Events with Sam Freedman and Danny Dorling

Sign up now for webinars in September with the authors of two outstanding new books - 'Failed State' and 'Seven Children'

Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It - with Sam Freedman

Wednesday 11 September 2024, 13:00 to 14:00, Zoom

In his bestselling new book, Failed State, Sam Freedman outlines how it feels like nothing works in Britain anymore. It has become harder than ever to get a GP appointment. Many property crimes remain unsolved. Rivers are overrun with sewage. Wages are stagnant and the cost of housing is increasing. He asks why it feels like everything is going wrong, at the same time?

It's easy to blame dysfunctional politicians, but the reality is more complicated, he says. Politicians can make things better or worse, but all work within our state institutions. And Failed State argues ours are utterly broken.

Join the Policy Institute and the Fairness Foundation for the next event in our Fair Society series, where Freedman – a leading policy expert and writer of the UK’s most popular politics Substack – offers his analysis of how our governance has fallen behind and what can be done to pave the way for a fairer and more prosperous Britain.

Speakers

• Sam Freedman, author of Failed State and writer of Comment is Freed

• Polly Curtis, Chief Executive, Demos

• Emma Norris, Deputy Director, Institute for Government

• Duncan Robinson, Political Editor and Bagehot columnist, The Economist

• Bobby Duffy, Director, the Policy Institute at King’s College London (Chair)

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Seven Children: Inequality and Britain’s Next Generation - with Danny Dorling

Tuesday 17 September 2024, 13:00 to 14:00, Zoom

What does declining prosperity mean for Britain’s next generation?

In his latest book, author and professor Danny Dorling constructs seven “average” children from millions of statistics – each child symbolising the very middle of a parental income bracket, from the poorest to the wealthiest. Seven Children explores the realities facing Britain's youth in the aftermath of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

Dorling's seven children were born in 2018, at a time when the UK faced its worst inequality since the Great Depression. As they turned five in 2023, their country had Europe's fastest-rising child poverty rates, and even the best-off of the seven is disadvantaged.

The book provides insight into the lives of British children living between the extremes of wealth and poverty. It examines questions around parental income, the middle class, and the trends affecting the next generation.

Join the Policy Institute and the Fairness Foundation for the next event in our Fair Society series, where Dorling will analyse the welfare of the nation's youth with our panel.

Speakers

• Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford, and author of Seven Children, Inequality and the 1% and All That Is Solid

• Georgia Banjo, Britain Correspondent, The Economist

• Dame Rachel De Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England

• Will Snell, Chief Executive, The Fairness Foundation (chair)