WE are the members of a discussion group, all living in south Bucks, who meet seven or eight times a year for an evening of serious discussion of a question, problem or book.

Recently we considered the idea, new to us, that among developed countries the ‘more equal’ do better. This equality is measured by calculating the ratio between the wealth of the richest 20% of the people and the poorest 20% in each country. The most unequal countries (Singapore, USA, Portugal and UK) have ratios greater than 7-1. The most equal countries (Japan, Sweden, Denmark and Norway) have ratios near 4-1. The rest lie between.

When the performance of these 20 or so countries on a great range of social measures (length of life, prison population, educational standards, teenage pregnancy, trust of others, fear of violence etc) is related to their degree of equality, it is very clear that the more equal societies do consistently and significantly better. In more equal societies it seems too that everyone – not just the poor – benefits.

When these same calculations are applied to figures from all the states of the USA the conclusion is the same – the more equal states do better.

We feel this idea is important, should be widely known, and should inform public policy. British society has become more unequal over the last decades, and this is damaging. How this could be reversed is a question to ask of politicians and business leaders – particularly in an election year. It is interesting that equality is now being discussed widely.

We suggest interested readers look at the website (http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/) where Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett give an excellent introduction. Their ideas are expanded in their book The Spirit Level published here last year and now in the USA.

Chris Boyce, David Flynn, Wynne Davies, John Newman, Trevor Hussey and Nick Wheeler-Robinson.