Here you find a compilation of some of Danny’s work which has become available since January 2015, such as audio and video recordings and writings in print or online media. If you want to find out more about future events with Danny, please go to the Talks section of this website. Academic publications are also archived in the Publications section. More videos are featured in the Videos section while audio recordings can be found in Danny’s Audioboom Channel.
These are Danny’s most recent news updates:
Please sir, can I have more?
On the 25th of November 2020 the Chancellor of the Exchequer decided that, in the public sector, there would be no increase at all for many and a real-terms pay-cut for millions more in 2021.
Should you visit your family this Christmas? Three experts weigh in
For the third of society who live within a few miles of their parents, not seeing relatives at Christmas will make little sense if you see them most weeks anyway.
Letter: Social infrastructure is also vital to recovery plan
UK chancellor Rishi Sunak plans to set up a national infrastructure bank to “channel billions of pounds into capital projects”
Why is COVID-19 more severe in the north of England? The story in four graphs
An article published in the Conversation, 2 December 2020
Want to understand the Covid map? Look at where we live and how we work
It’s social, not medical, science that tells us most about the disparate spread of this pandemic.
The unprecedented rise of mortality across poorer parts of the UK
Danny Dorling discusses recent findings from a major study of mortality across UK countries and cities, and highlights unprecedented worsening mortality among the UK’s poorest communities:
Past pandemics, fear, dread and hope
In 1890, when he was still at school in Harrow, Winston Churchill wrote a poem
Afterword
As Eva Gómez-Jiménez and Michael Toolan explain in the Introduction to this book, high economic inequality has,
Is the cure worse than the disease? The most divisive question of 2020
In 1968, at the height of the last great influenza pandemic, at least a million people worldwide died
How many more will be dead by Christmas?
In the week after the schools went back in England and Wales, an extra 538 people died (77 a day).
Why are coronavirus rates rising in some areas of England and not others?
Growing alarm has been expressed over the rising numbers of people who are testing positive for COVID-19 in the UK.
Everything, almost everywhere, is slowing down
Long before the 2020 pandemic swept the world, almost everything was already slowing down.
Coronavirus: why aren’t death rates rising with case numbers?
It is a conundrum. For much of the past two months, many people have been convinced that mortality associated with COVID-19 would rise as the number of people testing positive with the disease increased. But this has not happened so far.
Slowing Down: Has this Been the Worst Pandemic in Britain in Living Memory?
If you are a little older than I am, then you may well remember worse pandemics than that of 2020.
COVID-19: The rise in destitution and inequality in the UK
On July 8th 2020 the Treasury released a document titled “Impact of COVID-19 on working household incomes: distributional analysis as of May 2020”.
Geography and the Shifting Ratios of Inequality – University, A levels and GCSEs in 2020
Why should the exam debacle of 2020 matter to Geographers?
Generational change: breaking the silence of the old
The COVID-19 crisis has coincided with worldwide Black Lives Matter protests
So what do we know now about Covid-19 in the UK?
It need not have arrived first in Europe in Italy. The disease could have arrived elsewhere on this continent first, and it could have arrived much earlier than it did.
The Geography of Slowdown: The End of The Great Acceleration – Keynote Address
Great economic inequalities will be hard to sustain during and following slowdown.
Rule Britannia: from Empire to Brexit to Covid-19
It’s a pity that in early 2020 the Conservative party and its leader were not more alert. Greek scholar Boris Johnson should have known that hubris – excessive pride and boasting – annoys the Gods
Slowing Down: Better Policies for Better Lives
The human world is slowing down and has been for some time. It has been slowing in many ways, and this can be seen most easily in OECD (mostly richer) countries.
Hitting the population brakes
Popular wisdom has it that everything is speeding up, including population growth.
Why coronavirus death rates won’t fall as quickly as they rose
Coronavirus deaths shocked us with how rapidly they rose from a base of none at the start of the year, to many thousands within the space of mere weeks.
Rule Britannia: Looking back at getting Brexit done
Ahead of the publication of Rule Britannia in paperback, authors Danny Dorling and Sally Tomlinson take a look back the past two years of electoral chaos and what that might mean for Britain going forward.
The Pace of Change
Did you think that the rate of innovation was rising and that more and more was being invented every year?
The illusion of speed and growth in our society
Danny Dorling, and Sofie Furu discussing the Book Slowdown and the illusion of speed and growth in our society, an on-line talk held with SoCentral – nordisk inkubator for samfunnsinnovasjon, Oslo, Norway, May 20th 2020.
Put your foot on the brake
The rate of population growth is slowing – and it’s time for human activity to relax too. It’ll do our species so much good, says Danny Dorling.
Uniting Behind A People’s Vaccine Against COVID-19
As reported in the Financial Times; Le Monde; News Week Españo and many others, an open letter: Uniting Behind A People’s Vaccine Against COVID-19, May 14th 2020 signed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Imran Khan, Cyril Ramaphosa and many […]
It’s Captain Tom’s birthday: the past 100 years should teach us a powerful lesson
Over the NHS fundraiser’s lifetime, inequality has dropped but shot back up again. After this crisis we must keep it down.
How quickly might we forget the lessons of Covid-19?
My father still remembers the H3N2 influenza pandemic of 1968 when over a million people died worldwide.
Decarbonising economies is like denuclearising weaponry—essential for survival
Humanity has been here before, facing what appeared to be an imminent end (figure). The rise in nuclear weapons was rapid, from the first two used on Aug 6 and Aug 9, 1945, through to 10,000 held by 1960, almost 40,000 in 1970, and peaking at over 60,000 in the mid-1980s. […]
Three charts that show where the coronavirus death rate is heading
On April 7, The Conversation published three graphs showing the rise of deaths from COVID-19 in seven countries. This is an update 20 days later.
Stepping back to focus on the longer term (talking about slowdown)
Danny Dorling giving a short keynote at the British Sociological Association Annual Conference (on-line in a time of Covid19) on April 24th 2020.
The Geography of Slowdown
Danny Dorling giving the final talk at the Geographical Association annual conference (on-line), on April 18th 2020
Three graphs that show a global slowdown in COVID-19
This article is republished from The Conversation – first published April 7th 2020
The NHS has been run on the goodwill of its staff for too long
“But once this is done, there must be complete transparency about how the NHS came to be left in this exposed position, how social care had been stripped away, and how those in power will be held accountable.”
An armchair alternative to A-Level geography
A message for A-Level geographers: Suddenly you have time on your hands. You would have been spending these weeks and months memorising facts for regurgitating.
The world was already slowing down long before lockdown
We need to quickly accept that this is an era of slowdown, not fast-paced change.
Coronavirus is a tragedy – but it could be the wake-up call we need: the economy has been forced to slow down
For some time this pandemic will focus almost all of our attention. It is a tragedy that will play out differently
Things Fall Apart: the British Health Crisis 2010–2020
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
Coronavirus: how the current number of people dying in the UK compares to the past decade
by Danny Dorling, University of Oxford
The speed of the global spread of coronavirus is staggering.
Labour’s Defeat and the Health Crisis in early 2020
Hensher contrasts the abuse Corbyn received while attempting to become Prime Minster with that Margaret Thatcher received when in office
Tackling the housing crisis
Polly Neate is right that “social housing and homes for first-time buyers don’t have to be either/or”.
Rabbit homes, peak inequality and mortality in the UK: 2015-2020
So much goes wrong when a state is at peak inequality. We convert offices into rabbit hutches for people to live in and their life expectancy also falls.
The 2019 general election and the geography and demography of Brexit
Danny Dorling demolishes myths about the Brexit Referendum result of 2016 and the General Election result of 2019. The old, and predominantly the middle class of southern England, achieved victory in both.
Who dies young in a rich city? – The Homeless
This Christmas and New Year 2020 have been mercifully warm in Oxford, with the temperature staying at (or above) two degrees at night – so far.
Slowdown: Whose freedom? a talk at Vienna Secession
A short talk on what the future may bring given the spatial dimension of the distribution of property and resources, followed by a debate with Gabu Heindl, the Vienna-based architect and planner.
What’s So Funny About Brexit? (and other subjects)
Danny Dorling talking about ‘What’s So Funny About Brexit? on the Treehouse stage, Greenbelt Festival,
We need MORE babies, not fewer, Harry!
Many thousands of words have been written on the subject of Prince Harry’s announcement in Vogue last week that, when it comes to children, he intends to have ‘Two, maximum!’
Ministers will still claim, to their dying breath in some cases…
“Ministers will still claim, to their dying breath in some cases, that there is no ‘evidence’ linking their actions to the rising numbers of premature deaths in the UK, but eventually they will buckle under the weight of reports showing they are wrong.”
The smaller generation to come – worldwide
Here’s some good news for the planet: the human population is set to peak and stabilise, not rising much above 9.7 billion, the total that it will reach around the year 2050, according to the latest UN figures.
How to Solve the Housing Crisis
It might not be sexy, but the answer to the endemic housing crisis not just in Britain but across the West is something relatively simple: effective property taxes
The cost of housing and education for young adults in England
Something went very wrong in the UK, and especially in England, during the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. Housing became too expensive for young adults to afford and then, by 2012, we made half of them take out huge debts to go to university. It’s time to fix both problems.
Health Inequalities in Trump’s America and Brexit Britain
Why do people vote for politicians and rhetoric which actually puts their own lives at risk and what can be done about it?
The Oxfordshire ‘Expressway’, local and European elections, and the Conservative leadership race.
On the evening of 17 June at 7.30pm Oxford Civic Society held a public debate in the Assembly Room of the Town Hall on the effect on Oxfordshire of the planned Expressway and related issues.
Inequality: Lessons from History
Penny Bickle, David Wengrow, Kate Pickett and Danny Dorling speaking at the Festival of Ideas, Ron Cooke Hub, University of York, on June 10th 2019.
Brexit: the future of political engagement, trust and democracy
The vote to leave the EU was the last gasp of the old empire working its way out of the British psyche.
The future is bright and the geography is clear
Brexit has been a disaster with silver linings. The process of trying to leave the EU and the end result could finally jolt the British elite out of their superior complacency, and thereby make the country a fairer and more humane place.
The best start in life?
In Japan, I once met a man who was starving. He was proud and he was dying.
Global trends over time – apart from climate, is almost everything else about to get better?
Some ideas to share with current London-based Social Science PhD students.
Letter sent to the Financial Times Newspaper (London), Thursday May 30th 2019
We believe there are issues of concern over the governance of the UK’s largest private pension, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).
How the end of Britain’s empire helped Leave to its initial 2016 victory
The collapse of Britain’s empire in the decades after World War II was followed by a huge growth and then persistence of extreme economic inequality.
Hay Festival 25th May 2019 – Rule Britannia
Sally Tomlinson and Danny Dorling speaking at the Hay Festival, on the Oxfam Moot Stage, May 25th 2019 – the day after Theresa May resigned.
On the 200th birthday of Queen Victoria: Theresa May resigned
How did it come to this? What is happening to Britain and why? Why now? Why such an enormous mess?
What Brexit (and its aftermath) teaches us about Britain
With gratitude to the woman who founded the Brexit party for coming along and asking the world’s longest ever question. Hopefully you are intrigued.
Brexit and the end of the British Empire, Keele Public Lecture
With gratitude to the man from the Stoke area who asked the first question, after listening to this argument, and said: ‘You put me right’.
Lakin McCarthy Presents Danny Dorling: Rule Britannia
A talk on ‘Rule Britannia, From Brexit to the end of Empire‘ – at Komedia Comedy Club, Brighton, May 5th 2019.
Food and Hard Times in Three European Countries
Having enough to eat of a decent quality and quantity has long been a central expectation of what it means to live in a Western country.
Time for the truth: We ‘left’ the EU because of Hampshire
An illustrated talk by Danny Dorling (on one small part the book Rule Britannia) given at Winchester Skeptics in the Pub on April 25th 2019.
Dying Quietly: The New Suburbs
Mustn’t grumble. Mustn’t make a fuss. England’s suburbs are slowly dying, as years of austerity slowly changes the landscape.
The Wreckers: Fabian Review Essay, Spring 2019
The crises which have engulfed this government should not blind us to the fact that the Conservatives are supremely successful at what they are best at.
Day of reckoning: Brexit and UK Universities
Universities helped foster the environment in which Brexit became possible. It is time to make amends.
Ireland: Recession, Austerity and Life Expectancy
Dear Sir
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the letter of February 25, 2019 from Professor J Hanley.
Peak Inequality: a public lecture by Danny Dorling
There’s no reason to be pessimistic about the future. The UK and the USA are probably at a peak of economic inequality right now.
Britannia, Brexit and what now in the week before the April 12th deadline?
Danny Dorling speaking at the Cambridge Literary Festival, introduced by Cathy Moore, in the Palmerston Room, St John’s College, University of Cambridge, April 6th 2019
Danny Dorling: Peak Inequality – a discussion with David Runciman
Inequality is the key political issue of our time. The dramatic rise of income inequality in the UK, from the mid 1970s through to today’s peak, created a state that was so unstable that Brexit was attempted.
Rule Britannia at twelve days until Brexit – Why did it get this far?
The deadline is now Friday 11pm April 12th 2019. A 30 minutes talk by Danny Dorling in the free Blackwells Marque, Oxford Literary Festival, The Bodleian Quad, Oxford, March 31st 2019.
Communication by numbers, symbolic power and slowdown
A seminar for the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, London School of Economics, March 29th 2019.
Still two weeks to go until Brexit?
On the eve of the House of Commons trying to break the Brexit deadlock, a public lecture concerning what Brexit tells us about the British.
What has Brexit taught us about the British? The story so far.
Whatever kind of Brexit occurs – hard, soft, or even a last minute cancellation and staying in the European Union – the public and
Comment by Danny Dorling on “Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline”
A provocative vision of the future in which the global population plummets, dramatically reshaping the social, political and economic landscape.
Austerity bites—falling life expectancy in the UK
On 8 March 2019 Lu Hiam and Martin McKee, referring to the most recent report from the Institute of Actuaries
Two weeks to go to Brexit?
There may be a silver lining. Brexit is a much larger national disaster than the 1956 Suez crisis, and more embarrassing.
Mid-March 2019: What Brexit now told us about the British
What on earth will happen now? Will some people never learn about the British past, the nature of its empire, its decline, and how all this is linked to Brexit?
Oxford Housing and the Survivor Syndrome
You read this magazine [The Oxford Magazine] and because of that you almost certainly know how the start of the story goes
Brexit – the Ides of March
The ides of March, March the 15th, is the date on which Romans traditionally settled debts.
Is the Human Species Slowing Down?
In the ‘Origin of Species’, Charles Darwin described how a population explosion occurs. He called the events required – ‘favourable seasons’.
The Key to the Brexit Backstory
How did Britain’s wealthy take the end of the British empire? Not well — and the rest of us are still paying the price.
(Mis)Rule Britannia: Brexit is the last gasp of empire
Brexit represents the last gasp of the British empire
How Inequality and Austerity have Divided Britain,
What does Brexit tell us about ourselves – and what will happen now?
Connections: Global Inequality, the British Empire and Brexit
Danny Dorling speaking at the monthly meeting of “Global Justice Now”, Oxford Town Hall, February 12th 2019.
Book launch audio recording: Rule Britannia – from Brexit to the end of Empire
Things fall apart when empires crumble.
Foreword to: The influence of place, geographical isolation and progression to higher education
Take a minute to think about where current education policy is likely to take us in England, and to some extent in Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland run things a little differently.
Inequality and the Environment 2019
The first of an interdisciplinary seminar series on the topic of ‘Inequality and the Environment’, organised by Alex Milden.
The spurious link between immigration and increased crime
In the era of Brexit attempts have repeatedly been made to associate recent immigrants with criminality; and despite all evidence to the contrary this slur continues.
A Very British Legacy: Attitude and Brexit
Brexit may be key to the future of inequality in the UK, and inequality may have been key to making Brexit possible.
Brexit, Demography, Geography and the British
Brexit’s all about Geography; it’s all about borders; it’s all about issues of identity; and a lot of it is about history.
Who spends more wisely: Individuals or government?
Will 2019 see an end to austerity? Last year, the Chancellor announced that the ‘era of austerity is finally coming to an end’
Brexit and Empire: two days after the first ‘meaningful vote’
What is happening with Brexit? Why is it happening and what are the reasons behind the reasons for how the British are behaving?
Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer, 2018, Chapter 6: Demography
The UK has fallen down the rankings significantly … for life expectancy at birth. In the most recent two years ONS has reported statistically significant increases in infant mortality across England for all infants.
Brexit: Remain and the Unicorn
We gave people a choice, back in 2016 between carrying on with David Cameron, with life as it was, crap as it was, or a unicorn. The unicorn was Leave. The unicorn was a promise: “Leave and everything will get better”.
Short Cuts (homelessness)
Today, one person in every two hundred in England and Wales is homeless – either sleeping rough or living in temporary accommodation. In London the proportion is even higher: one in 53. In Kensington and Chelsea it’s one in 29: in that borough alone 5,263 people are homeless.
Ireland: When everyone you know buys art, or a sculpture, to upgrade their life
People protest when they can take no more, but also when there is a glimmer of hope: When it becomes obvious that there is enough to go around
Things Fall apart: Brexit, immigration, crime, health and wages
As Bobby Duffy explained in November 2018, when it comes to Brexit and our understanding of what is going on, we live in a remarkably divided society today
Globalisation: how Britain fits in
How important is Britain in the world today, digitally, socially and financially? A talk by Danny Dorling looking at globalisation in the context of the digital social world and consider key trends in development and global inequality.
Equality and what Brexit tells us about the British
Whatever kind of Brexit occurs – hard, soft, or none – people are going to be asking questions for many years about why this has happened and what it means.
The Distribution of Wealth – Growing Inequality?
A review of ‘The Distribution of Wealth – Growing Inequality?’ By Michael Schneider, Mike Pottenger and J. E. King, The History of Economics review, Volume 68, No. 1, pp.75-78, by Danny Dorling.
The UK Government’s misplaced prevention agenda
Fixing the health crisis is a choice for politicians, not people
The Blank Slate – Toby Young and Social Mobility
It was the night before Christmas, and just a few days before his well-documented fall from grace – in response to the publication of an academic paper Sally Tomlinson and I had published a year earlier, the Conservative government’s advisor, Toby Young, posted this Tweet:
Geography and Climate Breakdown
Geography and Climate Breakdown, by Danny Dorling, The Oxford Magazine, No. 402 pp.11-12, November 30th, (eight week, Michaelmas term)
What Brexit tells us about the British
Danny Dorling giving the Institute of Applied Ethics Public Lecture, University of Hull, November 29th 2018, introduced by Colin Tyler.
Housing crisis, design feature or design flaw?
Why is the UK so bad at housing people? One reason is that some things, big bulky one-off ‘goods’ like heart surgery, a university degree and a home are very badly allocated when you mostly use the market to allocate them.
Social Inequality – The Need to Develop Inclusive Housing and Sustainable Communities
A keynote lecture given at the Canadian National Housing Conference, Ottawa, 22 November 2018.
Brexit and Britain’s Radical Right
Two decades ago, leaving the European Union was a minority pursuit. Now British politics is defined by Brexit.
In Focus: The Revival of Two-Party Politics in Britain
Benjamin D. Hennig and Danny Dorling plot the re-emergence of Conservative and Labour dominance in British politics:
Brexit coincided with peak inequality – causes and effect?
Brexit may be key to the future of inequality in the UK, and inequality may have been key to making Brexit. Growing inequality created so much, from tax-evader-vote-funders to mass discontent.
Where will our kids live and how will they afford it?
We used to plan our cities. In most European countries they still plan their cities. What would a plan for the future of Oxford look like that was sustainable, environmentally responsible and affordable?
Jubilee 2022: Writing off the student debt
The unjust student debt can be written off – if we choose to have a fairer society. Don’t let anyone convince you this is not so.
The Brexit vote, declining health and immigration
People voted Leave most often in those parts of England which had the worse health trends, which saw the greatest rises in mortality rates in the two years after the vote, and to which the least immigrants had come in the year before the vote.
The 2018 autumn budget, hypothecation and taxation
Philip Hammond delivers his budget on Monday 29th October 2018. He may be tempted to suggest that any new taxes he introduced are hypothecated. Is this a good idea?
Inequality and Housing: A new economy for the many
What policies could be enacted to end homelessness in England, to ensure decent quality affordable housing, to prevent speculation and to control greed?
Finland, the UK and 7 Maps of how the human world is changing
Life expectancy is rising in Finland – unlike in the UK. What’s going right?
Inequality and Social Deprivation: Examples of what goes wrong from the UK
I’m interested in inequality and what is happening with that.
Peak Inequality – My Fair London and Oxford
Institutions must recognise the extent to which they are partly responsible for their cities and country’s problems.
Inequality and Oxford
(1) In every university city in which I have lived a colleague has always pointed out how remarkably socially divided that city is.
Heavy price paid for war in Afghanistan (letter)
The 17-year war has been a costly disaster, deepening the country’s crisis and helping to spread violence across the region and beyond, say actors including Mark Rylance, MPs including Imran Hussain, and other campaigners
So, when was this series of “periodic bad winters”?
The author of a recent BMJ editorial claims that: “In summary, the general deceleration in mortality improvements in many high income countries since 2010 has been compounded by periodic bad winters.“
Dying quietly: English suburbs and the stiff upper lip
The English suburbs are dying. Years of austerity have slowly changed the landscape. Poverty is now common in the suburbs. Since 2014 life expectancy has been falling across most of England, especially in the suburbs.
You may see now (and the UK) as normal – but that badly colours how you think
I came home this evening to hear the local BBC news begin with the headline ‘Oxford hospitals NHS trust suspended midwife services‘
Linking mortality to the past – solving the geographical problems
Audio recording of the Keynote Lecture given by Danny Dorling at the annual British Society for Population Studies conference, Winchester, September 12th 2018
After the Fall [in Life Expectancy]
‘And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light’
(Dylan Thomas, 1947)
Public Inquiry into rising mortality in England announced
In June 2018 the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) released data for England that revealed mortality rates to be rising across the country. This rise in mortality rates had occurred even after having taken out the likely impact of population ageing.
London’s highly inflated housing market is entering a period of equalisation
Britain in 2025 will be very different from today. London and the UK reached peak inequality in 2018.
A Talk on Peak Inequality at the Book Fringe, Edinburgh, August 22nd 2018
In early 2018, Britain reached a peak of income inequality. The last peak was in 1913, and so much goes so wrong when inequality peaks.
Improving life expectancy used to be the UK’s forte – now it’s falling behind
Despite the evidence DHSC claims “..generally people are living longer.” The government’s response is not sufficient. Persistent concerns from academics, doctors, professional bodies, and public health experts have been consistently disregarded by the DHSC
Tip-toeing to the right in the UK (1979-2014)
In hindsight we should have seen it coming. But none of us did, or at least no one who looks for the best in others.
The contraction of the financial sector takes place very quietly
Hidden in the detail of these figures was the news that Britain’s finance and insurance industries had shrunk, albeit only by a tenth of one percent.
Which children in Britain will have no holiday this summer?
The majority of the poorest fifth of children living in the UK have no summer holiday – or any holiday at all each year – and this has been the case for at least a decade now. However people are now learning to lower their expectations.
The long hot summer before the war – peak inequality
The last time inequality peaked in the UK was around 1913/1914. It appears to be peaking again this summer.
The health crisis 2010 to 2018: acclimatisation to a disaster
In the eight years since the May 2010 general election, the health of people living in the United Kingdom has faltered.
One Question: Do we need a universal basic income?
Yes we need a basic income. Yes we will get one. But we in the UK will very probably have to wait until other European countries have had one for some time.
After the Fall
Almost six weeks after the inquiry was announced no deadline has been set for Public Health England’s inquiry report into mortality rate rises across all of England.
Has the UK reached Peak Inequality?
Video and slides of Danny Dorling speaking at the Royal Society for Arts, London, July 19th 2018.
Peak Inequality – Britain’s Ticking Time Bomb
When we think of economic inequality we tend to think of a trend that is ever rising and destined to continue rising; that is far from inevitable.
Peak Inequality – a discussion
In Peak Inequality: Britain’s Ticking Time Bomb, Danny Dorling presents the evidence that in 2018 the growth in UK income inequality may have finally peaked.
Peak Inequality
Is great change coming? 4 July 2018 – First published in the New Statesman, by Danny Dorling
Social Inequality in the UK: challenges for policymakers
A talk given to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Social Science and Policy, Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, July 3rd 2018.
Britain is a Segregated Society – the isolation of the richest
Britain is a highly segregated society. It boasts the widest Gini coefficient of all the OECD countries in Europe when income inequality is considered.
This is what peak inequality looks like
We can find it hard to believe that an era has come to an end, that a peak has been passed. But when, finally, such a change happens the memories of commentators change with it.
Micro-advocacy
We know that you’re busy and that while you’d love to donate more time to progressive advocacy, life gets in the way.
The rise in mortality—how the government has chosen to take note
In May 2018 the Department of Health and Social Care responded to the recent rise in deaths in England by saying…
Be Realistic – Demand The Impossible
What becomes possible when you begin to demand (what they tell you) is impossible?
The age-sex standardised mortality rate for deaths in England has risen by 5% in 12 months
The ASMR has risen by 5%. So, once again, we repeat: how many deaths will it take for the Government to take note?
Peak Inequality & Jubilee 2022: the case for the write-off of UK historic student debt
The Labour Party must draw up plans to write off the majority of the debt run up by students who paid fees under England’s post-2012 funding regime.
One year on from the Grenfell fire
It is scandalous that politicians are whittling down public housing budgets and failing to take action to keep residents safe.
Housing in Oxfordshire: where to build and who should profit?
A talk arranged by the Northern Villages Branch of Henley Constituency Labour Party, Wheatley, Oxfordshire, June 11 2018.
The cuts and poor health: when and how can we say that one thing causes another?
Life expectancy in England and Wales has stalled. At some older ages, it is declining.
The public health record of the 2010-2018 UK Government
In the eight years since the May 2010 general election, the health of people living in the United Kingdom has faltered.
Peak Inequality: Danny Dorling and Faiza Shaheen
In Peak Inequality: Britain’s Ticking Time Bomb Danny Dorling presents the evidence that in 2018 the growth in UK income inequality may have finally peaked.
Is our NHS fit for purpose?
This summer is the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National Health Service. On June 30th a demonstration will be held in London in defence of the NHS.
Mental distress has external causes
To better tackle mental illness, look to the societies in which it occurs.
Paul Scarrott speaking at the Anti-Racism Summit, Sheffield, 2 June 2018
We have to stand up to these things because otherwise we are faced with a very simple situation. Today’s unacceptable becomes tomorrow’s norm.
Can the UK afford to leave the EU?
The UK voted to leave at the peak of its economic inequality.
Inequality the Big Picture
The first of three Free Summer Lectures on Inequality. Given by Danny Dorling in London on Tuesday May 22nd 2018 at 6:30pm in Bethnal Green.
What might a progressive economy look like?
A progressive economy might seem like a pipe dream, but is it achievable?
The Gender Pay Gap – what the first reports revealed
In April 2018 we heard an enormous amount about gender pay gaps as all the data was revealed.
Government must investigate rising excess deaths in England and Wales
Health researchers have urged the government and MPs to investigate rising numbers of deaths in England and Wales, after new figures showed over 20,000 “excess deaths” so far in 2018.
Britain is a Segregated Society – the isolation of the richest from the rest
Britain is a highly segregated society.
Thank God for the House of Windsor (our museum future)
I used to be a Republican, but that was before Brexit.
Danny Dorling: Speaking for the motion: This House Would End University Tuition Fees
The current system of university student funding in England is a confidence trick.
Could 2018 be the peak of the crisis in health in the UK or will 2019 be even worse?
Since 2011, something unusual and, in modern British history, unprecedented has happened to life expectancy: it has flatlined.
Rule Britannia and Stupidity,
A 15 minute talk on the Brexit Referendum of 2016, Rule Britannia in 2017, and stupidity in 2018, given by Danny Dorling at St Georges, Bristol, as part of a 5×15 event, April 16th 2018.
Syria, the West’s Response and International Law
Syria, the west’s response and international law, Letter, Wednesday 11th April 2018: “Readers including Mark Rylance, Brian Eno and Francesca Martinez respond to the escalating situation in Syria”.
Review of Branco Milanovic’s Global Inequality: A new approach for the Age of Globalization
The first words on the inside cover of this book announce that it has been written by one of the world’s leading economists.
Why we need an anti-war government
We know they used to keep plans for war secret from us. We know just how wrong they were in the past. So what are we not being told today?
The Demography of Inequality
Re: Rise in mortality in England and Wales in first seven weeks of 2018: Rapid response by Lu Hiam and Danny Dorling, published in the British Medical Journal, March 23rd 2018
Recent deaths in prisons and for people in mental health detention in the UK
Decent rights, trust, and fairness all require greater economic equality.
Blame education’s ‘macho leader’ cult for shocking gender pay gap
For years schools have been sending pupils the message that women are worth less than men. It’s our moral duty to fix that.
Brexit: The result of rising inequality, not rising immigration
Immigration has been suggested as the reason for why a narrow majority of people in the UK voted for Brexit. The concept was used to stoke up fear in areas of low immigration.
Top ‘Remuneration’: Have we reached Peak Inequality?
A fall in inequality can begin without policy and political changes, but they help sustain it.
Rapid rise in mortality in England and Wales in early 2018 – an investigation is needed
Until recently we had been using the rising profits of undertakers to gauge how unusual recent rises in mortality have been. However, we can no longer do that.
Both adult and infant mortality now rise in the UK
In March 2018 we learnt that, in contrast to all other countries in Europe, both adult and infant mortality are now rising in the UK making an already awful situation worse.
The public health record of the 2010-2018 UK Government
In the eight years since the May 2010 general election, the health of people living in the United Kingdom has faltered.
May and Cameron have a terrible record on health, and it could be cutting lives short
Life expectancy in the UK has stalled. In many places, and for more vulnerable groups, it is now falling – on-line report in the New Statesman (March 2nd 2018).
Housing prices in the UK and London fall, homelessness rises, more children than ever sleep in B&Bs
The Nationwide Building Society has reported today, March 1st 2018, that prices fell by 0.3% last month, crushing expectations of a rise” Commentators explain: “Brexit and a weaker economic outlook reinforced a slowdown in the property market”.
UK Higher Education: Botched loan privatisations and the highest fees in the world
As Brexit looms closer, various schemes for Britain to “find new markets” will be touted.
Utopia for Realists and How We Can Get There
Utopia for Realists ends with its author professing admiration for Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman.
Brexit: The result of rising inequality, not rising immigration
Immigration has been suggested as the reason for why a narrow majority of people in the UK voted for Brexit. The concept was used to stoke up fear in areas of low immigration.
130,000 children homeless after Christmas 2017. Why?
Our housing system is in a mess. A child looking down from the window of a tower block on to Britain’s streets today will see the widest and clearest picture of what is getting rapidly worse.
The current state of Inequality
When inequality is high people lose face, they lose confidence, they suffer from comparisons in which it is implied that the vast majority warrant little or no respect.
The Future of Britain
Brexit Vote 2016, Hung Parliament 2017, what in 2018?
On Martin Luther King Day 2018: Child poverty rates still rising in the USA and UK
Fifty years ago Martin Luther King argued that on poverty: “the programs of the past all have another common failing—they are indirect. Each seeks to solve poverty by first solving something else.” He argued for a guaranteed citizen’s income to eradicate poverty.
Trends in the behaviour of the super-rich: Swiss watch sales
Towards the end of January 2018, 60 heads of state or government, roughly 300 other political leaders, and at least 1000 of the world’s highest paid chief executive officers, media celebrities and the like will meet again at Davos in Switzerland. How are they likely to view changing world events and what […]
What is Radical about Geography?
From the history of the Cold War, to the peril of the 2008 financial crash, what can a radical perspective on geography teach us about the world?
New (2018) interactive graphics of the impact of inequality
Researchers have known for some time that high economic inequality has a detrimental effect on peoples’ lives. However, with the release of new data we can now compare all of the richest countries of the world alongside the states of the USA. The results are shocking.
120,000 additional premature deaths in the UK 2010-2017
On Thursday 16th November 2017 the Journal BMJ Open published an article which concluded that severe public spending cuts in the UK had contributed to causing 120,000 additional premature deaths between 2010 and 2017.
England’s embarrassing tuition fees
As pay scandals continue to embarrass British higher education, with university chiefs receiving eye-watering salaries and golden handshakes, it’s time to ask: why can’t we be more like Germany?
Updating Edwin Chadwick’s seminal work on geographical inequalities by occupation
Researchers at the Universities of Liverpool, Oxford and Glasgow revisited a study carried out 175 years ago which compared the health and life expectancy of people in different parts of the United Kingdom, including Liverpool, to see if its findings still held true.
The rich, poor and the earth
The most important benefit of the equality effect may be that it leads us to behave in ways that are less environmentally damaging.
The latest population projections for Britain suggest a million years of life could disappear by 2058. Why?
Buried deep in a note towards the end of a recent bulletin published by the British government’s statistical agency was a startling revelation.
Why Budget 2017 did so little to help students
One week ago today, on Wednesday 22 November 2017, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, gave a budget speech that was designed to confuse and distract.
Health – why the Conservatives have the worst record since at least 1891
London, November 2017: Research linking cuts in government health spending to higher mortality rates in England has been published in the British Medical Journal
The chancellor must end austerity now – it is punishing an entire generation
Alongside the human costs, cuts have hurt our economy, and we’ve now reached a dangerous tipping point, say Joseph Stiglitz, Ha-Joon Chang and 111 others
Lessons from more equitable European countries: Rent Regulation
Almost all European countries both have lower income inequality than the UK and also ensure by law that tenants who rent their homes enjoy much longer tenancies.
Short Cuts – future life expectancy in the UK
Life expectancy for women in the UK is now lower than in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
7 New Maps of The World – School Geography A Level Talk
What does the world look like when you map it using data?
Upholding the rule of law in the European Union
Open letter to Commission President Junker and European Council Presidents Tusk, 31 October 2017
Why student loans are a confidence trick for the 85%
The current system of university student funding in England is a confidence trick.
Turning The Tide On Inequality
It is hard to believe that it is any coincidence that by far the most economically unequal large country in the European Union, the UK, was the one that narrowly voted to leave it in 2016.
Inequality and Insurrection
Seminar by Danny Dorling in a series helping to celebrate 25 years of Development Studies in SOAS, University of London, given on October 17th, 2017
Beware of Kipling-spouting politicians
The world isn’t a plum pudding anymore. It’s time for Britain to stop pretending it can carve it up—and scrap its Imperialist approach to post-Brexit trade.
Economic inequality – what is it good for?
Inequality has become the defining issue of our times. It is what makes the years we are currently living through so different to those of our parents and grandparents.
Delayed discharges: “up to 8,000 people die every year because of bed-blocking on NHS wards”
The increased prevalence of patients being delayed in discharge from hospital in 2015 was associated with increases in mortality, accounting for up to a fifth of mortality increases.
The New Urban Crisis by Richard Florida – a Review
This limited survey of the effects of inequality and high house prices in cities is part of the problem, not the solution.
Full text of original letter sent to the Financial Times: Examining the numbers on pension valuations
We are concerned about the transparency of decision making in the USS pension scheme. The USS has announced a substantial deficit, but the data and methods they have published are very limited, making them impossible to judge.
New ways of seeing the world: a social geographer’s perspective
Oxford Alumni Weekend Lecture, Oxford, September 16th 2017
The 2017 UK General Election Result in Three Graphs
There was one noteworthy feature of the 2017 General Election that has not been commented on at all. For the first time since 1979 the segregation index of British Conservative voters fell.
Economic inequality: Are we at the turning point?
New statistics offer hope—but the accuracy of such figures is notoriously difficult to assess.
Is inequality bad for the environment?
From buying stuff to eating meat to wasting water, there is growing evidence that countries with a bigger gap between rich and poor do more harm to the planet and its climate.
The Labour party is now more popular than it was when both of the last two general elections were held
This has never happened before. No UK political party has seen such a large and such a rapid rise in support as Labour saw in May 2017.
The Equality Effect: improving life for everyone
The Equality Effect is almost magical. In more equal countries, human beings are generally happier and healthier, there is less crime, more creativity and higher educational attainment.
Mortality improvements appear to have stalled in England
Improvements in mortality in England were seen for a generation before the year 2011. They now appear to have ended.
The choices that we make
People in different countries make different choices. In Norway they chose to deal with the financial crash of 2008 in such a way that the population did not suffer unduly and life expectancy there has risen by a year since 2011.
Living in extraordinary times
Every so often a social statistic is released that confirms something extraordinary has occurred, something so strange that it cannot continue, suggesting that the trend has to change again soon.
A Better Politics: How Government can make us happier, & despair and hope in Scotland
Politics in Britain and in many other countries would be better if politicians concentrated on the things which are most important to people.
Three hundred years of arguments for a basic income
Review of ‘Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy, by Philippe van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght’
Building Better Cities: 7th Annual Lecture of the Human City Institute
We think of cities as having existing for millennia, but only a few cities are that old and they were almost all extremely small.
What geography can teach us about inequality
Geography is the subject that shows you how everything is connected to everything else.
The proportion of adults reporting poor health in the UK has more than doubled since 2010
There has been a rapid deterioration in self-reported health in recent years
Excess deaths in 2015 may be linked to failures in health and social care
Excess deaths in 2015 may be linked to failures in health and social care
The Geography of a rapid rise in elderly mortality in England and Wales, 2014-15
Since at least the early 1900s almost all affluent nations in the world have continually experienced improvements in human longevity.
The Geography of a rapid rise in elderly mortality in England and Wales, 2014-15
Annual Politics Lecture: Leeds Beckett University
I am always surprised that more people in the UK do not know that we now have the greatest economic inequality of any large country in Europe
Reducing Inequality: Reasons for Hope for 2017
If high and growing inequality is benefitting fewer and fewer people in the UK and the USA we should be glad that more people now recognise this
Equality in Europe, the landscape, battle and war
Equality in Europe, the landscape, battle and war, public lecture by Danny Dorling, St Cross College, Oxford, January 24th.
Theresa May’s Industrial Strategy must work for Sheffield, the city of low pay
The Prime Minister has launched her much-vaunted industrial strategy. The measure of its success has to be whether it works for cities like Sheffield and the rest of the North.
Housing crisis grows – first fall in home movers for five years
On January 20th 2017 the BBC announced the first fall in the numbers of people moving home in the last five years. The reason was the growing housing crisis.
Migration, Europe, bias in research, health, education and housing
It’s remarkable how little research is available comparing the success of different countries’ immigration policies.
House prices in London are falling
In mid-December the Land Registry revealed its latest data on housing prices. These showed that average prices had fallen in five London boroughs in October, up from three in September and just one borough in August.
Review of Utopia by Thomas More, introduced by China Miéville and concluded by Ursula Le Guin
In 1968 Ursula Le Guin wrote the Wizard of Earthsea for me. I knew it, as I am sure thousands of other children also knew.
Don’t mention this around the Christmas table: Brexit, inequality and the demographic divide
Brexit voting patterns appear to divide along the lines of age (above all else), then by social attitudes, and then by education
The Creation of Inequality: Myths of Potential and Ability
The old myth about the ability and variability of potential in children is a comforting myth
Analysing the regional geography of poverty, austerity and inequality in Europe
This paper presents a human cartographic approach to the analysis of the impact of austerity and the economic crisis across Europe’s regions.
In straitened circumstances: A review of Austerity Blues
The Left are busy looking back instead of devising laws to address inequalities.
Geography, Health, Austerity and Europe – where next for the countries of the UK?
Public Lecture given by Danny Dorling at the University of Swansea, December 12th 2016.
France shows what has gone wrong in the UK and US
The outcome of the French presidential election, in which the Republican Francois Fillon, Front National’s Marine Le Pen, and the Socialist Party will be vying for position in April 2017, could have wide reaching implications for public health in Europe.
The Politics of Public Spending, Equality and Hope
In October 2016, at her party’s annual conference, the Prime Minister (Teresa May) set out a vision for a more inclusive Britain
The future of Social Justice
Melissa Benn, Danny Dorling, Kayleigh Garthwaite and Owen Jones, Speaking on the future of Social Justice, at the Bristol Festival of Ideas and Policy Press Evening, University of Bristol, December 5th.
Today’s housing crisis: sown by Thatcher, harvested by May. What is required to really take back control?
Margaret Thatcher’s government sowed the seeds of today’s housing crisis when it abandoned rent regulation in the private sector.
Maps that show us who we are (not just where we are)
What does the world look like when you map it using data about people? See the world anew — a connected, ever-changing and fascinating place in which we all belong. You’ll never look at a map the same way again.
Another World is Inevitable: Mapping UK General Elections
The Annual Political Studies Association Lecture given by Danny Dorling in The British Library, London, November 28th. Introduced by Carolyn Quinn
Ecotopia 2121? – stranger things have happened
Danny Dorling’s Review of Ecotopia 2121: A Vision for Our Future Green Utopia – in 100 Cities, by Alan Marshall
This House Believes That Government Has Failed Britain’s Youth
You need to agree that we have failed, because if we are incapable of recognising that we have failed, what hope is there for this country?
The political environment and housing associations
Keynote speech by Danny Dorling: Placeshapers conference :Building Homes and Lives, Trade Union Congress Centre, London, November 16th.
15th Caroline Benn Lecture: The Education Shuffle – what will the next two steps forward be?
Innovation in Education Lecture by Danny Dorling given in Committee Room 10, House of Commons, London, November 15th.
Let’s go back to the future with co-operative schools – and leave grammars in the past
Comprehensive schools have improved our lives. The evidence that they are better for our children and for all of us is overwhelming.
A debate about social goods and social evils
Housing is fundamentally a debate about social goods and social evils – TAP blog 6, 11 November 2016
Schools as the driver of inequality – the ideas behind a talk given at the annual Class conference in London on November 5th 2016
On education the left need to recognise public disquiet over our current system of allocation to state schools by area and hence by housing price.
Leaving Reality: The UK and the rest of Europe
Economically, the financial crash of 2008 set UK society on a course that led to the 2016 EU referendum.
The price we pay for housing is too high
Since 2010 council tax benefit has been cut all across the UK, and rent, gas and electricity costs have gone up. A quarter of British households, mostly with children, can no longer pay for rent, fuel and food and manage to save at least £10 a month.
Putting people at (and around) the centre of the city
An annual public lecture given by Danny Dorling generalizing from Oxford’s current housing dilemmas for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the Sustainable Urban Development Programme
How much of you is you and how much of you is a product of your geography?
How much of you is you and how much of you is a product of your geography? Have a look at these maps. Areas are coloured red and dark red if many people are poor in those places. And they are coloured green, and especially dark green, if very few people are poor.
Working for service – not profit
Invited Student Lecture given by Danny Dorling at Ruskin College, Oxford, October 19th, 2016, Introduced by Parveen Alam.
Capitalism on Trial: Rising economic inequality and stalled progress in educational reform in the UK
A thirty minute talk for lower sixth form students studying A levels by Danny Dorling of the University of Oxford, School of Geography & Environment
Geography is where it’s at – and about the future
A talk for sixth form students at many schools studying A level Geography in Manchester by Danny Dorling of the University of Oxford
Epidemiology: abandoning the social: How deaths in England and Wales rose in a year by 5%
Danny Dorling talking on – Epidemiology: abandoning the social: How deaths in England and Wales rose in a year by 5%, in Scotland by 9%, but epidemiologists were too busy with the genome to notice the bills of mortality,
Talking about Brexit and Middle England on BBC Newsnight: the view from Tewksbury
Danny Dorling: Talking about Brexit on BBC Newsnight 29th September 2016, starting in Tewksbury:
A secure home is vital to wellbeing—all should have one
In 1983 your chance of owning your own home was over 70 per cent for people aged between 29 and 49. In 2012 the lucky group who had a 70 per cent or more chance of owning their homes were aged 58 to 85.
Only Dreamers See the Future
It is no coincidence that Thomas More set Utopia on an island. He was a teenager when the Americas were discovered, a time when the world learned that more was possible than we knew.
Public Health was declining rapidly before the Brexit vote
Self-reported health had been progressively declining year on year since 2010. In the years before 2010 up to 70% of the population were somewhat, mostly, or completely satisfied with their health and there was no downwards or upwards trend.
Edinburgh Festival Talk: People and Places: A 21st Century Atlas of the UK – Britain After The Boom
A talk given at the Edinburgh Book Festival on August 29th, 2016.
The Housing Crisis After Brexit
What are the implications of Brexit for the housing crisis in the UK? Danny Dorling offers some answers at Urbed’s 4×4 event, held in Manchester on July 13th 2016.
The Geography of our Future
Two lectures for the summer. First Some ideas about protecting the earth’s environment and its people:
A talk given as part of the Summer Minds lectures at St Davids in Wales on August 3rd 2016.
The Wind and the Willows
Oxfordshire could be so different and was so different not very long ago. In the novel Larkrise to Candleford, the story of a very different Oxfordshire is told
What now for the Labour Party?
The vote to leave the European Union is a moment of both crisis and opportunity. Now the need to build a progressive alliance has become urgent.
Rapidly Worsening Public Health recorded across the UK – PSA Blog July 11th
Across the UK self-reported health has been progressively declining year on year since 2010 with the fastest falls to the worse recorded levels having been confirmed by official data released in March 2016, but not yet reported until now.
How inequality is killing us
The rise in mortality in 2015 was shocking. In England and Wales (alone) the rise of mortality of 9% in the year to July 2015 was, as far as can be known from published statistics, the largest proportional increase in mortality rates in a year recorded since 1940.
A Better Politics: How government can make us happier and healthier
If we start by considering what is most important to people in their lives, then we end up advocating a very different politics and set of priorities to that which is usually presented.
Brexit: The decision of a divided country
Blame austerity not immigration for the inequality underlying Brexit. The underlying reason for worsening health and declining living standards in Britain is not immigration but ever growing economic inequality and the public spending cuts that have accompanied austerity.
When a housing market peaks: lessons from 18th century Amsterdam
In Amsterdam in 1699, a house sold for 28,100 guilders. This was a very fine house. Its equivalent would be found in Kensington today.
In defence of the welfare state and the role of active housing policy
A View From The Future: The Job-Centre
One hundred years ago today the battle of the Somme began. Today the British can only talk about leaving the European Union. What might we look back on in one hundred years from now?
Smashing Silly Stereotypes: The distorted descriptions of tenants and the housing crisis
Many tenants say that they don’t recognise themselves in the descriptions of social housing tenants that are bandied about. They are all too often distorted or stereotyped.
So, how do we explain it to the young?
Brexit has its roots in the British Empire. So how do we explain it to the young? The EU referendum was the last throes of Empire working its way out of our systems.
It is easy to blame anything you like on immigration – and wrong
Immigration, The EU Referendum, and the real reasons why our schools are so often full, our housing is so expensive and our health service is underfunded as compared to the rest of Europe.
Geography, Pollution and Inequality
Manipulating the market mechanism to promote frugality, prudence and deferred gratification without the perversion of profit
I’m an environmentalist, get me out of here
Recording from the Telegraph Stage at the 2016 Hay Festival
Is Economic Inequality Falling in the World? Some Data and Graphs
Is Economic Inequality Falling in the World? In this webinar Danny Dorling presents some of the most recent data made available through the World Top Incomes database and the statistical releases of the United Nations Development Programmes Human Development Reports. These suggest that there may be some tentative evidence that a tipping point could have […]
Why Everything’s Wrong and How to Make it Better – come, listen, shout out – June 18/19
Two Talks at ‘Also’ the Festival with Ideas – Warwickshire: http://www.also-festival.com/ideas/
People and Places: A 21st Century Atlas of the UK
Danny Dorling speaking at the Hay Festival
Geography, University, and Life
Carl Lee and Danny Dorling speaking at the Student Compass Venue, Hay Festival
London in the age of big finance – why do property investors leave their purchases empty?
I want to ask you to play a little game with me. I want you to pretend you are being driven to Dalston Junction in London to look at one of the penthouse flats on the twelfth floor of a new development to decide if you are going to buy it
Why Corbyn’s moral clarity could propel him to Number 10
…The clever Conservatives have to hope that the anti-Corbyn minority win. What they need is a Labour party that gains office once every ten or fifteen years but does not upset their project.
Inequality, mortality and Multicultural Britain
Demographically, Britain has changed more in the last 15 years than the previous 50. Economically, the crash of 2008 has changed our society in ways we are still only just coming to recognize.
A BETTER POLITICS – Blackwell’s Bookshop debate
A BETTER POLITICS: How government can make us happier
Talk and debate on a new book by Danny Dorling
Imagining the world anew – redrawing the world map
Using beautiful and unfamiliar maps drawn by his colleague Ben Hennig, and shown in colour for the first time, Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography at Oxford University, shows us how we are changing as a species.
Dangerous Times: Holding and losing power
These are dangerous times. Ken Loach has argued that we should vote to remain in the EU because the alternative of a rise in far-right politics is so very dangerous. I, and many others agree
Listen to “Fairness and the City”
Danny Dorling speaking on Fairness and the City – A Better Politics, University of Brighton’s Festival of Social Science Annual Lecture, Brighton, May 19th, 2016
Inequalities and Human Welfare
Keynote lecture at the Human Welfare Conference
London’s New Mayor And The Housing Crisis
Danny speaking with Afshin Rattansi on Russia Today’s Going Underground
The EU – ‘Should we stay or should we go?’
Annual “Europe in Question” lecture, LSE
Brexit has its roots in the British Empire
So how do we explain it to the young? (by Sally Tomlinson and Danny Dorling)
The EU referendum is the last throes of Empire working its way out of our systems.
Housing, greed control, and ways of deciding what we need to build and where
Talk at the Frome Architecture Club
A Better Politics: book launch
Launch event with Richard Wilkinson and Rupa Huq MP
The Geography of our Future: Understanding the consequences of the Anthropocene
Royal Geographical Society Monday night lecture with Mark Maslin and Danny Dorling
Why Britain’s class system will have to change
Britain is still a society deeply divided by class. The same schools, established church and universities dominate public life, but under the façade of immobility, changes are afoot.
Inequality, the Panama Papers, and the power of a good map
The Panama Papers revealed what a few suspected for some time, but many people did not believe – that a large proportion of wealthy people were trying very hard to avoid paying much of their tax.
The Panama Papers and London Housing Market
BBC World Service World Business Report
Happiness and government, Good parenting
Happiness – Should the government promote it? Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford, talks to Laurie Taylor about the necessity to inspire a better politics
Geography, in Sheffield, 3.30pm Saturday April 16th, 2016
Carl Lee and Danny Dorling talk about geography, what it means to them and why it might be of interest to you: 3.30pm Saturday April 16th 2016. Free entry, Blackwell’s Bookshop, Sheffield University
“Geography” A New book by Danny Dorling and Carl Lee
A low resolution PDF of the book is available by clicking here:
Download PDF (2 MB)
On 25 January 2015 the MSC Oscar, a Panamanian flagged ship laden with goods, set sail from the port of Dalian in China.
The ministry of nostalgia and Inequality & the 1%
Owen Hatherley and Danny Dorling at the Aye Write Book Festival
Free PDF of ‘A Better Politics’ now available to download
The aim of this book is to inspire a better politics: one that will enable future generations to be happier.
Terrorism 100 years hence: A view from the future
Violence was declining worldwide a hundred years ago. Back in 2016 you would not have thought it
A better politics: happiness, health, and housing
Twas day before budget day… March 15th 2016: A talk for civil servants an policy makers in the Cabinet Office and Treasury
Injustice and Inequality
Danny in conversation with Andrew Bradstock
In conversation with John McDonnell
The New Economics event at Garth Hill College, Bracknell
Who is going to heal London?
I’m Danny Dorling – I am the one member of the London Fairness Commission not to live or work in London. My vision is that we should concentrate on what appears to be most unfair and tackle that unfairness.
Inequality and Government
Danny Dorling in conversation with Stefan Stern
Inequality is the biggest threat to the world
People often think that a certain level of inequality is normal in our societies, says the social geographer Danny Dorling.
Social cohesion, sustainability, city, demographics, the economy and education – Japan, the UK and similar countries
Keynote: British Academy and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) seminar on Growing Cities, Divided Cities
Is inequality an unavoidable fact of life?
Danny Dorling, Bruno Rinvolucri and Leah Green
Are more people dying because the rich are getting richer at the expense of the rest?
Annual Public Health Lecture, University of Southampton
Breath-taking ignorance
When answering questions on “sink estates” in the House of Commons on 13th January the Prime Minister displayed a breath-taking degree of ignorance on housing that can only have been sustained by a growing arrogance.
Injustice, Inequality and the 1%
Public Lecture at the York Union
Have we become acclimatised to greater inequality?
Keynote by Danny Dorling and Kate Pickett
Viewpoint on Inequality and the 1%
Spare a thought for the 1% lowest earners in the UK. Read on if you care…
UK among world’s worst for teaching to the test
Schools in Britain are among the worst in the world for ‘teaching to the test’ because of high levels of social inequality
Scroogeonomics
A Fifteen Minute Lecture with Danny Dorling
Creating a more equal society will require understanding and generosity, hope, perseverance, but above all kindness
Causal links with depleting mental health in the young, the increased use of anti-depressent drugs, and high rates of infant deaths than in similar affluent countries, sketching a narrative of the insidious potential social consequences for our society in a hundred years’ time.
Seven new maps of the world and what they might mean
Two talks recorded at Southgate School 6th form, Cockfosters, London (December 8th) St Helen and St Katharine School, Abingdon (December 9th 2015)
Policing one hundred years hence
Having a large police force is a temporary feature. They have no longterm future and no lengthy history.
Inequality and the 1%
Talk at Labour students, Queen Mary University
The environment: social inequality and over-consumption and why both persist
Lecture at Kinvig Geography Society, University of Birmingham
7 years on, what has changed? Britain is officially out of recession, who benefits?
Conservation with Caroline Macfarland
The environment: What we know about social inequality and over-consumption and why both persist
King’s Chevening Distinguished Lecture
Housing and Future Cities
Panel contribution, and answering questions with Michael Edwards, Kate Macintosh, Anna Minton, and Zoe Williams at the Festival of Ideas
Better to do good than spend on try to look good
Contribution to Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s annual debate
The Establishment
Danny discussion with Owen Jones
Why you can’t be rich – but you could be happier
Lecture at the Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester
Poverty in Oxford and the UK
Talk at the Blackfriars Poverty in Britain Group
What a more equal society might look like
Danny speaking at the Young Foundation, London
The population bomb: talking about other people as if they were not like you and getting it very wrong
Environmental Sustainability and Demographic Change Conference, The Martin School, Oxford University
The case for the living wage in Oxford
E. Kosmin, V. Coulter, and D. Dorling speaking at the University College Lecture theater, Oxford
Launch of the second edition of ‘Injustice’
Audio recording from the event at Housman’s bookshop, London
RSA Inequality in Education
Royal Society of Arts and Commerce
Exclusion and Inclusion in Contemporary Oxford
Future of Cities Seminar, Wharton Room, All Souls College
Compassionate Conservatism?
How do we understand this new conservative rhetoric of equality and an assault on poverty when we place it against the reality of rising inequality and the expectation that tax credit cuts will put 200,000 more families in poverty?
Democracy one hundred years hence
A view from the future
Understanding Income Inequality and its Implications
Why Better Statistics are Needed
Will George Be King?
Contribution the the BBC Radio 4 Analysis programme
The Geography of Inequality
Talk at The Woodstock Society
Inequality, the 1%, and the future
Ilkley Literature Festival
Economic inequality and our grandchildren’s future
Public Lecture, School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham
Keele World Affairs Lecture
Economic inequality and our grandchildren’s future
Inequality and understanding the danger of idiots
The Annual Arthur Lewis Lecture, University of Manchester
No-Nonsense Guides New Series Book Launch
Danny speaking as a special guest alongside Maggie Black, Peter Stalker and Danny Chivers
Declining health outcomes, rising health inequality and extreme economic inequality
Evidence is beginning to surface of the possible health effects of the rapid social polarisation that is taking place in the UK.
‘Kinder politics’ is only possible if more of those who’ll benefit can vote
Millions will be missing from the electoral role if constituency boundaries are redrawn this autumn
Where next for the left?
CLASS Panel Discussion with Danny Dorling, Frances O’Grady and Owen Jones
On Inequality (and the 1%)
Danny speaking at London Review of Books Bookshop
Possible explanations for health improvements in London, inequalities and future fears for health
Talk at the Oxford Public Health Registrars Symposium
Not just economics: What we know about why social inequality persists
Danny speaking at the Annual Policy and Politics Conference: Democracy, Inequality and Power
Mapping the UK election(s) of 2015 – what was done and did it work?
Talk at the joint British Cartographic Society / Society of Cartographers Conference
Social, Political, Economic and Health inequality and our grandchildren’s future
Danny speaking at the Symposium, Annual British Sociological Association Medical Sociology conference
Britain’s Inequality Crisis
Danny Dorling speaking at the Edinburgh Book festival
Injustice, All That is Solid, and Population Ten Billion
Invited talk to Baillie Gifford Fund Managers
Students are dashing from A-levels into debt, fuelled by a fear of poverty
Teenagers getting their results this week have little choice but to scramble for a university place and face the huge debt now involved
Can there be equality of opportunity while private schools exist?
The Cock and Bull Festival 2015 Summer Sunday Debate
Europe one hundred years hence
Welcome to West Asia!
Mapping change: what you miss if you miss a Census
Plenary lecture by Danny Dorling and Bethan Thomas at the Census Applications Conference
London and the Servant Wage
Expert panel discusses the relationship between London and the rest of the UK
What do we mean by fairness in cities?
Danny Dorling and Richard Brooks reflect on what fairness really means – from social justice to pure luck
‘Injustice’ on Russia Today
Danny speaking on Russia Today
Why social inequality still persists
A short introduction to injustice
The Housing Problem
Danny speaking at the Way with words Festival
Economic Inequality and Geographical Optimism
Talk at the Way with words Festival
Government policies are turning education into a production line
Classrooms are crumbling and inequality is getting worse, but the government’s priorities are more testing and free schools
Theories of Potential and the Creation of Inequality
Annual Education Lecture, King’s College London
Injustice – why social inequality still persists
In the five years since the first edition of Injustice there have been devastating increases in poverty, hunger and destitution in the UK.
Theories of potential and the creation of inequality (in education)
Recording from the Bristol Festival of Ideas
Worldmapper and climate
Danny speaking at Wood Farm Primary School, Oxford
Injustice and Empathy
Why Social Inequality still persists, Oxford Empathy Festival
Utopias and six generations
Looking back six generations is a ‘utopian trick’. And looking back at the last six generations suggests that capitalism might have been a transition.
Inequality and Austerity
Talk with Mary O’Hara and Danny Dorling at the Hay Festival
Oxford, inequality and the generation that fixes this mess
Class of 2015, joint Junior Common Rooms of Trinity, Corpus Christi, St Anne’s, Pembroke and Exeter colleges
Now is the time when we most need hope
People on both the left and the right construct their stories, testaments and beliefs as to the way to behave.
Utopian tricks – thinking ahead 100 years and back 6 generations
Utopias, Temporalities and Futures: Critical Considerations for Social Change Symposium
Inequality and your future
After Dinner Speech, Halford Mackinder Geography Society at Christ Church College, Oxford
Democracy and Education
Levellers’ Day Panel discussion
The Green Belt Debate
Royal Town and Planning Institute Seminar
The green belt and housing
Danny Dorling and Madsen Pirie discussing the green belt and housing
A progressive property tax
Living in a highly unequal society for me means living in a socially dysfunctional society. I live in England.
Housing, Inequality and the Election
Danny speaking at the Swindon Literary Festival
QR funding: 10 campuses in the south to get more than £2K per student
Ten research-intensive universities in the South of England will get more than £2,000 each year in quality-related research funding for every student at the institution
Housing and the Greens in Oxford
Jenny Jones and Danny Dorling discussing
Premature deaths of black Americans alter politics
Premature deaths of black Americans alter politics, shows study
Not perfect, but not bad
What Labour’s plans would mean for higher education
Only one lucky generation ever struck housing gold
The young and the old know all about renting – it’s those born in the Fifties who managed to cash in
Housing and people with learning difficulties
Danny speaking at the PPE course of My Life My Choice
The Geography of Elections, Inequality and Migration: 40 years of polarization
Danny speaking at the SOAS Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies
In conversation with David Runciman
Danny in conversation with David Runciman discussing Inequality and the 1%
The Tories will reduce UK public spending to Estonian levels
IMF forecasts show that Britain could join a tiny group of European countries that have shrunk the size of their states dramatically
Alternatives to Austerity
Panel discussion at the Festival of Debate
What is the state of economic inequality in the UK? And why does it matter?
The geography of elections: will the 40 years of voting polarisation continue in 2015?
Keynote Address at the Annual Geographical Association Lecture
Growing gap between middle-income earners and top 1%
They might think they are comfortably well-off. But middle-income Britons are poorer relative to the super-wealthy than their counterparts anywhere else in Europe
The Extreme Centre
Tariq Ali in conversation with Danny Dorling
Inequality and Higher Education
Danny speaking at the Free University of London, LSE Occupied
Child poverty in Britain
Using newly available data from the Department for Work and Pensions, Danny Dorling, professor of Geography at the University of Oxford and Simon Szreter, professor of History and Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, have mapped child poverty by constituency across the UK.
Social inequality, the 1%, and why your rent is so high
Video recording of a talk given at the networking event on the eve of the ESRC First Year Student Conference
The distribution of wealth: How the system makes us poor and them rich
Audio recording of The People’s Parliament, House of Commons, London
Housing and Inequality in Oxfordshire
Danny speaking at a Green Party event
London splits in poor and superrich
Hele Skjervold, Afternposten’s London correspondent, explains inequalities in London to her Norwegian readers.
Renting your way to poverty: welcome to the future of housing
The housing crisis is already out of control, and no one in politics wants to help
Delivering the real Housing for real people
Talk at Innovations in policy, design, funding and delivery, Affordable Housing Conference
More homes in the UK
Several thousand people are expected to gather in London for a rally calling for more homes in the UK.
The hollowing out of London: how poverty patterns are changing
The largest falls in the proportions of households that are neither wealthy or poor has been in outer boroughs of London.
Should parliament move out of London?
Faced with a £3bn repair bill, is the Palace of Westminster still the best place for MPs to meet?
All that is solid
Paperback launch event at City Hall London
Life expectancy and ageing in the North of England
Danny Dorling speaking on BBC inside out North East and Cumbria
Finance, Business, Economics and the 1%
Student Society invited Lecture, SOAS
Average house prices in Oxford ‘become least affordable in Britain’
Average house prices in the South East, and especially London, rose even faster during 2014 (January to December) than in the same period of 2013, says new research
A changing housing market
The average price of sold houses in England and Wales has more than doubled since 1995
‘Generation rent’? We’ve been here before
A home-owning majority in Britain was a one-generation blip. But if we are becoming a renting country again, we’ll need better regulation
Generation Rent
Can today’s British youth “have a life that isn’t simply working to get the money to pay the rent”?
Housing, the Economy and Trying to Imagine a Better Way
Danny speaking at Inequality and New Economics
Money changes everything
The latest admissions data show that the higher education sector is a safe haven in troubled times. With few other options available to school-leavers, universities have opened their doors to unprecedented numbers of young people from an unprecedentedly wide range of backgrounds.
The Housing Disaster
Danny in conversation with Paul Watt
Inequality
Brian Nolan, Danny Dorling and Fran Bennett speaking about inequality at the 21st Century Challenges Conference
An interview with Danny
The interview was made in November 2014 and published on Long Term Economy in January 2015
The difficulties and rewards of talking to school children about inequality in one of the most unequal countries of the rich world
Keynote by Danny Dorling held at the Annual Geography Teacher Education Conference, Hawkwell House Hotel, Iffley, Oxford
The housing crisis and solutions
Danny speaking speaking at the Cardiff Anti-Bedroom Tax Group, Unite Building, Cardiff
Discussing Social Inequality in Oxford: Disappointing, awkward or just a little embarrassing?
In conversation with Danny Dorling at the Oxford Inequality Series organised by the Oxford Hub
Richest 1% will own more than all the rest by 2016
Danny discussing with Ben Southwood of the Adam Smith Institute
The mother of underlying causes – economic ranking and health inequality
This is an extract from a paper published in Social Science and medicine
Can the UK be the richest country in the world?
Danny and the business minister Matt Hancock debate economic growth on BBC Newsnight