RSA/LBC 97.3 Debate - A Tale of Two Cities: Are Londoners on the brink of an economic apartheid?

21st Nov 2011; 20:00

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RSA/LBC 97.3 Debate

London has long been famous for being a city where the rich and poor  co-exist in relative proximity. But will this still be the case for much longer?

With the economic  downturn, many argue London’s in danger of ever increasing urban segregation with the poor increasingly vacating the centre of the city due to cuts in housing benefits and high housing costs. London, they maintain, is in danger of going down the Paris city model where the poor tend to be situated in ‘banlieues’ which ring the richer inner districts.

This summer the city witnessed the worst riots in living memory. Whilst the violence and looting was inexcusable, the unemployment rate amongst young adults in London is significantly higher than the rest of England and is increasing. Even when young adults do gain work it does not automatically lift them out of poverty, with nearly 50 per cent of under 25s being in low paid work.

In addition, 38 per cent of London’s children grow up in low-income households and eight of the ten English authorities with the highest rates of child poverty are in London.

So, as austerity continues, with protesters currently camped outside London’s stock exchange, our panel will ask: are all Londoners really “in it together?”  

Are we about to witness the transformation of the social composition of London, once celebrated for rich and poor living cheek-by-jowl?  

Are the poor being forced out of the centre of our capital city, does it matter and do Londoners care? 

Speakers: Edward Lister, Boris Johnson’s chief of staff; Stephen Timms MP, East Ham; Tony Travers, director, LSE London; and Simon Jenkins, Guardian and Evening Standard commentator

Chair: James O’Brien, LBC 97.3

The event will be broadcast live from the RSA Great Room on LBC 97.3FM – ‘London’s Biggest Conversation’.

See what people said on Twitter: #rsalbc

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