100 days of Labour: Are we any closer to solving inequality?

100 days after the new Labour government came into power and 15 years since The Spirit Level - the ground-breaking book that sounded the alarm on the corrosive effects of economic injustice - was published, we ask what progress has been made in tackling inequality?

More than a decade on, social epidemiologists Professors Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, present The Spirit Level at 15. A report updating and reviewing the The Spirit Level, which in 2009 linked the negative effects of inequality to a wide range of social ills – from higher rates of imprisonment and mental health issues to eroded trust within society. It revolutionised the way we looked at, measured and understood the impacts of inequality. 15 years later, do the warnings ring truer than ever now?

Revealing their findings, they will be joined by social geographer Professor Danny Dorling, who, as explored in his latest book Seven Children, considers injustice and hope for children in modern Britain.

In Seven Children, Danny constructs seven ‘average’ children from millions of statistics—each child symbolising the very middle of a parental income bracket, from the poorest to the wealthiest. Dorling’s seven were born in 2018, when the UK faced its worst inequality since the Great Depression and became Europe’s most socially divided nation. They turned 5 in 2023, amid a devastating cost-of-living crisis. Their country has Europe’s fastest-rising child poverty rates, and even the best-off of the seven is disadvantaged. Yet aspirations endure.

Hear Kate, Richard and Danny as they are interviewed by Matthew Taylor, Chief executive officer of NHS Confederation, on where they consider inequality to be today. They will discuss what are the new opportunities and challenges and how do they see the future unfolding?

This event is in partnership with The York Policy Engine (TYPE) is a cross-faculty initiative, supporting all academic disciplines at the University.

Professor Kate Pickett is Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Health Sciences and is also Associate Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity. Her research interests are in the social determinants of health and health inequalities and she is a co-founder and trustee of The Equality Trust.

She is co-author, with Richard Wilkinson, of the award-winning and best-selling The Spirit Level (2009) and The Spirit Level at 15 (2024) and Act now: A vision for a better future and a new social contract, an inspiring manifesto offering a radical vision for our political future.

Professor Richard Wilkinson is a researcher in social inequalities in health. He is emeritus professor of public health at the University of Nottingham and co-author, with Kate Pickett, of the award-winning and best-selling The Spirit Level (2009) and The Spirit Level at 15 (2024) and Act now: A vision for a better future and a new social contract.

Professor Danny Dorling is a social scientist whose books include Inequality and the 1% and All That Is Solid. He is the Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford, and a patron of RoadPeace, Comprehensive Future and Heeley City Farm.

Matthew Taylor is Chief Executive for the NHS Confederation, the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The NHS Confederation promotes collaboration and partnership working as the key to improving population health, delivering high-quality care and reducing health inequalities.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you require more than 5 tickets, please contact the Events Team who will be happy to help.

Please ensure you use the correct email address as this is where your ticket will be sent. If you do not provide the correct address, you will not receive the acknowledgement email or ticket.

Host or Publisher University of York Open Lectures