Duncan McNeil believes that poverty and ill health are not predestined for Scots with certain postcodes
Are you familiar with the work of Danny Dorling? He’s a social geographer, but don’t let that put you off. One of his books is called Unequal Health: The Scandal Of Our Times. Professor Dorling tells a story about speaking at a conference in Norway at which he began by praising the delegates for having the lowest levels of child poverty in the world. So how do you think the audience reacted? Polite applause, some coughing, a few whoops? No, he was met with a shout of: “It’s too high!”
The response was anger, says Dorling, which helped to create “a solidarity state”. I like the sound of that. The opposite of indifference to the suffering of others – of what Nye Bevan described as “social blindness”. A solidarity state …
It suggests a society brought together by connectedness and a sense of belonging, based on inclusion and compassion, and in which the currency that counts is the currency of trust. Fanciful? Sometimes I fear so. Particularly when in-work poverty is rising, when an estimated 940,000 households are living in fuel poverty – 39% of our homes – and when the health gap between postcodes is ever widening.
Health inequality diminishes us all, but some are more unequal than others
Duncan McNeil
NHS Health Scotland has produced a graphic. You may have seen it. It takes you on an eastwards journey along the Argyle line, from Jordanhill to Bridgeton, with each stop of the train representing a drop in life expectancy –1.7 years for men and 1.2 years for women. Some call this the Glasgow effect, but the effects of inequality can be felt in all corners of Scotland, across all social classes.
Health inequality diminishes us all, but some are more unequal than others. In William McIlvanney’s 1975 novel Docherty, he wrote: “ … everyone had failed in the same way. It was a penal colony for those who had committed poverty, a vice which was usually hereditary.”
Last May the Scottish Parliament's health and sport committee listened to Sir Harry Burns and Sir Michael Marmot give what was the most powerful evidence I’ve heard in my 16 years as an MSP. The former chief medical officer told us about his daughter’s gap year teaching in Spain. Each morning her five and six year olds queued up when the bell went and each one would give her a kiss and a cuddle before going into class. Sir Harry didn’t say if any apples changed hands, but it’s fair to say we don’t always show our children such love and care. Perhaps we should, if we want the next generation to be compassionate, imaginative, resourceful, spirited and happy. To be masters of circumstance and not its servants; to be resilient when things don’t go their way and purposeful when they do.
“Poverty isn’t destiny,” said Sir Michael. Sir Harry enthused about the early years collaborative, the family nurse partnership and the positive parenting plan. If a policy is shown to work, to make a difference to people’s lives, we should pursue it. If not, we move on. Together. In solidarity.
Duncan McNeil MSP is convener of the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport Committee
