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Abstract

A film opening in cinemas tonight (Friday) is based on the book which inspired Islington’s Fairness Commission in 2010.

The Divide, directed by Katharine Round, from Angel, tells the story of those striving for a better life in the US and UK, where the top 0.1 per cent owns as much wealth as the bottom 90 per cent. It shows that life is worse for everyone in divided societies.

The documentary is based on Professor Richard Wilkinson’s book, The Spirit Level – Why Equality is Better, co-written with Kate Pickett, which motivated the council’s Labour leadership to set up the Fairness Commission to investigate the gap between rich and poor in Islington and to see what they could do to even things up.

By plotting together the tales of seven individuals, including Wall Street psychologist Alden and care worker Rochelle, the partly-crowdfunded film uncovers how virtually every aspect of people’s lives is controlled by the size of the gap between rich and poor.

“I thought [Prof Wilkinson’s book] was a fascinating analysis,” Ms Round told the Tribune. “It synthesises big economic trends with very individual human social outcomes and behaviours. I wanted to try and translate that message because it’s about human beings, human behaviour and psychology and if you can bring it down to the human level it might resonate quite widely.

“As the economic gap widens, the social gap does too and that affects us in psychological ways, even people not on the bottom of the ladder. They might feel they’re not keeping up with others, which causes anxiety. Cohesion in communities is affected as people pull away from each other economically.”

Commenting on the work of the Fairness Commission, Ms Round added: “I think it was an amazing development. Islington really is a huge microcosm [of an unequal society] and I feel it’s getting worse, especially in terms of housing. You can really see just how excluded the vast majority of people are.”

The Fairness Commission took evidence from hundreds of residents during a series of meetings and drew up a range of recommendations which the Town Hall says continues to inform its political priorities.

Prof Wilkinson was drafted in to be its chairman. The Tribune reported widely on the public meetings and published its main findings in a special pull-out.

Islington finance chief Councillor Andy Hull, a leading figure in the commission, met Ms Round to discuss its findings when she started work on the film in 2012.

“We showed the film at the town hall the other week and it’s really great that it has come to this,” he said. “It shows how crushing poverty is but also how miserable life can be for the rich and how arid their social experiences.

“It brings to life the problem [of inequality] and it sort of throws local authorities a gauntlet about what we can do. I’m proud there have been around 20 other Fairness Commissions around the country after us and it has informed a lot of things we do as a council around jobs, debt management and housing.”

Ms Round added: “The situation is not getting better. And certainly in the US it’s a lot more extreme there, the complete lack of safety net, the complete lack of rights in certain workplaces. We [Britain] are on that same path and there are lessons to be learned and warnings to be taken.

“Economics can seem very abstract and dry. It’s not something we particularly talk about but the very structure of the economy does have impact on our lives. I wanted to put that into a form that is just common sense, seeing other human beings and their circumstances. We all feel like we are making our individual choices but we’re completely influenced by the circumstances we are in.”

Recommendations of the Fairness Commission that were implemented included cutting the Town Hall chief executive’s salary by £50,000, becoming the country’s first London Living Wage employer and opening a Citizens Advice Bureau.

The Divide, made by Dartmouth Films in association with Literally Films, is on show at Picturehouse Central and other London cinemas from tonight.