Shattered Nation: Inequality and the Geography of a Failing State – 5 minute explainer

Britain was once the leading economy in Europe; it is now the most unequal. In his new book Shattered Nation: Inequality and the Geography of a Failing State, Professor Danny Dorling, acclaimed geographer and author of Inequality and the 1%, shows that we are growing further and further apart.

Ranging across the British Isles from the car factories and council estates in Oxford where Dorling grew up, to the City of London's gleaming towers and hidden wealth, to bankrupt Slough, the 'red wall' and divided Sheffield, and north to Scotland, he exposes a new geography of inequality. Just as importantly, he outlines the policies that can tackle inequality in the UK – and are already everyday practice elsewhere.

Shattered Nation: Inequality and the Geography of a Failing State is published by Verso Books, 19 September 2023, and available at all good bookshops.

This short film was made by Kirsten McClure.