The Social Distance Between Us - Darren McGarvey

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Darren ‘Loki’ McGarvey is an author, musician and social commentator. I was first drawn to him by the fact that we come from the same post-code. Although the post code irony is that depending on your luck that it can be very different if you lived in Pollok or Crookston.

It is a book that managed to make me both sad and angry. It made me question myself, living in a middle-class bubble, oblivious to others.

It explores how divided Britain has become and introduces us to the concept of proximity. How those in charge politically are so detached from ordinary peoples lives. Like a hugely wealthy Prime Minister tackling a cost-of-living crisis.

Since leaving the corporate world, I realise that putting shareholder value above all else will destroy the future of our children.

McGarvey proposes that if we stick with a system of power and privilege, whose cruelties are so extreme that we lurch from one social crisis to another.

I have just come back from a trip to India, a country which has roughly the same amount of GDP as us, but shared between 1.4m people rather than 60million. Of course I saw heart breaking poverty but also incredible humanity. People in the Punjab getting fed free of charge at the temple.

I would love to be more active politically, but I am not brave enough. I am not sure how serious people would take me. My lack of proximity would suggest that I need to listen more than to speak.

It was an uncomfortable read at times, but perhaps that is the point.