The Social Liberal Forum exists and campaigns to create a society where everyone has access to the wealth, power and opportunity to enable us all to lead full and rewarding lives, unfettered by social hardship. We speak for and promote a vision for social justice. So we are thrilled to announce that Kate Pickett, co author of The Spirit Level and the newly published book, The Inner Level, will be speaking at the annual SLF Conference on 28th July this year.
The Spirit Level, published in 2009, was a highly influential book, going on to sell 150,000 copies. It demonstrated conclusively the pernicious effects of economic inequality. In more unequal countries, outcomes are worse for almost everyone in areas such as public health, education, obesity and social mobility.
In The Inner Level Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson posit that the growing level of anxiety in our society stems in larger part from increasing social pressures brought about by material inequalities—in effect greater status anxiety. A recent meta-analysis of studies published in the Lancet Psychiatry concluded that rates of metal illness were higher in societies with larger income differences. The UK and USA are at the top of the graph on both mental illness and income inequality.
We hope that this link between inequality and the growing tide of mental illness will be one of the focuses of Kate’s presentation at our conference. However, there is much more crossover between the thinking behind Richard and Kate’s most recent book and the guiding philosophy behind the social liberal movement. The co-operative model for workers, employee representation on company boards, and an education system that is inclusive and where the professionalism of teachers is respected are also discussed in The Inner Level.
We are sure there will be much food for thought and much to debate at this, our eighth annual conference.
We hope that you can join us on 28 July (http://www.socialliberal.net/slfconference) to hear Kate Pickett and our other speakers talk about Big Ideas across the policy space. We are fortunate this year to have an amazing line up, including: Layla Moran MP (who will be giving the annual Beveridge Memorial Lecture), Ed Davey MP, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, Caron Lindsay, David Howarth, Duncan Brack, Lucy Salek and many more.
The Early Bird rate runs out on 27 June, saving £10 on the regular full price ticket.
Helen Flynn is chair of the Social Liberal Forum and a member of the Federal Board.