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The Social Distance Between Us: How Remote Politics Wrecked Britain Hardcover – 16 Jun. 2022
Darren McGarvey (Author) See search results for this author |
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*A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK*
'An Orwell for today's poor' - The Times
'This is McGarvey at his best' - Observer
'Breaks your heart and boils your blood' - Big Issue
If all the best people are in all the top jobs, then why is Britain such a fucking bin fire?
Britain is in a long-distance relationship with reality. A ravine cuts through it, partitioning the powerful from the powerless, the vocal from the voiceless, the fortunate from those too often forgotten. This distance dictates how we identify and relate to society's biggest issues - from homelessness and poverty to policing and overrun prisons - ultimately determining how, and whether, we strive to resolve them. So why, for generations, has a select group of people with very limited experience of social inequality been charged with discussing and debating it?
I've sat on cold pavements with beggars, asking them why they would rather wander the streets than live in supported accommodation. I've pleaded with alcoholics to give sobriety one last shot before they end up dead - and read their obituaries in the paper weeks later. I've sat with youth workers at their wits' end as diversionary services are cut amid a surge in gang and knife violence. Too many people remain so far from this nightmarish social reality that even when they would earnestly wish to bring about change, they don't know where to start. So start here.
Praise for Darren McGarvey:
'The standout, authentic voice of a generation' Herald
'Utterly compelling' Ian Rankin, New Statesman
'Brilliant' Russell Brand
'An absolutely fascinating individual' Owen Jones
'Offer[s] an antidote to populist anger that transcends left and right... articulate and emotional' Financial Times
'McGarvey is a rarity: a working-class writer who has fought to make the middle-class world hear what he has to say' Nick Cohen, Guardian
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEbury Press
- Publication date16 Jun. 2022
- Dimensions13.79 x 22.2 cm
- ISBN-101529104084
- ISBN-13978-1529104080
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Review
This is McGarvey at his best, asking discomfiting questions of many-most?-of his readers and also pointing out that class inequality is endlessly reproduced by people who either do well out of it or are too institutionalised to see what is in front of them. The quality of McGarvey's reporting and storytelling is first-rate... he makes no end of astute points ― John Harris, Observer (Book of the Week)
An Orwell for today's poor... By the end readers will be left in no doubt about the fact that our society is still riven by class inequality ― The Times
Vital and indispensable. Documents how we succeeded in creating a 21st century ruling class who - in their complacency, their lack of engagement, their blinkered ideology and dead-hand managerialism - are themselves, now, the principal source of the social problems they so confidently locate elsewhere, and which they therefore cannot even begin to solve ― Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
An essential read for every politician, civil servant, councillor, charity worker, police officer and teacher. [An] angry, but controlled, expose of the wide gap between Britain's decision-makers and those most affected by their thoughtless, stupid or selfish actions. ― Susan Dalgety, The Scotsman
About the Author
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Product details
- Publisher : Ebury Press (16 Jun. 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1529104084
- ISBN-13 : 978-1529104080
- Dimensions : 13.79 x 22.2 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 10,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 321 in Philosophy (Books)
- 499 in Government & Politics
- 1,705 in Social Sciences (Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

DARREN McGARVEY aka LOKI grew up in Pollok. He is a writer, performer, community activist and columnist, and former rapper-in-residence at Police Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit. He was part of the Poverty Truth Commission that was hosted in Glasgow in 2009 and has presented eight programmes for BBC Scotland exploring the root causes of anti-social behaviour and social deprivation.
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 July 2022
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He describes how inequalities in education, housing, jobs - in fact just about everything - make it extremely difficult for those born into poverty to escape. Because the majority of people in local and national government, the criminal justice system, social services, and all the others who make decisions about the lives of poor people haven't experienced the same problems, their "solutions" often only make things worse. He also examines different political positions - literally left, right and centre - and how they have all failed the poorest and most vulnerable. He is fair in his assessment of how some actions have been well meaning but have not achieved their aims, while others may have been based on inflexible and outdated beliefs.
At the end of the book, he makes a number of quite radical recommendations as to how we could close the distance between us. I learnt a lot from many of the stories that he told throughout the book,
and agreed with much of what he said. However there are many questions that I would love to ask him, and things about which I'm sure we would disagree. I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone who truly wants a deeper understanding of how we got to the situation we're in now, and who wishes that we could make society in the UK more equal.
Been a fan of his because of his music as he’s a bit of a legend in Scottish rap so to see all of his appearances on television and his books is really great! Go on Loki ma man!

By Deano Mac on 24 July 2022
Been a fan of his because of his music as he’s a bit of a legend in Scottish rap so to see all of his appearances on television and his books is really great! Go on Loki ma man!

Sadly, in my lifetime (or what is left of it) that is never going to happen. Career politicians, opportunists, the rich and the already powerful are never going to give up without a fight and right now, they make the rules to suit themselves as we see in parliament on an all too regular basis.
It has taken a lot of reading hours to get through this book, but it is never dry, always compelling. It’s nice to know I haven’t been alone in my thinking for all these years. Much of what is discussed in the book I already knew, or suspected, and definitely agreed with just about everything that’s said. However, to see it all written down in all it’s glaring unfairness can at times make for difficult reading. The man with severe Tourette’s at the hands of the DWP was truly shocking.
Everyone needs to read this book. I found it a complex book to read, there were many sentences and paragraphs I had to re-read to make things sink in, but the huge disparity in quality of life between those at the top who control the economy, who make the laws and are responsible for providing what few public services we have left and those on the receiving end of it is a complex matter, worthy of long and indepth explanation. Once you’ve read it, you will be in no doubt of the social distance between us.
It's a very long and quite dense book, but I did hear parts of it read by the author as book of the week on radio 4 which I really enjoyed and felt was easier to engage with. Hopefully his messages will reach a wider audience through this medium.
Thank you to netgalley and Ebury publishing for an advance copy of this book