We live in an unequal city...

• Nearly all (92%) of children in Bradway get 5 A -C GCSEs, compared to a quarter of children in Brightside.
• People living in Crookesmoor die fourteen years younger than those living in Crosspool;
• In Flower there are around 24 teenage pregnancies per 1000 , less than 5 in Fullwood.
• Rates of mental health problems are three times higher in Netherthorpe than in Netheredge.
• In Stubbin and Brushes seventeen babies will die for every thousand born, compared to nine in Shiregreen

 

Research has found a way to improve our city so that everyone benefits

The Spirit Level, written by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, explains how there's no benefit to health or happiness to developed countries getting richer. What does matter is the gap between rich and poor. The more unequal the country, the more people think that being rich or poor matters, with the poorest fearing that the rest of society thinks they are worthless, while everyone else is stressed out trying to keep up. You can see a short video covering the evidence, with puppets, here! and here is another using news clips to illustrate the same message

The UK is one of the most divided developed countries on Earth. Whether rich or poor, we are all less happy, less educated, have more social problems, and die younger than people in more equal countries.

So What Can We Do about this?