Blog
Matthew Taylor
When I worked in Downing Street we often bemoaned what we called ’the delivery gap’. This lay between people’s perception of public services as a whole (generally negative) and their perception of the services they used themselves (much more positive). Similarly we know that people’s attitudes to the immigrants they know tend to be more benign than towards immigrants as a whole. We also know that, when it comes to social comparisons, we are more influenced and affected by those around us than by distant strangers - we are more aggrieved by the workmate who gets paid £500 more than us than by the banker on £10 million. We like to think our attitudes are consistent but they are heavily influenced by proximity and connection.