Human Rights and Social Justice hotly debated at London Met

Two of the UK’s most influential commentators have gone head to head at London Met in a lively debate on fairness and equality.

Professor Richard Wilkinson and Will Hutton spoke to about 120 people at the launch of a series of seminars on ‘Human Rights and Social Justice in an age of austerity’ organised by the University’s Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute (HRSJ).

Professor Wilkinson, chairman of Islington’s Fairness Commission and Hutton, writer and government advisor, were passionate in delivering their arguments at the University's Calcutta House on Tuesdsay 26 January 2011.

Professor Wilkinson outlined his ground-breaking argument that unequal societies like the UK are more likely to suffer from social ills such as poor health, low life expectancy, illiteracy, depression and violence - and called for the reduction of social inequality as a central policy goal.

Hutton argued for fairness - as distinct from equality - to be made the measure of all political and economic relations.

The series of seven seminars will take place at London Met throughout the first half of the year. All feature prominent speakers and timely debate topics.

For more information on the series, click here.

Alice Donald, Senior research Fellow in Human Rights at London Met's HRSJ, wrote a piece for The Guardian on the theme of the series. You can read the article here.

for more London Met news, click here.


3 February 2011