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The gap between rich and poor has become a critical issue in Europe and the US.

In many countries, notably the UK and the US, it is on the increase. …

In the UK, a report published in March by the Fabian Society notes that the gap in education, healthcare and other life opportunities between disadvantaged children and their peers remains as wide today as when Tony Blair's Labour government came to power in 1997. …

Inequality does matter. It makes a huge difference to life chances. One way we see this is the impact it has on health. There is a social gradient in health. It is not only that the poor have poor health: the lower someone's social position, the worse their health is. During the period from the 1970s to the 1990s, the gap in life expectancy between men in the top and bottom socio-economic groups in England and Wales increased from 5.5 years to 9.5 years. …

Can governments make a difference to inequality and relative poverty? It would appear so. Pre-tax income inequalities in the UK grew through the 1980s and 1990s for reasons that are hotly debated but appear to be part of a worldwide trend. Since 1997, the Labour government has used tax and welfare policies to mitigate the effects of this: during the period 1996/7 to 2004/5, post-tax incomes grew at more than 2 per cent a year for all income groups, but at a slightly higher rate for the bottom two quintiles and a slightly lower one for the top three. …

The crucial issue, though, is what life chances we bequeath to children. The effects of a parent's low status rub off on them, and if we don't break that link, some children will continue to be destined for lives of unrealised potential.

Professor Michael Marmot (¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Epidemiology & Public Health), 'New Scientist'