Is this a rich country? Danny Dorling in injustice, inequality and the UK

“The UK is a rich country. But it’s slipping down the ranks... and this is hardly surprising.” Danny Dorling on the divided city of Oxford and the divided nation of Britain.

Audio recording of a talk given at Regent's Park College, University of Oxford, on 29 November.

Professor Dorling looks at economic and social inequalities in the UK, including within the city of Oxford, and asks whether inequalities are now so high that the UK can no longer be considered a rich country, as most people are poor or living very near to being in poverty. The talk is based on his two new books, Seven Children and Peak Injustice, and the author's experiences of growing up as a child and being a parent, in Oxford.

He says: “It can be a confusing place to look at, this country and this city. We easily forget that this is the centre of the largest empire, the richest empire the world has ever known, an empire that really only came to an end after the Second World War. Victoria was an Empress. The King was an Emperor. We received tribute in various ways, through terms of trade which were not particularly fair. Which meant that we had wealth which was unimaginable.

“By income the best-off 10% are taking 40% of everything every year. So for 90% of the people in the UK, this is a country that has half as much as it officially has,” he adds.

“Child mortality has been rising in absolute terms for the past three years. We are a rich country, but we’re a rich country in trouble. The last time we were at this peak was 1918, just at the end of the First World War.”

Professor Dorling notes: “Oxford is the most typical city in England – an average city. Except it’s not average, because you don’t tend to get places that have equal proportions of people living in each social group. And despite the fact that this an incredibly mixed city, people don’t mix. You have these divisions, you have the university and the town, you have a second university and a third university, that’s part of the University of the West of London.

“We have a whole plethora of schools... and these schools are remarkably divided, possibly more divided than schools anywhere else in Europe. We may be the most educationally divided city on the continent. And this relates to the key question – is this is a rich country? – because one way we stay rich is bringing people in. We now have a plethora of international schools in Oxford, charging £45,000 to £50,000 a year. We have about a third of 15-year-olds going private, and we have more private schools than state schools, even though it’s only a third of the 15-year-olds.”

Read more about Seven Children: Inequality and Britain’s Next Generation

Read more about Peak Injustice: Solving Britain's Inequality Crisis

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