Does Class Inequality Still Matter? - Talk at LSE - Tuesday 4th February 2025

Another great debate at the London School of Economics. Does class inequality still matter? Yes. Obviously. Class, and wealth, absolutely determine your life chances in the UK.

The wealthiest in our country have only gotten wealthier, at the expense of the public, facilitated by politicians, and we absolutely have to claw that money back somehow (although politicians show no interest in doing so).

However, I disagreed with the notion that just because you're poor, an immigrant, or Muslim (most of the panel were Muslim), that somehow you're a victim of the state, and scapegoated. There's no metric for 'effort', so why is it that immigrant Indians in the UK can become rich and Bangladeshi's don't?

There was the usual implication that the poor and lower classes are innately virtuous, and the only reason they can't climb out of poverty, is because of systemic prejudices and failures. Yes, the system is broken, but it can also be true that not all working class people and migrants actually put in the effort.

My friends and I are all from working class, immigrant backgrounds, and those of us that have had any measure of success, have achieved it through hard graft, and not hand-outs or special treatment. I agree that rich people game the system and don't put in the effort, but the fact is, if you’re disadvantaged, you’re going to have to work harder. That’s not fair, but that’s how it is.

Clearly, there is much more nuance than the simplistic Left vs. Right argument allows. Not all rich people are evil, not all poor people are good, and not all migrants want to work. The only way we can find a solution to the inequality crisis, and it is very much a crisis, is by having open, honest debates, like this one. The current climate of tribalism, polarisation and the wilful inability to change one’s opinion, is as much a threat to aspiration as a broken system.