DYING UNEQUALLY IN SWANSEA

The South Wales Evening Post (04.04.2011) reports that people in East Swansea can expect to die 13 years younger than people in West Swansea. The figure was drawn from a strategy report to the City Council. Apparently these post code death rates were reflected in figures for crime, obesity and teenage pregnancy.
Whoever put the report together must have read the Spirit Level, and found what they looked for: given the idea, we find the evidence to match.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Shock-life-expectancy-gap-east-west- divide/story-12387293-detail/story.html

In Swansea, East can be shorthand for poor and West for rich. I tried to put that straight in a letter to the editor, which appeared a week later, when I’d nagged a bit.

The rich live longer than the poor, that’s the bitter truth behind the death-rate difference between Swansea East and West. What matters most is not so much which part of Swansea we live in, but how much money we have to live on.
Of course, education, local services and diet make a difference, but councilor Tregoning is right when he focuses on wages and benefits – something the council cant do much about.
It is not just crude poverty that kills, or we would be hearing about starvation, not obesity, in our poorest wards. The real damage to health and happiness stems not from absolute poverty but from INEQUALITY. Recent research (in The Spirit Level, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett) shows how inquality brings insecurity, stress and distrust; then sickness, breakdown, crime and suicide. The damage is not confined to the poor but felt all the way up the differential ladder.
Inequality increased under Labour and is set to increase again under Coalition cuts. And just as local government is not in control of local wages and benefits, so central government is not in control of the wider economy.
The emperor has no clothes: the wealth of nations – investment, employment and income distribution – is not directed by elected authorities in the public interest but by private individuals and corporations in their own interest. Bankers bonuses are the tip of the iceberg.
Meanwhile, the Post is right to say ‘Don’t tolerate this inequality’ and the council does have some power to redress the unfairness of government cuts. Yes, it can help ensure take up of benefits. And if poverty is concentrated in certain parts of town, then these parts of town should be protected from cuts wherever possible, even at the expense of richer ones.
These important issues need proper discussion. I would be glad to hear from anyone who would like to help set up a suitable forum – for us!
Yours
Greg Wilkinson

Since writing that letter, I have been urging the university adult education department and ‘Communities First’ teams to help me organize discussion. No luck yet, but it would be good if these things could be turned over with the people who have most to gain from change.