Christopher Snowdon, author of "The Spirit Level Delusion"  will be challenging the theory asserted in the best-selling book "The Spirit Level" that 'more equal societies almost always do better'. (Here's the wikipedia entry for "The Spirit Level" )

By fact-checking the book's statistics and reviewing the scientific literature, he will argue that there is no correlation between income inequality and a country's health, happiness and well-being. The hypothesis in "The Spirit Level" is, he says, based on selective evidence and flawed reasoning. Whatever your political affiliation, you will come away from this talk a little more sceptical towards the various statistics you read or hear about from day to day.

Born in North Yorkshire in 1976, Christopher Snowdon is the author of "The Spirit Level Delusion" (2010), Velvet Glove, Iron Fist (2009), and most recently "The Art of Suppression". He has written about The Spirit Level debate in Spiked, The Guardian and the Wall Street Journal, and debated with its authors at the Royal Society of Arts in July 2010.

You can find more information about Chris Snowdon and his books here: http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/

Entry £2