A conundrum, according to the OED, is ‘’a puzzle, a hard question,” and Friday night’s Inequality Conundrum panel discussion, chaired by Polly Toynbee, explored the issue of the world’s snowballing wealth inequality.
Oxfam predicts that the richest 1% of the world will own more than half the world’s wealth by next year. After presenting statistics on the exponential growth of the income gap between rich and poor, Polly Toynbee introduced Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, who expressed her alarm about the increasing onslaught on trade union rights.
Booker-shortlisted novelist Neel Mukherjee asserted that trickle-down economics has never worked, and queried why capitalism has vanquished all other possible economic models.
Mariana Mazzucato, professor in the Economics Of Innovation at the University Of Sussex, gave a masterclass in economic theory. A lively speaker, she detailed the history of the current financial state of the UK and the greater global community.
Observer columnist Nick Cohen asked how many in the audience at the Corn Exchange voted Tory in the recent election, and the meagre show of hands gave a clear demonstration of the left-leaning bias of the Brighton crowd.
After fielding several audience questions, the evening ended with no concrete answers, but much fertile field for further discussion.
Four stars
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