'Inequality in Britain and the Pensioners’ Danny Dorling National Pensioners convention in the Yorkshire region Sheffield Town Hall, June 29 th 2010 Featuring crossing outs and corrections, this piece sold for £776,500 ($1,202,500) Recently

A talk based around today’s news “I read the news today oh boy About a lucky man who made the grade And though the news was rather sad Well I just had to laugh I saw the photograph He blew his mind out in a car He didn't notice that the lights had changed A crowd of people stood and stared They'd seen his face before Nobody was really sure If he was from the House of Lords” A Day in the Life (Lennon/McCartney) 1 June 1967

BBC news 29 th /7/ Fixed retirement age to be axedFixed retirement age to be axed PEOPLE REACHING THE AGE OF 65 WILL NO LONGER BE FORCED TO RETIRE FROM OCTOBER NEXT YEAR, UNDER PLANS ANNOUNCED BY THE GOVERNMENT. “Rules allowing employers to force staff to retire at 65 are to be axed by October It is good news for those nearing state pension age who want to keep working, but too late for others. ” – or more redundancy pre-65 – and forced labour? “Suicide: the spatial and social components of despair in Britain 1980– Danny Dorling* and David Gunnell” publications/2003/dorling_a nd_gunnell_suicide.pdf

2 “Warning on local council pensions” “COUNCIL WORKERS ACROSS ENGLAND FACE HAVING TO RETIRE LATER OR PAY MORE INTO THEIR PENSION SCHEME, THE PUBLIC SPENDING WATCHDOG HAS WARNED. THE LIABILITIES OF THE £130BN LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSIONS SCHEME (LGPS) WERE RISING AND ACTION WAS NEEDED, AN AUDIT COMMISSION REPORT SAID” We could afford to retire in the 1940s but not now – make we become poorer – or just much more unequal?

3. “ The Independent Budget Review panel is poised to release its report on options for prioritising public spending in Scotland. ” Options are - pensions – free care support – tuition fees “Why are cuts necessary? Britain's debt is far from being the highest in Europe, at 68% of national income, but its deficit (the annual overspend that compiles over years to form the stock of debt) is higher than almost any other, also measured as a proportion of national income. For every £10 we make as a country, £1.11 is being borrowed by government. That annual overspend builds up into a big debt very quickly. Last year, British government had to borrow £156bn more than it spent. This year, the OBR says it will be around £155bn. Borrowing is healthy in moderation, but there's nothing moderate about the extent to which Britain is currently selling bonds to investors” Is this the BBC writing – or government writng through the BBC scared itself of being cut? Source: Douglas Fraser “BBC Scotland Business and Economy Editor”

4. Cameron in India (bringing in money to pay for our pensions?) “THE TWO GOVERNMENTS ALSO ANNOUNCED A £700M DEAL BETWEEN BAE SYSTEMS, ROLLS- ROYCE AND INDIA'S LEADING AEROSPACE COMPANY HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS LIMITED, TO SUPPLY 57 HAWK TRAINER AIRCRAFT TO INDIA.” However: “The 57 jets will be built under licence in Bangalore by Indian state-run firm Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) rather than at BAE's plant at Brough in East Yorkshire, traditionally known as the Home of the Hawk”. misses-out-as-defence jp

The number of young people in long-term unemployment has almost doubled in the last two years. The number of 16-to-24-year- olds out of work for six months or more has increased from 222,000 in summer 2008 to 412,000 in summer This is an increase of 85 per cent. There has also been a significant increase in the number of young people out of work for more than a year, from 114,000 to 211,000. Meanwhile

And for pensions – never been as unequal – look at variation in LE From The Mirror Newspaper British health inequality gap is greater now than in the /07/2010 The health inequality gap in Britain is greater now than in the 1921, a study claimed yesterday. Researchers found people living in the most deprived areas are more likely to die younger than those in the wealthiest. They compared early death rates since 1921 and found by 2007, for every 100 deaths before the age of 65 in wealthy areas, 199 died in the poorest.

On wealth – BBC says “easing” House price inflation eases again UK HOUSE PRICES FELL 0.5% IN JULY, THE NATIONWIDE SAYS, CUTTING THE ANNUAL RATE OF HOUSE PRICE INFLATION TO 6.6% FROM 8.7%. Note all this and the housing benfit cuts effect pensioners

And all the time… “Sunday Times Rich List 2010: Britain's richest see wealth rise by one third” “The collective wealth of Britain’s 1,000 richest people has increased by almost a third in the past year despite the uncertain economy, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2010” “The multimillionaires are worth £335.5 billion, up £ billion (29.9 per cent) on last year, according to the latest edition of The Sunday Times’ Rich List The rise is easily the largest annual increase in the 22 years that the survey has been carried out.” Britains-richest-see-wealth-rise-by-one-third.html

Income share of best-off 1%

Inequality in mortality under age 65 NHS

The income distribution stretches up to the heavens Social Stratification in the United States Stephen J. Rose

Bringing people together requires the top to come down Social Stratification in the United States Stephen J. Rose

Allowing a few people to be rich is very expensive Social Stratification in the United States Stephen J. Rose

When incomes at the top last came down, incomes at the bottom came up – more to go around Social Stratification in the United States Stephen J. Rose

If you could see everyone’s income on the same page of a graph then society is more cohesive Social Stratification in the United States Stephen J. Rose

Social Stratification in the United States - transformed In the USA need any household live on less than $25,000 or more than $75,000? What about UK?

Thank you