Book Contents
Peak Injustice updates Peak Inequality: Britain's Ticking Time Bomb, which was published in 2018.
Click the chapter headings below to view more information.
Section 1: The politics of hope
The inequality crisis: how did you not see me?
1.1 On Jeremy Corbyn - Additional reading
1.2 Would you let Boris Johnson drive your daughter home? - Additional reading
1.3 The curve of inequality and the Brexit Way - Additional reading
1.4 So, how did we end up with this government? - Additional reading
1.5 Osborne, Johnson and Starmer: let them eat growth? - Additional reading
1.6 A tale of three elections: Sweden, Italy and England - Additional reading
1.7 What the UK in 1922 and in 2017 had in common - Additional reading
1.8 Are things about to get better? - Additional reading
1.1 On Jeremy Corbyn - Additional reading
1.2 Would you let Boris Johnson drive your daughter home? - Additional reading
1.3 The curve of inequality and the Brexit Way - Additional reading
1.4 So, how did we end up with this government? - Additional reading
1.5 Osborne, Johnson and Starmer: let them eat growth? - Additional reading
1.6 A tale of three elections: Sweden, Italy and England - Additional reading
1.7 What the UK in 1922 and in 2017 had in common - Additional reading
1.8 Are things about to get better? - Additional reading
Section 2: Poverty, destitution and happiness
Anxiety, satisfaction, worth and happiness
2.1 Who spends more wisely: individuals or government? - Additional reading
2.2 Dying quietly: English suburbs and the stiff upper lip - Additional reading
2.3 The wreckers who tore British society apart - Additional reading
2.4 Austerity, not influenza, caused the UK’s health to deteriorate - Additional reading
2.5 The income shock of 2020: a jolt in the fall after peak inequality - Additional reading
2.6 The roundabout: class hate in England - Additional reading
2.7 Why Finland is still the happiest country in the world - Additional reading
2.8 Most people in the UK now share Robert Owen’s views - Additional reading
2.9 A majority of people think the government does too little - Additional reading
2.10 The crises combine: austerity, the cost of living, jobs and pay - Additional reading
I would like to thank Guy Standing, Karen Shook, Kate Pickett, Avner Offer, Lu Hiam, David Dorling, Alison Dorling, Roy Darke, George Davey Smith, and five very helpful anonymous referees for comment on the earlier chapters in this book. Chris Brazier and Louise Waters at New Internationalist kindly gave permission to reproduce a chapter from the magazine they edited. Martin Jordan, editor of Public Sector Focus, similarly did so for the chapters that first appeared as articles in that publication.
I would also like to thank Alan Rusbridger of Prospect Magazine for permission to reproduce Chapter 1.8; Nikki Talebi of the University of Chicago Press for allowing me to include Chapter 3.1; Alice Spawls at the London Review of Books for letting me know I had permission to reproduce Chapters 3.2 and 5.6; Bhaskar Sunkara of Tribune Magazine similarly for Chapter 3.3; James Stephens of Biteback for Chapter 4.2; Matt Ward of The Guardian and The Observer for Chapter 4.4; and many unnamed workers at Sage and Elsevier who responded to my emails (they had to reply anonymously via automated systems). I am grateful to Martin Baxter for permission to reproduce Figure 1.5; the National Portrait Gallery for permission to produce Figure 1.15; The Economist for Figures 1.17 and 2.9; Alamy for Figure 2.12; Alasdair Rae for Figure 3.6; Oxford City Council for Figure 3.12; the BBC for Figure 5.12; Isabella Lill for Figure 6.7; and istock for Figure 6.13.
And finally, Grace Carroll, Ellen Mitchell and Ginny Mills at Bristol University Press helped greatly both in putting all this together and in helping me cut its length down from something that was originally far too long; Jo Morton copy edited the text and patiently and kindly managed the book’s progress through production, and Marie Doherty typeset the book and prepared all of the tables and figures for publication. And, thank you – for reading.
2.1 Who spends more wisely: individuals or government? - Additional reading
2.2 Dying quietly: English suburbs and the stiff upper lip - Additional reading
2.3 The wreckers who tore British society apart - Additional reading
2.4 Austerity, not influenza, caused the UK’s health to deteriorate - Additional reading
2.5 The income shock of 2020: a jolt in the fall after peak inequality - Additional reading
2.6 The roundabout: class hate in England - Additional reading
2.7 Why Finland is still the happiest country in the world - Additional reading
2.8 Most people in the UK now share Robert Owen’s views - Additional reading
2.9 A majority of people think the government does too little - Additional reading
2.10 The crises combine: austerity, the cost of living, jobs and pay - Additional reading
Section 3: Levelling across housing
We will finish what we started
3.1 When everyone you know buys art - Additional reading
3.2 Short cuts on homelessness - Additional reading
3.3 How to solve the housing crisis - Additional reading
3.4 Public spending in the UK and Europe - Additional reading
3.5 House prices: welcoming a crash - Additional reading
3.6 A letter from Helsinki - Additional reading
3.7 Liz Truss and autumn 2022 - Additional reading
3.8 Labour and levelling up - Additional reading
3.1 When everyone you know buys art - Additional reading
3.2 Short cuts on homelessness - Additional reading
3.3 How to solve the housing crisis - Additional reading
3.4 Public spending in the UK and Europe - Additional reading
3.5 House prices: welcoming a crash - Additional reading
3.6 A letter from Helsinki - Additional reading
3.7 Liz Truss and autumn 2022 - Additional reading
3.8 Labour and levelling up - Additional reading
Section 4: Eugenics and the fear of too many people
Eugenics and population control
4.1 The blank slate - Additional reading
4.2 When racism stopped being normal - Additional reading
4.3 About our schools - Additional reading
4.4 The birth of Baby Eight Billion - Additional reading
4.5 History repeating - Additional reading
4.1 The blank slate - Additional reading
4.2 When racism stopped being normal - Additional reading
4.3 About our schools - Additional reading
4.4 The birth of Baby Eight Billion - Additional reading
4.5 History repeating - Additional reading
Section 5: How austerity undermined our public health
Counting the cost of austerity
5.1 How austerity caused the NHS crisis - Additional reading
5.2 The Brexit vote, declining health and immigration - Additional reading
5.3 How many more will be dead by Christmas? - Additional reading
5.4 The decimation of the NHS - Additional reading
5.5 Falling down the global ranks - Additional reading
5.6 Our museum future - Additional reading
5.1 How austerity caused the NHS crisis - Additional reading
5.2 The Brexit vote, declining health and immigration - Additional reading
5.3 How many more will be dead by Christmas? - Additional reading
5.4 The decimation of the NHS - Additional reading
5.5 Falling down the global ranks - Additional reading
5.6 Our museum future - Additional reading
Section 6: Hope, the elite and change
Yesterday, tomorrow – and hope
📄 ⇩ Look inside: Excerpt from Section 6 (PDF)
6.1 What would it take to persuade Rishi Sunak to join the Patriotic Millionaires? - Additional reading
6.2 Kindness: rigour for British Geographers - Additional reading
6.3 The stones of the University of Oxford - Additional reading
6.4 Economics and compassion - Additional reading
6.5 Finland: how much better life can be - Additional reading
6.6 Dyslexia and the problem with pride - Additional reading
📄 ⇩ Look inside: Excerpt from Section 6 (PDF)
6.1 What would it take to persuade Rishi Sunak to join the Patriotic Millionaires? - Additional reading
6.2 Kindness: rigour for British Geographers - Additional reading
6.3 The stones of the University of Oxford - Additional reading
6.4 Economics and compassion - Additional reading
6.5 Finland: how much better life can be - Additional reading
6.6 Dyslexia and the problem with pride - Additional reading
Conclusion: What ten things can we do?
The first three of 'what ten things' the new 2024 Labour government might do:
1. Take international law seriously. Don’t try to brush it off, suggesting that the rest of the world is wrong and the British and Americans are right. If you don’t see and treat others as human, you too will begin to lose your humanity, compassion and kindness.
2. We have to learn what our response to the pandemic told us about ourselves and those who govern us. This includes the reaction of many of us to Boris Johnson’s complaint: ‘Why are we destroying [the] economy for people who will die anyway soon?’. Most, incidentally, would not have died that soon.
3. Why are we the first and only state to have fully left the European Union? Do we really know why we did it? You might want to suggest that one of the ten things we should do is work out how to start to repair the damage but, first, we need to know why we caused it.
…
1. Take international law seriously. Don’t try to brush it off, suggesting that the rest of the world is wrong and the British and Americans are right. If you don’t see and treat others as human, you too will begin to lose your humanity, compassion and kindness.
2. We have to learn what our response to the pandemic told us about ourselves and those who govern us. This includes the reaction of many of us to Boris Johnson’s complaint: ‘Why are we destroying [the] economy for people who will die anyway soon?’. Most, incidentally, would not have died that soon.
3. Why are we the first and only state to have fully left the European Union? Do we really know why we did it? You might want to suggest that one of the ten things we should do is work out how to start to repair the damage but, first, we need to know why we caused it.
…
Figures & Data
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Guy Standing, Karen Shook, Kate Pickett, Avner Offer, Lu Hiam, David Dorling, Alison Dorling, Roy Darke, George Davey Smith, and five very helpful anonymous referees for comment on the earlier chapters in this book. Chris Brazier and Louise Waters at New Internationalist kindly gave permission to reproduce a chapter from the magazine they edited. Martin Jordan, editor of Public Sector Focus, similarly did so for the chapters that first appeared as articles in that publication.
I would also like to thank Alan Rusbridger of Prospect Magazine for permission to reproduce Chapter 1.8; Nikki Talebi of the University of Chicago Press for allowing me to include Chapter 3.1; Alice Spawls at the London Review of Books for letting me know I had permission to reproduce Chapters 3.2 and 5.6; Bhaskar Sunkara of Tribune Magazine similarly for Chapter 3.3; James Stephens of Biteback for Chapter 4.2; Matt Ward of The Guardian and The Observer for Chapter 4.4; and many unnamed workers at Sage and Elsevier who responded to my emails (they had to reply anonymously via automated systems). I am grateful to Martin Baxter for permission to reproduce Figure 1.5; the National Portrait Gallery for permission to produce Figure 1.15; The Economist for Figures 1.17 and 2.9; Alamy for Figure 2.12; Alasdair Rae for Figure 3.6; Oxford City Council for Figure 3.12; the BBC for Figure 5.12; Isabella Lill for Figure 6.7; and istock for Figure 6.13.
And finally, Grace Carroll, Ellen Mitchell and Ginny Mills at Bristol University Press helped greatly both in putting all this together and in helping me cut its length down from something that was originally far too long; Jo Morton copy edited the text and patiently and kindly managed the book’s progress through production, and Marie Doherty typeset the book and prepared all of the tables and figures for publication. And, thank you – for reading.