THE issue of health inequality in an increasingly unequal UK is the topic of the Wolfson Annual Lecture at Durham University’s Stockton campus later this year.

The free public lecture entitled “Health Inequalities and the one per cent” will be given by Professor Danny Dorling, from the School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford University.

Prof Dorling, who is the author of Bankrupt Britain: An Atlas Of Social Change, highlights the fact that health inequalities are growing in the UK as the super-rich get richer.

“In Britain the best-off one per cent take a very high share of national income - much more, for instance, than the annual cost of running the National Health Service,” he said.

“Before tax, they consume about 15 per cent of all income, or around 10 per cent after paying income tax.”

In no other Western European country do a small group0 of people take such a large share of the cake, he adds.

“Even as the overall size of that cake shrank during the great recession, their share rose while that of the rest fell.”

Prof Dorling asks what are the implications for everyone else in British society and suggests that the effects of such a wealth gap are not beneficial.

“There are many possible reasons as to why living in a very economically unequal country might be bad for our health....it is difficult to ascertain which might matter most. It is easier to suggest ways of remedying the situation,” he said.

Anyone is welcome to attend the November 19 lecture, which begins with lunch at 12.45 and ends at 3pm, but places are limited and must be booked in advance by contacting Suzanne Boyd on 0191 3340013.

The venue is the Ebsworth Building, Durham University, Queen’s Campus, Stockton.