Sick Society

As we recover through the reality of a global pandemic, we face into a severe cost of living crisis. We live in a time of great uncertainty. More people are being pushed into poverty. The gap between the richest and poorest is growing wider. We are, perhaps, more divided than we have ever been. Our public services are overwhelmed. Citizens are fed up. Our society is sick.

What can we do? We must allow ourselves to feel the pain of our reality, be outraged, challenge the inevitability of the status quo and create moral alternative economies of a reimagined future. We must examine the core values which shape our politics and find an altogether more collaborative and participatory experience of being community.

Drawing on the stories of people he has met in his consulting room, over the last 18 years, Dr Andy Knox, a GP and population health leader, explores why things are going so wrong for communities across the UK and what we might do to bring about change. He draws on a variety of disciplines to uncover the societal injustices which many people experience every day. The experiences of poverty, hunger, racism and disability are a painful reality of life for so many people across the UK. We are taken on an uncomfortable journey to discover why this is the case.

We explore big themes like power, education, freedom and privilege, using different lenses to shine a light on them. And importantly, we find hope that things can be different. Knox argues that until we learn to reorientate ourselves towards the way of love, we will continue to perpetuate the staggering inequalities at work in our communities.

SICK SOCIETY is calling for a kinder society, that actually works for everyone and gets to the pragmatics of how we do this.

'If you are seeking hope, I urge you to read and share this book.'

Professor Imogen Tyler

'This book is beautiful, challenging, heartbreakingly bleak and wide-eyed with hope.'

Professor Dame Clare Gerada

'I recommend that you read this book. It will remind you that all is not lost in our sick society and that there is a surprising solution.'

Tim Farron, MP

'Full of anecdotes and insights, it challenges us all to put aside our cynicism, world-weariness and feelings of powerlessness and do something to make the world a better place.'

Lord Nigel Crisp