Richard Wilkinson - author of Spirit Level - has big ideas about inequality and helping the poor

He apologised for not returning two or three calls I had made shortly after meeting him in Islington a month ago.

“I get so many calls and emails that I just cannot get round to dealing with them – sorry,” he said.  

But he then gave me certain times I could ring him this weekend, so all promises well.

Now retired at 67, Wilkinson is busy giving two or three talks a week spreading his message – that inequalities in lifestyle are at the root of all social problems.

He gave a talk on Tuesday, will address a college in Kent on Thursday, then another in Edinburgh next week – and soon will be off abroad to talk about a subject that has taken over his life.

Wilkinson’s book, The Spirit Level, written with Kate Pickett, has caused a furore, exposing how well-off people in Britain live several years longer than the poor.  The gap can even be seen in Camden – with life expectancy much higher in Hampstead than in Somers Town.

At a discussion held on Tuesday by Islington’s Fairness Commission – a unique body other local authorities are apparently thinking of emulating – about 150 people heard how a single mother, with three children, had gone back to work with the help of the council.

“This is the first time I have spoken in public like this so bear with me,” she began nervously. Martin Bennett, a partner in the global corporate law firm, Slaughter and May, which hosted the meeting, talked about how his firm helps Islington’s struggling law centres to survive.

But Wilkinson’s suggestions caused the greatest stir.

Thinking aloud, he wondered whether rich people in Islington – where many millionaires are believed to live – should be invited to voluntarily pay extra council tax for specific projects threatened with cuts.

Then he tossed in the idea that there may be some “mileage” in twinning rich and poor streets so that they could do things together.

Typically, you could see people listening intently as he threw in these ideas, off the cuff.

It may sound idealistic at first, but then when you give it more thought, it seems more possible.   After all, it took sometime before his book stirred politicians, intellectuals and even trade unionists. 

Now, it has become one of the most talked about book.