London's richest people worth 273 times more than the poorest

[CHIMO]

London is most unequal city in the developed world, with the richest tenth of the population amassing 273 times the wealth owned by the bottom tenth – which creates a "means chasm" not seen since the days of a "slave owning society", according to a new book.

In Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists published by Policy Press, Danny Dorling, a professor of human geography at Sheffield University and an expert on social disparity, paints a bleak picture of an extremely unjust Britain where differences in wealth have led to a profoundly divided society.

Dorling said Labour had managed to stop the gap in incomes from getting bigger, but this had not stopped the rich getting richer. The wealthiest had amassed assets such as second homes and expansive stock portfolios.

He says the government's latest figures show that in the capital the top 10% of society had on average a wealth of £933,563 compared to the meagre £3,420 of the poorest 10% – a wealth multiple of 273.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/21/wealth-social-divide-health-inequality

[Patsy Stone]

1. And who said Dickens is dead? nt

[enlightenment]

2. Interestingly, some of the richest postal codes in London (NW1-6)

are overwhelming liberal - voting almost 70% Labour or Lib Dem in 2005.

Brompton is the richest postal code (Kensington and Chelsea) in London and even there the Tories only took 44% in 2005. Labour and Lib Dem split the liberal vote, but together just shy of 50%.

Hackney and Tower Hamlets are the poorest areas; not surprisingly, they also voted Labour/Lib Dem in 2005 . . .

Here's a link to one of the studies that the Dorling monograph uses. It's interesting stuff:

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/downloads/CPF-povertysummary7-web.pdf