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Once respectable opinion fretted about distinguishing the “deserving” poor from the “undeserving.” Today, as sentiment against the ultrarich surges, the Economist argues that it is in fact billionaires who deserve our gratitude, sympathy, and protection. On June 23, 2026, The Economist published a story about billionaires titled “The Rise of the Deserving Rich.” It claimed Read more
The UK s deepening inequalities are no longer just an economic problem but are reshaping politics, undermining trust, and widening generational divides. These growing strains are becoming increasingly visible in what was once one of the world s most stable political systems. In her conclusion to a review of three books on the state of the UK Read more
How geography shapes patterns of public spending and political choice from the local level in England to international comparisons across Europe and the United States. Drawing on evidence from infant mortality, voting behaviour and regional inequality, he argues that where people live increasingly determines both the quality of public services they receive and the kind Read more
Danny Dorling urges the new Director-General to recognise that for most of the world outside the UK the BBC appears to be an organ of right-wing propaganda—and how they might solve that Dear Matt Brittin, Congratulations on your appointment. Hold tight. There are many issues you will need to address in your new job, but Read more
Obituary: Paul R. Ehrlich (1932–2026) Co-evolution pioneer who predicted overpopulation would cause famine. Paul R. Ehrlich’s book The Population Bomb (1968), written with his wife Anne, made him one of the most influential, if controversial, scientists of the twentieth century. In it, he alerted the public to the possible problems of global overpopulation, including the Read more
British Children Are Growing Taller But Not for the Right Reasons A new analysis of Child Measurement Programme data from England, Scotland, and Wales challenges recent reports suggesting children in Britain are getting shorter. The analysis, conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford, reveals that average child height has increased over the past Read more
The year 2026 began with revelations that a former cabinet minister, Peter Mandelson, appeared to have passed on sensitive information including economic policy plans from the UK government to the financier Jeffery Epstein. A police investigation is underway. As the BBC put it: ‘Emails released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) appear to show Read more
Bingzhi Zhu was a foreign student from China. Her student visa did not extend until the May of 2021; but she only realised this a day before it was due to expire. So, she paid the processing fees to apply to have her visa extended. However, her application for an extension was not completed because Read more
The BBC was once an engine of progressive change driving British society to greater equality – Danny Dorling asks what changed, and why? This article makes an unconventional argument, that the BBC was pro-egalitarian until the late 1970s and then a less benign dominance took hold. Slowly at first, but later that new dominance grew Read more
In September 2025, the British Election Study (BES) team released the latest results of a continuous survey of voters. What they were interested in was the decline in support for the Labour Party since the General Election of 2024. A year on from that election, support for the party of government had plummeted. The team Read more
Born to Rule is a fascinating book, with only a few small faults. It demonstrates using better data than others have yet amassed, how almost a third of one (good) definition of the British elite attended only one of two universities (Oxford and Cambridge) and how, of those, a third attended only one of only Read more
On July 1st 2025, journalist Polly Toynbee wrote a story in The Guardian beneath the title: ‘To all who think capitalism can drive progressive change, it won’t – and here’s the shocking proof’ [1]. She was writing about the behaviour of one group of what are called asset managers. I wanted to know what asset Read more
When Keir Starmer became Prime Minister he promised ‘change’, and this promise was beefed up in his 2024 Christmas message with his six promises. 1. ‘More money in the pockets of working people’ Note This could be interpreted as more than the future rise for middle class, so lowering income inequalities. It could be interpreted Read more
Against the backdrop of recent global house price inflation, this paper addresses the question commonly asked about asset price booms and crises: ‘Is this time different?’ To identify the distinctive characteristics of today’s house price booms, we examined the long-term history of housing prices in five capital cities: Amsterdam, London, Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo. Specifically, Read more
Those who declare the UK to be an island of estranged individuals are the ones who should be looking closer to home, writes Danny Dorling Imagine our communities in years to come. The elderly, smiling on park benches as parades of perambulators pass by. The young, pushing grandchildren – Britain’s next generation – and everyone Read more
examines the rise of nationalist and exclusionary rhetoric in British political discourse, calling out the quiet normalisation of racism and jingoism at the highest levels of government. Drawing on recent political statements, Dorling argues for the urgent need to challenge these narratives and defend a more inclusive, honest understanding of national identity. On May Read more
Extra regulation and less help with costs have made buy-to-let far less profitable. We ask if incentives are needed to keep the rental market going. More than a quarter of landlords sold rental properties last year, according to the National Residential Landlords Association, and a fifth expect to sell their portfolio within a year, according Read more
In 1973, Britain was the second most equal large country in Western Europe, and now it is the second most unequal of any country across the entirety of Europe. It has all of the hallmarks you expect to see in very unequal countries, including a life expectancy that has remains lower than in 2014 (other Read more
Something is afoot. Recently, the economist Guy Standing invoked Thomas Paine’s old adage, that we are living in times that try men’s souls. Standing’s reference to Paine’ revolutionary statement of Christmas 1776 was offered as a way of potentially understanding just how important what is currently happening, worldwide, is. That statement of Paine’s was made Read more
Another Spring in the UK, another set of statistics are released on child poverty. The British government does this just once a year. It could choose to do it more often if it cared more. It could choose to update the statistics as frequently as for GDP, or as often as inflation statistics are released; but Read more
Cuts to disability benefits will worsen health and the economy The chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, will set out the UK government’s spending plans in her spring statement on 26 March.1 The consultative green paper, Pathways to Work,2 has already outlined plans to cut several billion from the welfare budget, with the aim of Read more
Why did crime rise in Britain in the 1980s? Was it rising economic hardship, rising greed? A bit of both and something else? Was it the adoption of the mantra that there is “no such thing as society, just people and their families”? In which case – why not? Emily Gray and Stephen Farrall have Read more
There was once a time, long ago, when every year the population of the UK became more united as income inequalities fell and the public sector grew. The six decade period from the start of the BBC (in 1922), to the wobbles of the Callaghan government of the late 1970s, encapsulates that period. After then Read more
I am eight lots of seven years old (56). My generation grew up with Seven Up! – a warning and hope about what we might become. Every seven years we got to see what had happened to people just a little older than us. Much of our lives, out heartbreaks and hopes, our falls and Read more
Ten book published in 2024 and one extra, so good, that it is in the list again! Clive and Myra Hamilton, The Privileged Few (Wiley Sons). What if elite privilege was not just a by-product of wealth, but the organising principle for our society? This book is a detailed critique by two Australian scholars Read more
On 11 November 2024, on Armistice Day, Cat Hobbs of the lobby Group “We Own It”, called for a truce. She explained that two groups of bondholders, two groups of rich people, were competing to ‘rescue’ the privately owned public utility: Thames Water. One set of rich folks, she explained briefly, was a group Read more
Spatial Inequalities and Wellbeing is a carefully brought together collection of nine chapters written by over twenty separate authors from the regional science/studies tradition. The book appears at an apposite time. Why are so many people in some places less happy than others, especially within the United States of America? What was it, in short, Read more
In 2023, suicide rates in England Wales reached their highest levels since 1999. Despite changes in legal definitions and registration methods impacting trends, this increase reflects growing individual suffering. International comparisons suggest that while the UK saw a 12% rise in suicide rates between 1999 and 2020, many other European countries experienced significant declines; Read more
The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World brings together a selection of writings spanning two decades by the renowned anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber. The book reveals both Graeber’s original, profound impact on anarchist thought and the limitations of his idealist vision for a better society which lacked a practical roadmap for its realisation. Read more
In many ways in the UK, we are currently at a peak of injustice and we have to choose which way to turn. We could take the US route and following the United States of America up an even higher peak, or we could turn in another direction. Reducing injustice does not mean that all Read more
.. let s talk about you and me; let s talk about all the good things, and the bad things, that may be . A new book examines the self-sustaining dynamic of extreme wealth and its political influence. Is it time to switch our focus from the problem of poverty to the problem posed by the rich? Read more
By 2023 the latest statistics, looked at in the round, began to suggest that it was not fanciful to believe that we had seen income inequality peak in 2018 and wealth inequality peak shortly afterwards. In early 2024 The Times reported that: ‘Some major UK employers spend tens of millions on two or three executives Read more
All around the world, on every continent and in most major cities, university students in 2024 established peace encampments to draw attention to the ongoing horrors taking place in Gaza. They were calling for their universities to disinvest in the arms trades involved, and not to try to claim neutrality through their silence. The United Read more
why did this happen to our children? This rise in child poverty is a change that has not been found to have occurred to the same extent anywhere else in the world, among all the places that the United Nations measures in the same way. Getting shorter and going hungrier: how children in the Read more
Five years ago I drew a diagram to illustrate why age was such an important factor in determining the result of the previous, 2019, UK General Election. It was first shown in Public Sector Focus and contained 66 squares. Each square represented one million people living in the UK. At that time, there were about Read more
Thanks to the far-far-right standing in almost every seat in the UK 2024 General Election, Labour is now in power as the party of government. Although many people think this was a forgone conclusion, just a few months earlier there had been great uncertainty over the outcome. That uncertainty may have been a key part Read more
Avoidable deaths have increased in the UK: the damning data political parties aren’t discussing Lucinda Hiam, University of Oxford; Danny Dorling, University of Oxford, and Martin McKee, London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine One question that British voters may have asked themselves during the 2024 election campaign is whether they are any better off Read more
In March 2024, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said: ‘I spoke to a lady from Godalming about eligibility for the government’s childcare offer which is not available if one parent is earning over £100k. That is an issue I would really like to sort out after the next election as I Read more
Britain is a deeply divided nation but a majority of the public, apart from the very richest, hold views that can be interpreted as compassionate towards those struggling in society The British public can, quite often, be painted as cruel. Between 24 January and 10 February 2023, YouGov undertook a survey of adults, compiling the Read more
July 4th 2024, roll up, roll up, don’t miss out! You could stay at home, but you will miss out! The travelling circus, the annual theatre of political delight in is town! Your chance to express your views! To join the cavalcade! Show your support or vent your hate? Express your solidarity or your fear? Read more
In The Road to Freedom, Joseph Stiglitz considers the relationship between capitalism and freedom, evaluating democracy, economics and what constitutes a good society. According to Danny Dorling, the book’s lack of a coherent structure and an outline of what measures could enable a more free and equal society will leave many readers wanting. Joseph Stiglitz Read more
This article is unusual in that it provides a graphical summary of various aspects of the longer-term crisis that appeared to cumulate in 2022 through to at least early 2024 in terms of especially poor economic and social outcomes for the UK. The article was submitted for consideration in a special issue in the Journal Read more
On 21 March 2024 the latest official poverty statistics for the UK were released. They mostly reflect the situation in England. These numbers are released at this time every year, but this time was shocking. The headline in the Financial Times that day was ‘Fastest rise in UK child poverty for 30 years’. As comparable Read more
Five countries are normally included in the Nordic grouping. At first (statistical) glance they can appear very similar. The OECD produces a long run data series of income inequality for all of its members, and for some other countries too.1 Click on https://data.oecd.org/ inequality/income-inequality.htm and you will see, at first, that the Nordic countries appear Read more
Thank you so much for the invitation to speak. You might have thought that what I am here to speak about is going to be quite depressing, but I am going to try and make it less so. The reason I can make it not so depressing is some really good news that I suspect Read more
The Sun newspaper broke the story of two-year-old Bronson Battersby in January. He was found starved to death curled up next to his father Kenneth. Kenneth had died of a heart attack. He was 60. The two were last seen together by a neighbour 14 days earlier. Five days later, the BBC reported that the Read more
It’s funny, but it’s dark, because we know we could be causing our own extinction.” That was the sardonic response of one single 30-year-old South Korean, to a BBC reporter, to the data released last week that showed her country has the lowest fertility rate ever recorded. On average, women in South Korea are now Read more
A research article written by Lucinda Hiam and Danny Dorling, and published in the Review of Social Economy, online, on 29 Feb 2024. Abstract The British born between 1925 and 1934 experienced exceptional improvements in their annual mortality; earning them the title ‘the Golden Cohort’. They were the goldilocks generation; almost all too young to Read more
‘…by changing our country…and building a better future for our children and grandchildren. … A future where they feel optimism, hope, and pride. … A better future is one where our economy is growing faster so that everybody, everywhere across our Union, has new opportunities for better paying, good jobs. … If we’re going to Read more
The possibility of the realigning of Asian and America. Why write a book about the next supercontinent – Amasia? It is a land mass not expected to fully form until 200 million years from now. Mitchell, credits the naming to Hoffman (p. 229). Currently based in Beijing, at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of Read more