Is inequality rife in Bristol? Yes, seems to be the answer, and its bad news for both the poor and the rich in our city.
Equality Bristol, a new campaign being organised in the city, is championing the work of the renowned book The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. The academics, who have appeared as part of the Bristol Festival of Ideas lecture series, claim that income inequality causes many of the social problems we all face in the city — be it health, housing, employment or education.
But Equality Bristol is more than just a book club — we have set up a local election campaign targeting council election candidates to support the idea of reducing income inequality via a “Declaration of Equality”.
As one of the campaign organisers, I have helped to write to every election candidate in the city and will work with all of them, regardless of their party allegiance, to ensure that our message of equality gets on the agenda in the council house in the years to come.
The campaign website — www.equalitybristol.co.uk – has already started to list those candidates that have pledged support (and those that don’t!) and will be showcasing a campaign photo of supporters due to take place today outside of the Council House.
The group, which was formed following the Festival of Ideas lecture by Wilkinson and Pickett, is also organising a city equality conference to take place in October of this year.
For more information and to see if your local election candidate has pledged support visit www.equalitybristol.co.uk
