Edinburgh Book Festival: Professor Danny Dorling, Geetha Marcus, Joelle Taylor, Roy Hattersley and Lavinia Greenlaw
And that wasn’t all; he just stopped counting. On Thursday morning, he joined the panel in the concluding event of Val McDermid’s Home/Less series to address the topic head on.Dorling, who describes himself as a “human geographer”, had some uncompromising words about the growing problem of homelessness in the UK, which is now said to affect one in six people (if those who feel unsafe in their homes, or live in unsuitable accommodation, are included).
Germany excepted (where the problem is due to an influx of Syrian refugees), Britain has the worst homelessness record in Europe.READ MORE: Edinburgh Book Festival: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Richard Holloway, Leila Aboulela, Linda Grant & Robin RobertsonBut the problem isn’t a shortage of housing. Contrary to what many of us think, there are enough bedrooms in the country for everybody, but the housing market - particularly the shift towards private rentals - has pushed us towards less and less efficient use of what is available.“We have to begin to accept at this point that this is not an accident,” Dorling said. “We are being governed by those who believe that having people on the streets is a useful threat to get people to behave.”The government’s working model, he said, is the US, where so many are homeless that most people no longer notice them. Dorling was part of another lively and wide-ranging panel brought together by McDermid, which also included Edinburgh-based sociologist Geetha Marcus and spoken word artist Joelle Taylor, who spoke movingly about her personal experience of homelessness.READ MORE: Spoken Word review: Rose McGowanWhat’s the way forward? Taylor emphasised the importance of recognising that the basis of the problem is ideological. Marcus favoured local action: “I’m done waiting for the people at the top to fix things.” Dorling remained quietly optimistic. Even Boris Johnson might help, inadvertently, he said, as loyal Tory supporters come to lose confidence in his actions.Roy Hattersley, the next guest in the Main Theatre, came to the Book Festival after a radio interview in which he backed Jeremy Corbyn’s call for a no-confidence motion in the government in order to try to avert a no-deal Brexit. “Leaving the EU is the greatest tragedy this country has faced in 500 years, and leaving without a deal makes it worse,” he said, adding that Labour should have done more to fight Brexit during the referendum campaign.READ MORE: Edinburgh Fringe picks: 5 fearless dance, physical theatre and circus showsThe veteran politician, now 86 - who, incredibly, has appeared at every Edinburgh Book Festival since the festival began in 1987 - was indomitable as ever, speaking without notes on his chosen subject: the future of the Labour Party. Having expressed his doubts from the start about Corbyn’s electability, he said that a Labour government under his leadership might now be “just possible” given the direction in which the Tory party is headed.The challenge facing the Labour party, he said, was not a lack of able back-benchers, or even of potential leadership candidates, but a lack of engagement with the party’s political and philosophical roots. “We need to know what it is we believe in and have no doubts about where we stand,” he said - on the side of equality and freedom. “We need people going round the country telling voters the real Labour Party still exists - don’t leave us.”Before any of this, the day began with an hour of poetry in the Spiegeltent in the company of award-winning writer Lavinia Greenlaw, whose latest collection, The Built Moment, includes a moving sequence about her father’s decline into dementia. Compassionate and perceptive, it was a reminder of what poetry can do so well.