I am a middle classed white woman, living a comfortable life in a middle-class town and enjoy the privileges that this brings. My parents were working class and worked so hard all of their lives to provide for their children, enduring many financial struggles along the way, and this is why I am grateful for how lucky I am, but mindful that others are not as lucky.

The Conservative Government’s continued destruction of public services, targeting the most vulnerable in society, along with the poverty-shaming reforms of the benefit system and hate/fearmongering to create divides between ‘them’ and ‘us’ is all covered, particularly how this has all impacted on the poorest communities.

This was a very interesting book, however, I feel it will be preaching to the converted, because I can only see us ‘woke lefties’ reading it, those of us to donate to food banks but, rather than celebrate them, are angry that they are needed. Those who don’t mind paying taxes, rather than those who do all they can to avoid them.

If you are angry at how things are, you will probably read this book. If you don’t understand what the problem is, you need to read this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

“Nothing can exist without an environment to support it. Sheer celestial chance placed us just the right distance from the sun, in what is often referred to as the Goldilocks zone. The Earth’s proximity from a flaming ball of gas is what makes our existence, our ives and our perceived achievements and failures possible - yet we’re supposed to believe Boris Johnson is the prime minister because he is the best person for the job."

The social distance between us is an enthralling recount of how British society has developed into no longer serving the people within it, from the loss of community to the icing out of anyone with different opinions - a habit unwittingly adopted by many who gain a seat at the table by proxy of not wishing to lose the space they’ve fought so hard to gain, in conjunction with a newfound consideration of these once motivating views as now ‘naive’ or ‘idealistic’. Additionally, McGarvey hits the nail on the head around the theme of class-war which permeates British life covertly, explaining that as someone who once campaigned almost religiously to address this, “it’s trickier to touch the topic of class when you’ve made a few quid”.
As someone who politically leans central, I had a great appreciation in McGarvey’s recognition that the radical left has cause just as much damage as the radical right. There is no true place for radicalism in a homogenous society, and despite his own evident left-leaning stances which inform the majority of his writing, the self-awareness does a lot to avoid alienation of readers with different political leanings. Honestly, it’s also the first book I’ve personally seen that calls out the damage I remember so clearly from the last general election and raises the question around how we are so willing to accuse anyone of differing opinions of ‘hating’, without consideration of their alternative opinions.
“When you become so immersed in a they and have little contact with the wider population, you come to perceive natural scepticism and disagreement as the enemy - not an opportunity to refine ideas and develop new strategies”.


That said, there’s a lot of blame and finger pointing aimed at the reader, holding individuals accountable for structural imbalances which they have no control over. Where much of the book leans onto policies and shifts over time that go against the majority, it would not have been possible for the collective to prevent those changes then, nor so easily now. A common theme in modern day musings around society often identify a group of people as the villains, as opposed to focusing on the change in circumstances out of their control - a factor McGarvey touches on when he highlights how “New Labour is famed for essentially preserving Thatcher’s legacy and she herself cited them repeatedly as her greatest political achievement”. In a system that effectively has one party, the blame game benefits no one.

“The Welfare State [has become] an ideology where citizens become assets and liabilities in public services which are run like cash-and-carries - except, where the poor are concerned, the customer is never right”.

The book makes you think and presents a lot of interesting information. I didn’t agree with all of it, but that made it just as worthwhile a read.

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc.

If I could give ten starts I would
⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this is a oil that’s Gould be read by all, a fascination insight that made me cry and feel angry for all who were featured. This should be handed out in all schools and leaves a lasting mark on its reader!

This was an informative, challenging (in a good way!) read that made me angry (also in a good way). I'm so glad this book was written, thank you for the ARC!

A really good expose of how life is stacked against working class people and how it needs to change.

This is such an important book and I firmly believe it should be included on school, college and university curriculums. A no holds barred social and political commentary that is bang up to date and spot on in its conclusions. The world is in turmoil and this is just a glimpse into the political and social landscape in the UK, that has led to us leaving the EU, and to so many becoming disillusioned with the politicians that have let us down time and again. And yet, it seems the world is the same as it ever was. The rich get richer, the poor get demonised and life becomes ever more of a struggle.

Examining class inequalities in areas such as education, housing, labour and more, the author also examines the increasingly polarised political stances that are leading to an ever more divided world.

Whilst this is a bleak but precise look at the world in which we live, it is brilliantly written and extremely accessible to all. Not bogged down with jargon or dry diatribes, it is however intricately researched and assuringly educational.

I can't recommend this book enough.

If this book doesn’t make you angry, you need to have a good look at yourself. I was seething, crying, astonished, flabbergasted… Mr McGarvey tells the story of Britain and inequality by slapping you round the face with research, statistics, anecdotes, and personal stories. But this is not a polemic. He doesn’t ‘hate’ rich people and they do feature in the book. He just shows us very clearly why we are in our current mess. And why if you have a system that can profit from misery, then the system won’t really want it to stop.

I’ve highlighted loads of stuff:-

"…this move to digitisation reveals perhaps the greatest absurdity of austerity Britain - you cannot own a phone if you’re poor but you can’t access benefits without the internet."

"ITV’s Robert Peston - a man so middle class he ought to have a reed diffuser scent named after him."

"…found there were four times more prescriptions for strong opioids dispensed to people in the most deprived areas, than those in the most affluent areas."

"Systems and processes with which chaotic addicts must engage to get support and treatment are often unfit for their purpose."

There are stories of people leaving rehab early because they’ll lose their home - the state won’t pay rent and rehab. People having their benefits stopped because they’re late to an appointment with no discretion - one man was trying to help his suicidal sister…

The whole book is a shocking, moving, beautifully written exercise in exposing what needs to be shown in bright light but I despair that those who should read it, probably won’t. A tough read but a very worthwhile one.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley

Oh boy this is a hard book to stomach. But it should be essential reading on school curricula, not just in the UK but worldwide.

(Like that's ever going to happen.)

I really admire McGarvey for writing this book. For having the hope and determination to be able to take such a close, hard look at social inequality and still have the energy to plead for change.

The first section is a raw, moving and painful exposé of hardship, from poor housing and homelessness to addiction, mental health issues, prejudice and all the other myriad ways that the disadvantaged suffer.

Socioeconomic disparity is the root of most of the evil in the world, whether it comes from greed and the desire for power at all costs, or from fear and the desire to maintain the status quo. Most people bewail the fate of the poor but want 'someone else' to make it go away.

In this book McGarvey points the finger at politicians, the wealthy, the 'fortunate', etc. Even at the well-meaning Leftists. His chapter on the Radical Left is masterful. The 'moderate' and lefty middle class applaud the values of the radical Left but don't want their own provilege to disappear. As he argues, public debate produces little but hot air and "organised resistance is what has historically tipped the scales." The Left, he says, has largely squandered the opportunities presented by digital communication for organising mass resistance, and handled the media poorly, getting lost in what and whom the Left stands for and "descending deeper into philosophical or theoretical rabbit holes".

Referring to media mishandling, he accuses the Left of"impulsively crisis-hop[ping] from one calamity to the next, in an attempt to weave together a coherent anti-capitalist narrative."

Ouch.

"The Left no longer defines itself but is defined by its opponents and detractors. [...] it is now ... both irrelevant and ubiquitous, useless and menacing, full of snowflakes..." He describes this as a hideous fiction that has gone viral because it felt right, not because it was true.

The very firmness of a Leftist's ideology makes them an 'idealogical battletank,' "bound by the strictures (and vanity) of the idealogical overseer," without the agility to compete with the "conservative's ability to change course at a moment's notice or a centrist's brass neck to do the same but make it appear less of a compromise."

He goes on to praise the people working on the ground for change, and who succeed in achieving important improvements. Unfortunately, these activists are not the people active and visible in the media or in higher political roles.

He is particularly scathing talking about policing of language around identity politics, explaining (better than I am doing here) how by focusing on pointing fingers at whoever is using the 'wrong' language -- relying on "passive aggression, language and speech policing, punitive shame cultures and smears", rather than actually entering the arena and contending with nationalist populism and identity politics -- the Left handed a blank cheque to right-wing agitators to dominate the discourse.

He pulls it all back to class, asserting that the left should focus firmly on social class, which compounds all the ills suffered by women and minority groups. All-inclusive social equality should be what the Left stands for.

McGarvey is self-aware. "It's far trickier to touch the topic of class when you've made a few quid," he says, Becoming wealthier has made his life immeasurably easier, although these days he tries to stay close to his working class roots; his personal trainer and his cleaner are working class, ha!

It's more scary to fight against oppression and all the trappings of social distance when we are afraid of losing what we have been given or what' we've earned by our own hard work. Our "incorruptible principles" develop a "sudden and convenient elasticity" at some point. Affluence pampers you.

In the final chapter, McGarvey lays out solutions. They are interesting, but when viewed from a [continental] European perspective, he's really only describing what we already have here, to a greater or lesser extent (more equitable access to education, stronger unions, and a range of other benefits more developed in European socialist economies...). But Europe isn't in great shape either, with increasing disparities between the wealthy and the poor, and rising national populism. To be honest I think the world is f*cked. We should ALL be out in the street being anarchists, to bring the system to its knees and build anew. The only way out is revolution, not evolution. Unfortunately, I'm really scared of revolution....

McGarvey helpfully expands here on his original book, Poverty Safari, presenting a convincing picture of British society today without diving headlong into despair. It is still a grim read, but however insurmountable the problems we face may be, McGarvey offers glimmers of hope and possibilities of a way forward to a more compassionate, functioning country. He offers the helpful concept of proximity as a way of understanding what seems to be going so wrong; the people who make the decisions which impact all our lives are overwhelmingly doing so without experience of what it is like to exist at the other end of the scale. Though it could so easily feel like he is trying to squeeze all of civilisation ills into one tiny box, this serves as a valuable framework for charting a path ahead. Any reader, from any kind of background can read this and grasp the positive steps that they can each take to slightly lessen the social distance between us all and understand where we are all coming from.

The book is politically savvy and often hilarious in the use of analogies and surprising turns of phrase. McGarvey is engaging, his feet firmly grounded in reality, but he writes with an optimism which encourages.

The Social Distance Between Us - Darren McGarvey

This book is one of the realist and most important books I've read this year. The social distance between us delves into the inequality between the have and the have nots. It examines inequalities in housing, education, health and representation. The statistics and personal stories in this book are absolutely shocking. I feel it's easy to think you know that inequality exists but I don't think you always realise the true extent of it until you are either in the position being in poverty or you are able to read the first hand accounts.

My parents are both working class but definitely towards the higher end of this. We've experienced poverty in the form of losing our home and being places in temporary accomodation but they were always able to provide enough for us. We also lived in a rural area so I feel the help avaliable to us was very different to those who love in cities. It's absolutely heartbreaking to think of all those who don't recieve support, or who recieve such a poor amount that it doesn't help them. On the contrast it's so difficult for me to imagine those people on the higher end of the wealth scale, and their complete distance from the reality of the world and the people who aren't even living in poverty but just don't live like them.

Such an important and eye opening bool to pick up. I've had poverty Safari by Darren on my shelf for a little while so I'll be picking that one up soon

I'm not affiliated with any political party and have never voted for a right wing candidate (and never will).

But I found this impossible to get through because it was so clearly biased and skewed right from the start. So if you agree with the author's view, you'll love it and if you don't, you won't. I would have preferred something that focused more on an analytical, less emotional approach to explore the issues facing modern society.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

I honestly loved this book, it is such an eye opener. I thought I wasn't judgemental but it has even changed the way I think about certain things in life and making me more understanding of issues people experience. It's full of facts, personal views and even insights in to the lives of those hit worst by the social gap. I would recommend this book to anybody and everybody. If you think you're not judgmental at all, read it and maybe you'll realise you are a little bit like myself and if you think you're better than most then definitely read it and let reality hit you. It was lengthy compared to the usual novels I read but it was definitely worth the time I spent reading it.

There are aspects of this book that have stayed with me since reading it, there are parts which I read that made me immediately recommend it to friends who have either educated me on social disparity and those unrepresented in the political forum in England/United Kingdom.

Be it postcodes or accents, the country is divided and riddled with class warfare and prejudice in the UK, The system either works to target or neglect those living in poverty, the working class, long-term sick and/or disabled. It should not come as a surprise, and it should not be excused as a coincidence, that where you are born, your parents predominantly influence your health & life expectancy, your education prospects and how successful you are likely to be; meritocracy is a mirage. Even with the current cabinet under Liz Truss, 68% of ministers are privately educated and yet only 6% of all children in Britain are private-school educated. How is that a true representation of the people who the government is meant to be serving? How can billionaire MPs who put their own self serving agendas first understand how it feels to try and survive on job seeker's allowance? The book is by no means an attack on the middle-class and upper classes, but the author argues that the "social distance" disproportionately harms those who are the most vulnerable and presents strong evidence to support.

I am not well educated on this topic and this book was definitely a massive eye-opener for many reasons, to my own privilege and biases. I have learnt that I need to keep myself in check and not judge a situation (especially since I know so little about it already). I would go as far to say that you can take away a vital piece of information each time you read it - once certainly isn't enough to get over the initial disbelief of the true state of the nation. Well researched and brilliant - with resources available, awareness is the first step to creating meaningful change and making a difference. I will be looking out for more works by this author!

Thank you NetGalley & publishers, Ebury Publishing/Penguin Random House UK, for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a real eye opener, a very well written book exploring important issues. This was very thought provoking and I was left with lots of questions. A must read for everyone.

Everyone should read this book. It's really important to understand the issues raised.
Basically it's about the gulf between the experiences of the working class and middles class. It explores issues including housing, education, health and politics. I think the book does a great job at setting out the issues clearly and the author obviously feels deeply about the subject. This comes across as a real passion for the subject, an interest in the people that he speaks to and a desire to understand the issues. I found the parts of the book where the writer talked about his own experience and those of the people he met were the most interesting.

I certainly wasn't surprised by anything in the book. However, I hadn't really ever considered all of the issues together as part of a wider problem with class. It has really made me think about how to speak truth to power and use my experience more.

LinkedIn post:
The Social Distance Between Us by Darren McGarvey asks why for generations has a select group of people with very limited experience of social inequality been charged with discussing and debating it.

This is a MUST read!! A real eye opener and a perfect book to base important discussions on. Yes, the book contains views belonging to certain political camps, but the painstakingly detailed research that has gone into creating this book including a huge number of real life examples make Darren McGarvey and his book forces to be reckoned with. Politicians, policy makers and those who want to, or more importantly can, influence decision making in Britain, should make it a priority to read this book.

The book extensively discusses how proximity is one of the biggest reasons for failure in most of the political system used in Britain today. The lack of actual lived experience of policy makers in Whitehall and the devolved nations, make policies fail miserably; in many cases not by ill-intent, but because the policy makers just cannot fathom what the actual problem is and how it can be addressed.

Possibly an uncomfortable read for the mandarins in British politics, but that's exactly the reason this book should be taken seriously.

A hard but worthy read. Not one to read in one sitting but to take your time with and grasp fully what the author is discussing and his own thoughts and feelings. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

This book is a hard read - firstly in the sense of how uncomfortable it makes you feel. But provoking feeling is the point. Change never comes from comfort. It made me uncomfortably self-conscious of my own class, so much so that it feels hard to even write this review. I know I will be judged. In many ways my upbringing in working class West Belfast in the seventies mean that the social distance between DMcG and me is relatively small. A lot of what is described I can easily relate to. In fact the best thing about this book is how relatable it is precisely because it is written from first-hand experience. The second element that makes the book a hard read is the language. The following quote picked at random illustrates: "the British Welfare State is a vast, malevolent enterprise, engaged in the daily manufacture of death, despair and dysfunction, perpetrated from behind an administrative perimeter, fortified by media-generated public ignorance and a political class, spanning all parties, which is either complicit in the cruelty or skimming over the detail." The language is angry, unashamedly partizan and provocative. It is a call to action, a call for change. At some point Darren mentions in the introduction that he wants the book to be read by policymakers and to be a catalyst for change. Unfortunately I do not see many policymakers actually reading this. The reason I say this is that many of the sentences are too long, too ranting and too subjective. I know the book is heavily based on first-hand personal experience, and that Darren wants to passionately convey the urgency of the changes required in society. However to be a tool for policy change I suspect policymakers will demand more 'researched', "scientifically supported evidence" etc. Darren though of course, through this book, is screaming, enough with the research and studies already, let's get to the action, let's get to the change. And so it is that both sides continue to talk past each other....

This was an angrily written book in the best way possible. Many books about social inequality and poverty appear to have a sort of detached viewpoint and write it as a matter of fact - Darren McGarvey is seething and bitter in his exposure of the systemic issues of a multitude of facets like health, housing, and class. I loved McGarvey adding his own experiences into the book while also acknowledging that he is no longer working class and looking at the timeline of his own experiences.

At times I found this quite repetitive and would lose a bit of steam - most of the chapters could have been cut down by at least five pages, and at times I did skim read until the end of the chapter as I didn't feel that the rest of the narrative added to my understanding of that particular topic.

Thank you to Netgalley and its publishers for receiving an ARC in exchange for an honest review.