according to a Guardian article published in 2012, Britain has the lowest levels of social mobility out of all OECD countries. Poor social mobility is not only a bad thing for the poor, who are unable to increase their quality of life, but is also a bad thing for the whole of society as with a lack of meritocracy, we are unable to fill our most important roles with our most able candidates, thus reducing the performance of the British economy. Consequently, I believe that it should be a key priority of the government to stimulate social mobility as even if one rejects the economic rational in eradicating inequality, one must agree that as a society a person’s standing and prospects should not be determined by the wealth of their parents. In order to increase the social mobility of Britain, I believe that it is necessary for our government to tackle the problems created by one of our greatest institutions, the British private school sector. Despite the fact that they allow a lucky few the chance to progress through society, the private school system is one of the great blockades of social mobility in our country. Private schools act as conveyor belts of wealth, using their links, status and resources to take the children of our middle and upper classes and move them through to our top universities and professions. For example, last year The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission found that despite only 7% of the population attending private schools, 33% of MPs, 71% of senior judges and 45% of Oxford students attended private schools. I think only a fool would argue that the natural talent and potential __________________________________________________________________________________________ Should private schools implement progressive fees? C HRIS A NNOUS
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