Let’s hear it for friendship – and then let’s tackle inequality
“Relationships matter so much because other people can be our best sources of security, comfort and cooperation or our worst rivals. Just as bad relationships are highly stressful, friendship is relaxing and restorative. We have evolved an extraordinary sensitivity to relationships, because getting them right has always been crucial to our survival.”
This is an extract from an article in today’s “Guardian” newspaper which you can read here. The writer is Richard Wilkinson who is a researcher in social inequalities in health and emeritus professor of public health at the University of Nottingham.
A decade ago, Professor Wilkinson co-authored a seminal book entitle “The Spirit Level” which I reviewed here.
Both the article and the book argue that reducing inequality is the best way to improve economic and social outcomes for all, not just those at the bottom of the class scale. The article makes clear that recent experience – including the coronavirus pandemic – has underlined the validity of this argument.
Time to build back better.